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!

Summer Catchup!

Recent Photo of Rowan

Scott and Rowan

Heather singing to Rowan

Sean nursing

Will and guess who?

Zoë laughing at one of her great jokes

 

It's been a long time since my last post. Our new grandson Rowan is now 6 weeks old and thriving. His Dads, Sean and Will, are tired at times, like all new parents, but loving every minute (well, almost every one). And so are we! Scott and I were down helping for the first two weeks and then returned for another visit while our son James and his family came up. Our oldest son Josh and his kids flew into town to meet their new nephew/cousin and our daughter Zoë came for a week. So it's been wonderful family time. 

Playing with Kolya on the beach in Boston

Wine tasting with my appetizers at Pierce's
Store in Shrewsbury

Our friends Kristi & Roxanne 
entertain us at the wine tasting.

Spring Lake in the evening during our dinner at our friends
Lily & Eldred's cabin.

Just a few of the 20 people who came.

A corner of the Art in the Park in Rutland.

Cookie, Joshua, Heather & Scott in Sean & Will's 
backyard.

Jonathan, Shira, Maya and Michal

Morgen & Kolya

James admiring his new nephew.

The bad news for us was that my only sister Paula had a fall and a stroke down in Maryland. Her cognitive ability has not been compromised but after a month in Rehab she still hasn't been able to get out of bed and stand, let along walk. Scott and I went down for a week in late July and will be there again next week. We are looking at long term health care facilities for her here in Vermont and down in Maryland. 

Everyone enjoyed the Lake and all three of the
kids made it out to the swim raft!

We bought a Corn Hole game for the yard.

Bill, Kolya, Nora, Gracie, Claire, James and 
Morgen at the Fourth of July gathering.

Leslie shows off her Flag Cake. She's been making
it every year for our gettogether.

The stream was a fun adventure for all the kids.

James and Morgen.

Doug with his Indian takeout meal.

 

We had a wonderful Fourth of July gathering again this year. A total of 22 people came over 5 days. Sean & Will and Dick & Debbie were the only absentees (and of course a few of the second generation). James, Morgen and Kolya came up from Washington DC with Morgen's sister Claire and her family - Bill and their two girls, Grace & Nora. Marty & Russ with daughters Jenny & Julie, David & Leslie with son Scott and his family - Laura & Calvin, Larry & Zuzia and Larry's son Luke, Doug & Pat - and Scott & I. The weather mostly cooperated with lots of swimming in the Lake and exploring our stream and woods. There was a trip to the Montshire Museum of Science and the King Arthur Flour store. But mostly we caught up on our lives and current events over lots of food and drink. Unfortunately we forgot to take a group photo this year and in fact, very few photos got taken!

My sister Paula in the hospital.

Shrewsbury, our home town, is chocked full of events. We attended concerts, a wine tasting with appetizers (I made 20 plates of antipasto), Bone Builders, and many dinners over with friends. One day we drove into Saratoga Springs to attend a Lincoln Center String Quartet concert at SPAC and afterwards walked around town and ate dinner at a sidewalk table. We also saw two performances of  Opera North over in N.H. and Fidelio at the Middlebury Opera. Another String Ensemble concert was held in Woodstock. If we'd had time, we could have done 4 times more! We enjoyed Art in the Park on the Rutland Green with craftspeople, artists, food and live music. 

Scott is busy with 2 Boards, the Rutland Farmer's Food Center and Green Mountain Neighbors. I volunteer at Pierce's Store and I'm active in the Rutland Garden Club. Scott and I designed the website for them and run it, including a blog. We both volunteer also at our library and ferry new immigrants that have recently settled in Boston from Syria around the Rutland area. 

Last shot - and it's Rowan!

Exploring with our E-Bikes

Our second day biking was our first on a road but chosen due to little traffic. 

We've been enjoying a real Indian Summer here in Vermont these first two weeks in November. The daytime temperatures have been consistently in the middle to high 60's and for several days, into the 70's. And almost every day has been sunny! At first we headed out on the trails for hikes, but hunting season made that a little scary. So we decided to bike instead. This week we made two trips; first to Lebanon, NH for a trip on the Northern Rail Trail and second, on a back road in Tinmouth, VT.  The high these two days was 63 so we had to dress pretty warmly with gloves. 

Scott poses next to his e-bike and as you can see, he's dressed warmly. We actually had coffee sitting outside in the sun after our bike trip and it was very comfortable, but the wind while we were biking made it quite chilly.

The Northern Rail Trail is NH's longest at 58 miles. It goes from Lebanon to Boscawen. Plans are to extend it to Concord and White River Junction soon, for a total of 69 miles. The Friends of the Northern Rail Trail have been working with the State of N.H. to turn this former Northern Railroad line into a multipurpose 4-season trail since 2004. The Northern Railroad, begun in 1857, joined two earlier lines and ran from Concord to White River Junction. From there passengers could continue up to Montreal. Traffic on it ceased in the early 1970's. 

We did the first section starting in Lebanon and turning around at Lake Mascoma near Enfield.

The next day we decided we were ready to try biking on a road. We'd picked one out a while ago on our regular route from our home to the Dorset Playhouse. It's west of Route 7 with gentle hills, a smooth paved road and not a lot of traffic - no shoulders though, but we felt the visibility was far enough for cars to slow down if another car was approaching near us. The views are really lovely all along this way. 

Rolling hills and farms line the road through Tinmouth. 

On the way we stopped at site indicated on our Google map with a description on "Yelp" - the Giant's Table, or Table Rock. What a funny place. It's just off the road and the local fire chief with a good sense of humor  dreamed it up! 

Here it is? Right now there are only the chairs and "plates" but sometimes there are tall birch "glasses" and "food" on the plates.

The weather is turning rainy and we're headed down this weekend to NYC to spend time with our two grandchildren, Daniel and Ariella "Cookie" who are both attending Columbia University. We'll be staying with Scott's brother Brent and his wife Wilma in nearby South Orange, NJ.  Hopefully we'll get some more biking in when we return. Coming up - Thanksgiving with three of our children: Josh, James and Sean, along with their families - a total of 14.

This was our turn around spot at Mascoma Lake,
although not our photo as you can see from the 
foliage. 

Most of the trees are bare now. The Northern 
Rail Trail goes over lots of rivers and streams
with a variety of bridges. 

You can now get sense of the scale at Table Rock! That's Heather looking like a toddler.