A lunch for Audrey

Today, a group of ten people - mostly clergy - gathered at the Marina Restaurant in Brattleboro to honor the Rev. Audrey Walker, who is leaving her position as pastor of the First Congregational Church in West Brattleboro. This coming Sunday will be her last Sunday. She said she was still struggling with what to say in her final sermon. That is at least in part because her departure is not voluntary. Her feelings about leaving are mixed, however. One cannot help feeling hurt by being asked to leave, but her entire pastorate, she has been commuting for more than hour from Granby, MA. So I think there is an element of relief as well. I will be there Sunday representing the Association in the reading of a liturgy of farewell. Audrey has been an important part of the Association and we had the opportunity today to exoress our appreciation for her. I had the hummas plate for lunch, which was delicious. The Marina Restaurant has a world-class location, and is very attractive. A good time was had by all!

Rev. Audrey Walker.

The group gathered for lunch. Audrey is partly hidden on the right behind Rev. Susie Webster-Toleno.

The fantastic view of the Retreat Meadows from the Marina, an interior nautical theme, and my hummas plate!

Lunch with Mary Anderson

We had a really nice lunch at the Mt. Anthony Country Club in Bennington with Mary Anderson last Saturday. We hadn't seen Mary since last July 2nd when there was a baby shower for Mark and Jenn in Bennington, and much of her family was there. Since then, the baby was born, July 25th, and he weighed 4lbs, 7 ozs. A bit premature, but doing very well. His name is Carter John Masamitsu. Mary went out to Denver and spent a week with Mark, Jenn and Carter. So we had a nice lunch and came back to the house and had a good talk (outside, sitting in the sun!), and a full report!

Mark, Jenn and Carter. ************************
Here are some pictures from our lunch at the club:

Our table and view at the club.

Mary and Ellen outside the club by a lovely flower garden

Golf carts lined up at the golf course.

The Bennington Battle Monument overlooks the golf course.

Some cider and cookies on Mary's back deck after lunch********************** Later We've been pretty busy since Saturday. Sunday we sang in the choir at Dummerston, and that Sunday just happened to be the 65th Anniversary of my ordination in that very church! Monday evening we had a Hallowell sing at a training session for Hospice Volunteers which was held at the Brattleboro Music Center. And earlier this evening was our River Singers rehearsal. During the day I have been working on preparing Session II of the Bible Study Group at the Guilford Church, which will be on Zoom Wednesday afternoon. I'm learning a lot about the Gospel of John as I do my "homework" for leading the session. Life is full!

A truly amazing concert!

Friday evening, at the end of the U Mass Multiband Concert, I turned to Katie and Savanna and said, "In my almost 90 years on this planet, I don't think I've ever experienced anything quite like that!" It was true. i was referring specifically to the marching band segment, which ended the program. Why was it unique? Because the band is HUGE, it is LOUD, and at the end it was UP CLOSE in a unique way: i.e., it was virtually in our laps! It started on stage - how many? Not sure. Let's say hundreds! I took this photo discreetly because we were told, "No Photography!"

This doesn't show the whole stage, but it gives an idea how they were packed in. After playing several numbers, so loudly that Ellen and Katie plugged their esrs with their fingers, everyone in the band except the large percussion section left the stage. We thought they were just going offstage so that percussion could be a solo ensemble, which is what happened at first. But suddenly, those band members showed up all over the auditorium and moved right into all the rows and stood in front of people! We had three-four trumpeters right in front of us. And there they played "I Did It My Way." Loudly! Our bodies vibrated! It was pretty amazing.

Trumpeters in front of us in our row.****************** Here are more photos of the hall:

This concert is an annual event and features several ensembles ranging from a vocal jazz octet with a small combo accompanying them, up through larger ensembles (like an all-trombone one), up to a full symphonic orchestra. Here is the program:

The program makes clear how many groups performed. It moved along snappily because they divided stage and orchestra pit into four distinct areas and while one group was performing, another would be setting up out of sight, and be ready to play as soon as the other group finished. It had a lot of variety; all done well. The Marching Band set up during an intermission. Quite a show!

Late fall color

Here it is, October 27th, and we still have a lot of fall color. Coming into Brattleboro today for some lab work I got these pictures of the foliage. *********Yesterday afternoon I had the first session of the new Bible study group that I am doing at the Guilford church. We had 23 people in attendance, two in the room with me and 21 on Zoom. By all accounts, it went really well - there certainly were no disasters and everyone seemed to feel positively about it. The only glitch was that I forgot to turn on the recording at the beginning of the session. I didn't think of it until about 10-15 minutes into the session and turned it on then. Not a big deal.

