Continuation

Today, Ellen joined me in going to church in Waldoboro, where we met Phil and Deborah at the Broad Bay UCC Church there for the 10a.m.service. The guest preacher was The Rev. Deborah Flood who is the Conference Minister of the Maine Conference of the UCC. We liked her - her text was the story in Genesis 22 of Jacob wrestling with the angel, and wrestling was the theme, which she related effectively to the church in the world today.  Broad Bay is a relatively new church - 35 years old. It started as a house church and then acquired the Baptist church building in Waldoboro when the Baptists moved to the outskirts and built sort of a megachurch. They have successfully held a capital campaign to raise money to renovate the building, and that is in progress.

After church we drove to Friendship, ME, following Phil and Deborah's car through vivid fall foliage-tinged countryside. In Friendship we bought lobster rolls at Archie's General Store and took them to Cushing where we had lunch on their deck, and ended up talking until 5p.m. A very nice day. We came back to Jim and Mary's, did the Spelling Bee puzzle, had supper and watched an episode of Scott&Bailey, a British series featuring two women detectives, and then watched Country Music. We'll head back to Vermont tomorrow.

Broad Bay UCC Church in Waldeboro, ME.

Rev. Deborah J, Flood, Maine UCC Conference Minister

A Visit with Phil and Deborah

Today, Ellen went back to the Common Ground Fair and I went to Cushing, Maine, about a half-hour drive, to visit Phil and Deborah McKean, friends who for me go back 55 years! Their home in Cushing is in a beautiful location on a tidal river, with a garden and small orchard - an idyllic place. Deborah has Alzheimer's and I think today she was not sure who I was. So Phil is a caregiver and a wonderful one he is. Deborah lives very much in the moment, and today she and I sat together for a while in the sun and she shared her love for the color in the foliage and the monarch butterflies that were flitting about. We had a lovely lunch together - a veggie burger, sweet corn and a piece of melon - a lunch we dragged out for more than two hours with conversation. Phil is very much involved in a lot of things both in Maine and back in Claremont, CA, where they spend their winters. They also have two grown children and they have families, so there is a lot to talk about. Deborah is not able to participate very well in conversation which she has trouble following, and often will just content herself with reading or being quiet and looking at the beauty around her. I enjoy my time with them because our relationship goes back so far and for me is filled with rich memories.

This is where we sat and had our lunch

Giant Russian Sunflowers Phil is raising

Phil was measuring how much pipe he would need to install an underground irrigation system in his little orchard.

A Jamie Wyeth print that Phil picked up yesterday for $20 at a little shop at the train station near the Common Ground Fair. Good deal!

Phil and  Deborah

Yesterday, while Ellen was at the fair, I went to the Rockland Public Library. I had brought some paper files with me just in  case I could digitize them there, and indeed, they had a printer that had the "scan and save" function. BUT - they charge $0.10 a scanned page! Same as printing!  At the Putney Library and the Alpine Library in Wyoming, "scan and save" function is free. Which admittedly is a good deal because electricity and wear and tear on the printer are involved. But no paper or ink is needed. I could see charging $0.01 or $0.02, but $0.10 seems extreme. So, needless to say, I only scanned a few trial pages (which cost me $1.20),  and that was that.

Then I came home and walked down to the shore near Jim and Mary's house, where the little cottage is. Lovely there and I had it all to myself.

The reading room at Rockland Public Library

Down at the shore

A touch of fall color

We are in Maine

We drove over to Maine, to Jim and Mary's, yesterday. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and we made our usual stops at Bob's Clam Hut, When Pigs Fly bread outlet (both in Kittery),  and Scoop Deck ice cream in Wells. I wished there had been time to stop in Ogunquit and walk the beach or the Marginal Way - something we haven't done for a long time, but as it was we didn't get to Owls Head until 6:30p.m., and we were bringing supper (Ellen's famous shepherd's pie).

