Fall Ended Too Early!

Our first snow and frigid weather came on November 10th! And more is arriving every day!

Earlier in September - the Air and Space Museum is so huge you need several days to see it all. 

Scott and Kolya working on a robot project - lots
a very little pieces.

This immersive work of art at the National 
Gallery of Art  took a while to see it all.

The Botanical Gardens are a good place to go in
the rainy weather!

"Let the wild rumpus begin" at the Museum of
American Indian Culture.

 

The Northeast has been suffering from drought for the first time since they began monitoring in 2000. Impacts are widespread, including water supply and quality issues, increased wildfires, crop losses/low yields, and livestock forage concerns. Here is Shrewsbury many shallow wells have dried up or have little water. Luckily our well is deep and we haven't seen any reduction. The big visible change is a early and drab foliage season. And that means less tourists and unhappier ones than normal. For a change the constant nice weather is negatively commented on! And rain is a delight. Obviously there are lots of other parts of the country that have suffered much more, but it's all quite new to us. 

The modern wing of the Gallery of Art was spectacular!

We've been traveling to visit family this season. First a week babysitting our 7 year old grandson Kolya in Washington DC. They live right in the Capitol District so while he was in school, we visited several of the Smithsonian Museums: Air & Space, Museum of the American Indian & Culture, National Gallery of Art, and the Botanic Garden. James and Morgen had a fun week in Asheville, NC. 

Our oldest son Josh in Central Park

His birthday dinner - Michal, Shira, Heather, Josh,
Cookies, Uzi and Maya

Heather helps with the blowout!

Ready to blow out the many candles - Wilma,
Heather, Brent and Leslie

Brent's birthday party group at the restaurant: back row: Sharome, Morgen, James, Brent, Scott, Wilma, Joseph, Eric, LaVern, Leah, Gabriel, Wandi, Leslie, Lisa and Yosi. Front row: Heather, Muriel and LaVern. 

At Brent & Wilma's home later: Standing: Scott, Lisa, Eric, Maya, Yosi, Heather, Wandi, Joseph, Brent, LaVern, Uzi, Shira, Josh and Michal. Seated: Oren, Leah, Wilma, Lindsey and Muriel. 

Next we drove down to NYC to celebrate 4 birthdays - all in a week's time. Our granddaughters Maya and Ariella's were first, then our son Joshua and last Scott's brother Brent. We stayed two nights with Josh and family in the upper east side of Manhattan and then went over to South Orange, NJ for a big dinner celebration for Brent's 75th. Josh, Michal and 3 of their kids, Maya, Jonathan, and Shira came. James, Morgen and Kolya drove up from Washington. Scott and Brent's Aunt Muriel Fox Aronson, 97, came with her two children, Eric and Lis. She just recently finished her book tour for "The Women's Revolution". 

Chryl, Pam, Liesbeth, Heather, Reesa, Jean Marie, Kim, Sarah and Ella with desserts.

Meanwhile at home we kept busy as usual. Heather had here eighth cooking class to benefit Pierce's Store. The theme was Appetizers & Desserts. Eight students cooked 4 appetizers, two cold and two hot. They worked with puff pastry and filo dough plus arranged canapes. For dessert we made a chocolate raspberry layer cake and two fruit tarts. Five guests joined us for dinner. We raised $460 for the store. 

Grace Church with an unusual apparatus!

Our two Opera Singers - that's Elizabeth 
Wohl on the top.

Pink Martini is one of our favorite groups so we went down to Plymouth to see them and stayed with Debbie and Dick. Marty joined us The concert was wonderful as was the fun company and food! Then the Champlain Philharmonic Symphony collaborated with Arc Benders Circus Opera for a fun version of The Magic Flute at Grace Church. Two opera singers and acrobats performed both physically and vocally. The aerialist and soprano, Elizabeth Wohl, sang the Queen of the Night aria upside down hanging from silks! 

The Vermont Symphony Jukebox quartet

And then the Weston Theater did The Twelfth Night Show. Four band members are thrust into the spotlight when charged with staging a one-of-a-kind production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night to save their beloved theater. There was a good deal of the actual dialogue along with songs, puppets and general antics. Last was the Vermont Symphony's Jukebox String Quartet on stage - performers and audience - with a theme of Strength and Hope. The selections included both Beethoven and Shostakovich, as well as Ethel Smythe and Woody Guthrie! 

And finally for this blog entry, we babysat our 2 year old grandson Rowan in Boston for a week. Sean and Will went to London to celebrate Will's 40th birthday. Halloween was really fun for us - hundreds of kids came to the house and Rowan handed out a lot of candy! He was an adorable duckling and Scott was a giant bee. I was much more pedestrian with a horse head. It was a wonderful week!

Grandpa, Rowan and Jeremy

A bee and duckling prepared for Halloween.

Grammy with Rowan who is trying
out Scott's bee glasses

Great visit to the Children's Museum - here Rowan powers 
up the lights.