Sunday, April 24, 2016

Another nice walk

After church today we came home, had a little lunch, I read and Ellen sewed, then in the late afternoon we took a walk along the West River. It was breezy, cool but lovely. It is still early spring here. The leaves are just starting to come out. There are bluets, little dog-toothed violets, flowering shrubs. A good time to walk. 

                 Bluets 


           Violets

        Unknown flowering shrub 

It has been fairly dry, but Fall Brook is still sending a fair amount of water through this culvert.

            The West River


       Our beautiful covered bridge 

      Early spring view from our deck







Saturday, April 23, 2016

A nice walk and other things

Ellen and I took a nice walk along the old West River Railroad Trail earlier this evening. Naturally, I forgot to bring the phone, so no photos. But we saw bluets, violets and saxifrage in bloom. Part of the trail goes along granite ledge walls covered with lichen and moss. Very lovely.

Earlier today, I went out to do errands at the drug store and stopped at SIT to download and send email. There is a 24/7 study room at the library there with a really fast WiFi connection, one of my favorite spots for doing that sort of thing. 

Yesterday, I met with our Dummerston pastor, Susanna Griefen, to plan music for her final Sunday before her retirement,  May 15th. It will be a music-filled service. The Dummerston choir will sing, but we will also be joined by folks from Guilford who will be worshipping with us that day. 
John and Cynthia will also play during the service. That is also the weekend of our Rachmaninov Vespers concerts. That will be quite a weekend!!

After my meeting, Ellen went to a quilting session, and then we took a little trip together up to Jamaica and Londonderry,   VT, to Grandma Miller's bakery and the Jamaica Cottage Shop, where they build sheds, small cabins and tiny houses. We are still trying to solve the question of what to live in after here. 

This is one of the larger pre-built cabins at Jamaica. I think this one is 40x14. Sort of like a trailer. It comes with kitchen and bath, and a walk-in closet. 

         Interior view - I think they are in the process of installing a kitchen. 

We are not the only ones thinking about houses. The Feinlands had an open house to put their house at Pathways on the market and got two offers! They settled for one at a price higher than their asking price! They have to be out by July 1st. Their new house won't be ready until end of the year. So they will have to find temporary housing for a half-year. We had Tamar for three days and saw their house in pristine condition for the open house when we took her back Wednesday.

The Feinland's living room with no clutter! They had the floor re-finished. 

               Looking the other way. 

One last shot: when we came out of church last Sunday in Dummerston, we saw this hellebore plant in a little woody patch near the church:

         Early spring hellebore

Last Sunday, the service was centered on a couple, Sam and Carol Farwell, and their family. They had been married twenty years before by a J.P., and wanted a church wedding. So Sunday they got it! It was lovely. Just a simple ceremony during the children's story - very similar to what Ellen and I did in 2005. There was a very special coffee hour afterward.

Coffee hour - you can see the "bride and groom" in the center in front of the stove. 
Our pastor, Susanna, is just to their left in a blue jacket with her back to the camera. 


Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Playing catch-up

Wow, it's April 13th. It's been almost ten days since my last post. And what has happened in the intervening days? Well, a lot of singing, for one thing. A week ago Monday, I was scheduled for two rehearsals - one for Carmina Burana, the other a bass section rehearsal for the Rachmaninov Vespers. Both were cancelled because of a snowstorm. Carmina was rescheduled for Wednesday, which meant I sang the full Carmina Burana Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It got better each night, and Saturday, in the Brattleboro High School Gym, it was outstanding. The audience of 500 went wild. Then Sunday morning, we sang in the Guilford Choir, and last night I had the makeup bass sectional. Tonight is the full Rachmaninov rehearsal, tomorrow I will sing Carmina again, and Friday will be Dummerston choir!

Rehearsing the Carmina in the Bellows Falls gym.

Last Saturday we had singing lunch at our house. We were hosting Paul Jones,  visiting from D.C., and a group of his and our friends. It was a lovely lunch and great singing. Different folks brought music to share.

Today we came down to Northhampton to pick up Tamar at Hilltown School and take her to her piano lesson. Now we are headed back to Brattleboro for rehearsal. We'll just make it.

This afternoon we had Harell's ice cream after we picked up Tamar. Ben joined us.

Tamar likes the tire swings 

A bit of artwork at the Hilltown School

Getting ready for lunch last Saturday

         Rehearsing Rachmaninov




Monday, April 4, 2016

Tea party

Sunday afternoon, Ellen put on a little tea party for some women friends - Robin, Eliza and Sue. (There were four others who couldn't make it). Ellen's family has a lovely old Spode China set which she brought up from her sister's, which looked very elegant. She made little quiches and strip sandwiches; Robin brought some date bread, topped with cultivated cream cheese. It was lovely and delicious. (I got to sample everything).  I greeted folks and then retreated to our bedroom where I read and dozed. I'm reading Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton (the basis of the Broadway show Hamilton!). Learning so much I never knew before!

         The table set for a tea party

       The tea set

         Strip sandwiches

            Mini-quiches

       Date bread with cream cheese

The past few days, I have been dealing with some kind of bug, so I've been taking it easy. We did go to church Sunday - our first time at Guilford for a few weeks. Friday evening we went to a local motel so we could watch the NCAA Final Four games - first Villanova trouncing Oklahoma, and then the Carolina TarHeels handily dispatching Syracuse. So tonight, Carolina plays Villanova - it should be an exciting, close game. I have a Carmina Burana rehearsal, but the game doesn't start until almost 9:30 so we can probably watch it somewhere - maybe a local pub.