A nice little walk

This morning we took Max down to the house next to where they used to live, where there are two girls that he often has played with, and he has a play date with them today. After leaving him there, we went to a nearby wetlands, where we have often walked before, where there is an abundance of birds and wildflowers. We saw swans, pelicans, geese, coots, a ruddy duck, sandhill cranes and a wading shorebird that might have been an avocet. We also saw several kinds of wildflowers.

Where we walked

Families of geese on the water

A pelican swimming away from us

Here are three of the many wildflowers we saw:

Flax

Salsify

Thistle

After our walk, we did a little shopping, came home, had some lunch, and we rested. Then we got a call and learned that Max wanted to do an overnight. That involved some calls to get parental approval, which was given. The dad brought Max back to the condo for an overnight bag. Since Paul and Jenny were going out to eat in Jackson, that gave Ellen and me quite a stretch on our own. Ellen read. I explored a trail through a field that goes off from the condo complex (it curved around and came out by a Subway sandwich shop near the bridge over the Snake River). Then I worked on converting more pages of my doctoral dissertation into a digital file (I'm up to page 77!). Ellen fixed one of our "fave" suppers (baked potato topped with broccoli, topped with cheese sauce, plus grated carrot salad), and we watched the Friday PBS Newshour on the computer. Paul and Jenny came home, and now Ellen and Paul are watching a movie. I'll join them soon.

The house site

Yesterday evening, we went over to look at the site where Paul will build a new house. It is in an area that is near the Pallisades reservoir, and has a 380 view of mountains. But it is also an area where the town has put in infrastructure: water sewer and propane, and several others are building houses or already have built houses. It will be in more of a neighborhood then their former house was. In the not too distant future, there will even be a grocery store within walking distance. It is also very convenient to the road which links Alpine with the club where Jenny works, and with Jackson. It should be good.

                             On the site, looking east

                                          Looking north

Sad news

Just as we arrived in Alpine, the cell phone rang. It was not convenient to answer it at the moment, but the caller left a message. It was Betty Miller from Anamosa, Iowa. She was calling to let us know that Betty Remley had died on Tuesday. Tuesday, we were driving from Bartlett to Sioux City, and thought about visiting Betty, We often have on that leg of our trip in the past. But we had been encouraged to go through Galena, IL, which is a more northern route, so we decided to see Betty on our way back. It is a bit creepy to realize that she died that day. I don't know yet the time or circumstances of her death.

Betty was the choir director of my dad's church back in the 1940's when I was in high school. She just turned 100 years old late last year. We had last visited her on our way out to Wyoming in January. We had come to really look forward to those visits because Betty was so engaged in life right up to the end, a bright mind, good memory, cheerful, interested in what was happening, philosophical about her infirmities, never complaining - just a remarkable person in every way. And a real living link to my parents, whom she had loved. I will miss so much making those pilgrimages to Anamosa to see Betty!'

Her funeral service will be July 14th. It would not be easy for me to get there, but I am thinking about it.

Me and Betty back in January

We've arrived!

Here we are at 61B, Bluewing Lane, Alpine!

Kitchen/Dining room,/Living room

Paul in entry way

This is the condo Paul and Jenny are renting while Paul builds another house.

LATER:

Ellen reading to Max -   I caught her by surprise !

I'll say !

Oversize load :

We couldn't tell what this was, but when we finally got past it, it turned out to be a HUGE truck bed
for  a really huge road construction truck. It was about a lane-and-a-half wide!

Douglas, Wy

We did not have a motel breakfast so we had a "real"  breakfast at the Village Inn, a regional chain. It was good.

The Village Inn Restaurant

Afterward, we drove around Douglas. Like many Wyoming towns, it does not appear to be thriving. It is home to the Wyoming State Fair, but seems to lack a solid economic base. Wyoming is a wealthy state due to energy resources; I don't quite understand why so many towns are so sad. Douglas was created by the railroad, and of course that is gone. Maybe that's the problem. The railroad depot in Douglas is now a national historic site and houses both a restaurant and a museum. If we had realized there was a restaurant there we probably would've had breakfast there.