Today, Ellen, Jim and Mary went to the Common Ground Fair. I've opted to stay at the house and have a quiet day. It feels good! I debated whether to come at all this time, because a day at CGF is pretty tiring, and while I love the fair, it isn't a top priority for me right now. I considered staying with Katie and Savanna while Ellen came alone. But not coming at all would have meant not seeing my friends Phil and Deborah McKean before they go back to California. So I decided to come, see my friends, but skip the Fair.

Earlier this week, Tuesday evening, was the start of River Singers. It was great to see friends again, and we went with Eliza Bergh to the before-rehearsal soup supper put on by the church. And we had Brattleboro Concert Choir Wednesday eve.

Tuesday evening at River Singers rehearsal, Westminster-West Church, with Mary Cay Brass at the piano

Tuesday morning, I went to a gathering of retired clergy at the Dummerston Church. There were only  four of us, but we had a stimulating discussion. I had been asked to bring an opening "litany." I wanted to do something a little unusual. I learned through the internet that Tuesday the 17th was Constitution Day - the day in 1787 when the Constitution was signed by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. I found the speech that Benjamin Franklin gave to the delegates before the signing, and I was so struck by its prescience and pertinence for our time, that I made it our "litany." Everyone really liked it and it triggered a good discussion. The other item on the table was the book by Robert Jones, The Death of White Christian America, a trenchant book which also provokes spirited discussion. Jack Bixby lent me his copy and I "speed-read" it Wednesday. I recommend it. It confirms ideas I've been harboring in my own mind for some time. I'll attach Ben Franklin's speech below.

The other thing this week has been Ken Burns' new film, Country Music on PBS. Two hours every evening since  Sunday. It has been riveting - maybe his best film yet, and that is saying something. I know very little about country music, so I have learned a lot. The life story of Hank Williams was especially moving. Ellen is much more knowledgeable and she has also enjoyed it a lot.

We also went to the movies at the Latchis and saw Peanut Butter Falcon which is about two men "on the run," one of whom is a young man with Down's Syndrome who is running away from a nursing home looking for a wrestling school he learned about on TV. The character is played by an actor who has Down's Syndrome, and he is great. It is a lovely movie.

Ellen stacked a lot of wood this week. We are a little bit ahead of where we were last year in that department. Zach will dump another load while we are in Maine.

A slightly condensed version of Benjamin Franklin's speech to the delegates at the Constitutional Convention, September 17, 1789 (prepared as a "litany" for a gathering of retired clergy on September 17, 2019)

SEPTEMBER 17TH IS CONSTITUTION DAY: On this day in 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia gathered to sign the Constitution. Benjamin Franklin addressed the delegates before the signing:

1. I confess that there are several parts of this constitution which I do not
at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them: For having
lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better
information or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important
subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is
therefore that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment,
and to pay more respect to the judgment of others.

2. Most men indeed, as well as most sects in Religion, think themselves in
possession of all truth, and that whereever others differ from them it is so
far error. Steele, a Protestant in a Dedication tells the Pope, that the only
difference between our Churches in their opinions of the certainty of their
doctrines is, the Church of Rome is infallible and the Church of England is
never in the wrong. But though many private persons think almost as highly of
their own infallibility as of that of their sect, few express it so naturally
as a certain French lady, who in a dispute with her sister, said "I don't
know how it happens, Sister but I meet with no body but myself, that's always
in the right"

3. In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its
faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for
us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the
people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be
well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as
other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as
to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other.

4. I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain may be able to make
a better Constitution. For when you assemble a number of men to have the
advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all
their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local
interests, and their selfish views. From such an Assembly can a perfect
production be expected?

5. It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near
to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are
waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those
of the Builders of Babel; and that our States are on the point of separation,
only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another's throats.

6. Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and
because I am not sure, that it is not the best. . . On the whole, Sir, I
cannot help expressing a wish that every member of the Convention who may
still have objections to it, would with me, on this occasion doubt a little
of his own infallibility—and to make manifest our unanimity, put his name to
this instrument."

