The house we won't be buying

We got together with John and Cynthia today and went over to New Hampshire to see a house that is on the market. We had made an appointment with a realtor for 3:45 pm and we were there on the button for 3:45, but it got to be well after 3:45, and no realtor was in sight. But the person who did show up was the son-in-law of the owner. Somehow he had gotten word that we were coming and he came over to welcome us. He invited us in and we looked around and then began to wonder what had happened to the realtor. To make a long story short, the realtor we had an appointment with was not the realtor with whom the house was listed, and the realtor with whom it was listed did not want us to be there. We ended up talking to both realtors on the phone and the one with whom the house was listed was very angry and told us to get out of the house immediately. So we did. But we had seen all we needed to see to know that this was not the house for us. It was an interesting house, very handsome from the outside, and in a very historic environment. But up close, it was clear-it was not for us.

      A view of the house.

The house overlooks an historic stone bridge 

Christmas memories

We have had a full and rich Christmas week ! It started Sunday morning singing in the Dummerston choir. We sang a rarely heard carol by Alfred Burt, Some Children See Him. Sunday afternoon, Jim and Mary arrived from Maine and stayed with us Sunday and Monday nights. Ellen prepared lovely meals, of course, supplemented by things Mary brought from her garden. Christmas Eve day, Ellen, Jim and Mary went to a holiday pub sing at MacNeil's Pub and I visited four people who were "shut in," - a neighbor now in a nursing home, a friend in another nursing home, another friend in the hospital and a fourth friend confined to a wheelchair at home. They all appreciated the visit and in some instances I sang some carols too. I also brought little bags or plates of Ellen's cookies! What's not to like!

Christmas Eve we all went to two services: 7pm at Dummerston and 11pm at Guilford, and sang in the choir in both. Two very different services, each lovely in its own way. That was a full day!

Christmas Day we all went to Katie and Savanna's for the full Tolles/Feinland family gathering, 14 persons in all. Singing, stollen, gift exchange, dinner, plum pudding, games -  a lovely day. Jim and Mary went on to her family and we got home very late. 

Wednesday, we went to John and Cynthia's after noon for a relaxed and quiet day of talk, good food, music, gifts. Very nice. We talked about Tuvan music, places to live, etc.

Thursday we joined up with Katie, Savanna and Brendon and drove to Cambridge where we met Jim and Mary at Sanders Theater for the Revels, which this year had a Scandanavian theme, mostly Finnish, and was very special. We all ate snacks in the car coming back. Another late return home! 

Friday was a quiet day. It was icy in the morning. We stayed home. Afternoon I went to the pool. In the evening, Ellen drove Nancy Tierra to Bradley airport and I stayed home and worked on Mozart and Allegri. 

Today we pick up our winter CSA and later we'll go over to NH to look at a house with John & Cynthia. Tomorrow Tamar and Max are coming to make gingerbread houses. 

What a week! 

        Plum pudding!

John playing the Igil, a two-stringed instrument used in the Republic of Tuva ( near Mongolia). He got to know Tuvan throat singers when they came to Bellows Falls to perform a few years ago.

Gluten-free Christmas cookies Ellen made for John.

Before the show at the Revels in 

Sanders Theater at Harvard U. Right after snapping this photo, an usher came up and told me I was not allowed to take pictures in Sanders theater. Not even before the show!

The lobby at Sanders Theater. It's ok to take pictures there. 

Christmas Day

Breakfast at home Christmas morning

        Our decorated tree

Village scene that Ellen and I helped make at K&S's. 

Exchanging presents : l. to r.: Max, Ben, Katie, Ellen, Krystal and Dan

                 Christmas dinner

Another full week!

The weeks are flying by - but that's the way it is during the holiday season. The main event this week was a trip to Maine to visit Jim and Mary in Owl's Head. I used time in the car to work on my annual Christmas letter. That was a very nice visit with yummy meals. Our original plan was to go from Owl's Head down to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, on Thursday, to the Lessons and Carols service at the Church of the Redeemer, and then go to Katie and Savanna's to spend the night Thursday night. But I got a nose bleed just as we were about to leave and It delayed our departure so much that we wouldn't have been able to get to the service in time. So we went directly to Katie and Savanna's. Then this morning we were in a good place to go to Hilltown charter school for their solstice program which Tamar was taking part in. After that we took her to lunch at Friendly's. Fortunately my nose behaved through all that. 

