In my absence due to my schedule at work, things had begun to move along in the shaping of the house museum between the Tuesday I was there and the Thursday upon which I returned to do my internship work. Meg said that the movers had come and moved all the major pieces into their respective rooms, meaning that the Napoleon Parlor which I have spent so much time in looked a bit different.
As I entered the room, I noticed a new face, a woman in her late 20s-early 30s with short clipped brown hair and dark complexion, cleaning objects. Meg announced that although she was not a student (she is actually a free-lance photographer), she would be interning just for the experience. Unfortunately, I cannot remember her name. I know it starts with a "V" and she is a lovely lady from Spain. Another older woman in her 50s joined as well, named Rebecca, who I learned was from Louisiana and is a HUGE LSU fan. She asked me if I went to "Bama" and I replied, no, I went to South Alabama, but I did have friends who went there. She was nice about it, but underneath, I could tell she wasn't a big fan of the school. She told me at least 2 of her children went to LSU. Later, I discussed with Meg that LSU fans were an unique brand.
We all cleaned figures from the Napoleonic collection that Mr. Mathis had collected over the years. He apparently had an intense interest in Napoleon that lasted all his life which drove him to buy many pieces featuring the likes of the small general including, as Chris the grounds manager put, "pieces of gift shop junk".
Lunch came around (finally) as I was tired from closing at work the night before. Meg, Chris, and I sat in the parlor and ate lunch while talking. I found out Chris had a link to Sigourney Weaver through his wife's cousin, who had directed her in a film called Girl in the Park. I would die for him to be able to get Sigourney's autograph for me. Meg knows very well it is my holy grail of photographs and to attain it, I will die happy.
After lunch, Meg invited me to the kitchen for a treat of ice cream (donated by whom I do not know, but it was blue bell and that had me sold) before I went back to cleaning objects. We chatted a bit about dogs and my father, who I told her had a similar fascination with objects like Mr. Mathis, except his came in phases, instead of one long run. After the chat, I went back to cleaning and was joined by the other intern while we listened to the radio that Joe, the electrician from Boston who enlightened us with mob stories over lunch, had brought.
More to report as it comes!!
-Ellen
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