Unison Prayer: O God of earth and altar, bow down and hear our cry; our
earthly rulers falter, our people drift and die. The walls of gold entomb us,
the swords of scorn divide; take not thy thunder from us, but take away our
pride. From all that terror teaches, from lies of tongue and pen, from all
the easy speeches that comfort cruel men, from sale and profanation of honor
and the sword, from sleep and from damnation, deliver us, good Lord!  Amen.

                                                                                 -- G. K. Chesterton

Quite a hike - at least for me!

Yesterday, Ellen went with Eliza and Robin, and their families, on a hawk watch on Putney Mountain. I could have gone too, but it is a bit of a hike, so I stayed home. It was a beautiful day, and I wanted to enjoy the outdoors in some way, so I did a little hike right at the house which proved to be a good challenge for me. It involved going off our driveway down through the woods on our own land, following an old wood road that goes to the northern boundary of our property, which is below our house (which faces north) and going on to the property of our neighbor, Francis ("Jake") Jaquith - a road that leads past a big shed near his house and then comes back up and rejoins our driveway. In the old days, this is a road I could take my old GMC 4-wheel-drive, 3/4 ton pickup truck onto and get wood. I could drive as close as possible to a tree that had fallen down, cut it up, load it into the truck and bring it up to the house. I haven't done that since the truck "died" about a decade ago. And I hadn't even walked this road for several years. I was curious to see how it has fared, and I was also curious about my neighbor, Jake's, place, because things are happening there. Jake himself is in a nursing home, and is doing poorly both physically and cognitively. He has had Parkinson's for years, and now has dementia as well. He has three daughters, and is separated from his wife. The family has decided to clear everything out - he will not be coming home. This is quite an order, because Jake was a scavenger par excellence. He has collected piles and piles of what I guess you could call "junk" over the decades, and it is stored in big sheds and along this road  in the woods that I described above. I was curious to see it again after many years. It's still there. I think they are still busy clearing out the house and the three-bay shed by the house (plus a few other small sheds and a sugar house). That leaves a six-bay shed untouched as yet and a lot of stuff out in the open. What a job! This is hard to see, because Jake was as active and hard-working as anyone I have ever known. He was a good neighbor too - when my truck got stuck in the snow or mud - and that was often - Jake was there to pull me out.

The beginning of the "road" - obscured by the fact that in recent years, little saplings have grown up. That's what happens when you don't use the road!

A rotted log "mushroom farm" along the road

Another very different "mushroom farm" on another rotted and mossy log

What beauties!

The old wood road has also been obscured by big trees that have fallen down over it - like this one! In former years, I would have come down with the truck and cut this tree up and it would have helped heat the house.

Here is a section of the road that is pretty much as it was - for some reason, the seedlings haven't grown into little saplings here - maybe the soil conditions are different here or the overstory isn't letting quite as much sunlight through.

This is the beginning of Jake's "collection" - old farm machinery that has been rusting for decades.

This is just one little section of what is sitting down here!

This is a six-bay shed Jake built to house his "stuff" and every bay is full.

This is sort of a sad feature of this collection - in one bay is this collection of trophies Jake has received. At first I thought they were athletic trophies, but closer inspection shows they are from antique car shows - as is clear below:

Antique Car Show trophies

I feel for those who have to clear all this out. This makes my "stuff" look pretty paltry!

Now I've come up from the shed and am back on the road that leads to our house - Prospect View Drive. It's about a third of a mile walk from here to the house. A good hike altogether and very interesting to me, for sure.

Some time with Tamar and Max

Last Saturday, we went down to Northampton. Julie and Jerry took the weekend to go to Martha's Vineyard, and Max and Tamar were "home alone." Old enough to take care of themselves, but they said they would enjoy a visit from us. So we went down, took Tamar out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant called Bueno e Sano, got ice cream at a place Max used to work - Absolute Zero - which has a novel way to serve up ice cream, and then went to the place where Max is working now - which is called Cafe Evolution - which is a bakery/café. We saw him briefly and bought a snack (for me, a Nori Oat Bar, a very healthful dessert bar heavy on seeds; very crumbly, but good). Then we went back to the house and played Boggle with Tamar (who has gotten very good at Boggle - she won with no handicap) until it was time to pick Max up at work - he would have biked home, but his bike got a flat tire going to work, so both he and the bike needed to be picked up. Ben, of course, was at school at U. Mass. Then we came home to Vermont. (Sorry I failed to get a picture of Tamar. Next time!).