Earlier in the week, on Monday, John and Mary Carnahan came for lunch. It had been months since we had last had a good chance to visit, so there was a lot to catch up on.

Last night the Dummerston choir rehearsal was cancelled due to fog of all things! It had rained most of the day. No white Christmas this year, I guess! In place of a rehearsal, Ellen started working on Christmas pudding and I worked some more on my Christmas letter and we listened to Christmas music. A nice evening. 

A moment from the Hilltown Mummers play, Tamar at bottom left. 

          After the play

Today, Saturday, I spent a couple of hours with John at his place just talking. That was very nice. We talked especially about the whole housing issue. There are many facets to it, but I think we are in essential agreement. After that I went to the pool - first time in a week or more - and then Ellen and I went to a pub for supper so we could watch UNC play Kentucky. Unfortunately, UNC got trounced! Then we came home and Ellen made cookies while I got out more cards and letters. We listened to a Blanche Moyse Chorale recording of  Bach's Christmas Oratorio  -  very beautiful. I was so blessed to sing with the Chorale for 30 years in its heyday. 

Our tree is up!

Ellen is at a Solstice party at Katie and Savanna's so I'm home alone (the party is for only one gender). It seemed like a perfect time to put up the tree! So I did, and put on the lights. I think it looks pretty nice. 

This was a full music day - 1 1/2 hours at Guilford in the morning rehearsing for Christmas Eve, and 2 1/2 hours at the BMC in the afternoon rehearsing the Concert Choir: Mozart and Allegri. All good! Now I'm about to do the dishes before Ellen gets home. 

A full week, unphotographed

I haven't been very good about making visual images this week. Lots of opportunities too - last night, at a Hallowell rehearsal; earlier yesterday at Katie and Savanna's house, making paper snowflakes (mine didn't come out all that well, so maybe they are better un-photographed); Wednesday evening at a Concert Choir rehearsal; Wednesday afternoon at a Centering Prayer event at the Guilford Church; working at home on gifts, cards and my Christmas letter; meeting John and Cynthia Monday at the West Townshend Country Store before going up to Windham to look at a house together, etc.

Right now,  it's Friday, and I've been sitting in the Subaru waiting room for four hours! Our Impreza had developed wheel bearing problems, and needed other services as well, so it's been a big job and I'm told it will cost $900! Ouch! But on the other hand, we make a lot of long trips, and have now put on over 215,000 miles, so some wear is hardly surprising.  Everyone else in the waiting room has come and gone, and I'm left here all by myself. Sigh!

Here I am, waiting patiently

BTW, the River Singers concert last weekend went very well. I got a lot of very nice comments on my solo, which was gratifying.

Concert tonight!

I'm in the Green Room at Next Stage in Putney, Vermont, where River Singers is performing tonight. Our leader, Mary Cay Brass, is talking with Val about the announcement of one of the songs. 

        Val and Mary Cay

I'll be singing a solo in a Sufi chant titled Jahac Hrabrosti. 

The Sixth night of Hannukah

We are at home enjoying listening to the Western Wind Hannukah CD, starring Theodore Bikel as narrator, while we burn the candles in the minorah. Hearing Western Wind also brings to remembrance Ellen's friend Adrienne Asch who was their manager for a while. Western Wind sang at her memorial service. That must have been five years ago, about this time of year. There are many occasions when we miss her voice and thoughts so much.  

Doing ok

When I made my last post on Monday, I was in bed with a cold. But Tuesday I got up and had a quiet day, which included working on music for the evening River Singers rehearsal, and then went to the rehearsal and actually sang my solo reasonably well. We even were able to go early to the soup and bread meal before rehearsal, and met John and Cynthia there. We've arranged to meet them  next Monday morning to go look at the house in Windham which I wasn't able to see last week because I was in bed.  

Wednesday evening was a rehearsal of the Brattleboro Concert choir. We sang through the entire program: the Allegri Miserere Deus and the Mozart Requiem.  The Allegri still needs a lot of work, and the concert is only one month away. We don't even have any rehearsals during the holiday season. So I hope that we can rise to the occasion.

Today, Ellen is in Northampton where she picked up Tamar after school and is going to spend some time with her. So I'm having a quiet day at home. I just fixed myself some lunch, and I've been listening to a recording that I made of the rehearsal last night. It is a little painful to listen to, but it is revealing, and is giving me some guidance on what I need to do to improve my own contribution. I can't fix everybody, but I can try to do the best I can.

