July and August (mostly) in Vermont

Rowan is a happy toddler with a lot
of teeth!

Rowan gets his new bathing suit!

He really enjoyed the water, after the first few
minutes!

We had three exceptions to our hope of staying home this summer: Saratoga, NY, Cornish & Lebanon, NH and Bel Air, MD. The first two were RV trips to get closer to various concerts and the last was to visit my sister Paula in the hospital after her stroke.  We spent just two nights at the Saratoga RV Park but packed in lots of activities. We had tickets to Cosi Fan Tutte at the Saratoga Opera with an elegant dinner beforehand at 15 Church St. Then we took a boat cruise on Lake George with perfect weather all weekend! 

Zoe and Sean at the Fourth of July Party

James, Kolya and Morgen

Next we parked Baby in Wilgus Vermont State Park on the Connecticut River for 10 days while we attended two Operas at Opera North, Post Modern Jukebox at the Lebanon Opera House and a Chamber Music Concert at the Marlboro Festival. In between these events we returned home for a visit from the Dave & Leslie Silverstein, dinner at our friends and neighbors, Kristi & Sandy Bragg, my Book Club meeting and a few Board meetings (Scott). 

The view from our campsite at Wilgus State Park
on the Connecticut River

Post Modern Jukebox - a favorite group of ours'
at the Lebanon Opera House

Our last away time was unexpected when my sister Paula had a stroke. Our son James was amazing and visited her many times during the next month. We met him at the hospital with Morgen and Kolya. Scott and I stayed down for 3 days visiting her and meeting with the staff at her Nursing Home in Maryland. She was able to return there with Hospice care and was very comfortable over the next weeks until her death in September. Although I didn't get down there again before her passing, James arranged video calls with her each day and that was wonderful. Paula was my only sister and we were very close so it's a very sad loss for all our family. More on the funeral at my next post.

There were two weeks in a row of heavy 
rainfall in Vermont with our Northeast
Kingdom getting hammered. But our stream,
although raging, stayed in it's banks

Kolya and I working on drawings during our 
visit down to Maryland in August.

But there were lots of good times right here at home. First was our Annual Fourth of July gathering. It was mainly a family affair this year with James, Sean and Zoe all coming. The former two with their families and Zoe on her own - but staying 10 days. Larry and Zuzia came for the weekend as did Marty & Jenny Wolf and Scott Silverstein and his family. The weather was wonderful and we spent a good part of every day up at the lake. 

Heather, Scott, Julie & Peter at one of our many
meals out - here at the Long Trail Brewery,

Next guests were Julie & Peter Gowan taking the train from Toronto. They are Kiwis now living in Australia and here visiting their son and his family. We were buddy boats together one season in the Bahamas. They sold "Anything Goes" a few years later. We visited Woodstock and the Billings Farm Museum one day and another full day at the Precision Instrument Museum and Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site. We were out every evening (that's what it's like in Vermont in the summer): Shrewsbury Concert Series, Library Street Dance, and Opera North's Into The Woods. During the week they helped us plan next year's trip to New Zealand and Australia!

Scott, Brent and Wilma at Hubbarton Battle Site

Heather & Brent enjoy the view at the Taconic
rambles State Park Japanese Garden.

Scott's brother Brent and wife Wilma came for a week in August too. We had some great times with them - a trip to Taconic Rambles State Park and the Hubberton Battle Site, a Shrewsbury Singers Concert and Scott and Brent's first cousin Eric came over one night for a visit with us all. And through it all were stints volunteering at Pierce's Store, the Library, my work with the Rutland Garden Club and Scott's (endless) Board meetings! It's non stop fun here! But that's enough for this post - next and last for awhile - the Fall!

Kolya's Graduation from Kindergarten 

Picnic lunch up at the Lake,.

Shrewsbury Concerts up at Center Shrewsbury -
sorry, hard to see the band down there but good
 view of our Church and Meeting Place

Scott, my cousin Joanie, husband Kent and another 
cousin, Jane and her husband

Peter and Julie at the Shrewsbury Concert

Jane, Joanie and myself

Lots of Catching Up!

My sister Paula celebrated her birthday on 
May 15th at her long term care facility. She
was feeling great at this point.

