Finally, some time with Mary Andersen.

Mary Andersen is someone we try to get together with pretty regularly - usually at her place in Bennington, or meeeting at a restaurant in Wilmington, which is half-way between us and her. Last time we met in Wilmington, but we chose the wrong day - all our usual restaurants were closed. We finally found an open one on our fifth try! That was last year. This time, we met at her house in Bennington and had lunch at the Country Club, which is very close by her place. Since our last time together, she had spent time with her daughter, Erica (and her family) in Capetown, South Africa. That was over Christmas (which is summertime in South Africa) So it had been months since we had seen her. We picked up a mutual friend, Anne Janeway, who lives in Marlboro, VT, on our way to Bennington. Anne is pretty old - in her 80's - and is pretty hard of hearing. But she is game, and is a very interesting person who has been all over the world, as has Mary. So we had a lot to talk about. We had hoped to eat outdoors at the Country Club, but it started to sprinkle just as we arrived, so we ate indoors. The disadvantage of that is that the other patrons - usually golfers - are pretty noisy talkers, and that makes it hard for Anne to hear - we have to repeat almost everything we say! But we managed. After lunch, we went back to Mary's place for a little cake - it was her birthday! Before we knew it, it was 4:00p.m., and we had to leave to get to Shutesbury, MA to have pizza with Katie and Brendon before our Tony Trischka concert (see previous post). So we didn't get to talk quite as much as we had hoped. If you have been following ths blog faithfully, you saw pictures of Mary with Shirley in Switzerland, taken back in the 1980's, which I posted just few weeks ago (cf. May 17th). Here are two from Friday:

Top: Anne Janeway, me and Mary Andersen, at lunch. Bottom: Mary, Ellen and Anne. TODAY. This morning we went to the Guilford Church. The service was going to be held outdoors, under the pavillion, but it was raining pretty hard and quite cool - in the low 50's - so it was indoors. It was Trinity Sunday, and Allyson's sermon was on the Trinity, or even broader, on the many ways and names we use to refer to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The children's story was on a theme they have been studying - "Caring" - and they sang a song on that theme in the children's story time and also at the end of the service. The choir sang Thomas Tallis' If Ye Love Me, which we know from Hallowell Singers and which I love singing. Here is a link to it being sung by VOCES8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvHuNTkk0ig

The children singing about caring for self, friends, neighbors and earth.

The GCC Choir singing If Ye Love Me. I'm there, but I'm hidden behind Stefan Amidon, who is leading the choir. These images are from the BCTV recording of the service on YouTube.