Have you ever wondered?

Have you ever wondered what it looks like inside a big paper wasps' nest? Well, wasps built a nest attached to the rail of our deck last year. It actually happened while we were out west, and when we came home we didn't want to destroy it and kill all the wasps. So we co-existed with them all summer. They basically left us alone. We used the other end of the deck and were fine. They did not abandon the nest until freezing weather. We didn't get around to taking it down until today, and then I cut it open. Pretty interesting! It's like a 5-story apartment house - 5 combs, one on top of another, with an entryway at the ground floor.

The nest after I cut it down from the rail.

                     Cut open

          Close-up of one-half

           Closeup of one comb

TWTWTW

Where did this past week go? Well, it was a very full week, for one thing. Not a lot of opportunity for blogging - I apologize to my faithful followers !

Last Tuesday, April 24, we sang in the choir for a memorial service for our friend,  Judith Kinley. I had known Judith, who was a nurse, for decades. I had worked with her in Hospice, served on the Hospital Ethics Committee with her, teamed up with her to guide scores of people through the process of preparing Advanced Directives, and most importantly, in my role as Moderator of the Windham-Union Association, walked with her through her journey toward ordination as a UCC minister in 2004. In recent years she had retired and was a member of the Guilford Church, along with her husband, Don, who was an orthopedic surgeon.  I grew in my affection and respect for her all through the years,  to the end. At her funeral, her granddaughters were particularly emotional in expressing their love for their grandmother. It was a very touching service.

Judith Kinley

Just before Judith's service, I learned of the death of another friend, Barbara Baker-Bury. Judith had died after a very long period of illness and dementia. She was 75. Barbara was 73, but as her obituary put it, she had died of cancer "which had evolved with shocking suddenness." We had sung together for decades in the Blanche Moyse Chorale, and she was just a very lovely person who had combined art and psychotherapy in her career. I'm afraid losing friends is going to become an increasingly common occurance.

 

Barbara Baker-Bury

 Tuesday evening, we had our usual River Singers rehearsal, which this season is featuring Québécois music, so we're doing a lot of French that is a little different from the Parisian French we're more familiar with. We have a concert coming up this coming weekend. Barbara Baker-Bury 's service, where I will join with others in singing Bach Chorales, falls on the afternoon of our evening River Singers concert. So I will miss all the pre-concert rehearsals. Fortunately, I feel I know the music well!

River Singers Concert Poster

This past week also contained a Concert Choir rehearsal, a Hallowell book reading and sing at the Putney Public Library, a trip with Katie and Savanna to Hyde Park, NY, to the Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, a trip to N. Hartland, Vt., to have body work done on our car, lunch with John and Cynthia at Cafe 7 in Bellows Falls, processing books from my library for a Guilford Church book sale, a trip to Leverett, MA, to hear Savanna singing in the Leverett Chorus, an Osher lecture on the story of Moses and Pharaoh in the Qur'an, and a bass-alto sectional rehearsal for the Brattleboro Concert Choir, which has a concert coming up in two weeks. That's a lot for one week! And in the midst of all that, spring has really arrived! It was in the  80's yesterday. Tuesday, Eliza came over with little Phoebe, and Robin Davis came too, and we all had lunch on the deck. It was wonderful!

Phoebe enjoying a basket of pine cones on our deck in the warm spring sunshine

 Here are some before and after shots of our car. We feel like we have a new car, but it has 190,000 miles on it! Rob managed to find a door in a junk yard that fit perfectly and was the same color. The bumper is new and had to be painted. It looks great!

The door we battered a couple of years ago in the Price Chopper parking lot.

Our very sad old bumper - plastic just doesn't work well as bumper material!

 

Cynthia's nephew Rob, working on the car

The new door!

And new bumper!

I will post more pictures from our trip to the Roosevelt Museum, which was fascinating, when I get the chance.

Spring has finally sprung!

Today is beautiful! Yesterday was beautiful! Not quite in the 70s yet, but the high 60s. Sunny and warm. True, we still have residual snow piles up by our house. They might still be there by May 1st. But maybe not.

