Halloween

Spooky Tuesday in Kentucky

Museums,

Greetings from Kentucky!

I’m based in Lexington, Kentucky this week to learn about what it takes to ship valuable racing horses to and from horse country. (Stay tuned for my article about that). And yes, learning a bit about bourbon.

But just 25 miles down the road from Lexington is the city of Frankfort – the capital of Kentucky – and the home of the Kentucky Historical Society and the Thomas Clark Center for Kentucky History, where I had the chance to have a reunion with this doll named Jimmy in the collection.

jimmys-face

I learned about Jimmy when putting together my Hidden Treasures book – about things museums can’t or won’t show you- and was told back then that Jimmy stays locked away most of the time because he’s too creepy looking – even for museum staff members – and because he had been found in parts of the storage area where no one remembered putting him.

Jimmy and some other creepy items from the collection – including cursed furniture and a cast of Daniel Boone’s skull – will be on view October 27 during the museum’s Creepy Kentucky event but just spending a few minutes with the doll is enough for me..

p1070664-2

Post-Sandy air travel & a Halloween treat

Air Travel, Airports, Holidays, Weather,

Dazed and definitely confused – airlines, airports and travelers are trying to pick up where they left off before super-storm Sandy blew through.

Although it will certainly take a while to deal with and accommodate the backlog of passengers whose travel was disrupted by thousands of flights canceled due to the storm, airlines are resuming their flight schedules where possible.

Re-opening the airports in the New York City area will help. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey plans to re-open John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Newark Liberty International Airport on Wednesday morning, October 31 at 7:00 a.m. for limited service.  Rail service on AirTrain JFK and AirTrain Newark is suspended until further notice, however, and there’s no word  on when LaGuardia and Teterboro airports will reopen.

On the other side of the country, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) has a Halloween activity planned for travelers on Wednesday: airport staff and volunteers “dressed in ghoulish outfits” will perform “a spirited and thrilling dance performance” and hand out Halloween treats at 10 a.m. in the ticket lobby of the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT).

 

Trick or Treat at Miami International Airport

Holidays, ,

The shops and restaurants  at Miami International Airport (MIA) are making another holiday into a festival-in-an-airport.

 

The @ShopMIAIntl Halloween Celebration runs through Monday and then picks up again on Wednesday – Halloween – with a witch greeter, Halloween candy, games, crafts, an inflatable Haunted House and plenty of discounts in many of the shops.

Here’s a link to the MIA Halloween party times, locations and coupons.

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On Halloween only, the airport will have a video camera and a wide variety of props on hand to help passengers make photo flip books.

Giant spider webs at Philadelphia Airport

Art, Fun Stuff, Holidays, Layover, , , , ,

Philadelphia International Airport presents a marvelous and diverse program of both permanent and changing art exhibitions throughout the terminals.

In keeping with the season, one installation to seek out right now is The Repairer – eight large-scale glass spider webs created by artist Sharyn O’Mara in memory of the artist Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010).

PHL Spiderweb Sharyn O'Mara

Photo credit: Richard McMullin, Philadelphia International Airport

Here’s some background on the installation from the airport website:

Described as a “Grande Dame of American and European art,” Bourgeois is best known for her series of monumental metal spiders – the largest stands more than 30 feet tall. Although primarily a sculptor, Bourgeois also liked to draw. It was another medium to express her fascination with spiders and, in particular, their webs. Bourgeois had said that drawing was similar to a spider’s web: “it’s like the thread…it is a knitting, a spiral.“

Like Bourgeois’ gigantic spiders, O’Mara has fabricated similarly sized glass webs influenced by the late artist’s web drawings. O’Mara’s installation was inspired by Bourgeois, whose parents restored tapestries. Bourgeois once said, “The spider is a repairer. I came from a family of repairers. If you bash into the web of a spider, she doesn’t get mad. She weaves and repairs it.”

Look for Sharyn O’Mara’s The Repairer post-security in Terminal A-West through February 2011.

To see what else there is to do at Philadelphia International Airport, see my guide to Philadelphia International Airport on USAToday.com.

And, in the spirit of Halloween, here are two great cartoons my buddy Bob Rini found and posted on his highly entertaining blog, The Nine Pound Hammer.

This one is a Betty Boop cartoon that was banned in the 1930’s.

And this one is a very early Mickey Mouse cartoon.

Thanks, Bob!
And Happy Halloween.

Free museum tours in 28 cities this weekend

Free Stuff, Museums,

Traveling this weekend?

(Photo: courtesy Adam Blanchette)

Whatever city you’re in, there’s probably a museum offering free admission as part of Bank of America’s Museums on Us program.

During the first full weekend of each month, Bank of America ATM, credit and check cardholders get free access to 70 museums and cultural institutions in 28 cities across the country

One good choice this weekend: The Harvard Museum of Natural History, which has a Halloween-worthy tip sheet families can use to guide them through the galleries in search of scary creatures (snakes, bats, spiders, and more ) and a new Language of Color exhibition which explores how animal colors are produced, the ways in which color is perceived, and the diverse messages that animal colors can convey.

Photo: Paul Bratescu, animalexplorer.com (chameleon)