Fall Has Arrived

Boy, things have changed all of a sudden! This morning we noticed that the ferns around our house have turned golden.  I'll try to get pictures tomorrow. Right now we're at Katie and Savanna's to take showers. It is a gorgeous fall day and we had a lovely drive down. Our water situation is a tiny bit better - the level came up about 2 feet and that makes it possible to use the pump occasionally. So we can at least rinse our hands. Still hauling water, and using the laundromat and taking showers off site. 

Here is a sampling of photos I've taken so far:

The Dummerston Town Office (on right) and Historical Society (on left). 

On our walk yesterday - near Dummerston Center

Another from our walk

From our drive to Bennington last week

Display at Allen Brothers Farm Stand

BIG pumpkins

You could make a lot of pies from this one!

Quite a pumpkin display

I guess you could call this a "crock-ette"

I love these gnarled pumpkins

 

More art work in the bucket

Scott Frankenberger's etchings (see previous post) were just the beginning. There were three more original works of art in the bucket: an Artist’s Proof titled "Roar"  by Marilyn Sabold (c. 16" x 26”) , an etching on brown paper, titled "Reflections," by Donna Girard (c. 30" x 50"), and an oil on canvass (untitled)  by Arleene Sweet (c. 50" x 50"). Marilyn Sabold was a student at Keuka College when I was there, and I found her online as well - she is now living with her husband, Dave,  in a place called the Methow Conservancy near Winthrop, Washington. I don't remember how I came to have one of her works. I haven't connected with her yet, but will try to. I don't know where the Girard piece came from or who she is, but Arleene Sweet is a friend, the wife of my college roommate, David Sweet. David passed way in the 1980s, and Arleene herself passed away a few years ago. Ellen and I visited her in St. Paul before she died. Her painting hung in our living room decades ago. It has since suffered water and mold damage in storage in the old shed and it may not be worth trying to find a home for it. (I've retouched the image below). 

Artist’s Proof of "Roar” by Marilyn Sabold

 

"Reflections" (9/10) by Donna Girard

"Untitled" by Arleene Sweet

Arleene Sweet's painting hanging in our living room about 35 years ago 

with the Crockett and Carnahan families posing for a portrait

Also in the bucket: about 8 or so very handsome New England Bach Festival Posters from the 1980s and 1990s. I just delivered them to the Brattleboro Music Center, who were thrilled to get them.  I sang for 30 years in the New England Bach Festival as a member of the Blanche Moyse Chorale.  Here they are:

There is still more in the bucket! Mostly posters now, or art prints. I'll share them as I photograph them. I called the Hospice Thrift shop today to see if they would take them. I'm doubtful they will, so I'm not sure how to dispose of them. Downsizing is hard! But interesting!

Re-connecting

I met Kimon Friar in 1968 at Keuka College where I was on the faculty and he was a visiting guest lecturer on the work of Nikos Kazantzakis. He had translated Kazantzakis' The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel  from Greek into English, and had worked with Kazantzakis closely.  I have been a fan of Kazantzakis ever since reading The Last Temptation of  Christ and seeing the movie Zorba the Greek -  earlier in the 1960s. I was thrilled to meet someone who knew him personally and was deeply acquainted with his work. Kimon Friar and I sort of "hit it off,"and when I moved in 1967 to join the faculty of Lawrence University, in Appleton, WI, I remembered him and arranged to have him come to Lawrence in 1970, to give his lectures on Kazantzakis. He was a big hit, and I remember being at a party wth him in the home of the Dean of Students (my boss -  by 1970 I had become Dean of Men), where he taught us to do Greek dancing and we attempted to drink retsina (it tastes like turpentine!). 

One of the Lawrence students who was inspired by Friar's lectures was an art student, Scott Frankenberger. Scott created two etchings based on The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel. One consisted of 24 small panels which illustrated the chapters of the book; the other caught a central, sensuous, theme. Because I had arranged to bring Friar to Lawrence, Scott gave me copies of the etchings. I never had them framed because we had very little wall space. But I preserved them and over the years have taken them out now and then to enjoy them. 

Fast forward fifty years. I have a full bucket of prints, paintings and posters, mostly in tubes. Time for that bucket to go! I got out Scott Frankenberger's etchings and once again admired them, and was loath to simply dispose of them. So just for fun, I went online and Googled "Scott Frankenberger." He came right up as a potter in W. Lafayette, IN. I soon confirmed he was the same "SF" of the etchings (his bio sketch mentioned Lawrence in 1970) and so I emailed him with photos of the etchings, reminded him of who I was, and asked if he would like me to mail him the originals. He replied right away! And yes, he said, my offer came at a good time - he would love to have originals of the etchings. He himself had discovered that copies of them which he had given Kimon Friar now resided in a Greek museum, but he did not have a set of originals himself. So I mailed them a couple of days ago.