Yesterday morning, we took a break to watch the entire funeral service for George  H. W. Bush. I can't say that I was much of a fan of the 41st president when he was in office, but in today's situation, it seemed important to honor some of the qualities which he had which are so absent in the current president. And as a minister, I'm always interested in seeing what people decide to do in a funeral service. I especially loved hearing the hymn Eternal Father, Strong to Save, the so-called "Navy Hymn," which I have always loved. Though I will have to say that the choral arrangement that they used seemed a little over the top. I think it would've been better just as a congregational hymn. 

Today I believe is the fifth day of Hanukkah. Earlier in the week we got out the menorah, and lit candles the first night, Sunday night. We will probably light the candles again tonight when Ellen gets home. Our beautiful menorah comes from my father, who was a Chaplain in World War II, and was given this menorah by a fellow chaplain, a Jewish rabbi.

Home in bed

Last Friday I came down with a cold and I've been in bed since then keeping warm, taking fluids, taking echinacea, drinking Mullein/coltsfoot tea, etc. Feeling better and hoping that I'll have a voice for tomorrow's rehearsal with River singers.

I missed out on a tour Saturday of a house in Windham, Vermont with John, Cynthia and Ellen and a realtor, but Ellen brought back a full report. She and Cynthia especially loved the house. John was a little less enthusiastic but still open to the possibility. It does have major issues with water in an unfinished basement. But it has a lot of nice features and 70 acres of beautiful land and views!

       The house in Windham 

I also stayed home from church Sunday morning but Ellen took the choir music and all my instructions and everything went well. She played the recorder with a couple of the pieces, Mary W-G directed, and I'm sure it was beautiful.

I have a feeling I'll be using my bottle of entertainers secret throat spray to get me through rehearsal tomorrow and at the concert this weekend. I'll be singing a short solo in one of the songs. Entertainers secret gives immediate relief from hoarseness. I just ordered another bottle of it. I learned about it from my otolaryngologist.

        Entertainers Secret Throat Spray

Mr. Squirrel wants in!

For a couple of days now, a squirrel has been making resolute efforts to get into our house! He has investigated every window and door;  he's climbed up the side of the door and sniffed out every crack and just now he's just been standing outside the door looking in a little wistfully.

                                                                 "Won 't you let me in?" 

Today is a "bake cookies day" for Ellen and it is not going well. One batch of dough came out strangely and some almond slivers got over-roasted. Plus a beautiful knitted vest she 's been working on for months showed up today with two holes in it - mice ? Anyway, it can't go into the church bazaar raffle like that! Sigh ! Hope it starts going better for her - she has a lot of cookies to bake for the bazaar.

Meanwhile I had a dental cleaning this morning that wiped me out. They used the ultrasound machine which I find very disagreeable. Then I went to the computer store to get ink cartridges and they said they've stopped selling ink because they lose money on it! Huh? I thought that was how they made money? Staples doesn't carry precisely the cartridge I need, so I have to order them from Amazon. I tried and couldn't read those letters you're supposed to reproduce to prove you 're not a robot ( I think my old iPhone cannot handle their website) so I'll have to go out with the computer. It's one of those days!

Later:
Made the order for ink cartridges on the computer at the church, easy as pie. Also got my music copied for Sunday choir. Yay!

More photos from Thanksgiving

Thanks to Michael Schoeck for these photos!

         Katie, Gertie, Amy and Michael

 Gertie and Katie outside the glassblower's studio

                 Working on a jigsaw puzzle

                    The hearth in our house

          Looking out the window

2nd Thanksgiving dinner Saturday at Katie & Savanna's  (photo LCC)

Putney Craft Tour

Black Friday is traditionally the day we do the Putney Craft Tour - 25 craft venues of all kinds from glass-blowing to cheese. Before lunch we went to the Putney Spinnery and then to Dena Moses, weaver.

      A woven stole by Dena Moses

Now we are at the Westminster-West church for soup.

Katie, Amy and John having soup

In a minute we'll meet Katie, Savanna and Brendon at the glass-blower.

Later:

         Robert Bruce, glassblower

                             Brendon is giving rapt attention to a glass pumpkin in progress

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is Thanksgiving day and we have a wonderful day in progress with Katie , Michael and Amy here and John and Cynthia arriving soon. Ellen has been cooking and baking up a storm yesterday and this morning. KM&A arrived very  late last night - around midnight: they drove up from New York leaving at 8 o'clock.

