I had wanted to keep a trip journal of Enders Island. An amazing trip journal like the one Nan did for her trip to San Francisco. (Hint, hint) I find it hard to work on arty things when I'm away. I did manage the title page in a Strathmore Visual Journal (8 x 5.5) This image of the chapel tower was carved on the sign outside Angell Hall where the studios are located.
I made some notes during the week of thoughts and impressions. I already blogged about the class in Manuscript Illumination
Even though I'll be working in this journal after I get home, I decided to keep it simple. Just a few illustrations doodles and my thoughts. If I used mixed media stuff like embellishments or painted pages, I'd end up making a Holy Grail of this project and never get it done. Media used is a Staedtler pigment liner, watercolor pencils, and colored pencils.
Enders Island is off another island called Mason's Island. I have a very poor sense of direction so even with the GPS I still managed to get lost. In all fairness not entirely my fault as Madge's (short for Magellan and the name we gave to the GPS) were a little ambiguous. She meant the road curved slightly to the left take a right. Not make a full left turn. I had left plenty of time to get lost and arrive on time. We had to check in at 4:30 PM.
So I made it to the land of Hic Sunt Draconis (Here There Be Dragons) To a Bostonian, anything beyond the outskirts of the city belongs in the dragon realm. Boston isn't called the Hub because the city is laid out in a spoke and wheel pattern. It's the Hub because the city is the Hub of the Universe.
I was amused to find I was assigned to Room Number 6 which reminded me of 1/3 of 666 or the 1960s television show The Prisoner with Patrick McGoohan. He was a spy, turned in his resignation, and was kidnapped and taken to an unknown location called The Village where he was assigned a bungalow, number 6. Residents of the Village didn't go by names but by their bungalow numbers. In the Village the Number 2 man in charge kept trying to interrogate 6 to find out why he resigned.
The rooms in the dormitory are named after the apostles of Christ. My room was St. Bartholomew. Most of these dudes had horrible deaths. Bartholomew had his skin flayed off and was beheaded. His feast day is celebrated on 24. August. Because of the manner of his death, he is the patron saint of tanners, bookbinders, leatherworkers, and tailors.
Because the class was so large (10 student plus the instructor) we had to take our meals in the large dining room instead of in the cozy back porch/sun room in the main house. Students for this class came from Ohio, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Montana. The instructor is from Florida
The dorm rooms are quite tiny even though there are two beds, there's not really enough room to move around. I upgraded to a private room. Even though I brought my own pillow, I had a hard time falling asleep. It felt like I was sleeping on a frozen bags of peas, and I could feel each and every one of them. It also didn't help that just as I was settling down to sleep, someone shot off fireworks. 🎆BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
I feel your pain about sleeping in strange beds/places. :( Other than that it sounds like you had a great retreat!
ReplyDeleteGetting to sleep the first night was hard. After that, I was so tired from the hard work we did in class, I went right to sleep. Peas and all.👸
DeleteAnd now I'm picturing you on the shore, looking up, and crying, "I am not a number; I am a free [wo]man!"
ReplyDeleteAnd watching the gum bubble thing rise out of the water! 😺
DeleteOMGosh, CJ. What a fabulous history of room 6. So sorry you couldn't sleep. I'm the same way. I need the tv or some noise to get me to sleep. I can't sleep in total quiet because my mind goes in all directions and I am soon wide awake. And I can't sleep without my own pillow, either. Of course, I have that pea under the mattress syndrome, so I feel your pain.
ReplyDeleteBTW, what I said before, with your upgrade, make that 11 months, dear CJ.
There was a fan in the room, but its white noise didn’t help
DeleteCJ...I think your journal entries are awesome...not so much so what happened to Bartholomew......be jezuz as da tabbies say ~~~~~~~~
ReplyDeleteBe jezuz is right. I left out a really gruesome detail. 😱 Ya think the Catholic’s could beatify a goodly soul who died in his/her sleep at a very old age
DeleteYour trip journal looks great. I like the chapel tower. And you drew a very accurate looking map. I have a poor sense of direction too. And my GPS sometimes doesn't say anything when the road forks, like I'm supposed to know which way to go, which is shown on the GPS screen map, but if I'm driving, I'm looking at the road, not at the screen! I always laugh when you talk about going to Hic Sunt Draconis. You mentioning "The Prisoner" brought back memories. I liked that show. I like that they named the rooms after apostles. I didn't know most of them had horrible deaths. Poor St. Bartholomew. Ugh. I'm sorry to hear your own pillow felt like a bag of frozen peas.
ReplyDeleteI think it would help if GPS companies had people who actually drive the roads in the area, program the GPS. I loved "The Prisoner" it's on Amazon if you are an Amazon Prime member. Still bizarre after all these years.
DeleteI like your trip journal it looks great.
ReplyDeleteGosh reading about "The Prisoner" bought back memories, I did enjoy the series.
All the best Jan
On, Patrick McGoohan and his broody, good looks. 💙
DeleteI like your journal. I like that you drew in it. I must say the man with the number 6 on him looks a bit like one of the Simpsons, and I don't mean that meanly at all. All my drawings look like cartoons, and not very good ones either. Hope it was a good day and you don't get storms that are too bad. (we had one here just a little while ago.) hugs-Erika
ReplyDeleteGood eye. 😺 Yes, I copied an image of from the Simpson's cartoon when they did a parody of The Prisoner.Looks like the thunderstorms were a little north of me and broke up before they got to my area. We had some wicked lightning last night 🌩
DeleteI love this idea of a trip journal! I should do this! I love the drawing of you and your pillow! So cute! So happy you had a wonderful time! Big Hugs!
ReplyDeleteMy friend Nan, made a trip journal of a trip to SF. It was fantastic so I thought I'd try with this trip. Thanks for taking the time to look and comment.
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