{"id":83910,"date":"2018-04-07T00:56:47","date_gmt":"2018-04-07T04:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wend.ca\/?p=83910"},"modified":"2020-03-15T15:06:02","modified_gmt":"2020-03-15T19:06:02","slug":"museum-of-everyday-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wend.ca\/?p=83910","title":{"rendered":"Museum of Everyday Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

We travelled over a mountain to get to this museum… an icy, muddy, rugged mountain. This itself is a journey worth writing about. <\/p>\n

And, it’s strange now that I think about it… strange that in the midst of Vermont there is a museum that focuses on every day mundane… but not Vermont’s mundane, which should be maple trees and rusty nails and firewood and farm goodies. <\/p>\n

The juxtaposition is that this museum’s mundane comes from places like New York and Anchorage and Los Angeles. There’s a grease-covered ornament from a Brooklyn diner… a collection of matchboxes commemorating the dogs of the Soviet space program from Los Angeles… safety pins fashioned into little animals… and vintage matchbooks from Alaska.<\/p>\n

There’s a statement in there somewhere.<\/p>\n

The museum may pitch itself as ordinary… but there is nothing ordinary about a wall of clocks, a giant bear with a knife in its chest, and collections of interesting found-things<\/em> that no one wants to throw out. And, as you start to make your way towards the back of the museum, you discover more unordinary with a sprinkling of je ne sais quoi<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Bells are playing, fuelled by a record player next to a non-functioning piano. This sets the bizarre mood and preps you for the discovery of a Croatian Zvon\u010dari<\/a> that looks like it could spring to life at any moment. Again, not ordinary… more noir<\/em> than mundane. <\/p>\n

There is something sinister with these odd collectables amongst the backdrop of a deserted old barn in the middle of the Vermont wilderness… something very 1980s horror movie. <\/p>\n

It’s definitely worth a stop. This is roadside America at it’s very best!<\/p>\n