Douglas, WY Historic Train Depot

Now we are in Casper, Wyoming. Casper is lacking in charm. It is heavily industrialized. There must be some parts of it with nice houses and trees, but I've never seen them.

We'll be in Alpine by suppertime. Between here and there we are going to be driving through some spectacular scenery.

We are in Douglas, Wyoming

We drove across the state of Nebraska today and a little bit into Wyoming. We did not stop very much today. We did make a stop at Fort Robinson for some ice cream. We actually had strawberry sundaes with some fresh strawberries we had bought near Galena, Illinois. We also stopped in Valentine, Nebraska at  a city park to have a little picnic. Otherwise it was just a straight shot on US 20 across Nebraska.  We had hardly any traffic at all. There was some construction that slowed us up but not too bad. We are at First interstate Inn in Douglas. Not a budget price but the room is OK.

Yesterday, near Waterloo Iowa, we stopped to look at Cedar Rock , a house by Frank Loyd Wright. Unfortunately, it was closed on Tuesday. We walked around the gate to get a glimpse of the house, but all we found was the visitor center. We learned later from Google maps that the house was some distance from the visitor center.

                       Visitors' Center at Cedar Rock

Here's what Cedar Rock looks like:

Ceder Rock on the Wapsipinicon River

We hope to go back and see it on our return trip.

Heavy, heavy, rain

We are in eastern Iowa and going through heavy rain showers. They are very local and come and go but intense. Earlier we were in Galena, Illinois. The home of the Ulyses S Grant. A very attractive town but crowded with tourists. The Grant home was closed on Tuesday. But we looked around the very lovely grounds. It was not raining when we were there. It started raining as we went toward Dubuque, IA, and over the Mississippi River. Right this minute it's pretty good.

                     Crossing the Mississippi River 

                         The U. S. Grant home

                The Grant home neighborhood 

                The Belvedere  Mansion in Galena

                  Julia Dent, Grant 's wife

We stopped to check out the Frank Lloyd Wright house called Cedar Rock . 

Closed Monday and Tuesday!

Just stopped at a Casey's store in Independence. I used to work in that town! 66 years ago! 

Remembering Betsey and Stewart

Betsey and Stewart had adjoining birth dates: Betsey would have been 60 on Sunday and Stewart 91 on Monday. It worked out well to be with family these two days. Sunday night we had a gathering of the Crockett clan and had a carrot cake decorated as a birthday cake for Betsey, plus a birthday balloon, and we all sang "Happy Birthday," and blew out the candles.

Today, M, J and Becky, Ellen and I decorated Stewart's grave with the balloon, a flag, a pinwheel, and sang for him. 

Betsey and Stewart, you are loved very much, missed greatly, remembered with joy. 

     Happy Birthday, Betsey  (w/Jerry and Suzie).

                             Happy Birthday, Stewart!

Ellen, Me, Jerry and Becky

What's happening to motel prices?

Last night our motel was borderline unacceptable. The bed tilted and had very skimpy sheets and blanket. The light over the bed didn't work. The frig made rattling noises all night. The AC was noisy. We got some sleep but not a lot.  The breakfast was worthless.  By rights it should have been a really budget motel.  $45 at most. It cost $85.  It was by far the cheapest room in the Erie, PA area. Even the motel coupon  book had  nothing cheaper. We usually stay at the Super 8 in Erie. Not posh but much nicer. Last Feb it cost $75. Last night they were asking $139! Is this the new normal?

The Red Carpet Inn

Here we are in North East, PA at the Red Carpet Inn.

Red Carpet Inn

It started to rain about an hour before we arrived. Ellen was glad to be done with driving for a while.
Otherwise, it was a good trip. I read aloud from The Supreme Court, a history of the court by William Rehnquist which  is proving to be quite interesting, We also listened to 3 lectures from our Teaching Company course on the law, Law School for Everybody.  So we are getting a crash course on legal matters.

