Camp Brosius ’26 (Part 1)

August 20

Camp Brosius has provided outdoor adventures to families and students for nearly 100 years. Located on the shores of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, this treasured tradition is waiting for you! During family camp, you design your own vacation. Pick from eight different week-long options. Camp Brosius is owned by Indiana University, and accommodations are available to the public, including (but not limited to) IU alumni and friends (campbrosius,iu,edu).

[“The Sisterhood,” a/k/a, the dreaded Callecod sisters, standing outside the Sputh Round House at Camp Brosius. The Super and I have been attending camp most years since 1993; Rita has something over 40 years of attendance . . . ]

July 24

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, and summer’s lease hath all too short a date. ~ William Shakespeare

[We arrived early to spend a couple days in Sheboygan, 470 miles from Alexandria in 7 1/2 hours . . . ]

Do what we can, summer will have its flies. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Where we stayed in Sheboygan . . . ]

I’m sorry for the things I said when it was winter. ~ Unknown

[The canal off Lake Michigan . . . ]

The worst thing about being a tourist is having other tourists recognize you as a tourist. ~ Russel Baker

[Spotted Cow, the pride of New Glarus, Wisconsin . . . ]

A hotel room all to myself is my idea of a good time. ~  Chelsea Handler

Summer bachelors, like summer breezes, are never as cool as they pretend to be. ~ Nora Ephron

Smell the sea, and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly. ~ Van Morrison

[Riding the bench with Rita and her daughter Beth . . . ]

Summertime, and the living is easy. ~ Ella Fitzgerald

[Ruthie fills in for Beth, a late inning pinch hitter . . . ]

Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink in the wild air. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Chef Stefano Viglietti of Trattoria Stefano in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, was named a semifinalist for the prestigious James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest in 2018. He is a self-taught restaurateur who opened his authentic regional Italian restaurant in 1994.

The best way to know a city is to eat it. ~ Scott Westerfeld

[Well, folks gotta eat . . . ]

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, and summer’s lease hath all too short a date. ~ William Shakespeare

Murals in restaurants are on a par with the food in museums. ~ Peter De Vries

[“The Wall” . . . ]

July 25

Religion is like a blind man looking in a black room for a black cat that isn’t there, and finding it. ~ Oscar Wilde

[The Sheboygan Farmers’ Market, across the street from the hotel where we used to stay. That hotel is now a flat grassy field . . . ]

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train. ~ Oscar Wilde

Nothing lasts forever, except the day before you start your vacation. ~ Gayland Anderson

Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth, it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin. ~ John Green

The John Michael Kohler Arts Center (JMKAC) is a nationally acclaimed visual and performing arts complex located in Sheboygan. Visitors of all ages enjoy year-round access to two museum locations offering something for everyone, from art exhibitions and performances to a family-friendly café, an onsite gift shop, classes and workshops, and a hands-on art studio. Be sure to check out the award-winning, artist-designed washrooms. During the summer months, JMKAC presents a free outdoor concert series and a popular arts festival.  Admission and parking are always FREE. Winner of the 2023 Governor’s Tourism Award for Arts, Culture, & Heritage. Founded in 1967, JMKAC promotes the understanding and appreciation of the work of self-taught and contemporary artists. It has earned a worldwide reputation for preserving, studying, and exhibiting artist-built environments and now showcases the collection at the new Art Preserve.  Its mission is to generate a creative exchange between artists and the public (kohlerwisconsin.com).

[Then it was on to our annual review of the James Michael Kohler Art Center . . . ]

A painting in a museum probably hears more foolish remarks than anything else in the world. ~ 1st Duke of Wellington

I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from the statues that are in all the other museums. ~ Steven Wright

[The Super in the foreground, niece Beth and nephew Chris in the background . . . ]

When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums. ~ Andy Warhol

Museums are tombs. ~ Robert Smithson

Fifty percent of all meaningful education takes place in the home. What do you share with your child? You share your interests. I was a book person. I read with my son. My wife is an artist. She dragged his little butt around to museums. He’s an illustrator of children’s books. ~ Walter Dean Myers

I wanted to be in museums. I don’t do things to be small. ~ Amy Sherald

I’ve seen beautiful art on the sides of buildings. I’ve seen beautiful art in museums. I’ve seen beautiful art in galleries. Beautiful art is everywhere. ~ John Mellencamp

