Music, Music, Music

Our Shrewsbury concerts are usually held outside
the Shrewsbury Meeting House.

And we get a big crowd. A different food vendor
comes each time and provides dinner.

Our friend Sally joins us each summer for 
all Opera North productions and we have a
lovely picnic first. 

 

We don't lack for opportunities for live music near us of every kind. This last week alone we saw the New York City Ballet at Saratoga, the Marriage of Figaro at Opera North in Cornish, NH and singer/song writer Rod MacDonald right here in Shrewsbury. Earlier we saw The Little Prince and next week The Man of La Mancha, both Opera North Productions. 

That's Opera North's tent named "Charlotte"

The view from our picnic spot and the Opera North tent. It overlooks the Connecticut River.

A view inside the tent for The Little Prince!

Sunset at the outdoor Vermont Symphony concert
in nearby Castleton

This Thursday we're seeing White Christmas at the Weston and a few weeks later The Book Club Play at the Dorset. Right here in Shrewsbury we have a series of 6 concerts throughout the summer and could go to any number of others in nearby communities. Sean and Will joined Scott for a Vermont Symphony Orchestra evening and we'll get down to Marlboro for one of their Chamber concerts.  The choices are endless! And that's only July!

Another Great Fourth of July

Scott set up a "Slip & Slide" out on the lawn and it got plenty of use. 

We have been hosting a Fourth of July weekend since around 1982 or 3. So over 50 years. For most of that time it was 5 families: Wolfs, Silversteins, Youmans, Barns, Bond D'Arpas, and ourselves. Until 2007 it was held at our home in Ludlow, Tall Timbers on Lake Rescue. When we moved to The Hundred Acre Wood in Shrewsbury, the party continued. Now there is a third generation appearing! 

Sean, Nora and Grace try to persuade Rowan to
jump in.

Sean & Will

Rowan and Grandpa

This year we had 18 total gather over 5 days, coming and going at different times. First to appear was our youngest son Sean and his husband Will and son Rowan, along with our daughter Zoë, who flew in from California. Then our next oldest son James with his wife Morgen and son Kolya. Morgen's sister Claire, her husband Bill and daughters Grace and Nora joined us again this year the following night. Larry Barns and Zuzia came the same day. Finally Scott Silverstein, his wife Laura and son Calvin drove down from Richmond, VT for two days. We missed members of the Wolfs, Bond-D'Arpas, Youmans and the senior Silversteins this year. 

Zuzia, Kolya, Morgen, Claire, Bill, Heather & Zoë

The weather was generally excellent with only one day of occasional rain. Most people were up at the lake mornings and afternoons! As usual there were amazing meals at least three times a day. We also celebrated Rowan's second birthday although the actual date was a few days later. I'm sorry to say that I was very remiss in taking photos! But a selection from the very few are included here.  More on July doings in my next post!

Sean Rowan, Kolya

Claire & Nora , armed with a water gun!

Morgen in the second tube 

On the swim raft: Scott, Will, James, Laura and Zoë & Morgen behind. Calvin and Kolya are in the water. 

Scott, Rowan, Sean, Will, James, Zoë, Scott S. and Morgen

Of course S'mores were on the menu! Laura and
Claire are supervising Heather, Kolya and Grace.

Kolya became quite efficient at them!

Rowan's birthday cake was a hit with 
everyone - lemon cake with yogurt.

Morgen, James and Zoë enjoy a good book!

Our one rainy day we had a thunderstorm with good sized hail!

Home At Last

My line up of herbs on the railing.

Window boxes brighten up the deck

Vases of peonies - they don't last long!

Spring has meant a lot of rain and quite cool weather for us since our return. But yesterday and today summer finally arrived with bright sunshine and warm temperatures. The garden is really beautiful this time of year with the peonies, rhododendrons, phlox and poppies adding lots of color to the various bright greens. I planted 5 window boxes with annuals and a large herb collection on the railing in front: parsley, basil, thyme, mint, oregano, and rosemary. 

Heather, Sean and Rowan - out for a brew

Gary, Will's Dad, also came for a visit on his way
to Spain.

Rowan loves to laugh and Scott really gets him
going!

Will and Sean

We've been kept really busy with community events and social occasions. But our first weekend we spent down in Boston with son Sean, son-in-law Will and our youngest grandson Rowan. He has grown up so much in these last six months. He'll be 2 in July and chattering away already. We even understand most of the words! He's a darling. 

I'm back at work doing 4 hour shifts at Pierce's Store, volunteer of course. And we had a huge turnout for our spring wine tasting. I made 4 different appetizers for sale - all goes to support Pierces, a non profit co-op. We had a 7 piece band too! Scott is now attending his many board meetings in person and now can return to his Quaker meeting on Sundays. We had their annual meetings and dinner at our house one Sunday. There are a variety of concerts too - here in Shrewsbury and around our area. The bluegrass group, Green Mountain Boys, performed at our Town Hall to a packed crowd. My book club met to discuss Where the World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean. The meetings are once a month at a member's home and this time we all stayed for a pot luck dinner. 

The food and wine line. We had 8 different kinds
of appetizers. I made 4 of them.

A view around the room. The events are held in 
the renovated garage behind Pierce's Store. That
me on the left.

There were seven musicians overall but they
weren't all on stage at on every piece.

