London Museum Makes Room For The New Masters Of Forgery

Pseudo Picassos, counterfeit Chagalls and other fakes are on display in London this week -- part of an effort by Scotland Yard to warn dealers about forged art that it says fuels crime gangs around the world.

While the exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum looks like any other art gallery, the chatter among dealers centered on crime rather than composition, and the program was not open to the public.

"It made you fascinated by the terrifying skills of some of these people," said Fiona Ford of LAPADA, The Association of Arts & Antiques Dealers. "If every dealer saw this exhibition, it would further impress on them how careful they have to be."

For the art world, the danger is that forgeries can devalue the real thing. Documentation -- allegedly authenticating a piece of art -- can also be forged, according to Detective Sgt. Vernon Rapley, so even art accompanied by a detailed provenance can be suspect.

Art historian Thomas Hoving, former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, has estimated that up to 40 percent of the market is comprised of some type of forgery.

Courtesy: Maria Hegstad, AP
Photos: www.dm.net

Take A Hike

I'm a city boy through and through, but I still like to groove to nature whenever I can. For a long time I've wanted to check out the nature preserve along Amherst's Fort River.

Finally I was able to do so this weekend. It is not the best known or most used conservation trail, in fact I didn't see a single other person the whole time.
In case you are afraid of getting lost hiking this trail, fear not, as it is clearly marked the whole way by bright red patches.

Courtesy: Tom Devine Online Journalist

Christmas Is Coming, The Goose Is Getting Fat

When the Astors, Vanderbilts, Whitneys, and their ilk decided in the late 1800s to build their summer "cottages" along Bellevue Avenue in Newport, the Gilded Age began, and this little colonial fishing village on Aquidneck Island was transformed into a center of American society, at least in summer. That doesn't mean Newport stalled forever in the late 19th century; think Newport Jazz Festival , America's Cup races, and International Tennis Hall of Fame , for starters. But the mansions, now open to the public for touring and partying, are the core of Newport activities for visitors. The Preservation Society of Newport County and other like-minded groups open the mansions for the holiday season, when they shine brighter than their original owners could have imagined.

By far the most unique, where-else-but-here shops are the Newport Mansions Collections located in the basement levels of the mansions the Breakers, Rosecliff, the Elms, and Marble House. Here you can buy home furnishings, decorative accessories, carpets, wall coverings, and fabrics inspired by 250 years of European and American craftsmanship.

Courtesy: Julie Hatfield, Globe Correspondent&The Preservation Society of Newport County

Port-City Tours

It was a good day for Michael DeCastro. He'd just learned that the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay spent part of her childhood on Rings Island in Salisbury.

For DeCastro, any day that brings fresh trivia about his adopted home near the mouth of the Merrimack River is a good day: Since June, he has operated a tour of historic sites around Newburyport and Amesbury.

"See, I learn more from locals than in books," the 38-year-old tour guide said on a recent Saturday afternoon, thanking a passenger for offering up that little piece of lore about the poet.

Since opening for business, DeCastro's Port City Tours has held almost as much appeal for area residents as visitors. Not because they think they can stump the guide: Despite being raised in New Orleans and initiated into the tour business in Washington, D.C., new Amesbury resident DeCastro already knows more about the environs than most lifelong townies.

From the well-known (the grave marker of poet and Amesbury resident John Greenleaf Whittier, who was "way famous back in the day") to the esoteric (the fact, for instance, that taverns were once known as "ordinaries"), DeCastro stuffs his two-hour tour with more tidbits than a Petco warehouse. Driving a new burgundy E350 Ford van that can seat as many as 12 passengers, he regales his customers with tales of the region, speaking through a headset on a custom-installed, state-of-the-art Bose sound system.

"Let's get this show on the road!" he whooped as he kicked off a recent excursion, cu ing the first of several sound effects -- canned applause. DeCastro laughed gleefully, as he would throughout the tour.

Courtesy: James Sullivan, The Boston Globe Correspondent

Blasts In Danvers, Mass.

My hometown of Danvers, located in the beautiful Northshore region of Massachusetts, formerly known as Salem Village during the Witchcraft Trials in the late 1600s, was rocked last week by an explosion at two local chemical facilities.

Families are still not allowed in homes after major destruction took place in the early hours of Thanksgiving eve. Thankfully, no one was hurt in this unexpected disaster that both town and national crews continue to clean up and investigate. It was the equivalent of dropping a 2,000-pound bomb in the middle of a residential neighborhood, Gov. Mitt Romney said yesterday. In the next breath, he called it "a Thanksgiving miracle in Danvers."

Despite being known now for big blasts, the Northshore is a great place to visit with a lot to offer, much to do and a rich history.