Will, Heather, Scott, Sean and Rowan out for dinner after our week babysitting Rowan while both Sean and Will spent the week working. Will in Dublin, Ireland and Sean in California.

Scott spent a lot of time on the floor with
Rowan. Kitchen equipment makes great
toys!

 Well it's been a long time since my last blog post and lots of catching up to do. We have mostly enjoyed being in Vermont this summer and fall but did spend a wonderful week down in Boston babysitting our newest grandson Rowan and a few short trips around New England visiting friends and attending concerts.  On a very sad note, we also spent time in Maryland, the first time after my sister Paula had another stoke and the second time for her funeral.

But I'll start here in May and go through June in this post. Next one - July and August. We started the month babysitting Rowan, and retuned again in June to help out Will when Sean was away. 

Back home in Vermont we cleaned up the garden, and returned to our usual routine. Heather works with the Rutland Garden Club and volunteers at Pierce's Store. Scott serves on a bunch of boards as Treasurer. The Vermont Food Center is a new organization that he is really enjoying. It's very busy renovating a huge complex in Rutland. 

Will's Dad Gary spent the first two days of our
babysitting week with us. 

He is also on the boards of our town and county Democratic Committees, Green Mountain Neighbors and Treasurer for Adrienne Raymond, who is running for State Representative. 

And we had friends over for dinner and was invited out to several others. Both of us volunteer at our local library as well. And there's always our bridge group and Bone Builders!

In June we traveled down to Falmouth where our friends Karen and Ted finished construction on a new wing for their second home. The Silversteins, Bond-D'Arpas and Doug joined us one day for lunch. The weather was amazing and we enjoyed several nearby hikes. On the way back we stopped for a few days to help out Will. 

Dinner with two of our closest couples here in
Shrewsbury - the Eldred and Lily on the left
and our hosts Chryl and Gerry in the middle.

The scenic path out to The Knob at Quissett Harbor

Karen and Scott 

The view from Karen and Ted's home in North Falmouth, MA at sunset!

At the end of May we spent a busy fun day in 
Brattleboro, VT. Here having lunch on the river.

We visited the Estey Organ Museum

And watched a Morris Dance Festival in downtown. There is SO much to do every weekend in Vermont!

We went down to Bellows Falls bringing lunch to Heather's first cousin
Judy Halberg and her daughter Debbie. Judy is the last of Heather's
 first cousins on her father's side . And Debbie was our first Nanny for James! 

Last Days of This Year's Trip

Heather, James, Morgen, Kolya and Scott at Artomatic

We spent 3 nights enjoying a visit with our son James, daughter-in-law Morgen and our 5 year old grandson Kolya. They live in the Capitol District of Washington DC and spring was in full bloom there. The gardens are small but packed with flowers - some spring bulbs but the roses were in full bloom and every color was represented. 

Kolya is quite an artist and we enjoy working
together.

He loves wearing as little clothes as possible 
around the house.

James and Morgen, surrounded by books. Morgen
works in a bookshop nearby and she and James
are voracious readers.

Our first full day we got to take Kolya to school. It's a half a block away! Then Scott and I went downtown and visited the National Portrait Gallery and have lunch. We picked that museum due to the opening of Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris. But we also enjoyed Struggle for Justice and the portraits of recent Presidents.

On Saturday we took Kolya to the Arboretum - he loves it there. His interests are the buttercups (which he can sit and enjoy, and pick) and the Koi in the pond surrounding the Visitor's Center. . But he also loved the walks through the Azalea Garden - he found lots of little paths between the official trail!

Kolya among the buttercups.

Enjoying the Koi with a new friend. 

Sunday we all went out for Brunch and then to the last day of the Artomatic show. This pop up month long sporadic, peripatetic art festival by local artists takes place in an empty office building. This one had 5 floors packed with artists shows - hundreds. Morgen entered one year and another friend of her and James', who we met there, has also entered several times.  It was a celebratory crowd (there were several bars available, also pop up). Kolya is very creative and loves art. He really enjoyed it (for awhile anyway). 

Enjoying the art!

