June 17, 2012

First of all, Happy Father's day to all the great fathers who raised us and are raising ours. God bless you and your families.

We just left Chautauqua. Wow. I really had no idea what the Chautauqua institute was all about, but it is much bigger than my little writers' festival, even much bigger than the community here, and used to be bigger still. It started out as a place that Sunday school teachers could go to learn new curriculum. Then they saw the need for teaching the basics of reading and writing and the arts in general. Painting, sculpture, dance, music and opera, theater, eventually photography, and creative writing. Now families have homes there that were passed down from their grandparents or parents and they spend the summers there. Some houses are year round residences.

In the late 1800's houses were built around the central school areas, some huge stately homes and some little cottages. The bigger houses mostly surround Lake Chautauqua, and smaller ¾ size Victorian homes line the streets of the adjoining neighborhood. The whole complex is ½-3/4 miles long and about ¼ mi wide now. We walked around a lot of it, admiring houses and gardens. I chose a lake house for myself, and one for each of my sisters…

For Kathleen- Simple and elegant

For Paula- Just a bit of whimsy

For me- because I need rooms for all the grandchildren :) 

We stayed at the Athenaeum Hotel which has a history all its own. It is a beautiful place, built in 1881.

Many of the houses around the grounds are owned by various church denominations.  The houses are used for retreats and vacation homes for missionaries.

My workshops were great. Each student submitted a 6 page work for peer and teacher review and it was (I almost wrote very) helpful. The food was fabulous! The grounds were beautiful, and the weather cooperated with sunny days the whole time.

Yesterday we arrived in Niagara Falls.  Last night we went to Niagara on the Lake, a beautiful English-Tea town. We had dinner and walked around and enjoyed just being there and being together.

So today we're going to see the Falls. We are on the Canada side; they say that is the best view. We'll see…

Love to all!

Pami and Andy