Music Camp Begins Again

Being at Chautauqua once again reminds me there is still a place where you don’t have to lock your bike, where children can run free of their parents and not be in danger, and where beauty constantly stimulates all one’s senses.


We are staying in a different house this year. It is literally beside the stage door of the opera house, so we can follow the Little Vixens as the opera rehearsals and performances unfold.

It’s a strange house with things in odd places and dishes for an army but no shelves for food. The best bathroom is downstairs while all bedrooms are upstairs. We have a room intended for an 8-year-old girl with miniature chairs and a dresser mirror that would require you to sit on the floor.

The practice cabins seem to have multiplied and virtually all of them have been renovated. The windows no longer have to be held open with sticks. Some even have air conditioners. The only problem with #59 was the piano was either too high the bench was too low. Nothing a couple of phone books couldn’t fix.

The advertised Internet connection of our house did not materialize. So I’m sitting outside the lovely Smith Library soaking up their free Wi-Fi.

We’re soon off to hear a poetry reading, followed by a cookout at an old friend’s house on a lake.

Chautauqua in the sunshine is indeed an idyllic life.