New developments

We will be going back to Boulder right after Easter. Betsey is experiencing some mobility issues due to pressure on the motor strip in her brain and needs daily assistance with transportation and other tasks. Rob can cover weekends but not week days. Friends are helping out this week  and after Easter. We are driving out and will arrive on the 9th and stay until John and Cynthia come out on April 18 for a week, we'll go up to Paul and Jenny's and then come back after J &C leave and stay as long as needed, maybe till mid-May when Katie can come back home after her semester ends. We'll see. 

Last week we went to a delightful contemporary "mystery play" - The Play of Daniel, created by Paul Dedell. It was at the Episcopal church and featured children in roles as satraps (and lions) and also the lead role of Daniel. Darius the King was played by an adult. It was a musical. It was both touching and humorous. 

                          Daniel. 

          Darius the King with satraps 

 The lions contemplating making a meal of  Daniel 

A full week

Well, where did that week go? Let's see, last Sunday I preached at the United Church of Bellows Falls, and then had lunch with John and Cynthia afterward at Joy Wah restaurant while Ellen went to another Brendon concert, this one at the Mt. Holyoke chapel. Monday, Ellen had an alto sectional rehearsal for Samson while I worked on putting together a choral group for a memorial service. Tuesday we had River Singers preceded by a soup and bread supper put on by the church where we rehearse. That was delicious. Wednesday was Concert choir and Thursday we had a double Hallowell experience -  a short, small but lovely sing for a Hospice bereavement support group, followed by a Hallowell rehearsal in Putney. That was a particularly wonderful rehearsal. After that we went to the local pub to watch UNC play Harvard in the opening round of March Madness. UNC barely avoided being knocked out but pulled out  a 67-65 win at the last second. So they will meet Arkansas tomorrow.

It was warm one day this week and sugaring began in earnest. But then it got cold again! 

              Glabach's sugar house

When we pulled into the post office parking lot, one day, I was struck by how much the driver in the car next to us looked like a poodle. I have heard that dog owners often grow to look like their dogs.

Today I've been working on putting together music for Palm Sunday and Easter, reading a powerful history of slavery John gave me for my birthday, and working on editing a chronological summary of Ellen's father's life in anticipation of the fact that April 18 will be the 100th anniversary of his birth and simultaneously the 40th anniversary of his death. We're hoping to have some sort of commemoration on that day. 

Aristocats

Earlier today we went down to Amherst and saw Brendon in a performance of the  musical Aristocats which is based on a Disney movie. Brendon was one of the alley cats - Whacky Cat. The basic plot is that when a wealthy woman leaves her fortune to her cats, her butler tries to do away with them so he can get her money, but they are rescued by a group of alley cats with the help of a mouse!

The performance was at the Amherst Middle School. It involved about 30 or so young children. It was a lot of fun. Brendon got to sing and dance. He and a boy playing Edgar, the butler, were the only boys in the whole production!

                     The alley cats

An alley cat number - Brendon is second from left. 

           After the show with Katie

             Brendon with Savanna

On our way home

We had a lovely visit in Maine with Jim and Mary, and said our goodbyes Monday morning. Our route home took us down to U.S. 1 in Waldoboro and we stopped at Moody's Diner for breakfast - always a good stop. The food is great and the prices are amazingly reasonable.

                     Moody's Diner

It's also a good place for postcards. Moody's is going on a hundred years - it was started on the 1920's - and they have historic postcards like this one from 50 years ago :

Moody's Diner as it looked in the '60's

Here's how it looks today:

                Moody's Diner today

Then we went down Rte 1 to Bath, ME and looked into Reny's for gloves  ( no luck ) and then to Halcyon Yarns - a favorite stop for Ellen. The colors make for some nice photos:

Then we couldn't really go by the  Cafe Creme without going in for a scone and latte ( for Ellen ) and coffee  (for me) .

                   Cafe Creme 

                Scone and coffee

Then we went down to the Wells/ Ogunquit region, stopped again at When Pigs Fly bread outlet, this time for bread to bring home, and then at Bob 's again - same lunch of chowder, cole slaw and onion rings that we had going up - why change when it's perfect? - and on to the beach at Ogunquit for a walk. A beautiful day but very windy. But a great day for a walk.