Scott is obviously a very talented artist and accomplished potter. His work is fully catalogued online - some examples are below. Check him out! I am very happy to have reconnected with him and to be able to pass his etchings back to him. Maybe someday our travels will resume and we can go through W. Lafayette, IN. (Ellen and I were in Lafayette about 12 years ago with Kathy Leo and Tom Goldschmid conducting a Hallowell workshop. I didn't know about Scott then). 

Kimon Friar

Nikos Kazantzakis

Frankenberger's An Odyssey: A Modern Sequel; Part I

Frankenberger's An Odyssey: A Modern Sequel; Part II

Scott Frankenberger in his studio

Scott's work: a deep serving dish

Extended cup

pitcher

Beautiful work!

Short Stories

Thursday evening, Ellen had a nice, 2-month-early birthday dinner at a restaurant in Amherst and got caught up on all the Feinland news. It was an outdoor meal, and the weather was perfect. I stayed home and participated in a course being offered free-of-charge to alums (and their spouses) by Swarthmore faculty. It was interesting - it was a Zoom session with a faculty presentation (lecture and slides) for about an hour, and then Q&A. You could send in questions early - in writing - and the prof answered them in writing, and you could also “Unmute" and ask a question "in class." 

Two stories were being discussed, both by German authors, both written in the early 19th century: Heinrich von Kleist's The Earthquake in Chili, and Johann Hebel's An Unhoped-for Reunion. They were unfamiliar to me, but well-known in their realm. They were both love stories and disaster stories. Hebel's is about a young couple about to be married. One morning the groom goes off to work in the copper mine and never returns. Fifty years later his body is unexpectedly exhumed and it is in "perfect" condition because it has been immersed in chemicals that have preserved his body. He looks like a young man who has just been asleep. His bride, now an old woman, is still alive, has held him in her heart for fifty years and is now "re-united” with him. That’s the essence of the story, but there are many nuances which were discussed.

The other story is much more complicated. It is also about a young couple who are in love.  But in their case it is an illicit affair. The girl’s father sends her to a convent, and there she has a child. This violation is punishable by death. Her lover falls into despair as she is taken to her execution. But just as she is about to be executed, and he is about to hang himself in despair, an earthquake hits the city, destroying everything. Both the lovers are miraculously reunited with their little baby boy. For an idyllic moment, all societal constructions seem to be gone, and they have the hope of being a family. But this idyll comes crashing to the ground in a dramatic conclusion in which both lovers  are violently murdered by a vengeful crowd, but the little boy is saved and adopted by a compassionate family. It’s pretty dramatic, but also thought to have underlying philosophical issues. There was a lot to discuss.

Johann Peter Hebel

 

Heinrich von Kleist

Big trip

Yesterday, Ellen drove down to Lansdowne, PA, and back - all in one day! - to visit her friends, Sarah, Harry and Wallace. They gathered in a large open garage to visit and share a meal. They had about 5 1/2 hours together. I stayed home. I could have gone with Ellen but our new Impreza (actually a 2011 Impreza) is more cramped for me than our 2013 Impreza was, and I was not eager to sit in a cramped position for 6-7 hours in both directions. We are actually going to look into taking out the front passenger seat like we did with the Toyota Corolla - I can sit in the back seat and stretch out my legs and it's great! But it may also be illegal! Or too much trouble (because of the airbag sensor in the seat).

Ellen made good time going down, but coming back late at night a quicker (but unfamiliar) way, she missed some turns and got lost twice. The iPhone GPS is useful in such situations, but for some reason, "Siri" wasn't speaking the directions as she usually does, and Ellen couldn't both drive and watch the directions on the screen. She called me twice to see if I could help, but I couldn't tell from a distance what Siri's problem was. She finally found the Merritt Parkway, but didn't get home until 2:10a.m. !! Meanwhile, my day went well, and went by quickly. I got up late, worked on the Spelling Bee, sat in on a Chicago Theological Seminary Zoom session, worked on getting ready for this evening's Swarthmore "Short Stories" course online (more of that later), John came over for a visit from. 6:30-9pm, I watched the news and Doc Martin, etc., but I worried a lot about Ellen too. I was so glad to hear her voice at 2:10a.m. (I was still awake). 

Tonight, Ellen is having supper with Julie in Amherst - outdoors. I'll do the "Stories" course. Should be interesting. I'll report on that tomorrow.