Bueno è Sano Restaurant

A mural over our table

Preparing ice cream at Absolute Zero. He makes a thin sheet of all the ingredients mixed all together and spread out over this metal surface which is kept way below zero (not absolute zero, however) and then uses a putty knife to scrape up the sheet into six rolls and puts them in a dish with toppings (if requested). This one was a S'more - chocolate, marshmallow, graham cracker and cream all smooshed together and spread out.

This is the final product, with whipped cream. You can see the edges of the rolls. It was good! Very pricey, however!

Max behind the counter at Cafe Evolution

Guilford Community Church

Sunday morning - a beautiful morning, and we have just been worshiping at the Guilford Community Church. This morning the service was built around the UCC National Synod Meeting which took place earlier this summer in Milwaukee, WI and four members of the church attended, including two very special teenagers who shared their experience in a delightful way; the choir sang We Shall  Not Be Moved and Ain't That Good News - two rousing anthems. An uplifting service, and a remarkable church.

The Guilford Community Church

Our pastor, Lise, with Margaret, one of the teens who spoke today

Inspection

When we looked at the condo at Morningside, the realtor recommended that since our septic system is 46 years old, we should have it inspected. So we did.  Thursday it was pumped out and Friday it was inspected. The inspection involves running a camera down the various pipes. It involved some digging - there is a plug on the septic tank that opens up access to the leach field. It didn't know about that. Turns out our septic tank empties into a drywell, and that opens into four leach field pipes. I didn't know that either. Everything looks good! We're supposed to get a written report. I guess it was worth it - the combined cost of pumping and inspecting was $881!  Yikes !

Opening for the septic tank, the plug for the leach field, and the camera eqeipment

Putting down the camera

Best Septic truck

Stewart Letter #10

-->This letter has some pretty interesting and substantive allusions to people and events!

Letter #10

September 21, 1944

Dear Dad:

            Yesterday afternoon, I brought home the big radio from Simms' (minus the cabinet, since I took out the radio and speaker beforehand) and it worked fine. We had it fixed some time ago, but it went on the blink again in a short time, and since we paid about eight dollars to get it fixed the first time, and it went on the blink so soon after being fixed, that we complained to Mr. Simms about it and he had it fixed for nothing this time.

            Last night, I heard Dr. Basil Matthews,[i] a religious journalist from England and Canada, talk on the subject, "The Four Freedoms of Asia," and since he has traveled extensively all over the world, especially in Southeast Asia, he knew what he was talking about. He mentioned, for instance, that giving independent rule to the Philippines would not necessarily be democracy, but that carrying on an extensive education program would be. The new president of the Philippines, succeeding Manuel Quezon's death,[ii] represents the small group of industrialists and financiers in the Philippines, and if they were given their independence as soon as the Japanese are driven out, this man would become a dictator much like the dictators of South America, reducing the people to slavery, and thus preventing democratic ideals from holding sway. Instead we must train and instruct them to govern themselves when they are fully ready. Also, he stated something that was a surprise to me, namely that the offer that Sir Stafford Cripps[iii] made to India in 1942 still stands, and the reason that India could not cash in on the deal, was that the various parties could not get together to write a constitution, which Britain fairly required. Dr. Matthews said that at that time in India, a leader of one party could not speak to the leader of another party if he saw him on the other side of the street. If the Congress Party, of which Gandhi is the head, had been put into power at that time, the war would have been over in six months, with the Germans and Japanese victorious, because of Gandhi's non-resistance attitude. But, however, Dr. Matthews said that he admires Gandhi's pacifism, especially since he is so consistent about it, but it would not work so well if allowed to run India all alone.