                    Ogunquit beach

          Looking toward Perkins Cove

Seagulls basking in the sun in the parking lot 

Then we headed over to Concord and Keene and home. It was pretty cold at home but we got the fire going and it warmed up pretty well before we went to bed.

Tuesday we had a quiet day. We paid for our summer CSA -  6 per cent discount if you pay early - which is a lot better than the bank, for sure. I worked on my sermon, and in the evening we had our first River Singers rehearsal for the Spring session. Saw lots of friends we haven't seen for a while  and it was great to be back singing with them again. 

Today we went to a meeting at the Guilford Church to talk about the future of  our church, and especially a proposal to use some recently acquired land next door to develop a whole new mission to the town and become a center for childcare, a food shelf for families in need, a place for teens, etc. There was a lot of positive energy flowing there. Then Ellen had her prayer shawl ministry knitting group and I had a chance to use WiFi. Then our usual Wed. Nite supper of pizza and Greek salad and on to Brattleboro Concert Choir to rehearse Samson. After that a stop at Hannaford's to get some groceries, and home. A full day ! 

Visit to Maine

Friday, we got up and got going a bit earlier than usual, once again prepped the house to protect against frozen pipes, got packed up, and were off by 10am for a trip to  Maine to visit Jim and Mary. It was a beautiful, sunny day, seasonably cold. We took our usual route through Keene, Concord and Portsmouth, with a stop for lunch at Bob's Clam Hut in Kittery, ME. Bob's was as crowded as we've seen it! Then a quick stop at When Pigs Fly bread outlet - always a good stop - delicious bread samples - and on our way "down east" to Hope, ME but with a stopover in Brunswick at Bowdoin College where I knew I would find a copy of The New Interpreter's Bible. I'm preaching in Bellows Falls next Sunday and the lectionary reading is Numbers 21:4-9, which is a very interesting but somewhat bizarre passage, and I was curious to see what recent biblical scholarship in the NIB had to say about it. 
 

In the Library

 I found it and took photos of the pages I needed, to consult later, while Ellen checked out the fine Bowdoin College Art Museum. I could easily and enjoyably have spent several hours in the BC library but we needed to push on to Hope. It did leave me wishing we had a library like that in Brattleboro -  the closest one of that caliber is about an hour or so from home - Dartmouth to the north or Smith to the south.

We got to Jim and Mary's before supper and had a great chile Jim had made plus a strawberry rhubarb pie Mary made from   fruit from their garden (out of the freezer of course). We also heard the latest about the status of the house they are building in Owl 's Head. After supper Jim and I watched the Celtics play basketball on their new TV. Very HD! Very different from our TV at home which is over 40 years old and definitely not HD!

Post-prandial, pre-game scene in the Tolles kitchen in Hope. 

Saturday we had a leisurely morning and then went out to see the foundation of the new house in Owl 's Head, had lunch at Clan MacLaren's Cafe in Rockland (great sandwiches and always Celtic music in the background) and on to the Dowling Walsh art gallery (where Jim hopes to have his paintings displayed someday) and then to the Farnsworth Museum, a favorite. The last day of the Shaker exhibit, which we saw last summer but were happy to see again. The Farnsworth is always a treat. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed in special exhibits but I got a few where it is allowed. 

A cove near the site of Jim and Mary 's new house in Owl 's Head

               The new foundation 

        Ocean-view from the house site. 

               Rockland, ME street scene

Shipping in Down East Waters by Fitz Henry Lane 

      

Clock, c. 1810 (case-maker unknown)

The case has been decorated with candle smoke.

The Farnsworth Museum gift shop - Ellen is checking out the post cards.

After the museum I went to T.J. Maxx and J.C. Penney looking for gloves (no luck), we went to Goodwill industries (books) and Hannefords (halibut for supper), and back to Hope where we had a fine supper and then watched the UNC TarHeels play Duke, which was exciting the first half and about ten minutes into the second, and then became heartbreaking for Tarheels fans, ending in an 84-77 loss. Sigh!