This is one small section of a single floor. Some were open
totally and others divided into small rooms, each with a 
different artist. 

But all too soon we had to return up to our RV Sunday night. We stopped in to see Paula that evening and again in the morning before hitting the road north and home. We left Maryland at 9 AM and arrived back in Shrewsbury at 4:30 PM - 8.5 hours, not bad and especially since we stopped and had lunch at Panera. It's wonderful to be home and although the trees are still bare, there are lots of daffodils and other early spring flowers. But we only have barely a week here. On Sunday we drive to Boston to babysit our 9 month old grandson Rowan for the week. Our son Sean and son-in-law Will are both away with work commitments. 

Heading Home!

The best view from our window since the Santa
Rosa RV Park where we were on the beach!

The pond was small but evidently had good fishing
as several people were busy at it. 

Entering Virginia felt like we were in the last phase of our trip, with only 9 days left. I had read about the Walnut Hills Campground a year before on one of our RV site reviews and planned it as our last stop before returning to the Bar Harbor RV Park in Maryland where we've stayed at every year near my sister's. It's a beautiful setting in the hills just outside of Staunton with a small pond and meandering streams. Our site was right on the pond and the view from our dinette was lovely. 

Several pretty streams wandered around our
campground.

We enjoyed a big breakfast lunch after our hike at
Kathy's Diner in Staunton. 

We saw several deer on our hike: they were not at
all worried about us. 

We had two nights there. On our one full day spent the morning hiking around a local park.. We thought we were ascending a small hill to a viewpoint over the mountains but got the wrong hill! Oh well, it was still a pretty walk with several glimpses of a herd of deer. That worked up our appetite, which was a good thing as the brunch at Kathy's Diner was enormous. 

"The Manse", Woodrow Wilson's birthplace in Staunton, VA

Wilson's 1919 Pierce-Arrow limousine was
completely restored and very beautiful.

The "interactive" replica of a WWI trench is in
the basement of the museum.

I love these old kitchen's. This one reminded me
of my grandparents' in Canton. They still had 
their old wood stove when I was young.

The historic downtown features many beautiful homes and buildings all perched on a series of hills! The streets are narrow and steep. Luckily we got to our next destination, the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Birthplace just before it opened. So we were able to get a parking space in the small lot. 

We spent the afternoon touring the Museum and Birthplace. "The Manse" is called that as it was the residence of the Presbyterian Minister. It was built in 1846 and the Wilsons moved into it in 1855 just before Woodrow was born. They only spent 3 years there, Woodrow only 2, but he continued to go back for visits all his life and somehow thought of it as "home".  His widow Ellen (his second wife) bought it after his death in 1924 and along with his friends and the city, created the Birthplace Memorial. 

He was the 28th President of the Untied States and served two terms from 1913 to 1921. Before that he had been Governor of New Jersey and President of Princeton. Although though as Governor he broke with party bosses and instituted several progressive reforms, during his presidency he instituted segregation within the federal bureaucracy and opposed women's suffrage.. But he later came to support the women's right to vote and if his dream of creating the League of Nations after WWI had worked, we might have avoided the even more disastrous WWII. 

On Monday night we celebrated Passover with a simple Seder ceremony with Paula. She converted to Judaism many years ago and has been a very active member of Temple Adas Shalom.  

The next day was an easy drive briefly through West Virginia and then into Maryland. Baby was settled into her site at the Bar Harbor RV Park by 4 PM and we drove right over to see my sister Paula. She has settled right into the long term health care facility close to her old apartment. Sterling Care Riverside is also right near our RV park so it's easy to run back and forth. We bring her breakfast in the morning (a cheese & pepper & onion omelet and coffee) and then dinner in the evening. The first evening I made her dinner but after that we got Indian and Chinese takeout - fun for all of us. 

We woke up on our first morning to this - a very
high tide due to the winds and a full moon. 
Scott had to wade out to our truck to move it.

The staff knew enough to empty the sites right on
the water. We were just beyond the worst of the
flooding but had to pick our way to dry land from
our RV.

On Thursday we drove down to Washington DC for a 3 night visit with our son James, our daughter-in-law Morgen and 5 year old grandson Kolya. That will be my next blog entry!