            Military and civilian leaders alike are warning the people of the U. S. not to confuse victory over Germany with V-Day. It has even been shown that the war against Japan may require more expenditure of equipment and casualties than against Germany, especially since Japan is running rampant through China in their attempt to cut China in two. With little prospect of Russia helping us, in fact right now, Russia is giving help to Japan against us, and with only Britain's promise so far to send most of her navy, which we don't need anyway since in a short time we will have a navy greater than all the other navies in the world combined, including Great Britain, the prospect is no longer bright. The Japanese philosophy is so far from usual that it is doubtful that they will give up, and will actually fight to the last person. Of course it might not happen like that, but it is more likely to than not. The reason that we are being warned like this is, of course, because many are leaving war plants for work with post-war security, and this is severely hampering essential production in things that are being used up in such great quantities, which you are observing.

           

            I have finished Lincoln Steffens and Herod by Jacob S. Minkin.[iv] Since I have so much to "kill" between now and Oct. 23, when I can take my physical over again, I am going to read as much as possible and try to learn something about a lot of things that I don't know.      {Switch from typing to longhand writing with a pen}

            The only reason that I am choosing the army is because I can start college training under it as soon as my leg is well. The Navy V-12 test is not given until November (they didn't give it this summer) and then one could not be in the Navy until March 1, 1945. So I am going to go ahead with my enlistment in the EAC for ASTRP training, thus making  it more possible for me to be chosen for ASTP when I get into the regular army. 

                                                                        With lots of love and hope

                                                                             for your safe return,

                                                                                                Stewart

           

           

---

[i] Basil Mathews (1879-1951) was a prolific author of religious books for lay people and young adults. Some of his titles were:

Livingston, the Pathfinder, 1912

John Williams, the Shipbuilder, 1915

The Secret of the Raj, 1915

The Riddle of Nearer Asia, 1916

Paul the Dauntless: the course of a great adventure, 1916

Three years of war for peace, 1917

The Liberator of Mesopotamia, 1918

The Ships of Peace, 1919

Crisis of the West Indian Family

The Quest of Liberty: Adventures of the Mayflower Pilgrims

Fellowship in Thought and Prayer, 1920

Yarns on African Pioneers to be told to boys, 1920

Torchbearers in China

Essays on Vocation, 1921

The book of Missionary Heroes, 1922

Tales of Tirah and Lesser Tibet, 1923

A Clash in Color: A study in the problem of race, 1924

The Clash of World Forces: nationalism, Bolshevism and Christianity, 1931

John R Mott, World Citizen, 1934

The Jew and World Ferment, 1935

East and West: Conflict or Cooperation, 1936

Forward through the Ages

Unfolding Drama in Southeast Asia, 1944

Booker T Washington: educator and interracial interpreter,1948

Through Tragedy to Triumph: The World Church in the World Crisis

Mathews held several positions in his professional life, e.g., Editorial secretary of the London Missionary Society, 1910-1919; Ministry of Information, British Government, 1917-1919; Director of the Press bureau of Conference of Representatives of British Missionary Societies, 1920-1924; International literature secretary of the World Committee of Y.M.C. A., Geneva, Switzerland, 1924-1929; Professor Christian world relations, Boston University and Andover-Newton Theological Institution, 1932-1944; Prof., Christian world-relations, Union College of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, 1944-1949.

His views were common in his time, but by today's standards would be regarded as having a whiff of white supremacy - a belief that Western European culture, and its form of Christianity in particular, was superior to Asian and African cultures. Thus, e.g., that the Philippine people had to be "instructed" in democracy before they could be trusted with it. A review of his book on the Jews (The Jew and the World Ferment) suggests that he is primarily interested in converting Jews to Christianity, not respecting them in their own right. On the other hand, Mathews seems to have been a progressive thinker for his time: e.g., his book on "the problem of race."

Stewart doesn't say where he heard Mathews speak, but it could have been at First Congregational Church.

