Meandering southeast on route 4

(I have more pictures for this post, but Blogger isn't letting me upload them right now. Will have to do it later...)

My trip home yesterday from Killington took me about 6 hours instead of the 2 3/4 hours it took driving north. That's because I stopped to wander through charming villages and take pictures of spectacular vistas.

My first stop was a gift shop about 5 minutes from the inn where I'd stayed. It had 6 large rooms crammed with beautiful things for the home...beautiful paintings, inspiring books, lovely pillows, and other works of art. Everywhere I looked was something I wanted for my home. I found several good Christmas presents here, too.

Next, I spent an hour or more walking the streets of Woodstock, one of the prettiest towns I've driven through in Vermont. I mostly window shopped here, enjoying the beautiful fall decorations in window boxes and at doorsteps.

My next shop stop was in Queechee at the Simon Pierce glass blowing and pottery showrooms. I had a student who used to work here as a display designer. He was so good they sent him to work in their 5th Avenue shop in New York City! This, at age 17 and 18, with no formal training, just a good artist's eye.

Last stop was at a country store I've visited many times before and found fun things for myself and others. This time I found a doll carrying a book bag with a history book and Little Women in it. How could I pass that up?!

In between shopping stops, there were a few interesting roadside sites, like hay bale bears and carved-from-stump bears, and pumpkin and gourd towers and dragons and giant lawn chairs. There are a lot of creative people out there!

Vermont's Covered Bridges

The past two days, while driving through Vermont, I saw a number of covered bridges. Some were modernized, but others were in their original state. There's nothing that says New England more than a covered bridge in the fall.

Best of Friends tie the knot

The wedding I attending this afternoon at Riverside Farm in Pittsfield, VT was supposed to be outdoors, but the cool, brisk breeze forced the ceremony inside the barn. We were all glad, you can be sure of that, even though it was quite beautiful outside. None of us were wanting to sit for 45 minutes in the 50ish coolness of a late afternoon.

Once again, I found a few of my worlds colliding. My high school years, my college and early work years, and the mid years of my teaching tenure at my current school...all colliding in one space. It's a weird feeling to look around you and have different facets of your life flash before you...

And yet it was so much fun! More than a dozen former students were involved one way or another with the wedding, and at least four former colleagues were there to enjoy it all. My sister and three others provided the music for the ceremony, and instead of lighting the unity candle, the couple washed each other's feet. I thought that was such a special, meaningful thing for them to do. The tenderness of that act was so right.

These two have been friends since they were in grade school together, although they didn't start dating until after college. They always sat together in my classroom, I remember. You just never know where a friendship will take you!

I left sometime after 8, but the younger crowd was still going strong. Used to be I could keep up with the best of them. Not so true now! None the less, it was a beautiful day. I must say I enjoyed it enormously...

Wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being—Percy Bysshe Shelley

No spring, nor summer beauty hath such grace

As I have seen in one autumnal face;

—John Donne (1572–1631) "Elegy IX: The Autumnal"

There is music in the meadows, in the air–
Autumn is here;
Skies are gray, but hearts are mellow,

—William Stanley Braithwaite, (1878–1962)
"A Lyric of Autumn," Lyrics of Life and Love (1904)

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

—John Keats (1795–1821) "CCLV Ode to Autumn," The Golden Treasury (1875)

The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry's cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.

—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) "Nature XXVII, Autumn"

Photos taken this morning in the Killington, VT area.

Killing me Softly

No reason for that title, really, except that I am in Killington, VT for the weekend (for a wedding of two former students) and the colors are to die for. Literally. I drove up here late this afternoon and could hardly keep my eyes on the road for looking at the spectacular scenery all around me. Obviously I couldn't get any photos while driving, but rest assured tomorrow and Sunday my camera will come out and I'll capture some of what I see to share here.

The journey north is one I've made many times over the past dozen years or so. It's part (most) of the way to three upstate New York destinations that I used to take my junior class to each September for a two-day field trip. It was actually an inter-disciplinary project between American Literature, American History, and 11th grade Bible class (church history) hitting Fort William Henry (for The Last of the Mohicans), Fort Ticonderoga (re-enactment battle), and the William Miller Farm (fore-runner of our church).

