Robert's Snow--LIVE!

As I mentioned last week, my 81 Days of Balance ended with a workshop for Choice Literacy I had this past weekend. As I was pulling together final details a few days before the trip, I realized that my plane was landing just 22 minutes away from the Child At Heart Art Gallery where the Robert's Snow Snowflakes were on display! What luck! So, we decided to take a tiny detour to visit the gallery and the snowflakes. (So, it was pouring down rain and we had no umbrella--as you can tell by the photo--but it was so worth it!)


WOW! I thought they were amazing online but they are GORGEOUS in real life. Each one is absolutely breathtaking. It was pretty powerful to see them all in one place. There are several that I hope to bid on--a few that I fell immediately in love with. I know you must all be a bit jealous--I know Mary Lee was (It didn't really help that I reminded her every 30 minutes that I was going to see the snowflakes in real life!) The snowflakes have moved on from the gallery and onto the Danforth Museum of Art. If you are ANYWHERE near the museum, it is a pretty amazing thing to see--the snowflakes all in one place. The art was amazing but having the snowflakes on display here was such a powerful tribute it is to Robert Mercer.

And I am so happy to have met my new friend Paul, the owner of the gallery. What a place! As a children's book person, I can't believe my luck in finding it. The gallery is filled with children's book art. Original pieces and prints from so many artists. I feel like I found such a great treasure. Not only a place to purchase original art but a person who has developed great relationships with many of the artists and knows so much about children's book art.

It was a great day--the time we spent in the Gallery seeing the snowflakes, looking at the art, meeting and chatting with Paul, and of course buying a few things! If y0u are ANYWHERE near the gallery, I would highly recommend a visit. And if you aren't near it, but are looking for great children's book art, it seems like this is the place that can probably find it for you!

As an added resource for you moms out there, if you make it to Newburyport, I would make sure to get to the Pink Hearts/Blue Soles children's shoe store. A kind of dangerous place with the best children's shoes I've ever seen--all in one place. I am thinking of flying to Newburyport to shop for schools shoes for my daughter next fall:-) If our kids are going to learn to read in school, I think they need to do it in great shoes, don't you? (See, I knew I could connect this shoe store somehow....)

Needless to say, I loved Newburyport, the Child at Heart Art Gallery, the Snowflakes and the shoe store. What a great way to end my 81 Days of Balance:-)