Springfield, MA (July 16, 2025)
We spent a hot and humid (“air you can wear”) day getting our steps in between museums and inside of them. Steps and stairs with eye candy in between! Springfield has a group of five museums and today we saw three of them plus the Dr Seuss sculpture garden; we missed the Springfield Science Museum and the the Springfield History museum, which is excuse enough to come back. My Ambassador-level Cleveland Museum of Art membership got us in to these museums via their reciprocity programs. I honestly think my membership will have paid for itself after this trip!
There’s a LOT to do here and the landscape between the small villages is picture-book lovely. I love it. It’s gorgeous here!
The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum
Am I the only person who abhors Dr. Seuss? Even so, he’s an American children’s literature cultural icon and when there’s a museum in his hometown…well, when in Rome…..we visited the most colorful museum I’ve ever imagined! Still, I have nightmares about being forced by my boys to read that dreadful sing song silly stupid made-up stuff before bed. I would complain about how lame it was and that egged them on to want to hear more of it! Gads. 😳
I particularly enjoyed the family memorabilia on the second floor, especially the reminiscences of his nephew Theodor (no “e”) and Uncle Theodore’s illustrated correspondence to his nephew.
An actual painting by Theodore “Ted” Geisel, aka Dr Seuss. He was a real artist!
Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden
Located in the lovely open area between the museums and the public library is a wonderful sculpture garden that is so cool, even non-Dr. Seuss fans are wow’d!
Ted Geisel at his desk…in the sculpture garden.
The kids love all things Seuss, and the Grinch (and whatever that other thing is) are no exception!
George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum
A smallish collection donated to be displayed in the building they had built for the art, purchased on a trip to Europe, much of which was bought from the artists directly! Now that is a life! Lovely of them to share with us!
The Tiffany glass windows were absolutely amazing.
The entryway of the museum.
This bench, by a Japanese artist, almost reads to me like a Scandinavian piece. It was stunning.
We are so spoiled after our journey to the Mediterranean in May; Dan complained that after seeing the originals in marble, the plaster casts were not the same thing at all. Me? I thought they were stunning!
One of many of the adorable photos in the Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards. Can you guess what this was titled? I DID. (Answer at the end)
Apparently this is common witch-hazel. I’ve never seen this kind; only the kind with the little yellow fibers along the stem. Very interesting planting in the courtyard of the museums.
Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts
Dan invaded the bedroom in Arles!
Me? I’m happy watching the world go by on the “Cafe Terrace at Night”!
The most expensive piece in the museum is this haystack by Monet. What do you think it’s worth? Answer at the bottom of today’s blog.
I couldn’t look away: a lovely and mysterious portrait of “Ophelia” right before her death.
Detail of “Ophelia”
Museum interior
Museum interior
A special exhibition of “Portraits in RED: Missing & Murdered Indigenous Peoples Painting Project” is on display until September 7. Gut wrenching stories these women have. and up until now they’ve been unable to speak. I think it TIME where I first read about this project and was delighted to have been touched by it in person today. After this exhibit, the paintings will be returned to their owners, mostly family members of the disappeared.
For more: https://nayanaarts.com/
Our brains fill in to see colors that aren’t really painted pigments. Very cool idea to paint this way.
Detail
I shoots what I sees. The windows have been replaced and this workman was working on the seals.
I loved the silhouette effect and the strong lines of the panes and ladder and platform!
Naismith Hall of Fame
I really thought this would be similar to the baseball and football halls of fame that we’ve visited in the past! I had visions of taking a selfie with the likenesses of Dr J, Julius Erving; Phil Jackson, John Woodin. But, I’m old. Today the inductees into this HoF are loaded behind of a couple dozen touch screen tables in a room where you can call up the HoFamer you want to see more about. Not great for selfies!
The impressive thing about this facility is that from the welcome movie to the displays, it’s all about reverence for the game. I actually turned to Dan and said “Gheez, it’s ’just a game’!” at the intro movie! It’s all about the dream of winning it all and believe me, as a Cleveland fan, I totally get that!
So, in the spirit of elevating the competition, let me share a few of the quotes that I came across today:
—Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. (John Woodin)
—Be led by your dreams, not pushed by your problems. (Roy Williams)
—You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good. (Jerry West)
Good stuff there!
We both enjoyed that the museum included the women’s game and college hoops too. It was pretty inclusive of ALL of basketball in that regard, not just the NBA.
Let the hoopla begin!
Ball in a cage
Exterior of the Naismith Hall of Fame. The HoF is mostly in the spherical part; the other part is restaurants and businesses. Like a HoF at the local mall! 🤔
The Entrance to the Naismith Hall of Fame
Springfield, MA, home of Dr Naismith, who invented the game using a couple of peach baskets and a ball
Shopping mall or HoF?
Dan and me with the faux Naismith Trophy
They wouldn’t let me lift up the trophy…who did they think I was, JD Vance?!?
Hand drier in the women’s restroom
There’s a large basketball area on the first floor of the three-story museum and the bouncing balls echoed upwards the entire time we were there. Interesting to me: no one practiced foul shots at any of the times I paused to watch. Every single kid who wasn’t driving to the basket shot from behind the 3-point line!
3s rule!
Soon after Dr. Naismith invented the game of basketball (to give young men something to do in inclement weather to get exercise), Senda Beren Abbott, the PE director at Smith College in Northampton, learned about the game from a magazine article and began to adapt the rules for her students. The 95 on this early uniform indicated the graduation year; the first game played at Smith was between the Class of 1895 and the Class of 1896.
The scorebook from the game where Caitlin Clark broke Pete Maravich’s college career point-scored total.
These were the largest rings of any I saw on any display. A heavy “bracelet for a newborn” size!
Bird’s “old fashioned” Converse shoes look so archaic compared to the high tech shoes of today!
I always look up to Lebron James.
Iconic athlete and person and much missed. The HoF was showing two short (10-12 min) films about Kobe-one with clips from games and thriumphs, and the other one his Oscar award-winning short film “Dear Basketball” about his journey in the game from the time he was a child until the final year of his career when he knew he could no longer compete. Lemme tell you, it was a kinda teary, lump in your throat kind of short film. 😢 Watch here: https://youtu.be/bfiwfx6y6Wg?si=NBmLJ0HOZmX04JNy
We obviously don’t “measure up” according to these three photos!
A:The answer to the singing chipmunk photo title question is: “Oh solo mio”!
A:The Monet painting of the haystack is worth $150,000,000. Yes, we were a bit shocked too. I could’ve reached out and touched the surface of it. Yipes.
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