[ii] Manuel Quezon (1878-1944) was the second President of the Philippine Commonwealth (11/15-1935 to 8/1/1944). He had worked for the full independence of the Philippines. In the face of a Japanese invasion in 1942 he formed a government-in-exile in the U.S.,  but died of tuberculosis in Saranac Lake, NY. He is held in esteem esp. for his work for the poor and his reaching out to victims of the Holocaust. He was succeeded in the Presidency by Jose P. Laurel.

Manuel Quezon

[iii] Sir Stafford Cripps (1889-1952), was Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons, Minister of Production in Churchill's War Cabinet and considered a likely successor to Churchill. He led a Mission to India in March 1942, "to enlist India's support for war effort by negotiating a settlement on the constitutional question of self-government." The proposal was, in essence, that if India sided with the Allies, it would be granted independence after the war. The mission failed, but the reasons for that failure are controversial. From the British side, Gandhi's commitment to non-violence and his wanting to keep India out of the war was a main cause. From the Indian side, it was believed that the War Cabinet undercut Scripps' efforts because it was opposed to Indian independence. Others cite poor communication and lack of coordination as key factors. The view of the facts presented by Mathews that Stewart reports here is possible, but debatable.

Stafford Cripps

[iv] Jacob Minkin was a rabbi. I found two reviews of his book, Herod. One panned it badly; the other thought it was the best biography he'd ever read! Here is some information on Rabbi Minkin:

MINKIN, JACOB SAMUEL (1885–1962), U.S. Conservative rabbi and author. Minkin was born in Russian Poland and received his education in Prague. He immigrated to the United States in 1904, earned a B.A. from Columbia University in 1908, and was ordained at the *Jewish Theological Seminary in 1910, where he earned his D.H.L. in 1935. Minkin's first pulpit was with Congregation Anshe Shalom in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (1910–17), where he organized Jewish education classes and an evening school teaching English to Jewish immigrants. The program was so successful that the city's Board of Education adopted the school and appointed Minkin superintendent of Hamilton night schools. In 1919, he was appointed rabbi of Temple Beth El in Rochester, New York, a newly established Reform congregation that Minkin led into the Conservative movement. In 1922, he began writing a syndicated column, News of the Jewish World, which appeared in more than 50 newspapers for eight years. In 1929, he became rabbi of Inwood Hebrew Congregation in New York City (1929–33), before leaving the congregational rabbinate to devote more time to scholarly research and writing. He took a part-time position as Jewish chaplain of Fordham Hospital in New York, where he remained for 25 years. Minkin wrote biographies of outstanding Jewish men of the ancient and medieval worlds, a study of the contribution of Jewish thought to modern philosophy, and one of the first books in English on the history and founders of the Ḥasidic movement. His works include The Romance of Hassidism (1935); Herod: A Biography (1936); Abarbanel and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1938); The World of Moses Maimonides (1957); posthumously, The Shaping of the Modern Mind: The Life and Thought of the Great Jewish Philosophers (1963); and Gabriel da Costa (1969).

Remembering Shirley

If Shirley were with us, she would have turned 87 today. Happy Birthday, Shirley!  She would also be deeply saddened by the news coming out of the Bahamas. She spent time with women friends on two occasions on an island in the Bahamas – Man-O-War Cay - which is just off Abaco Island. Hurricane Dorian virtually destroyed everything on Abaco island, including the Marsh Harbour airport she flew into. I strongly suspect that the cottage where she stayed on Man-O-War Cay has also been damaged if not destroyed. The island is settled by descendants of Tories from the post-revolutionary war period, about 70% of whom are named Albury! I guess in the 200+ years that family has lived there they have never seen anything like this. There is some doubt being expressed today about whether it will even be possible to rebuild Abaco island. That could be true on Man-O-War Cay also.

Shirley's grave today - thinking of you with deep gratitude, Shirley!