A society – any society – is defined as a set of mutual benefits and duties embodied most visibly in public institutions: public schools, public libraries, public transportation, public hospitals, public parks, public museums, public recreation, public universities, and so on. ~ Robert Reich

[Beth and Chris checking out the parade of rocks . . . ]

People don’t really go to museums in Rio. I shouldn’t say it’s not sophisticated, but, you know, they go to the beach. ~ Francisco Costa

Great Art is Great because it inspired you greatly. If it didn’t, no matter what the critics, the museums and the galleries say, it’s not great art for you. ~ Yoko Ono

A lot of our insights are based on the ways in which people spend time at museums. They’re curious, open, interested, and engaging. They want to express themselves and see their own identity refracted through the museum’s. ~ Jake Barton

I think there is a new awareness in this 21st century that design is as important to where and how we live as it is for museums, concert halls and civic buildings. ~ Daniel Libeskind

[The Super photographing crutches . . . ]

A great department store, easily reached, open at all hours, is more like a good museum of art than any of the museums we have yet established. ~ John Cotton Dana

I love going to museums, especially the Met, because there’s always room for discovery, or the Neue Galerie. It’s a great jewel box. ~ Aerin Lauder

Steakhouses sort of have this old-school nature to them; they’re like museums full of good food. It’s fun hearing the waiter share his expertise on the different cuts of beef and how they’re going to cut up your baked potato. ~ Jim Gaffigan

I’m the type of person who far prefers a vacation filled with trips to museums and art galleries, shopping and exploring vintage flea markets, people-watching at cafes, and discovering delicious restaurants as opposed to lounging on a beach for days on end. ~ Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman

I think about museums often. There are things that I want museums to do that they often don’t. For me, I like it when there’s a system within the museum that can continuously change – whether it’s a museum that is nomadic or one that’s designed so the building can shape-shift. I like restless spaces, and I want to be engaged. ~ Doug Aitken

I applied for funding to embark on an overseas field trip in Iceland, and spent six weeks there happily holed up in the national archives, museums and libraries, sifting through ministerial and parish records, censuses, maps, microfilm, logs, and local histories. ~ Hannah Kent

Museums are custodians of epiphanies, and these epiphanies enter the central nervous system and deep recesses of the mind. ~ George Lois

But we cannot rely on memorials and museums alone. We can tell ourselves we will never forget and we likely won’t. But we need to make sure that we teach history to those who never had the opportunity to remember in the first place. ~ Dan Rather

London has fine museums, the British Library is one of the greatest library institutions in the world… It’s got everything you want, really. ~ David Attenborough

In big museums, the role of the curator has shrunk in recent years as different branches of curatorial work – such as interpretation, or learning, or conservation – have split off and become professions of their own. ~ Lucy Worsley

The best museums and museum exhibits about science or technology give you the feeling that, hey, this is interesting, but maybe I could do something here, too. ~ Paul Allen

What’s the use of a great city having temptations if fellows don’t yield to them? ~ P.G. Wodehouse 

Sometimes, you just have to clear your head and get out to see other things. It is very important to be nourished. I love to go to museums and galleries, I like to see theatre, film, dance – anything creative. It doesn’t promise you inspiration, but it nourishes your creative soul, and that’s good. ~ Marc Jacobs

My tastes formed quite early. All I ever wanted to do was go to costume museums. ~ Hamish Bowles

It all comes back to the basics. Serve customers the best-tasting food at a good value in a clean, comfortable restaurant, and they’ll keep coming back. ~ Dave Thomas

[Deniece and denephew, Beth and Chris, made our dinner reservations at Urbane . . . ]

All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant’s revolving door. ~ Albert Camus

[Comparing adult beverages . . . ]

I generally only eat one meal a day, which is pretty unusual for a restaurant reviewer. It’s not that I have a problem with food; I’ll eat anything that doesn’t involve a bet, a dare, or an initiation ceremony. ~ A. A. Gill

[The ceiling is attractive if not a sound buffer . . . ]

The lunch in a normal American restaurant is very problematic for me. I don’t like to have hot food for lunch. ~ Larry David

[Say, “Good night, all!”]

Before you move on to Part 2, you may indeed feel the need to have a stiff drink first . . . ~ the author