Ellen, Harry and Wallace in the garage

Wallace and Ellen by our car

Wishing loved ones well tonight

We've been thinking a lot about our friends and family out west these past few days because many people  we care about are affected by the wild fires plaguing that part of the country. I heard from my son-in-law, Robert Shay, today, who said the air quality has been very poor in both Boulder and Santa Fe -  his two homes (he and my granddaughter, Katie, are in Boulder, and his wife, Kate, is in Santa Fe), but they were hoping for improvement soon. A recent trip with Kate to the Mayo Clinic for a check-up on his myeloma brought good news on that front, however. And we learned from Tamar that Max is enjoying being at Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, very much. So family in Colorado seem to be ok.

Rob's brother Neil and his wife, Sue, run the Bluebird Hill Winery in Monroe, OR. They are much closer to the fires, and we were worried about them. We were glad to learn that fire does not directly threaten them, but the smoke in the air is so dense, they cannot go outside, and the grapes need to be harvested. We send them good wishes.

Our friends in Salem. OR are not faring so well. Fires have been within 15 miles from Salem, smoke is really bad, and our friend, J. E, Seibert has decided to leave Salem and spend two weeks with her brother in Denver. We hope she will be ok and can return to an unscathed home! Bonnie and Roger Hull are at home in Salem so far as we know but must have to stay indoors. Bonnie, who is an artist, has a show up currently at the Hallie Ford Museum, but between the COVID pandemic and fires, it can't be a very good time for visitors to the show. We wish them well. Fire has already ravaged some places dear to us in Oregon, especially in the Santiam Highway region. E.g., much of the town of Mill City, where a coffee and bakery, Rosie's, has been a must-stop for us for years, is gone. J. E. said Rosie's may have been spared, but who knows if it will survive as a business. 

And finally, our friend, Jerry Hochberger, has been in the hospital for a few days. They're been working on getting his various blood counts and levels back in good order and he may come home today. We send him and his wife, Maggie, love and good wishes.

There are others as well - e.g., my godson, Tom McKean is in California; my niece, Suzie, and her family are in Everett, WA, Susan and Christian in Boise, ID.  And of course Paul, Jenny and Max are in Alpine, WY. We have a lot of folks we care about out West!  We are thinking of you all, tonight, and sending love and good wishes.

Jerry and Maggie Hochberger

Robert Shay

Ellen and I with Neil and Sue Shay at the Bluebird Hill Winery in Oregon

Bonnie Hull at work

With J. E. Seibert and Bonnie and Roger Hull, in Salem, OR

A scene in Mill City, OR, a few days ago

Rosie's Coffee House and Bakery in Mill City (in better days)

Hot Dog! (The right way)

We had a cookout at Katie and Savanna‘s Saturday night over a campfire. We roasted our hotdogs the way it should be done - at the end of a sharpened stick. Also on the menu: coleslaw, baked beans heated in a black skillet, tomatoes and cucumbers, and potato chips. For dessert: watermelon, or s’mores.  It was all yummy.

Around the campfire 

 

We took advantage of being somewhere with water and did a load of wash and both took showers, as well as filling up jugs with drinking water. A very satisfactory visit !

Herrell’s Ice Cream

We are in Northampton getting ice cream. I just ordered a dish of maple walnut. I’m here with Ellen and Tamar.

Ellen is getting pumpkin ice cream with penuche sauce and Tamar is getting cheesecake strawberry swirl. No - wait - they just closed! Rats! No ice cream!

Happy Birthday, Shirley

If Shirley were still with us here on earth, we would be celebrating her 88th birthday today.  She was born about 6 months before I was (we used to joke that when she married me, she "robbed the cradle"). Thinking of her today with love and gratitude  !

Shirley holding a child for baptism

My all-time favorite photo of Shirley

A nice spot

Yesterday, after Ellen's prayer-shawl knitting-group session (and my WiFi session behind the shed at the church) we went to Chelsea Royal Diner for ice-cream cones. We had our usual - Ellen: Peppermint Stick, and Me: Maple Walnut. My cone had a few less walnuts than usual (usually it's loaded with walnuts, which is why I like it), but it was still good. I sat on a bench while Ellen got our ice cream (but with my $20), and while waiting, I took in what a nice spot the Chelsea Diner has out back. Here are some pictures:

My bench was not under but near some  nice old apple trees

My view from the bench

There is a wetlands behind the Chelsea with lots of cattails

This old farm machinery reminded me of the oats binder I used to ride when I worked on the Ogden Farm outside Anamosa, Iowa back in my high-school days

Earlier today, we both had to get in two recordings to Peter Amidon by 1pm for a virtual choir for next Sunday: Birds in the Morning and Blessed Quietness. We got them in just under (and for me a little over) the wire. But that was OK with Peter. 

Right at the moment, I am at the Putney Public Library, outside on a picnic table, while Ellen is nearby at Elizabeth Christie's place at Putney Commons, having tea. 

Outside the Putney Library

You know, when it comes down to it, we live in a pretty nice place!