The Green Mountain Boys (and woman) at the
Town Hall. 

We both joined our local MINT, a Makerspace facility. "Makerspace programs provide space and resources for individuals to design, experiment and invent, fostering creativity, problem-solving and collaboration." Here in Rutland it's in a huge former warehouse with a warren of activity. I've rented a 8ft by 8ft space as a studio and Scott uses the variety of machines, like 3D printers and woodshop machines. Their funds ran out and they had to let go of their paid staff so now it's all being run by volunteers!

My last living first cousin on my father's side, Judy Halburg, celebrated her 90th birthday in June. That's her in the center with Heather on the left. Over 100 guests attended a beautiful luncheon in her honor. Most of them were descended from my father's sister, Judy's mother, Edna. 

Scott has returned to baking sourdough bread!

 

We both volunteer at our local library and I'm a member of the Rutland Garden Club. We maintain over 16 gardens around the city and mine is the local Senior Center. Scott helps me with is along with 2 other members. I must admit this is getting to be difficult for me, along with my own huge garden, but it's OK for now. I'm not walking as much as I should but we do Bone Builders twice a week. It's an hour of weights, stretches, meditation designed for Seniors. But we are sure keeping busy as you can see from this write up! 

And on the 1st of July our family and friends start arriving for our annual Fourth of July weekend. More about that in my next post. 

Last Stop Before Home

 

Kolya loves climbing the "rocks" at the
playground near their home. 

Our last stop was a Memorial Day weekend with our son James, daughter-in-law Morgen and grandson Kolya in Washington DC. We left Walt & Honoree at 8 AM after a terrific big breakfast and arrived at our Cherry Hill RV Park at 6 PM - a very long day. The last two hours were spent crawling along the highways around Washington. What a relief to settle in for the night with some excellent leftovers from the night before. 

A scattering of beautiful waterlilies were in 
bloom

We saw a lot of herons - green and here, blue.

It's an easy drive on a Saturday morning into the Capitol District where they live and the weather was lovely. Morgen's parents came for dinner and we were able to sit outside outside and eat James' excellent mixed grilled meats. The next day, after some time at the park with Kolya, we drove to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. This National Park Service site was once a thriving business in aquatic plants back in the early 1900's and since 1921 was run by Helen Shaw Fowler, one of the few woman running a big business. The government bought the property in 1938 and it encompasses many ponds of rare waterlilies and lotuses plus the biggest preserved marsh land in the District. 

Grassy and gravel walkways wend their way through the watery landscape.

Kolya's inseparable companion that weekend
was the sea otter we brought him from 
Vancouver. 

James and Morgen

The weather continued to be lovely so we all went out to our RV park on Monday and enjoyed the playground and water park before having dinner on the patio at our RV. We needed to make an early start on Tuesday morning as we had another long day before reaching home. And it was long - another 10 hours. We were so tired that when we got to the border of Vermont, we stopped at the Welcome Center and had our dinner! We found a lovely spot in the truck/trailer parking lot and had a nice view of the Bennington Monument and the hills. 

Enjoying dinner at Baby at the Cherry Hill RV Park - where we have stayed now many times. But this was the first time in warm weather where we got to enjoy their amenities. 

Like the water park.

So we were a bit rested when we pulled into our driveway at 7 PM and found enough energy to unpack a few things. But it was an early night to bed. Our own bed...after 5 months away. "There's no place like home", to quote Dorothy. 

And a fire where we made s'mores!

Graduations Galore

Sean, Scott, Josh, Shira, Maya, Heather & Uzi at the Columbia graduation

The happy graduates, Daniel and Ariella

Our grandson Nick, new graduate from 
University of California, Merced!

Three of our grandchildren graduated from college this May! We were only able to attend 2 of them, both our oldest son Josh's, Daniel and Ariella "Cookie" from Columbia University. Zoë's son Nick graduated from University of California at Merced the week before but they couldn't get extra tickets so we watched the live feed. That really worked out well and we were able to see Nick get his diploma! 

Daniel with his friends, all new graduates at the party (Ariella had left to attend another party)

We flew from Vancouver to NYC and stayed three nights with Josh and Michal and all five of our grandchildren. Our youngest son Sean also joined us from Boston. The graduation took place over 2 days. The first was the ceremonies of individual schools within Columbia. Both Daniel and Cookie attended Columbia College. The second day was for the entire university where the President conferred the degrees. Daniel is heading to Oxford in the fall for Medical School. Cookie finished in only 3 years and is taking a year before starting medical school as well. 

Daniel and Sean

We lucked out on weather on our first day but the second was rainy. It didn't stop thousands cheering their sons and daughters! We had a big party at the apartment with lots of new graduates attending. Altogether a wonderful time. We're so proud of our grandchildren!!!

On Thursday we flew down to Raleigh, NC. Walt & Honoree picked us up. They have been keeping Junior and Baby for us for the last three months. We only had one night there before driving north to Washington DC to visit our son James and his family for Memorial Day weekend. It was a grueling 10 hour trip due to arriving in the city at rush hour! But the result is a lovely visit, which I'll cover in my next post.

The graduates filing into the ceremony on the first
day!

That's Shira and Michal center left. We got very
good seats on the second day but not all 
together, 

Sean was able to whip out his phone and take this photo of Daniel and Ariella on the big screen - amazing since it was only up for a brief time!