I bought an octopus from a glass blowing artist. She’s just under a foot tall.
Marcella
I hadn’t been planning to buy an octopus, but then I read the book “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt, a novel about a grieving woman and a one-eyed Giant Pacific Octopus named Marcellus. After that, I visited a glass studio where the artist makes all types of sea creatures, waves, shells and other things. I was a bit confused why all his octopi had two eyes. It turns out I was not the only one left a bit confused about this by the book:
As an elder GenXer (born in 1965), I can tell you that there is no greater jealousy-inducing Baby Boomer/Aging Hippie memory than Woodstock. 55 years ago this week, 400,000 young people descended on Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York for an epic four-day concert, party, and camp out.
I’m sure there were people who brought four-year-olds to Woodstock, but my parents sure as hell were not the type. I have some older cousins who I remember talking about Woodstock, but their parents were not the type to allow that either.
Anyway, I’m a sucker for Woodstock stories and documentaries, so I enjoyed looking through these 32 photos from The Atlantic (first published five years ago on the 50th anniversary).
I think my favorites are the skinny dippers and the night shot that shows just how vast of an event it was.
Now, the first of December was covered with snow So was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston Though the Berkshires seemed dreamlike on account of that frostin’ With ten miles behind me and ten thousand more to go
That’s right. The Red Lion Inn is three years older than the United States. It was built the same year colonists were starting to get super annoyed with King George and dumped a bunch of tea in Boston Harbor.*
The Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Massachusetts is one of the oldest hotels in the USA. It started as a tavern in 1773.
We had dinner on the famous front porch of The Red Lion Inn last night and met some very interesting people, including two non-binary GenZ artists and a woman our age who is launching a solar farm business.
Interior view of the Red Lion tavern
Our room at The Red Lion Inn had to be locked and unlocked with an actual key 🔑
The Lost Lamb is a wonderful French patisserie in tiny, quaint downtown Stockbridge. I got both a chocolate croissant and a plain croissant with my café au lait.A pretty stained glass window in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (est. 1834), which is directly across the street from Red Lion.
After a swim in the outdoor pool at Red Lion, we stopped for a delicious lunch at the Starving Artist Café in nearby Lee. We chatted with a woman from nearby Pittsfield, where I was born and spent the first three years of my life. Back then, everyone in Pittsfield (including my dad) worked for General Electric.
I don’t know why I hadn’t been back to this area in decades, but I will not wait so long to return. After lunch, we put on some James Taylor in the car and hopped on the turnpike back to Boston. The traffic gods were with me and I got home before 4pm.
A mural in downtown Lee
*The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by American colonists against British taxation policies. It occurred on December 16, 1773, in Boston, Massachusetts. Colonists, frustrated by the Tea Act—which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea directly to the colonies, effectively lowering the cost but undercutting colonial merchants—disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians and boarded British ships. They proceeded to dump 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. This act of defiance became a pivotal event leading up to the American Revolution.
Tanglewood Music Center, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is an iconic location in New England. Over the years, I’ve heard many musically-inclined people describe it as their “happy place.” Located in the picturesque Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. Tanglewood hosts a variety of concerts, performances, and events featuring world-class musicians and artists. The grounds also include beautiful gardens, walking paths, and vast picnic areas. Purchasing “lawn seats” for a symphonic performance at Tanglewood and picnicking on the grounds has long been on my bucket list. (Tanglewood picnics have a legacy all their own.) Well, yesterday I checked this one off in absolutely spectacular weather.
The first half of the program included a modern piece by a living composer, Anna Clyne, who was there to introduce her work, as well as two gorgeous Mozart arias sung by an ethereal young soprano—Elena Villalón. The second half of the program was Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. The entire program was conducted by James Gaffigan—a young (cute) GenX American.
Besides the fact that we absolutely lucked out with one of the most stellar days of the summer (sunny, not too hot, low humidity), the sumptuous 4-course picnic lunch (provided by gourmet chefs from my church) made yesterday an over-the-top delight. My lifelong friend Gail and I didn’t have to bring a thing other than our lawn chairs. (The picnic lunch was something I won in a church auction last year.)
Holy wow! From the majestic setting, to the history of the hallowed grounds traversed by the greatest American musicians of the 20th century—from Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland to John Williams and Renée Fleming—I truly felt the Tanglewood magic.
The orchestra setting up on the stage in the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood
Gail and I with a bust of Aaron Copland (1900-1990), the composer of Appalachian Spring
Huge trees provide shade for picnickers at Tanglewood
The fourth course of our picnic lunch: peach and raspberry parfaits
The idea of “girl dinner” came up in a recent post by Singing Gecko and it stuck in my head to the point where I ordered “cheese and charcuterie” as my meal in a restaurant which had many normal/traditional entree options.
It was $38 and it was huge! My husband had some of it, but he had a steak on the way, so it was mostly up to me. Having recently doubled my cholesterol medication dosage, I felt I was up to the task.
The description said “house jam, cured meat and cheeses, local honey, NH mustard, crostini”
Obviously, I got a cocktail too, followed by a glass of Prosecco. (Girl dinner includes alcohol.)
A delicious vodka-based concoction invented by a creative bartender
We had a table on an exterior deck and the weather was perfect.
But the best part was the view. I would describe it as “bucolic New England farm.” The landscape was dotted with wildlife including sheep, finches, butterflies, and the occasional soaring bird of prey.
And as the sun set over this beautiful landscape, and they boxed up my leftover cheeses, I felt that my expensive appetizer (a.k.a. girl dinner) was a great choice and was definitely worth the money.
I drove about an hour yesterday to visit a dear old friend from work. It was great to see Dina. She made me lunch and then we took a short ride to her church. Like me, Dina sings in her church choir and I’ve been hearing about her church community for many years. I wanted to see the building so I could picture what she’d been talking about all these years.
It was a lovely, well-maintained, stone church dating back to the 1890s. Inside was dark wood throughout with many stained glass windows. There was one new window, which was dedicated to the women of the church. I really liked it. Instead of biblical scenes, it featured New England flora and fauna including an owl, a squirrel, a cardinal, a blue jay, a chickadee, a rabbit (or two), a fawn, and a big old turkey.
I met the minister (referred to as the “rector” in Episcopalian churches) and he explained that a large part of the window was intentionally left clear so that people could see out into the memorial garden.
It’s not often you see new stained glass windows in old New England churches. This one was completed in 2018.
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