Bats, VOLT and Eleanor Roosevelt

Another glorious day. The weather has been incredible this week. We cleaned the house early this morning. Our landlord has the cottage for sale and is showing it to someone. We left it quite tidy when we went off to the amp for the devotional hour.

At noon I found a seat on the porch of Alumni Hall to hear a presentation about osteoporosis by Dr. Abby Abelson of the Cleveland Clinic (and also a long-time Chautauquan). It was mostly what I already know, but it was a pleasant afternoon to be sitting on the porch.

I overheard a conversation while I was waiting for the osteoporosis talk that was interesting. Chautauqua has a lot of bats and the Bird and Garden Club sponsors a “Bat Chat” every week. Although they can be scary when you get one in your house, they are credited with keeping the bug and mosquito population down. However, the bat lady was sitting next to me and telling someone else that the white nose fungus is killing hundreds of the most common variety of bat here so we can expect more mosquito bites.

Here’s Carol’s bat report taken from the same e-mail as the gate pass excuses and schedule craziness reported earlier:

Bat report: Chautauqua has always been mosquito free because of huge colonies of bats on the grounds. They love these old shabby victorian attics! Well, so far here at the Cambridge we have had 4 that we have known about (3 were apprehended before causing shreeks from those cowering in the corner and the 4th flew never to reappear). I found one after returning from a concert as it hung in black on the yellow wall. I calmly backed out and alerted the pro's. Bat catching is an art. Get the Bat Box (an old shoebox). Get step stool (in order to reach). Creep up (surprise is a key element here) and quickly put the box over the bat on the wall. Call another brave soul who shoves the cover of the box against the wall letting bat scramble inside box rather than along hall way. Stroll outside and open cover. Bat flies off. Those cowering in corner marvel at how brave the bat patrol is! Whew. Then wait until the next one is sighted. Repeat.



There was a crowd on the Plaza this afternoon. General Motors Chief Engineer Pamela Fletcher had a Chevrolet VOLT on display as part of the week’s theme of “Powering the Future.” It is attractive, but certainly wouldn’t fit our lifestyle.





At 7 John and I went to the Women’s Club on the Lake next to the Athanaeum to hear Alice O’Grady do a first person presentation on Eleanor Roosevelt. It was similar to the presentations we had heard at the Reno Chautauqua earlier this summer. We met Alice last summer when we stayed at the Cambridge. She stays there every summer. For several years she wrote about the morning lectures for the Daily but has retired.

John was very tired so went home. I joined the Quastlers at the Symphony in the amphitheater at 8 p.m. The program included Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 and a Sinfonia Concertante by Miklos Rozsa.