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Dear Friends:
 
The P. Buckley Moss Museum in Waynesboro, Virginia, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.  I feel like a mother watching her child achieve a milestone birthday.


The P. Buckley Moss Museum celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.  It’s pictured here after a recent snowfall.  Beautiful!

The Museum grounds are especially lovely when covered in snow, and there is a wonderful view of the mountains from the backside of the Museum.  It sits on a hill that just begs for children to bring their sleds and have a ride down.
                                                                                     
I remember when the City of Waynesboro offered the property to me for purchase and how excited I was when I first looked at it and saw its potential.  I almost changed my mind when construction started in the fall of 1988, however.  It rained and rained and rained.  Construction was delayed, and the hole for the basement was filled with water.  I visited the construction site with the Museum’s first director Peter Rippe one day in late November or early December.  I wore my tall boots and heavy coat with a big fur collar.  We had to walk up the hill to the site, because any vehicle we may have driven would have been stuck in the mud.  We almost got stuck in the mud on foot as it was!  We all had a stressful Christmas worrying if we would be able to open the Museum by our target date, which we did.  The Museum was dedicated on May 10, 1989, and we’ve been going strong ever since!


The P. Buckley Moss Museum as it looked while under construction.  That’s me on the left and the Museum’s first director Peter Rippe on the right.

As part of our 20th anniversary celebration, we have decided to reward a monthly mystery guest with a prize of a $50.00 gift certificate.  The gift certificates will be given from February through December, 2009.  We have chosen in advance a day and a visitor number for each remaining month this year.  On that chosen day each month, our receptionist on duty will count the visitors and identify the visitor who matches the previously chosen visitor number.  For example, if February 19th is the chosen day and visitor number 6 is the chosen visitor, the receptionist will present the 6th visitor on February 19th with a package containing the gift certificate.
 
The randomly selected dates and visitor numbers are known only to a select few staff members—and they cannot be bribed!  Of course, they are also ineligible to win the prize.
 
In addition to our 20th Anniversary Monthly Mystery Winner, we will also award a grand prize of a $500.00 gift certificate to the Museum Gift Shop to the 600,000th visitor to walk through the front door of the Museum.
 
So, come by often and visit.  Maybe you will be the Monthly Mystery Winner or, better yet, the 600,000th visitor and Grand Prize Winner.
 
This weekend I’m hosting a meeting of the Board of Directors of the P. Buckley Moss Society at my home in St. Petersburg, Florida.  The weather couldn’t be more perfect for them, and I’m so much looking forward to seeing everyone again.  Board President Mary Lou McMillin and Secretary Sally Gobrecht are coming two days early so we can do some talking and exchange ideas.  The Board of Directors are all volunteers who give so much of their time, energy, and talent for the love of children.  I’m very grateful for their dedication.
 
The Society’s group trip this year is a ten-day cruise on the Mediterranean that will leave from Rome, Italy, on June 28 and return to Rome on July 8.  As many of you know, my daughter Becky lives in Cortona, Italy, and I have a house there with an etching studio.  I’m going to fly to Italy a couple weeks before the cruise so that Becky and I can work on some more etchings together.  She’s my assistant on etchings.
 
Last year we produced a monochrome etching of Pinocchio that was inspired by Italian author Carlo Collodi’s story The Adventures of Pinocchio that was published in 1883.  I bet most of you thought he was a Disney creation!  I’ve been remarquing some of the etchings while I’ve been in Florida, adding color to the original monochrome theme.


I think the remarques have turned out really cute.  I’ve made Pinocchio’s jacket red and his hat and stockings yellow.

I’ve also been working on the painting for the special print edition that will be released during my April Barn Show and Museum Open House.  It features Osceola Mill in Steele’s Tavern, Virginia, which is near Lexington.  The water-powered mill was built in 1849 by Cyrus McCormick, who is famous for inventing the reaper.  McCormick also built McCormick’s Mill, which I have featured in several prints.  The Osceola Mill was originally part of McCormick’s farm and was the largest of seven mills.  Only two of the seven mills remain.  Osceola was active as a mill from 1849 until 1969, when Hurricane Camille put an end to its use as a working mill.  Today, the mill is a bed and breakfast and fine dining restaurant.


This work in progress features Osceola Mill in Steele’s Tavern, VA, and will be released as a print during my April Barn Show and Museum Open House, April 24-26.

Love,
Pat


The Moss Portfolio
74 Poplar Grove Lane
Mathews, VA 23109
(800) 430-1320
©P. Buckley Moss 2009

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