Summer Activities Round-up

Will, Sean, Heather, and Scott at Jacob's Pillow, MA in July.
PHOTOS below are so small. If you click on them they will enlarge.

This was a fabulous summer (compared to last year)! We attended tons of musical and art events: Opera, Dance, Symphony, Popular Music, Museums, and Chamber music. We saw the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood, Jacob's Pillow, Mass MOCA, Opera North at Blow Me Down Farm (4 productions), the Saint Gaudens National Park, "The Iliad" and "Seussical" at Weston Playhouse, Marlboro Chamber Music Festival, the Yellow Barn, Village Harmony at Westminster, VT, Vermont Symphony at the Paramount Theater, ABBA Tribute at the meadow at the Vermont State Fair, JAG Burlesque at the theater on the Hill (at King Arthur Flour), and Tosca at Barn Opera.  In addition, our town of Shrewsbury had weekly concerts up at our Town Hall all summer! Our RV "Baby" came in handy too with 4 three-day mini holidays down in Pittsfield, Mass., Amherst, Mass., Cornish, NH, and North Adams, Mass.  Almost all of these were outdoors, and if not, they checked vaccination certificates and mandated masks. Now that is a summer to remember!

On our 3 day trip to Western Mass. we attended 2
concerts at Tanglewood, The first night a storm
came up during our picnic and we lucked out under
this canopy. 

Sean & Will are members so they scored these 
tickets inside the shed for both concerts.

The grounds of Tanglewood are so beautiful. We came here every summer with a number of families
when the kids were young for a week.

Looking down at the stage at Jacob's Pillow. We
sat in the front row. The photo on the right was
taken at Mass MOCA where we spent our last day.

And of course, we had lots of friends and family visit. In May we had a lovely dinner with Gail and Colin in Middlebury. In June Scott's cousin, Lisa had us down for her youngest son's Graduation Party and then came up for a stay here later in August. Brent & Wilma joined us in a rental RV for that party and then came up to Vermont for a visit. The Fourth of July was amazing this year with almost everyone there over 5 days of fun and food (separate blog post).  Sean, Will, and Gary (Will's Dad) came for a separate visit just after that. We had a great time with Suzanne Falter, who came from Oakland, CA. Our daughter Zoe, grandsons Nick, and Tommy stayed for a week in August. Jenny & Russ Wolf made it up in August too. Coming soon, Barbara Craig will be arriving from Bonita Springs, FL on her yearly visit north. 

Colin and I at the Smiths in Middlebury

Heather with Brent and Wilma in June

My women's book club meeting in July at 
Connie's house in Shrewsbury. Two photos taken
in opposite directions,

Next week we go down to North Adams for two nights and then the following week, Heather will drive down to see her sister Paula in Maryland and then on to Washington DC for a visit with James, Morgen, and Kolya. Scott is taking the train down during the week to join us. 

We spent two nights at an RV park near the Opera
North's Blow Me Down Farm and one day visited
the Saint Gaudens National Park location nearby.

One of Saint Gaudens most famous sculptures, the
original is in the Boston Gardens.

We walked around the extensive grounds and
 enjoyed a picnic there.

This is the main house where he and his family
lived. It's now a museum as is the whole property.
His wife gave it to the National Parks service.

The gardens were spectacular. There was a resident
Sculptor, and we could tour the studios. His pieces
were so big that he had many assistants, sculptors
in their own right. 

Our grandson Tommy and Nick helped pile up our
wood for the winter during their visit.

We attended an ABBA tribute concert that really
rocked with them and our daughter Zoe. But their
favorite event was touring the Star Trek Original
Set in Ticonderoga, which Scott and I had done
earlier this summer (see the blog post).

My book club met in August at my home. My book
choice was "An Embarrassment of Mangos" which
contains many recipes. Each person chose one and
we had a fabulous dinner together. 

A small group of the many dishes at our dinner..
The photo opposite is of a Village Harmony
Concert. 

Our plans now (subject to change) are to fly down to Guatemala at the beginning of November for one month and get Scott Free ready to sail. She needs a haul and a survey for insurance purposes and that will lead to a list of repairs of that we're sure. Then back to Vermont for December and Christmas with our family. At the end of the month, we'll return to Guatemala and hopefully, leave for good mid-January. We plan to spend a few months in Belize and then begin the long trip back up to the Chesapeake where we will put Scott Free up for sale. Sean & Will hopefully will be joining us for some of that trip, along with several couples from Shrewsbury. 

Nick & Tommy check out the shuttlecraft

And beam up!