Now receiving visitors…

With no fanfare, Adele is finally ensconced in her new home: the American Gallery of the Portland Art Museum. Her installation was originally scheduled in mid-November, after an introductory lecture by the chief curator. Unfortunately, he developed severe laryngitis and could not speak. I checked in early December, but she hadn’t yet been installed.

Then, last Thursday, a friend with whom I practice reading Italian wrote: “Ho visto Adele oggi! Sembrava a casa;” which means “I saw Adele today! She seemed right at home.” Yes, indeed she does. 

The official label is nicely in place, too.

I admired her for a few minutes before taking a couple of photos.  No one else was in the gallery. I saw a custodian as I left–and I had to talk to someone. So I told Ted how impatiently we had waited to see Adele in the museum. He said he was enjoying looking at her and was very happy to learn a little more about who she was. The really funny thing is that Ted grew up in New York and his brother graduated from the State University of NY at Plattsburgh–which is where Adele grew up.

He suggested that  I talk to the editors of the Museum’s Portal magazine about writing a little profile on this new member of the Museum family. I assured him that I’d already thought of doing just that and thanked him for his encouragement.

If you missed them, my October and November posts tell more of my recent discoveries about Adele’s life and explain how she became the inspiration for me to begin writing my first novel. I’ve done three chapters and can’t wait to get back to work.