At Katie & Savanna's

Here it is, Saturday, and here we are at K&S's in Shutesbury. Ellen brought a pot of finnan haddie chowder (made with frozen smoked haddock we bought in Maine our last visit), which is delicious, and we'll have supper here and maybe play cards. (Btw, today did not end up working for everyone going to Metanoia,vt - cf. previous post) - so we are looking for a new date).

Yesterday, the new (2011) Impreza (which I think I mentioned earlier had an erratic brake "squeeel" almost as soon as we bought it)  had developed an almost constant scraping noise, and I thought this was ridiculous, so I decided spontaneously to take it to Subaru for service without an appointment. They in fact took me in, road-tested it with me in the car, immediately heard the sound, and got to work - and replaced a caliper, a rotor and pads in the right rear wheel. No charge. So that was good of them, but no more than what was right under the circumstances. I was glad I didn't have to argue about it.

Yesterday evening, we went a pot-luck supper and singing party at Mary Cay and Manny's. It snowed pretty hard for a few minutes just before we left, but it only amounted to a dusting. I felt pretty good, health-wise, and had a good time.

In the morning, we went to a Hallowell sing for a family where a sweet little four-year-old boy is dying of brain cancer, and his mother is fighting breast cancer. I've known the grandparents, and the mother, since she was a girl back in the 1970s. This sounds unutterably sad, but the house was so full of love that it was a beautiful experience. Peter and Mary Alice Amidon brought their instruments and we sang a lot of children's songs, including the boy's favorite, I've Been Workin' on the Railroad. This was the first time - after almost 17 years of existence -  that Hallowell has been asked to sing for a dying child. They made very clear that they want us to come back, and I'm sure we will.

Peter and Mary Alice Amidon

Tomorrow we are singing in the choir at Dummerston (under Mary Westbrook-Geha's direction), and there will be a Music Committee meeting after church, to plan for services after the New Year. Then in the afternoon, we will go to the Fall meeting of the Windham-Union Association which will be held in W. Dover, VT (about 35-minute drive). I think the weather will be OK, but Monday and Tuesday they are forecasting very cold weather with sleet, freezing rain, snow, etc., pretty much the full catastrophe. I am not ready. I have many pre-winter chores to do: draining the water out of the garden hose, banging in our awning-type windows so they are tight, getting the deck furniture put away, getting the lawn mower ready to sit all winter by running gas stabilizer through it, getting all the firewood under cover, etc. Oh well! We'll do the best we can.

Later:
We had supper and it was delicious: chowder and corn bread.  I just loaded the dishwasher. Ellen brought felting materials and acorn tops with her and she and Brendon and Katie are doing crafts - felt acorns with real acorn caps. 

Craft time
 Below: Brendon's felt acorn with cap