Chittenango, NY

250 +  miles from home .

Erie PA tonight 

On our way

Almost ready

We leave for Wyoming tomorrow. We had supper with John and Cynthia at a new Indian restaurant in town - food was good. Brattleboro offers an amazing diversity of food options for a town of 13,000! We are just about all packed and ready to go! We'll be with Maggie and Jerry Sunday for a gathering of at least some of the Crockett clan. Sunday would have been Betsey's 60th birthday and Monday would have been my brother Stewart's 91st birthday. We will hold them in our hearts.

We hope to be in Alpine a week from now or so. That will be an adventure! 

A litte hike up the mountain

John came over this morning and we took a little hike up Black Mountain - not to the top, but up a trail that goes through some groves of mountain laurel. We were hoping that we would see a lot of laurel in bloom, but were disappointed in that. Maybe some other parts of the mountain are more prolific than this particular trail. But we had a good time together and sat on some rocks and talked for a while before coming back down. Between his fatigue from his Lyme disease and my chronic joint aches, we were content not to push very hard.

However, later in the day I went over to the storage unit and cleaned it out, and brought everything back to the house and stacked it up in the corner where the piano was. No need to pay $43 a month any more. I can go through it, sort, dispose, etc.,  from the house, I think, now that some space is opened up.

We'll be leaving soon for Wyoming, so I'm getting some of these things done before we leave.

A selfie of John and me at the end of our hike

A closeup of the laurel right in our own backyard!

Welcome home!

We arrived home from Maine a bit ago. We had a beautiful welcoming party: this Luna moth was sitting right on the deck post where we park the car under the deck! What an amazing creature! A beautiful, spontaneous anniversary gift!

                          Wow!!!

Congratulations !

Today is a special day for yet another reason:  Krystal and Dan were married today in California. Katie and  Brendon flew out for the wedding. Congratulations Krystal and Dan! We hope you have had a lovely day!

Happy Anniversary!

On our way out of the When Pigs Fly bread parking lot, Ellen said, "do you know what today is ?" I wasn't even sure of the date. So I said, "No." "Our anniversary!" Omigosh! (Blush! Blush!) that slipped up on me! 

Happy Anniversary, Ellen ! I love you and am so glad to be your husband !  Thank you for putting up with me for 13 years!

                 Lucky ducks!

Bath, ME

We left Owl's Head late this morning and now are in Bath, ME. Ellen is at the yarn shop and I am in the Cafe Creme, waiting for her. Yesterday, I visited the website "Librivox." It is a source for audio books in the public domain, read by volunteer readers. I downloaded a volume of British short stories by various authors, A. Conan Doyle, R. Kipling, J.M. Barrie, etc. On our way down we listened to A Cauldron of Oil, by Wilkie Collins. It was quite engrossing and just the right length to get us to Bath. An interesting addition to our arsenal of things to do in the car while traveling.

Yesterday evening, the four of us, Jim, Mary, Ellen and myself, went to the movie, The Rider,  which Ellen and I had already seen in Amherst, but were eager for Jim and Mary to see. I enjoyed seeing it again (especially on a big screen)  but it proved to be a bit too slow and long for Mary's taste. Jim seemed to like it. It is definitely slow and long. There are many minutes  (maybe as much as a third of the entire film!) of just looking at the face of the cowboy, Brady, who has suffered a serious head injury in a fall from a "bucking bronco," and can never ride or do rodeo again.  His face is easy to look at, but I can see it would not be everyone's cup of tea.

At Cafe Creme

The Weiwei exhibit at the Farnsworth

Today, after we had lunch with Phil and Deborah McKean, Jim and Mary, at Claws Lobster Shack in Rockport (Very good lunch - I had steamers, Ellen had a haddock sandwich and we shared sweet potato fries), Ellen and I went to the Farnsworth Museum. We had free passes because last time, we went when most exhibits were closed. Today the featured exhibit was 12 gold sculptures by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei: 12 animal heads representing the Chinese Zodiac. These are the smaller, gold-leaf-over-bronze sculptures that are touring the country. There is a larger bronze exhibit also by Weiwei which is touring in larger museums.

