New England 3

September 8, 2023 - Friday

Met up with long-time contractor friend, Scott, at the Elks Lodge in Whitehall, NY. It’s certainly not like Wickenberg, but was great to visit and see other local Elks. 

September 9, 2023 - Saturday

Rich’s granddaughter, Emma, was married today to Devin Jenkins in Whitehall, NY. Rain threatened, but it turned out to be a lovely day - a little warmer than those in tuxes, suits and gowns would have liked, but better than rain. Everyone gathered and dressed at the Colomb homestead.

Though Rich didn’t wear a tie, he tied everyone else’s. 

Three generations of Colombs...PJ was unavailable for this picture😩

Miss Kearin was glowing…

Flower girls extraordinaire…

It was a brief ceremony on the Champlain Barge Canal which included a handfast, breaking of the glass, and memorial to the grandmothers who have passed on (Tress and Mimi). Young Nora is in Florence, Italy studying for a semester (Wells College), but her dad, Eric, Face-timed her, so she was able to witness the entire ceremony. 

 

Tracy, PJ, and Lyn - Lyn’s shoe strap broke so she had to go barefoot. Tracy said, if one Mom (step-mom) is going barefoot, both moms are going barefoot!

Love the colors, black and cinnamon...

Emma, Perry and Kearin

Immediately after that, the reception was at the American Legion just down the road. What a fantastic job the family did decorating it the night before. 

A delicious meal was served with a choice of salmon, 1/2 chicken and pork roast with asparagus and fried potatoes.

 

Let the party begin - the cook, Bill, was also the DJ and he kept things hopping - disco lights and all. 

Dollar dance with Grampa…

A beautiful cake was served (or choice of cupcakes) 

September 10, 2023 - Sunday

We stayed in Whitehall today to spend time with the family. Nora moved her belongings into the family homestead which her mother’s great-grandfather built in 1860. She knows the history behind every piece of furniture and recalls the events that happened there. 

 

Emma and Devin opened their card and a gift from special Grampa - a triple pencil holder.

September 11, 2023 - Monday

We drove over back roads through small country towns in Vermont and New Hampshire to get to our family camp in Maine. 

It was a cloudy day, but the scenes were beautiful. A lot of the trip followed rivers which were spanned by several covered bridges. There are more than 100 covered bridges in Vermont which caused me to wonder why they were covered. Thank goodness for Google and Autio as that is where I get a lot of my information. The covered bridges originated in 1820 to protect the wooden tresses and decks from snow and rain.

Since we are only here for a couple of days, we planned to eat our meals out rather than deal with shopping, kitchen clean up, etc. We stopped for breakfast - 2 Egg McMuffins and one hash brown - $14.01! What a surprise when we went to our favorite seafood spot in the evening and found it was closed on Mondays. So we went down the road toward home to another informal seafood joint. Here is the menu:

We each had fried shrimp with sweet potato fries and ordered a seafood chowder for lunch tomorrow = $60. It’s going to be an expensive couple of days. 

 

September 14, 2023 - Thursday

Between sports practice and games, it is not possible to get the whole family together, soooooo, took them out to dinner individually before we leave. 

Hibachi at Koto’s with Randy and family...plus 1 (Zach)

September 16, 2023 - Saturday

Lee Founders Day Parade - Lee is a proud town founded in 1777 and we celebrate its birthday every year.

 

Managed to get together with Shannon’s family at the Panda House… windy day!

September 17, 2023 - Sunday

As he does every year, Randy played in the Greenock Member Guest Golf Tournament with Mark Kelly. Last year they won; this year they came in second. Still, we were so proud to be there and see the "horseshoe putt" he sank on the last whole. The crowd went wild! 🥳

Unexpected photo op with granddaughters! 

 

Getting to as many soccer and football games as I can:

Zach in orange 

Leanna in white 

Jake’s football game was cancelled due to heavy rain - dang!

Ten more days before we hit the road on Wednesday, 9/27 - closing up the yard, planning the packing, getting to as many soccer and football games I can, packing up the art. What will go with us? What will stay behind? 

 

 

New England 3

August 19, 2023 - Saturday 

We had a real slow start at the Lee Farmers Market today - pretty discouraging. In the last 1/2 hour we had a sweet flurry of activity selling many cards while a couple was deliberating over which framed Berkshire pictures they wanted. Rich offered to change out the frames so they would match and bingo - they liked that idea and bought 2 more mattes as well. We were thankful for that surge and at 2pm started packing up. With everything put away except the large  Lily Fishhouse birdhouse and the Kleenex holders, two young ladies came rushing over to our booth. They had just arrived from Durham, NH and couldn’t wait to get a piece of the Berkshire experience. When I pointed out the remaining woodcrafts, one of them spotted the birdhouse and immediately wanted it. She is a gardener and loves to decorate her gardens. Then she directed her attention to the keyring holders and added one to her order. And her friend bought a card. It was hard to contain our excitement as we finished the breakdown of our booth. 

August 22, 2023 - Tuesday

Susan Davis Stone commissioned Rich to do a drawing of their family farmhouse which was built by John Crosby of Cape Cod around 1780 within the original settlement of Lee, aka Dodgetown. Today we went to take pictures and she gave us the full tour. The ride there is over a beautiful country road laden with trees and a crossing over a running stone-dotted brook.

The road narrows and changes to a dirt surface for another short distance. When the farmhouse buildings come into view peaking over a rolling green lawn with a very large maple tree in the foreground. 