Bible Study

Well, I've taken on a big challenge: leading a Bible Study group at the Guilford Church. It is going to be via Zoom, and that is proving to be more challenging than the Bible itself. I have never hosted a Zoom session before. I wish somebody else could be the host so I could focus on the Bible, but that doesn't seem to be falling into place. We start this coming Wednesday, and will meet each week for three weeks. Then we will re-evalute and decide how to continue. It will be between 4pm and 5:30, but a half-hour of that will be silent prayer. I hope it goes well! Meanwhile, things have been happening on other fronts. On Thursday, I was part of a group that sang for Mary Lila Gregg on her 92nd birthday at her home. She lives by herself in a large and lovely house way out in the wilds of Guilford. I had never been in her home before, which I found hard to believe because I've known Mary Lila for well over 25 years! It was very nice to be there! Thursday eve we went to a Hallowell rehearsal in the Westminster-West church. Both Peter Amidon and Mary Cay were there to lead - very satisfying! Saturday I went with John to a memorial service for Beverly Major in the WW Church. I also spent time with with him at his house while he tutored me about Zoom. Ellen was in Northhampton with the Feinlands. Yesterday was church and in the evening we went to a book study group on Brian Maclaren's book Do I Stay Christian? I've also spent a lot of time fussing over the technical side of Wednesday's upcoming Bible Study, unresolved as of this moment. Life feels very full all of a sudden!

Singing at Mary Lila's with Carole Crompton.

Our group with the "birthday girl" (Lucy Spahr-Blasej was taking the picture).

Mary Lila's home in Guilford

Waiting for the Hallowell rehearsal to begin. We are still wearing masks - a lot of people we know have COVID.

At Beverly Major's service - just before it began.

Sunday-Tuesday

We went to church in Guilford. A highlight was the children's story: Sue Owings read the story, but she let Desmond Amidon read much of it, and he read really well - he's only five or six years old! The story was "What do you do with an idea?" by Kobi Yamada.

Sue Owings with Vera and Desmond Amidon.*********************** Sunday afternoon we had a quiet time at home. I read the Christian Century magazine. In the evening, Ellen made two pies for the Dummerston church meal for the homeless shelter.

Beautiful pies!**************+++++++ Monday we went to OLLI in the morning - to hear Jim Levinson give his final lecture on working in international aid programs. That has been very interesting! In the afternoon I picked up my new computer - a Macbook Air laptop! Wow!

MacBook Air. *************+++++

In the evening we watched a string of mysterys on Masterpiece. Today, I made a bunch of calls to make medical appointments. Long overdue! I watched a Truman Capote film called The Glass House. I think it came out in 1973. It all took place in a prison and had a young Alan Alda in it. It was pretty grim, but well done. Tonight was River Singers, led by Mary Cay Brass. A larger group and some fun songs.

Jim Levinson. In addition to having vast experience in international aid in Africa, the Middle East and South America, Jim is a rabbi - and a wonderful person.

Mary Cay Brass, with two dear friends - Kathy Leo and Peter Amidon. Speaking of which, we have a Hallowell Rehearsal coming up this Thursday.

Lots of pictures from Maine

We are home - we got back yesterday evening just in time to get to a Hallowell sing at a Hospice Volunteer Appreciation party held at Hilltop Montessori School in Brattleboro. We would have been there at 5p.m., when we were asked to arrive so that we could eat and socialize before singing, but when we came off Exit 2 from I-91, the traffic was backed up the entire ramp, and it took us close to half an hour to finally get on to Western Avenue! Good grief! However, when we got to the event, we learned that several others had been delayed for the same reason. So everything got pushed back a bit and I actually did get something to eat. And it was good! Back in Maine, we took a number of photos I haven't posted yet, so here goes:

I took a walk down to the cottage on the shore where Katie and Savannah have stayed in past years (and Ellen and I too, once). It is now under new ownership, and it is unlikely that it will ever be available to rent again at a reasonable price. The new owners have put in some new windows. It's a nice spot to visit.

A beautiful rock and vine next to the cottage.

Mary was putting soil acidifier on the blueberry patch.

Mary's fantastic garden. What a tremendous amount of work she has put into it. But she loves doing it.

A bountiful crop of apples.

A lovely yellow delicious apple . . . .

. . . . .from an espalier apple tree.

And really big pears!

Flowers in the garden.

More flowers.