"Created in 2010, the zodiac heads (a Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig) are inspired by those which once comprised a water clock-fountain at the Old Summer Palace, which is a complex of palaces and gardens in Beijing that were constructed by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty.^[1] The Old Summer Palace was eventually destroyed by French and British troops in 1860 during the Second Opium War, at which time the fountainheads were looted. They were originally made by an Italian Jesuit, Giuseppe Castiglione."

The sculptures were spectacular. We were amazed to be able to stand inches from these creations and just let their power wash over us. I inadvertently Ieft my iPhone/camera at home, but here are some images gleaned from the web:

The Ai Weiwei exhibit at the Farnsworth

Another exhibit of the same sculptures: Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon

Side view of the snake

The Dragon, the most auspicious of the twelve

These animals actually represent not the months of the year, as in the Western Zodiac, but twelve double-hours of the day. The series begins with the Rat, which represents 11p.m. to 1 a.m., and continues in the order listed above in two-hour segments. So, e.g., right now, at 5:10 p.m., I am in the Rooster. A child born at this time would presumably have traits related to the Rooster. I'm not sure how you deal with time zones in figuring that (or, even more puzzling, DST!). 

At Owl's Head, ME

We are visiting Jim and Mary. We arrived Saturday evening at suppertime. Sunday morning we went to church at the UU church. For lunch we went to the Rockland airport to the Salty Owl restaurant. The airport is a commuter airport serving Boston and the restaurant is very small but has very tasty food. Then Sunday evening Ellen and I went to visit Philip and Deborah McKean and had supper with them. Today the McKean's are coming here and we will show them Jim and Mary's house and then go out to lunch together. Then Ellen and I will go to the Farnsworth museum. We'll have supper in town and go to the movies.

                         The Rockland airport terminal

                           The Salty Owl restaurant

                   The Salty Owl

                        The view from the restaurant

          Lupines in bloom at Jim and Mary's 

Mountain laurel

The mountain laurel is in bloom. There's a little bush behind the house that I don't think has never bloomed but it's blooming this year. It must be really beautiful up on the mountain where there's a large tract of Laurel.

So long, piano

The movers were here at 7.m. sharp this morning to move the piano. I was ready for them. It took them little time to get a dolly under it and roll it out the door. The disconcerting thing was that they arrived in like a 40-foot moving van! I was pretty sure that at Green Mountain Camp they would have trouble getting up on to the hill where Hildreth Hall is located. Matt, the driver, agreed - he remembered taking a piano there once  before, years ago. I called  Billie, the director, and appraised her of the situation. The moving guys said they could take the piano, but would have to change trucks and deliver it later. I felt badly about that for the GMC folks' sake. But I called GMC later in the morning and learned that the guys had decided to go check it out, discovered the road up to Hildreth had been widened, got up it ok, and the piano was all in place! Yay!

The piano this morning at 7 a.m.

Out the door it goes!

Over the stones...

Up the ramp...

....into this HUGE van

Leaving an empty space in my study!

With the piano gone, I was able to take up the oriental carpet that has been on the floor for almost 4 decades, took it up on to the deck and gave it a thorough vacuuming. Later I will shampoo it. Then I thoroughly vacuumed the walls and floor in the study. I will miss the piano but so glad it has a new home where it will be used and appreciated.

New residents

We have a new family at Chez Crockett - at least for a while! A family of Phoebe's. Susan Gelettly first noticed them. The have built a nest between the window and the screen, made possible because the window (an awning-type, thus creating a kind of eave)  was open for days on end. Initially there were five little eggs. Now there are at least four little hatchlings. The mother is very vigilant and becomes frantic if we try to move the curtain and take a peek. I got a photo while was off getting food.

A very poor, hastily-made photo of baby Phoebes. 

Mother Phoebe in a tree near the nest