Courtesy: Paul Leighton , Salem News Staff writer

Vacationland's Hunting Season

Rocky Gravel and Ed Grenier are two popular guys this time of year. Hunters swarm their shop, G & G Custom Deer Cutting in Winslow, like a fast-food restaurant around lunch time, beginning in October each year. Business doesn't let up until December.
"This is the first deer I've ever had processed," said Dale Hanscom, of Clinton, who arrived at the shop with a grin and a 146-pound doe. "I usually do them myself. But last year, I tried some of their breakfast sausage and loved it. So here I am."

He continued on with his story, grin growing with each passing word.

"I shot her across a 10-acre field, probably 800 feet away," Hanscom said.

Rocky Gravel listened intently, nodding and smiling, all the while weighing the deer and preparing it for skinning.

Gravel, a captain at the Winslow Fire Department and co-owner of Precision Tree Cutting in town, sports a crop of gray hair, a white apron and a handshake that reminds you deer cutting isn't his only job.

Source: Dave Sheerwood, Outdoors Writer

Magic of Christmas in Old Lyme

During the Magic of Christmas you'll be...

ENCHANTED by four lavish Fantasy Trees, inspired by the four ancient elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water

DELIGHTED by the return of Miss Florence’s Artist Tree, a 12-foot tree decorated with wooden palettes painted by 75 artists-including nearly a dozen new donations this year and

CHARMED by the Griswold House festively decorated in keeping with the decor around 1910, the height of the Lyme Art Colony (and Miss Florence's 60th birthday on Christmas day)!

With almost just a month until Christmas, plan a weekend trip to Old Lyme, Connecticut for asneakk-preview of this festive holiday.

Source&Photo: http://www.flogris.org/

Travel Globally With The Click Of Your Mouse

Yahoo! Current Traveler is a globe-spanning mosaic of the unique people, places and adventures captured through the camera lenses of travelers as they jet-set, backpack and couch surf around the world. Showcasing the best of viewer created content Yahoo! Current Traveler offers a daily escape to the places you've always wanted to go...and ones you never knew existed, from the museums of North Korea to candid moments in Customs, to the late night underworld of Dubai.

Duty Free Purchases Confiscated

Paul Shoul, GoNOMAD Photographer, had to give up his expensive Danish liqueur that he bought in duty free on the way back from Greenland last week because Duty-Free Purchases Could Be Confiscated. Effective today, Asia Pacific travellers taking a flight which transits through Europe could be in for rude shock from next Monday – some of their duty free purchases could be confiscated by airport security.

Source&Photo

Kiwi Language For Dummies

A friend recently took advantage of the UMass study abroad program and traveled to New Zealand for an entire year. He not only returned with countless memories, adventure stories and photos but in addition, an entirely new vocabulary was born thanks to the Kiwis -not only the name given to the people of New Zealand, this also refers to the endangered flightless bird of the country which is closely associated with the Armed Forces and the New Zealand dollar. These creative words and phrases are catchy and useful, especially when planning a trip to either the South or North Island.


Internet Source&Photos: http://www.chemistry.co.nz/new_zealand.htm
www.cnn.com/.../new.zealand.lg.jpg

Save The Salmon

Idahoan Bill Erickson is going where no man has gone before. Truth is I can’t verify that fact, but he is definitely going somewhere no man regularly goes: on a 900-mile kayaking trip from the Salmon River near Stanley to the Pacific Ocean.

Erickson is kayaking the route of Idaho’s wild salmon through the Salmon, Snake and Columbia Rivers to highlight the decline of wild salmon in the Pacific and to draw
attention to the problems caused by dams. “I’m making the journey downstream in a kayak and will be facing the same obstacles that sockeye encounter as young fish while heading to the ocean,” Erickson says. “The largest of these obstacles, and the biggest killer of all salmon, are the four dams on the lower Snake River.”


Idahoan Kayaks 900 Miles to Support Salmon
By Jennifer Gelband, NewWest.net
Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Photos: Bill Erickson

Planning A Trip With Your Pet

I don’t know if there is a language problem among dogs; however ShadyLady, the American Sheltie, has never failed to voice her comments to dogs in Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, France, Luxemburg, Austria, and Italy.

Throughout the European Union small pets accompanying their owners are welcome. Some hotels attach a non refundable surcharge to the statement; the amount is determined by the individual hotel managers. We found that the usual amount is 10 Euro. Best Western Hotels, Holiday Inns, Golden Tulip, Radisson SAS all suggested contacting the individual hotel management for information regarding their pet policy.

Traveling with a Pet in Europe
By Patricia Clark