Artist Date

^{Taxidermy coyote in mammal exhibit.}

Last winter I read Julia Cameron’s The Artist Way. Because I distrust certain kinds of self-help books, I’d avoided it for a long time. But her two main pieces of advice are really useful: write every morning before your day begins and schedule regular ‘artist dates’ with yourself.

I’ve been good about writing in the morning. It orders my thinking, allows me to develop ideas, and generally provides a venue for letting go of the petty annoyances that rack up over the day. But this summer — due to my litany of stupid injuries and generally busyness — I’d dropped the ball on artist dates.

Simply put, an artist date is an appointment with yourself to do something that opens you to the possibilities of your practice. It’s done alone. And there’s no value attached to the nature of the activity. It could be a visit to a museum, but it could also be a walk in a crowded mall. It can be an hour or take all day.

_{Marsh trail from Cape Cod Museum of Natural History toward Wing’s Island.}

Earlier in the week I’d started a list of potential artist dates. The Cape Cod Museum of Natural History was top of the list. To be honest, I didn’t start my day with visiting the museum on my agenda. I’d spent the morning driving to Highfield Hall in Falmouth to pick up a painting that had been exhibited there this summer (Highfield Hall is also worth a visit!). Perhaps in the spirit of an artist date, because I find driving old roads to be meditative, I decided to drive back on RT 6A. In Brewster I saw the Museum’s sign and pulled in.

It’s a great small museum, optimized for children, with exhibits about the history, geology, flora and fauna of the Cape. There’s a lot of hands-on learning for kids and some great installations for people of all ages. For me, however, the real delight were the trails behind the museum, through a salt marsh to Wing’s Island and the Brewster Flats.

_{Stairs from Wing’s Island toward the Brewster Flats}

Wing’s Island is the center of the trail and of particular interest to me given its recovered forest in proximity to the marshland. From the Brewster Conservations Trust website:

The John Wing Trail, from Route 6 A beside the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History to Wings Island provides a view of the habitats that are typical of the Cape Cod Bay shore: upland forest, salt marsh, salt meadow, dunes, and mud flats. Wings Island provided a rich environment for Native Americans and settlers. Stones placed in Sachemas Field have been arranged to show a pattern similar to what Native Americans might have used to mark time. The Island was also the site of early salt works and salt hay harvesting. Paines Creek, to the east, leads to Brewster’s famous Herring run into Lower Mill Pond. Wings Island is named after John Wing, Brewster’s first colonial settler. Walkers are encouraged to visit the Museum of Natural History.

Round trip trail length: 1.3 miles.

Directions: Parking is available at Drummer Boy Park. The trailhead is approximately 0.3 miles east, adjacent to the Museum of Natural History.

The day was over 90 degrees when I hot the trail, so at best I did a cursory review. But this trail system is on my radar for a longer review later this fall.