It is very cold today  -  about 10 degrees, and also very windy. But with wood stove, electric and propane fireplace all going, we are cozy.  We'll have dinner around four.  KM&A have already done one jigsaw puzzle this morning and are now starting a game of Uno. 

                Last night waiting for KM&A

                      Michael, Katie and Amy

                              Pre-dinner snacks!

Thank you Ellen ! 

Snow again

We are at Katie and Savanna's house. We decided not to go home last night at the end of our trip because it was snowing and the house would be cold and we would have to sleep in a cold bed. So we came here and we had a nice sleep last night but now it's snowing. And we don't really feel too eager to get out on the road right now, so we're going to wait until it winds down. We have a River Singers rehearsal tonight, which may be canceled because of snow, but probably not. So we need to get home, get the house warmed up and get on with things up in Vermont! 

      Snowy world out there! 

At Suzy and Dennis' place

We spent Friday and Saturday night at Suzy and Dennis house in Elgin. We arrived at about 8pm Friday evening, talked a bit and went to bed. Then on Saturday, we got up fairly late, called Carol Plagge and found out she was available to have lunch, so we went to our usual place, Alexander's, and had a good lunch and visit. She is mostly recovered from a fall in which she broke her jaw. She had to get through several weeks with it wired shut though. After lunch, we went to Bartlett to visit Jerry and Maggie. Jerry is going through another spell of chemo for colon cancer that has metastasized, and the chemical formula this time is different and has been devastating, So it is being re-evaluated. He wasn't up for the gathering Saturday night but we wanted very much to see him and wish him well. Daniel came by and picked up Maggie though, and we all went back to Suzy and Dennis's. Peter was there, Tristan and Samantha, and Becky. A good gathering on short notice. There were three November birthday people there - Ellen, Peter and Samantha, so Maggie had brought a cake with EPS in icing, It is always great to be with the Crockett clan!

I was fun for me to be at Suzy and Dennis' place because she has some things I haven't seen for a while - like a painting of The Little Match Girl that dad brought back from France after WW 2. It hung on our wall during my high school years. There was also a drawer in our bedroom full of Stewart items. No time to go through it all, but I found an envelope of photos of the old buildings of the Pittsburgh Bible Institute. So - there is a story there.

My Aunt Julia, my mother's sister, dedicated her life to the Pittsburgh Bible Institute, a church and training institute for missionaries, that was founded at the beginning of the 20th century and initially occupied a number of buildings in downtown Pittsburgh, at the corner of what was then Congress and Wylie Streets. The photos I found are of those buildings. I visited Julia once there. PBI functioned in downtown Pittsburgh much as the Salvation Army does today in many large cities. In 1957, the city took the buildings and tore them down to build the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, a huge domed building that housed conferences and local sports teams. PBI moved to the suburbs, to Gibsonia, where they acquired over 50 acres of farmland, built new buildings there and adjusted their mission to a new reality.  Stewart and I visited Julia there in Gibsonia many times, starting in the 1970s and continuing until her death in 2000. I remember those visits with fondness. Stewart and I stayed in a dorm, had oodles of time to talk and take walks, and also be with Julia. Toward the end, PBI ceased to be a school and became just a church community, much like an Assembly of God church. They sold off much of the land and are now surrounded by million dollar homes. The cemetery where Julia is buried is today literally an island in a sea of huge houses. Meanwhile, the Civic Arena has been torn down! and is a parking lot. As a final irony, Wylie Street has been restored.

We left Suzy and Dennis' Sunday morning and started our journey back to Vermont. We hit sloppy weather around Cleveland and decided to take I-80 instead of I-90. Tonight we are in a Microtel Inn and Suites in Clarion, PA. A free room because I had acquired 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points which I decided to redeem to cap our trip. It is a very nice room.

PHOTO GALLERY

 

Suzy and Dennis' house

A birthday cake for Ellen, Samantha and Peter

The Little Match Girl

Pittsburgh Bible Institute main building, c. 1956

Julia Winter

Me and Aunt Julia in the 1990s

My brother Stewart with Aunt Julia

Julia (2nd from right) with a group of retired women missionaries at PBI, including Miss Rhome (2nd from left) with whom Stewart and I did many things - Miss Rhome would take us places in her car.