Yesterday, we took a walk. I hadn't taken a long walk for some time. It was nice! Earlier, we ate lunch on the deck - first time this year! And before that, we went to Osher to hear Amir Latif talk about Rumi and the interpretation of Adam and Eve in the Quran. Really fascinating! Very interesting differences between their portrayal in the Quran and the book of Genesis. 

           Amir Latif lecturing on Adam & Eve

                         Lunch on the deck !

                The West River - part of our walk

Stained!

Yesterday, we had church in the morning and I led the choir in an Earth Day anthem. Ellen went immediately after the anthem to meet Wallace for lunch and Calvin took me home. I didn't have a chance to get the Sunday NY Times, for the Spelling Bee puzzle, so I decided to make one up for Ellen. I think it's a really good one - it's hard but interesting. But there was an unfortunate side effect. I was using a red magic marker and I dozed off. The felt tip of the pen rested for a while on my trousers - my favorite Sunday best! - and left a large red stain. Permanent ink! I doubt that dry cleaning will be able to remove it. Which is sad because I love these pants. I got them at the church's "Caring and Sharing" event for free, which is very rare - there's hardly ever something my size there. They are very nice, lined, wool slacks; probably were very expensive new.

                                             The stain ! 

Tamar's tallit

We had Tamar for an overnight Friday, mainly so that she and Ellen could go shopping on Saturday for material for her tallit that will be used in her upcoming bat mitzvah (a tallit that Ellen will of course make, as she did for Ben and Miriam).

We met her in Greenfield late Friday afternoon, where her mom brought her; then we went to the Brattleboro Coop, where we had a light supper, and then they took me to the BMC, where there was a concert (by a fantastic wind quintet), which was honoring former trustees (which I am). The concert was great and it was followed by a reception. Calvin brought me home. 

Saturday morning we had pancakes for breakfast, and then while Ellen and Tamar shopped, I went to Staples to do some printing (my home printer is on the fritz). I met them there - they had spent quite a bit of time looking for fabric. 

 

                Tamar and Ellen, at Delectable Mountain, the local fabric store 

Then Saturday afternoon, we all three headed down to Northhampton to the Feinlands for a belated birthday dinner for me -  another one ! - since they were unable to come to earlier ones. Ben prepared a great meal, and Max made a delicious carrot cake. Yes, Max. Not Max Baker. Max Feinland. That's right. Miriam has transitioned to Max. He wants to be regarded now as of male gender! He seems the same to us, but we are all respecting his wishes. 

Today, it was Earth Day at church, I led the choir in an earth day anthem; the lovely tune, BEACH SPRING (check it out on YouTube!), was introduced by Ellen on an alto recorder. After church, Ellen met Wallace for lunch (Wallace is visiting her son, Jim, in the area), and again, Calvin brought me home. Calvin is my Uber!

North Hartland

Today, Ellen and I drive about an hour to North Hartland, VT to the home of Cynthia's cousin, Rob, who does auto-body work. We need a new front bumper and a new passenger door. He's going to get parts, some new, some used. We 'll go back later to have the work done. While we were there we "explored" N. Hartland. There used to be a general store next to the P. O., but now it is a pottery studio and store outlet for a collaborative of potters. We met the woman who oversees the operation, and one of the potters, who was working on some bowls. We were told that most of the artists there do hand formation, not work thrown on a wheel. There was some very nice work on display and it was varied in style.

              The display area

             A vase on display

        Unusual and creative work

Concert choir

We are coming down the home stretch toward two concerts - a River Singers concert on May 6th, and a Concert Choir one two weekends after that. The latter features the Poulenc Gloria and the Mozart Vespers. Yesterday, Ellen and I spent quite a bit of time at home singing along with recordings of both those pieces, and we both felt pretty confidant at the rehearsal last evening. In both groups we now need to work on memorization. That does not come as easily, at least not for this old codger !

Our director, Susan Dedell, at last night's Concert Choir rehearsal (plus a few bass bald spots!).