The Third Annual Tortugeezers Reunion

 

Front row: Dave (Odyssey), Rosie, Debby, Dale, Judy, Kathleen, Ellen, Pat, Sally, Heather, Uli & Thomas. Back row: Imke, & Uli, Jeff, Scott, Roy, Jens, Dani, Kevin, Dave (Cordelia), Dave (Ten Years After), Renate, Breck, Don (Woody took the photo and I don't know where Jim is) Scott and Tamara arrived later that day. 

This panorama shows The Hundred Acre Wood ready for guests. 

And here's one showing some of the group out on the deck for drinks: from left, Kathleen, Kevin, Renate, Pat, Thomas, Judy, Uli, Imke, Woody, Scott, Uli (Eiland), Jens, Dani, Heather, Dave (Ten Year's After), Dave (Odyssey). 

Twenty nine of us gathered in Vermont for our Third Annual Tortugeezer Reunion. The first was in New Orleans (Roy & Dale hosted) and the second in Montana (Rosie & Don hosted). The official schedule ran from Thursday October 7th to Monday the 10th. But the three couples from Germany that flew over and graced us with some days before and after. They were a huge help in the preparations and the clean-up. But everyone pitched in during the entire 5 days! We had 4 couples in bedrooms upstairs, one in our RV out front, 2 couples brought their RVs and parked them on the lawn. Two more couples and one single hander (Dave from Odyssey) stayed at Smith Maple Crest Farm B&B and one couple stayed at a hotel in town. 

Dani and Imke came a few days early with their 
husbands from Germany and really helped out
with preparations.

Our first night's dinner - as usual everyone tries to
gather in the kitchen. 

But as everyone remarked, it took a lot of advance planning and cooking. Breakfast was served every morning with fruit, a variety of breads (Rosie & Don brought up tons of bagels and cream cheese from Boston), bacon or sausage and sometimes, eggs. We borrowed a big coffee urn and made endless pots.  We had dinner 3 nights at the house - all sit down with nicely set tables! Twelve folks in the dining room, 9 at the kitchen table and 2 smaller tables with 4 or 5 in the living room. Luckily we have a lot of plates and silverware! 

The kitchen table held 8 or 9

Sally, Breck, Dave and Rosie in the living room
corner table

Twelve in the dining room and voila! All seated.

At the second table in the living room
4 o 5 sat, here Dave, Pat, Kevin and
Kathleen

The first night was steaks on the grill, baked salmon, potato salad, coleslaw, and tossed salad with 3 pies for dessert - apple, blueberry and pecan. I made all the food for the week from scratch. The second night was 3 lasagnas, 2 meat and 1 veggie and a Macaroni & Cheese with a big Asian salad. The dessert was Butter Tarts that Kathleen & Kevin brought. Our third night was the banquet at Cafe Provence in Brandon and it was excellent. The evening started out beautifully out in their covered patio, but after a big 3 course meal, it did get a little chilly. Our last dinner was hamburgers and sausages with another Asian salad, corn on the cob and a tossed green salad. Lots of people brought different appetizers which we served before dinners, sometimes even out on the deck. 

Our second night dinner - meat
and veggie lasagna, mac & cheese and
an Asian salad.

Three pies: apple, blueberry & pecan for 
dessert our first evening. Jeff and Debbie
serve them up.

In the afternoons people filtered in from their day excursions, we lit the fireplace and poured some wine.  Here from left: Don, Scott, Scott (Kookie Dance), Jim and Debbie.

The dining room table (one end) our second night - Thomas, Uli, Imke, Heather, Jim and Renate.

Dave entertained us on our second night. He's 
an amazing singer songwriter and his music 
is a soundtrack to our cruising life. 

Folks did some hiking/walking along the back
roads and on the AT/LT.

The view from the top of Killington. Everyone made the trip up the Gondola and most did the short
hike up to the summit. 