Hallowell sing

This afternoon both Ellen and I went out to do bedside singing with Hallowell but this time we went separate ways - very separate - she to Vernon Green "down south" and I to Westminster  "up north." Each of us was co- leading a group. My group sang for an 82-year old mother of four lovely men who had had a rough day and had been given morphine, so she was not responsive but we believe that even in that situation we are heard at some level. We crowded into her bedroom in a single wide trailer and sang quietly about five songs while one son and a daughter-law stood beside her bed. Such a sing is always quite touching  and appreciated. Ellen had dropped me off at the Putney Library early so she could do some errands and get to her sing which was about 25 miles away. One of the singers in my group picked me up and then brought me back to the Coop afterward where Ellen got me at about  7 pm . So that worked out fine and I even got a little supper at the Coop and used WiFi. 

Tomorrow we're going to  Hope, ME to spend the weekend with Ellen's bro Jim and his wife, Mary. I'll get some pics.

Town meeting day

Yesterday was town meeting day in Dummerston. I did not get a lot of sleep Monday night - too much birthday partying? - so I didn't feel too great when we headed off to the meeting at 10am, but I gave it a try. There were no big issues on the warning but something always comes up. This time it was a division of the house over whether to add $2500 more than budgeted to the farm preservation fund. This fund grows over time and is used as seed money in the event that a farmer applies to it to prevent his farm from being bought by a developer. This past year the fund was actually used for the first time and helped a young couple buy a local farm so they could continue it as a farm. This would have been a no- brainer vote in favor of the additional $2500 except that someone got up and pleaded for the low- income residents whose taxes are already a burden. His basic argument was - "hey, you folks who want more money in this fund, just go home and write a check. Don't saddle us poor folks with it." His plea won the day and the amendment to add $2500 was defeated by a 2 to 1 margin in a paper ballot. All that took about 45 minutes. Then we proceeded to vote almost a million $$ to support the town and highway dept in voice votes that took a few seconds! Ah! New England Democracy at its best !

We then heard from our three representatives in the VT legislature, each of whom gave very clear, succinct and interesting summaries of what is happening in their respective committees. Vermont faces a 120 million $ budget shortfall- not unlike many other states. But we are also going to see a major water clean-up bill, the main problem being agricultural run-off into Lake Champlain.

By noon, I was feeling poorly, and Ellen had to leave anyway to go to Northampton to be with the girls. So she brought me home so I could get some sleep and we missed the second half of the meeting which addressed the school budget, which is often more controversial than the town budget. I hope it passed. I had a quiet and restful afternoon and evening, which is what was needed, got a decent night 's sleep last night and feel  better this morning. But I did accomplish one thing - I was able to think about a service I will be leading on March 15th in Bellows Falls and prepared the bulletin. That was good.

Ellen came home from Northampton last night in a snowstorm, but the good old Subaru made it up the hills just fine. Today it is cloudy and relatively warm - above freezing! Tonight, if our director is feeling well again, we 'll be rehearsing Handel's Samson. 

Snowshoe hike

What a beautiful little hike on snowshoes in our woods. The snow is very deep and even with snowshoes we sunk in pretty deep but we retraced our steps and packed the trail pretty well. It's just at 32 degrees - perfect .

                      Starting out 

             The woods are lovely 

                    Ellen on the trail

And me-I have old Vermont Tubbs snowshoes which I love.

                       Our trail

           Our house from the trail

This is how high the snow bank is in front of our house!

Birthday boy!

Today is my 82nd birthday! It's a beautiful, sunny day and I think we 're going to get on our snowshoes a bit later.     There's lots of snow out there !

                Behind the house

Snow piled up by the kitchen window - result of roof-raking.

Last evening John came over for a little birthday eve supper. Cynthia wanted to come but was very sick with a flu-like illness and had to stay home! Get well  Cynthia ! Ellen prepared a delicious gluten-free meal! 

              A birthday eve supper

Wild rice, walnut-cheese balls, roasted root veggies and sautéed Brussel-sprouts- all my favs! 

Sunday we went to church at Guilford - the first time for many weeks. It was a lovely service and we sang three anthems - each very distinctive: Come Thou O traveler unknown (shape note ) Jesus walked this lonesome valley (spiritual) and Trinitarian Creed chant (a beautiful new composition by our own Mary Alice Amidon). 

After church we had lunch at the Brattleboto Coop with Nancy Tierra and caught up with her news- especially her new role as a yoga teacher with nursing home residents which she finds very rewarding. Yay Nancy!

I was slated to sing the bass solos for the Mozart Requiem Sunday afternoon at a singalong but it was cancelled due to the   director's illness. Maybe later!