Every time I was on one of those trips, I always told myself I'd go back sometime on my own when I could stop in the quaint little villages and shop to my heart's content. I've never done it, in all these years. Once, 3-4 years ago, I went up on a Friday with my two nieces. They had a concert in my favorite town along the way (Woodstock). I thought I'd get to wander the town while they rehearsed, but it was not to be.

So...when I got the invitation to this wedding, I decided that I'd come up early and treat myself to the wandering I've wanted to do for so long. I planned to get away from school at noon, but naturally that didn't happen. I left just after 2, and left my house just after 3, so it was just before dark when I arrived at my destination here in Killington. Oh well. I didn't have to drive in the dark. That's all I' cared about.

Tomorrow, I will bask in the fiery glow of the tree-covered mountains. The wedding is in the late afternoon, outdoors (brrrrr!) on a farm. There will be many old friends there (former students, classmates (high school and college), and co-workers), so it will be a fun gathering. Then Sunday, I'll take my time going home, stopping in all the places I always said I would. Can't wait!

Photos: A local farm stand; a tree in front of our school

Autumn Song

by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Know'st thou not at the fall of the leaf

How the heart feels a languid grief

Laid on it for a covering,

And how sleep seems a goodly thing

In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?

And how the swift beat of the brain

Falters because it is in vain,

In Autumn at the fall of the leaf

Knowest thou not? and how the chief

Of joys seems—not to suffer pain?

Know'st thou not at the fall of the leaf

How the soul feels like a dried sheaf

Bound up at length for harvesting,

And how death seems a comely thing

In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?

Bear and Deer and Birds, Oh My!

The Calgary trip is at an end for my sister, but she sent one last installment of her amazing photos last night. We keep wondering (jokingly) if she really saw all this and if these were her pictures taken with her personal camera, but she insists that yes, she saw all this and that yes, she took all the pictures except for the really good animal pictures. Those were taken by a colleague with a (better) camera with a big telephoto lens.

Black Bear, Bright fall colors

All these pictures from my sister have made me want to go to Calgary. I can't say I've thought a lot about it, even though we had Olympics there awhile ago. It's not quite as stunning in the winter I guess. Anyway, here are a couple more pictures from her visit.

























Meanwhile, my other sister and I went up to see our parents yesterday for the afternoon. It was a beautiful day in Maine, and we spent a comfortable several hours in the backyard enjoying the sun, the birds, the fall colors just starting to show. They have 10 raspberry bushes that are just dripping with berries. We picked enough for each of us to bring home a couple of quarts and there were still plenty more left behind. Delicious!

More Fantastic Photos

My sister sent me some more pictures of her sur- roundings in Calgary where she's been for the annual gathering of her technology and distance learning committee. This place is so spectacularly beautiful that instead of high-tailing it home when the meetings ended, most of the members opted to spend the weekend exploring the area. They went to Banf yesterday, so some photos are from there.

Phenomenal Photos

Our new 7/8th grade teacher is a good guy and a very fine teacher. The kids like him a lot and he's really brought something special to our school this year. But there's a word he uses frequently that makes me smile because it doesn't seem possible for every time he uses it. It seems like everything is phenomenal to him. This student's poem is phenomenal. That student is a phenomenal basketball player.

Funny thing is, he's not the only one to use the word. I've heard it often on television and some radio talk shows, too. Truth is, not everything can be phenomenal. But I'm telling you, these pictures my sister sent me today from Calgary, Alberta are truly phenomenal. See if you don't agree.

The view from Calgary

My sister is in Calgary, Alberta, this week for technology meetings. Look how beautiful it is where she is. She told me that they went looking for animals this evening and they saw moose, grizzly bears, black bears, and other creatures. She's going to send me bear pictures tomorrow, so I'll share them when I get them.

Fair Flower and Plump Pumpkin

Our PreK-3rd grade classes went to the Topsfield Fair yesterday. One of the teachers borrowed my camera to chronicle their trip. As I had some of my own pictures already on the memory card, she did not erase the pictures once she downloaded them. I just looked at them and found this beautiful flower in the midst of the sheep and cows and horses.

Also, there was this photo of the prize-winning largest pumpkin. I can't imagine doing this, except I actually know someone who grew prize-winning giant pumpkins like this. He passed away a few years ago, but I always think of him when I see such photos.