Heather ready to ride up the mountain
on The Beast

Jens, Roy, Heather, Jim, Imke and 
Thomas (some of the daring ones
that chose the Adventure Center)

The weather was amazing, often up to 70+ during the day. And the sun was out almost all the time. Friday I had prepared different itinerates and groups of folks explored our area for the day. They either went south towards Manchester, west to the precision Instrument Museum & the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Park or to Woodstock.  But on Saturday we all went to Killington. I had a arranged group rates ahead of time and people had a choice of the Gondola and Adventure Park, or just the Gondola.  

Uli & Dani ready to zip line 

The zipline went across the lake..

Jim, Heather and Roy prepped for our zipline
experience. Walking up the mountain to the start
with all the equipment was the hardest part!

Here are four tables at our Banquet Night at
Cafe Provence in Brandon, VT
From left: Pat & Dave, Scott, Tamara, 
Kathleen & Kevin

Breck & Sally, Dave, Scott & Heather

Jeff, Debbie, Jim, Renate, Dale & Roy

Uli, Uli, Thomas, Jens, Dani & Imke

Sunday was another free day with many exploring the nearby Appalachian/Long Trail or hiking up to our lake or on the property. Mid day was the Farm to Table Festival right here in Shrewsbury. It was only a mile away from our house and quite a few walked down and back. This is a once a year event and at least 60 vendors sold crafts, food and drinks. There was live music and lots of sunshine. But by 4 PM everyone was out on the deck or inside with drinks and snacks socializing. 

Heather ready to serve Sunday's Dinner

Dave & Pat, Kathleen, Jens and Jim

Matching colors at the Farm to Table - sorry it's
not St. Patrick's Day

Sunday night we enjoyed our last meal of hamburgers (with all the trimmings), sausages, corn on the cob, rolls, and two salads. Lots of cookies for dessert. Ad usual everyone pitched in both in manning the grill or cleaning up afterwards. 

Monday morning everyone enjoyed the breakfast and most said good-byes and headed either home or on further travels. One couple stayed the night, Thomas and Uli, and they worked hard cleaning up everything with us. By the time they left on Tuesday, the place looked like no one had been there!

What a wonderful time with some fabulous friends and everything worked out so well. So well that Dave and Ellen volunteered to host next year's Reunion - up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan next August. We'll be there for sure

Uli and myself 

Breck & Sally

Ellen, Kathleen and Judy

Uli (the male Uli) and Roy on the grill 
Sunday night!

Dave and Scott enjoying the nice weather - 
T-shirts in October!

The Fall with One Exception

 

The Franklin Park Zoo in Boston is a much more colorful experience than we'd had in the past!!!

One of Rowan's favorite parts of the visit -
the Carousel.

We got to see Jesse and Sarah's new baby, Oscar.
They are one of Sean and Will's favorite friends
and we love them.

We got to introduce Rowan to spaghetti and it was
a big hit.

The exception I mentioned was the Tortugeezers Reunion October 3 - 7 (officially). I'm covering that in a separate post. This entry covers the rest of September and October. The month started out with a visit from the Olivo family. Maria, Luis, Flavia and Andrea came to the Boston back in the 90's to get medical treatments for Andrea at Children's Hospital We had volunteered to house families that were unable to afford hotels or rentals. They stayed with us in Brookline that visit but returned over the years for more treatments and on one memorable visit, lived for several months up at our Lake Rescue home.  We've kept in touch and now they are all in the US, some already have residential status and some, work visas. But they are all anxious to become US citizens. Flavia has married a fellow from Massachusetts and their son Giovanni came up with Maria, Luis and Andrea.

Luis, Maria, Giovanni, myself and Andrea

Then we went down to Boston to babysit Rowan while Sean & Will went to a wedding. What a fun weekend we had! We spent a lot of time in playgrounds, nearby at the beach and at the Zoo. Rowan can go down the small slide by himself now and loves it. He really loves everything and goes, goes, goes, until naptime (twice a day) and sleeps through the night. Easy Peasy. 

