Last times in Vermont (for now)

It has snowed pretty consistently since mid November and we've never lost our snow cover. I'm sure glad we moved our RV over to Saratoga RV Park before then. 

 

Leslie, Rowan and Gail getting our Thanksgiving Dinner ready

November and December seem like non stop holiday time. We alternate having our family between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year we went up to Middlebury to have Thanksgiving with our friends the Smiths and welcomed our two younger sons home with their families for Christmas. They both came for a week. James, Morgen and Kolya drove up from Washington DC and Sean, Will and Rowan from Boston. 

Christmas Eve Dinner: from left: Sean, Will, Rowan, Heather, James, Kolya and Morgen..

Everyone enjoyed the snow with lots of play and sledding. Visits to the Montshire Science Museum, King Arthur Flour, and Wonderworks kept the kids happy. Plus of course tons of presents, food, drink and conversation (and lots of hugs). More photos from Christmas at the end!

Usually it's the other way around!

Opening presents - Rowan enjoyed the opening
almost as much as the presents.

But Kolya is at an age to appreciate the  
presents, especially his new tablet.

I made Maple Pecan Sticky Buns (NY Times)
for the first time for Xmas morning Yum!

Scott having fun at Wonderfeet in Rutland

Lunch at King Arthur Flour

And here in Shrewsbury and Rutland there were so many holiday events. We couldn't attend them all! Some of that was due to our both getting colds. I got mine just before an appointment with my primary down in Boston so got tested for COVID and the Flu. Happily it was neither although the cold has hung on forever. Scott got his a little later and we're both need some warmth and sunshine to fully recover. In Boston we had our Holiday Open House, this year hosted by Sean & Will. I started this tradition when I was single in 1970 - so 55 years. Pretty amazing. In Shrewsbury we had the annual Cookie Swap and Silent Auction. The library was beautifully decorated with live music, lots of cookies and other treats and tons of friends. The Rutland Garden Club had a festive December Holiday Party and earlier I attended a workshop to make a holiday centerpiece. Our friend Barbara was visiting us and came too. 

Barbara and myself with a few of the Rutland Garden Club members at the holiday centerpiece workshop. 

My eighth Cooking Class to benefit Pierce's store was so much fun. We did Appetizers and Desserts which included two hot and two cold appetizers and two fruit tarts and a layered Chocolate Cake. The eight students were invited to invite a guest for the meal and we raised $460. As usual I worked shifts running the store (as a volunteer) and made the appetizers for one more wine tasting. Our last event was last night when my Book Club had a Potluck dinner here.

My students and myself pos in from of our dessert table. This was my eighth Cooking Class to benefit Pierce's Store.

But our sons left a few days ago and we're now packing up everything to leave. Tomorrow we close up the house and drive over to our RV "Baby" at the Saratoga RV Park in N.Y. Then Friday morning we head south. The sunshine and relative warmth is beckoning to us!!!

Will and Rowan 

Making corn bread with Sean and Rowan

Kolya and Rowan enjoy the new tablet

Reading stories with Morgen

Grandpa has a turn pulling Rowan
to the top of the hill.

Building things at the Montshire Science Museum

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.

What Do You Do When You Retire?

Sunrise on our deck - time to water the flowers. We've had almost no rain for a month - very unusual for Vermont!

We still have friends and family who are working full time way past 65. They worry about what they'll do with themselves once they stop work It's really hard for Scott and I to empathize. Of course, we retired around 55, sold our home in Boston, bought a sailing boat and moved aboard. And for a good deal of next 20 years, sailed around the Caribbean. But since we sold it in 2022 we've been more at home and still find an enormous amount to do. In fact we both need to practice the word "No".

Heather manning the cash register at Pierce's
Store in Shrewsbury., since 1865 (the store not
Heather)!

Here's the view the other direction but there are
several rooms out in the back too.

In 2007 we bought our current home here in Shrewsbury, VT and we could be here full time and never be bored. This community has provided wonderful friends and opportunities to serve and be served. We're often asked if we plan to move closer to our children or permanently to a warm climate. No chance. We are confident that no matter our needs as we grow old, this is the place that will meet them. 

Marty, Debbie, Ted, Scott, David, Karen and
Heather in Plymouth for dinner.

Scott, David, Dick, Debbie, Marty.

Post Modern Jukebox

It's been a busy summer. Besides the big trip out to Michigan, we visited friends in Plymouth and saw Post Modern Jukebox followed by a weekend in Boston. In September we had a weekend up in Burlington to see the premiere of Downton Abbey The Grand Finale (amazing dinner at this year's Vermont best restaurant, Honey Road). Our youngest son Sean and his husband bought a lake house in Western Mass. with friends and we had a lovely time visiting them. Scott's brother Brent, wife Wilma and their cousin Lisa came for a stay. 

Sandy Bragg is the Sommelier at Pierce's Store
and runs wine tastings and here, a Wine Pairing.

The Wine Pairing Seminar was held in the 
Pierce's Barn - an event space now.

Our friends Silvana and David came for a visit
and we saw them earlier at their home in Boston.

Scott's copper heron

Scott's on the board of Green Mt. Neighbors
and led a hike on the AT/LT.

Heather's little studio space at Rutland's Maker
Space - The Mint.

Theater and concert productions continue: Amelia at the Northern Stage, Other Desert Cities at the Dorset, and Stand Up Shakespeare at the Plymouth Folk Festival. We ate lobster at the Lobster Fest benefiting the Rotary and had several events with Green Mountain Neighbors - a local volunteer group that work to keep Seniors At Home. Of course there were dinner parties, at our home and at friends'. 

On a long weekend in Boston we visited the 
Peabody Essex Museum in Salem.

The Yin Yu Tang House, a century's old Chinese
family home has been relocated to the Museum. 

The U.S.S. Constitution rests at the Charleston Yard
 and is still afloat. She's taken out into the harbor once
a year and turned around. 

Amusing bronze statues provide a seat at the table!

We took the Ferry from Charleston into Boston
proper and walked the Harbor Walk.

Heather volunteers once a week running our local Coop and General Store, Pierce's (watch this U Tube video on the store - (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-Dy1f_oYyk) and often also at our local volunteer run Library. She belongs to the Rutland Garden Club and maintains the garden at the Godnick Senior Center. She a member of two Book Clubs and has a studio at The Mint, Rutland's Maker's Space. She cooks meals for needy neighbors, has a Cooking Class once a year to benefit Pierce's Store and provides the appetizers for their wine tasting events. 

Scott is on 5 boards around town and the treasurer of all of them! He ran twice for State Senate and did very well, but not quite enough. He's very active in local politics. He is a talented sculptor and takes a week long course every summer at the Carving Studio/ Sculpture Center in West Rutland. One year he was chosen as one of 5 featured sculptors at their fall Sculpfest. This year he did a copper 5 ft tall heron which ornaments our garden. 

So no problem keeping busy out here in the country!

The view from Sean & Will's deck in Beckett

Their friends and co owners of their new vacation
home , Jesse, Sarah and Oscar.

Scott, Sean, Rowan and Will

Rowan - now 2 and very cool!

Shira, looking pensive and lovely. Unfortunately
this is the only photo we got during their visit!

Enjoying lobsters at the Rotary Dinner.

Brent, Lisa and Scott

Burlington VT - Main St - foot traffic only

One of the fabulous tapas at Honey Road - this
one was big!

Heather just taking advantage of a bunch of
balloons for a photo.

The Sugar river runs through Claremont, NH and
powered the regions early industries. We stopped
there on the way home for lunch.