Scott Ainslie

The Scott Ainslie concert was wonderful. Scott is a remarkable musician. He was playing on four different instruments, including a single string instrument made out of a pool stick, a cigar box, and fishing line, and played like a slide guitar. I think Scott made it himself; in any case it's the kind of instrument a young African-American musician would have been able to play on in the early 20th century because it was so cheap to make.  Scott also played on a metal acoustic guitar which you would swear was an electric guitar - it sounded amplified. It was a house concert, with about 30 people in the audience. We all fit into the living room-dining room area. So it was very intimate. It was a fantastic concert. I'll put up some pictures when I get a chance to get to a Wi-Fi spot. But of course the ideal would be actual sound, but I can't do that on my blog. Quelle dommage!

Scott Ainslie playing the single-stringed instrument

l. to r.: the metal acoustic guitar, single-stringed and a wood acoustic guitar Scott made himself with the help of a friend. The fourth instrument, not pictured, was a uniquely stringed banjo

This morning was choir at the Dummerston church, and it sounded great. We sang a contemporary shape-note hymn titled BOSOLD, a setting of Isaac Watts' paraphrase of 1st Corinthians 13, which was the scripture for the morning. The arrangement was pretty complicated, but they did well and I was proud of them.

This afternoon we enjoyed sitting on the deck in the sun and working on the Spelling Bee puzzle.  We both were geniuses in pretty short order – one of the easiest ones to come down the pike for a while. Letters. A + YCFLTU. Make as many words with five letters or more as you can; you can use letters as often as you wish, there has to be an "A" in every word. Words are worth one point, but if you use all seven letters it's worth three points. 24 points and you're a genius. There happened to be 3 3-point words in this puzzle.

Later in the afternoon, I went up to the church and downloaded all the music and MP3s for the fall session of River Singers. Mary Cay posts everything online and it's the responsibility of each person to download the scores and the audios. That took a while.

Later:
Went home and had supper; talked with John. He gave me a number to call for a septic tank inspection, which was recommended by the realtor we spoke with at Morningside a week ago Saturday. Our system is 46 years old - if we sell the house we need to know its condition in order to set a fair price if it needs to be replaced. 

Now I'm back at the church using WiFi while Ellen is at the supermarket.

Scenes from the past week

Here are some photos from events during the past week or so:

Keith Murphey (one of our favorites) performing in Bethany Church at the New World Festival in Randolph.

The "Good Shepherd" stained glass window in Bethany Church

Pascal Gemme (far left) and Nicholas WIlliams (4ith from left with head down) at the New World Festival

Chris Newman (guitar) and Maire Ni Chathasaigh (harp) at the Festival - two outstanding performers!

Horse pull at the Guilford Fair - we like the way they do it at Guilford better that at the fair in Maine. Guilford is kinder to the horses.

Prize-winning quilt in Guilford Fair

Today, we got a call from Kathy Leo about a Hallowell sing at Valley Cares in Townshend. Maurice was actively dying - could we be there in an hour - 11am? We said "yes," even though we were not dressed yet. We got there just at 11am, and learned that Maurice had died minutes earlier. The family wanted us to sing for them, and then, because the community there had experienced 6 or 7 deaths in just the past month or so, we sang for a group of residents and staff in the lobby. All very much appreciated.

On our way back down Route 30, we stopped at the Windham County Historical Museum in Newfane, which Ellen had never been inside of. It is open very infrequently.  We went in and Ellen found postcards! I could happily spend a day there - lots of local history resources. I was struck by the primitive beauty of this 1860 blacksmith sign;

1860 Blacksmith sign in Windham County Historical Museum

Then we headed to the Brattleboro Farmer's Market. Ellen wanted flowers - zinnias in particular - from the flower stand there. We also ate Indian food there for lunch which was very good. And a gelato!

The flower stand at the Farmers Market

Now I am at the Dummerston Church organizing choir music for tomorrow. This evening we are going to a Scott Ainslie concert at Andy and Robin Davis' house. We saw Robin and Emma earlier today - when we stopped for gas at the Irving gas station in West Dummerston, they were at a table in front of the store promoting Special Olympics - Emma is a prize-winning swimmer and skier! Today was "Circle-K Special Olympics Day" all over Vermont, they said.