The summer of 1954

Yesterday (Friday) we drove from Onawa, Iowa, which is on the western border of Iowa, on the Missouri RIver, to Elgin, IL, home of Suzie and Dennis McQuen, my brother Stewart's eldest daughter and her husband. Suzie was born in Independence, Iowa in 1954, and that was the summer I spent in Onawa between my graduation from Drury College and entering Chicago Theological Seminary in the fall. i drove over to Independence that summer to meet my newborn niece. I was reminiscing about that summer with Ellen as we drove along in the car. It was an interesting and sort of wild summer for me. My dad served two churches, in Onawa and Blencoe, IA, and I led a youth group in both churches. We had regular meetings and did projects. The Onawa group tackled the refurbishing of a large meeting room in the church, removing the old varnish from the wood paneling and refinishing it. That summer, a new pipe organ was installed in the church - a Moehler Unified Pipe Organ. They needed a "grunt" to help with non-technical tasks, so they hired me. One of my jobs was to hold down a key on the organ console while they tuned the pipe. I was thrilled with this job because it gave me the chance to really see the inner works of a pipe organ. I had studied organ for a year at Drury, and loved the instrument (still do). When it was all built, I got to play it, much to my delight. That was also the summer of a major flood in Onawa. The Missouri River overflowed its banks and flooded a lot of fields. That was my first experience with the stench that follows a flood when the waters recede and the rotten vegetation is exposed. That was also the summer that I had an impacted wisdom tooth removed, and it was a traumatic experience. The dentist had snapped off the crown of the tooth for some reason and then was not able to grab the roots to pull them out. They kept slipping further down into the gums. I remember him pulling out drawers looking for a new forceps and throwing things on the floor in frustration! Finally he unpacked a new suction machine he had just bought and used the suction to hold the roots steady with one hand while he grabbed them with the other! I was in the chair for a long time and afterward I could scarcely open my jaw for days! My mother made liquid meals I was barely able to suck through a straw. That summer was also unusually hot and humid as I recall. Temps in the 100's with high humidity for days on end. Great for growing corn, but hard on humans. Quite a summer!

The churches have not fared well in the intervening years. Ellen and I did visit both churches on a trip we made back when we were first married - 2006-  and made a long trip to the various places we had formerly lived. The Onawa church was struggling and has since closed and become a Bible Baptist Church. The Blencoe Church was doing a bit better and is still a going concern, I think. When we visited, there were still people in the congregation who remembered me and my parents. We did not have time on this trip to go to Blencoe.

The present-day Onawa Church. It still looks as I remember it, but the parsonage, which was next door, is no longer there.

The Blencoe Church sign (c. 2007). So far as I can tell, Linda Boggs is still the pastor

Me, Maggie and Stewart in the living-room in Onawa, c. 1952 or '53

Happy Birthday, Ellen

Today is Ellen's birthday. Happy Birthday, Ellen!  I am one blessed guy!

We have been talking about it and having anticipatory celebrations of it for some time, so, of course, I lost track of the date and forgot to say "Happy Birthday" when we got up this morning! But it was a lovely day anyway, a beautiful drive across Nebraska on a surprisingly mild and sunny day. I read aloud from the book we are reading on the Great Lakes, and we also listened to lectures on Native American history. And we listened to NPR. Tonight we are in Onawa, Iowa at a Super 8. My father was a minister here from 1952 until his death in 1957. I was his assistant here the summer of 1954.

   The church in Onawa my father pastored . Today it is a Bible Baptist Church

Our friend Jerry is dealing with adverse reactions to chemo, so we will be staying with my niece, Suzie McQuen and her husband, Dennis, Friday and Saturday night. I hope we will get to see Jerry and Maggie a bit anyway.

Ellen had to drive a bit longer today than she would have liked - we arrived in Onawa at 8pm. Driving in strange places after dark is not much fun anymore. Thank you, my love!

       On Wednesday, we stopped at the Big Horn Sheep Museum in Dubois, WY. 

An amazing set of horns!

This grizzly bear family became addicted to food provided by humans and eventually were deemed dangerous and were put down and then put on display as a warning to humans to not feed the bears!

Another diorama from the Big Horn Sheep Museum.

In addition to displays, the museum provides field trips into the hills around Dubois to see Big Horn Sheep in the wild.