A large stone fire pit is at the ready to entertain the numerous families and guests who visit and a hammock to enjoy.

The buildings all have names and distinct purposes:

What used to be a cook shack now houses refrigerators for beverages. This mini building is dubbed the Doll House. 

The Town Hall is perfect for gathering to share music, darts, or just good conversation. Love the plank floors throughout all the buildings. Cook shack and town hall were built post 1920. 

There are two bedrooms beyond the bookcases which flank a stairway up to a loft with two more bunks. 

The Main House has a very large cherrywood table to accommodate large family dinners. The bedroom straight ahead is called the Telephone room which has the desk that prior generations used in their office. 

This is the historic Barlow desk, a diminutive size according to a local historian. 

Refurbished fireplace.

As you climb the stairs, there is a prized stenciled chest with panels of vases with flowers inlaid.

The numerous bedrooms have framed needlepoint signs on the doors so everyone knows where to park their stuff:

Neighboring bedrooms are playfully named:

One of the quilts is handmade by family members (around 1975) who each did a square.

Beds are set up wherever they will fit allowing large crowds to “camp out” here.

The master bedroom has two chests crafted by Horace W. Davis, Sr. with beautiful inscriptions hand-carved into the wood. 

An old loom is converted into a bedside lamp. 

In 1920, an addition was built onto the main house. This is a scribe house (applying the woodworking technique of shaping the end of a moulding or frame component to neatly fit the contours of an abutting member) illustrated by the markings for fitting on these 9"x5" beams.  

It is amazing how they are able to manage the property owned by the original families of three sons and two daughters of Horace. W. Davis. They have about 47 family shareholders who send a family representative to hold a meeting in June and then an October meeting for Board of Directors to talk about what they want, don’t want, etc. regarding the preservation of the property. Keep in mind, they have a LOT of square footage to work with in the 3 buildings (main house, cook shack, party house). The property is 800 acres, but they have designated about 700 acres to the BNRC (Berkshire Natural Resource Council). We sure did appreciate the tour.

 

August 23, 2023 - Wednesday

Had a wonderful 2-hour visit with high school friend, Cindy. It was awesome to catch up with her life - we could have talked another 2 hours if we had the time!

 

Rich and I went to a local grill for the first time and we were pleasantly surprised. The combination of sunshine, a lake view, great music, Margaritas and food. 

Laurel Lake 

Margaritas

Roman on the grill 

Music 

August 24, 2023 - Thursday

BIG 80th BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO JIMMY HERLIHY💕 

Had my final post-op visit with Dr. DeFelice. He is very pleased with my progress.

 

August 25, 2023 -  Friday

Big eating day today as I had breakfast with high school friends and dinner with my singing friends.  

 

August 26, 2023 - Saturday

Another profitable day at the Lee Farmers Market. I am always delighted with repeat customers 💗 as well as how many young adults $upport the arts. 

 

August 27, 2023 - Sunday 

Made my ukulele accompaniment debut at church today - Blowin’ In the Wind and Where Have All the Flowers Gone. Seemed like a good genre for me.

 

Then scooted over to Hudson Falls, NY for a bridal shower for Rich’s granddaughter, Emma, on a beautiful day in the backyard.

Their wedding is on September 9th. 

 

August 30,  2023 - Wednesday 

Mom and I had lunch at the Lee Senior Center and were entertained by Bruce M…

September 1, 2023 - Friday

Lenox Farmers Market had 3 vendors with vegetables today, but the biggest is Hickory Creek Farm with farmer Carl on his own. He has quality, picked this morning Super Sweet corn which is like corn on the cob on steroids.

His tomatoes are pristine - large, ripe, juicy with no cracks in them. The cracks are from too much water at once and he won’t bring them to market. He has 10,000 plants in the ground this year and if he can’t find perfect produce to sell, why is he doing this. He has been at this since 1976 as a 3rd generation farmer.

His daughter and granddaughter will be 4th and 5th generations. They have cattle on the farm as well which they sell as beef. His 16 year old granddaughter is taking this 1500-pound steer to show. She has earned many accolades already at these events. 

Carl has both Rheumatoid and Osteoarthritis which is evident in the way he lumbers around to sell his product. He was supposed to get a new hip last week, but they cancelled as he had too much protozone in his system. The hip he received 4 years ago has “fallen apart” AND he also has very bad knees - not surprising given his job description. I sure hope they are able to help him in the meantime with new treatments.

September 2, 2023 - Saturday

It’s Art in the Park in Lee today and we were lucky to keep our usual site. Turns out it was our all time high in sales! Two things that are more rewarding than that is seeing repeat customers and to hear the accolades as they gaze into his pictures and woodcrafts. 

Melissa, Karl, Karmela, and Vaeda stopped/shopped on their way to CT.

This smiling customer just purchased a Kleenex Box and sits to study the intimate details.

September 6, 2023 - Wednesday

Took a leisurely ride with four of my high school classmates on scenic Berkshire County Route 9 ending up in Northampton, Franklin County. Made a stop at the Williamsburg Country Store to purchase various spices, baked goods, and specialty items. 

Ended up driving through downtown Northampton in search of parking spots for their eateries, BUT were unsuccessful. So we backtracked to the Old Creamery Store for fresh made sandwiches from their deli. 

Our (Rich and I) time to get back on the road is drawing near - so much to do, so many to see.

Stay tuned…