And then, just a few days later on the 11th my sister Paula passed away. I had Zoomed with her every day and could see she was slowing down more and more but that had been going on so long I still was surprised when they called. She and I had made all her funeral arrangements in advance and I had constant communication with her Rabbi so it was easy to set the funeral for that Sunday afternoon. Scott and I drove down on Saturday. James, Morgen, Kolya, Morgen's sister Claire and Sean all came on Sunday. The funeral was at the gravesite and was really lovely. Rabbi Meeka knew Paula so it was a personal service and a number of her friends from the Synagogue came. James and Sean gave beautiful thoughtful eulogies. 

Two of the dessert pies we made!

Our Cooking Class 2024 Sally, Heather, Pam, Linda and Ronnie
in back, Ed, Debbie, Sandy and Weezie

Pierce's Store here in Shrewsbury is a historic Country Store since the 1865. It was run by the same family until the Marjorie Pierce, the last member, died in 1992. She left the store and her possessions to the Vermont Preservation Trust. The Shrewsbury COOP bid successfully for it and after extensive renovations, reopened it in 2009. I volunteer there most every week and get to run the store for a 4 hour shift, sometimes more than once. But I also make hors d'oeuvres for the wine tastings,  pastries for the Bake Sales, and once a year offer a Cooking Class for 8 students. All the money goes to Pierce's. This year the theme was "Pies, Pies and More Pies". The students come mid afternoon and after cooking up the 3 course meal, we all sit down and enjoy it! It's a great deal of fun and this year netted Pierce's $310.  The menu was Cornish Pasties, Individual Chicken Pot Pies, Salad and for dessert: Pecan, Apple Crumb and Blueberry Pies! Yum! It's a good thing I have 2 ovens.

Scott and Kamala on the campaign
trail

Bela Fleck with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra

A selfie with Kate and Stephen Kelley up at Spring
Lake

Our next visitors were Kate and Stephen Kelley, our neighbors from Brookline. They now live in Hyde Park and down at Pawley's Island in South Carolina. We stop and visit them at the latter on our way south each year in the RV.  There is a concert almost every night here in Vermont and this was no exception. We saw Bela Fleck with the VSO at the Paramount and then the Georgian folk singers, Zedashe Ensemble, in Westminster, VT.  One beautiful day we drove over to Woodstock and after a walk around town and some shopping, had a great lunch at the Woodstock Inn. 

The fall colors were really beautiful as usual.

The buildings in Woodstock are so beautiful and wonderfully
decorated for the fall - here pumpkins, cabbages and 
chrysanthemums. 

Leslie & Dave over at the Coolidge
Family Site.

After the Tortugeezer Reunion we welcomed our last guests of this season (so far): Leslie & Dave Silverstein, Dick Bond & Debby D'Arpa and Marty Wolf.  The weather continued to be nice, although we had one showery morning and played Mexican Train Dominos. On our full day together we drove over to the Coolidge Family Historic Site where Calvin Coolidge grew up and was sworn in as President. His home, the General Store and Cheese Factory (still in production) that his family ran, and the Presidential Museum are all in the small village. These are some of our oldest friends and it is always wonderful to be with them and catch up on news. 

Marty, Scott, Heather, Debby and Dick at the Coolidge Family Historic Site

Clear skies and a full moon seen off the deck.

Our home ready for the many guests this month. The garden and grounds keep us pretty active.

Other events this month were my Three Course Dinner for 8 - bid on at the Library Silent Auction, Scott's weekly Quaker Meeting and numerous Political events, a fabulous Pink Martini concert and a less fabulous Woman in Black at the Weston Playhouse and more music concerts! That's the short list - we keep pretty busy here. 

Gandalf (Will), Legolas (Sean) and Ungoliant
(Rowan) for Halloween.

Scott marching with the "Catocrats" in the 
huge Rutland Halloween parade.