Out and About - September 2015

♫Sail Away♫

September has just sailed away from me!  I'm very much a "routine" kind of person, but it seems that the Powers That Be are forcing me to be more flexible.  Here is what I've been doing. . . .As  you can see, our Spruce has not perked up at all this summer.  Behind it are the wild turkeys that have been visiting off and on for a few weeks now. . . .

I had my day of drawing/painting, as usual.  You can read my Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady post here.  I'd hoped to do a second painting this month but have not been able to find the right time to do it. . . .

Reason #1:  The first reason I haven't found the right time is that we went on vacation for six days.  I've already written about parts of our trip.  This post was about our stay at the Bavarian Manor Inn and our visit to Frederic Church's home, Olana, in New York State. . . .

Then we headed for Norwich, Vermont, but first stopped at the Vermont Country store in Weston. . . .

The next morning I dropped Ken off at King Arthur Flour for the first of two days of baking classes.  I will be doing a post about his classes later. . . .

I then headed for southern New Hampshire using back roads.  My first destination was Harrisville.  This was one of the villages Tasha Tudor used for her illustrations for her Corgiville series.  I did a post about it here. . . .

My next stop was Pickety Place.  You can read about that visit here. . . .

My third stop was in Contoocook, NH.  It was the little town close to Tasha Tudor's New Hampshire home.  I will be writing about that on my Take Joy Society post sometime in October.  I will also include my visit to the Tasha Tudor Museum in Brattleboro, VT. . . .

At the end of the two days of classes King Arthur Flour held a fund-raising event for the community by hosting a tasting dinner featuring several restaurants.  Everyone who attended was entered in a raffle for a $100 gift card to one of the restaurants.  And guess what!  Ken won!  It was very fitting because it was his birthday.  The only thing is, we have to go to Windsor, NH by next July to use it.  Here he is with one of his teachers, cookbook author, Jeffrey Hamelman, who signed his book, "Bread - A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes" for Ken. . . .

The next morning we stopped at a nearby Farmer's Market before starting our journey homeward. . . .

This is just before we got to Bennington, VT.  What does that cloud formation in the center look like to you?. . . .

Since we were getting a late start in the day, we planned an overnight stay half-way home which gave us time to stop at Bennington Museum so I could see the Grandma Moses exhibit.  No photographs were allowed of her paintings, though.  We also stopped at her great-grandson's gallery in Eagle Bridge, NY.  Will Moses paints folk art, too, and lives in his great-grandmother's house, Mt. Nebo.  I will be doing a post about this next month on my Take Joy Society web journal. . . .

We stopped at Olivia's house to pick up Gabriel, so we were able to spend some time with her before going home. . . .

Reason #2:  My brother came for a short weekend visit.  Here he is reading to Olivia.  Another day we took him into Frederick to see the Carroll Creek Park improvements.  They've installed new fountains and water plants to help eliminate the algae that had plagued the creek. . . .

Reason #3:  Ken's brother and his wife came for a visit a few days later.  We took them down to see the Carroll Creek Park, too, and had lunch along the creek. . . .

We also went to the Middletown Heritage Festival.  Middletown is a little hamlet in the valley west of Braddock Mountain.  South Mountain is in the distance.  The church in the background was completed just before the Civil War and was used as a hospital after the Battle of South Mountain. . . .

Then we hosted a potluck get-together for them with their other brother and family and our family who all live in the area....17 in all plus the two little ones:  Theo, a great-nephew of Ken's and Olivia. . . .

Half the Schultz clan gathered in our Arbor. . . .

Ken's brother and wife will be staying longer than they'd planned because on the way here their camper van started having engine trouble.  It turns out they need a new engine, so will be with us an extra week while it's being repaired.  Since they live in Wyoming and we don't get to see them very often, this has been one of those blessings in disguise....at least from our point of view, but then, we aren't having to pay for the new engine!

P. S.  I thought the cloud formation looked like a teddy bear sitting down being hugged by a smaller one from behind.

.•*¨`*•. ☆ .•*¨`*•

Take Joy!