Elderhostel at Bay of Fundy

In late June, we enjoyed an Elderhostel trip to New Brunswick, Canada, to take part in a course on the Bay of Fundy (world's highest tides) and the "Saints" of New Brunswick. Prior to arriving at St. Martins, NB, where the Elderhostel program was centered, we took a slight detour to see some of the Maine coast we either hadn't seen for some time or had never seen. We started with a return (for Janet) to Boothbay Harbor. From there we continued to Camden where we spent the night at a lovely old B&B.

From Camden we drove to Campobello, the island where the Roosevelt family summered. It's an international park maintained by both Canada and the US-although it is technically in Canada. This is where FDR suffered polio; the play, "Sunrise at Campobello," dramatized this event. Pictured above is Janet standing by the lighthouse at Campobello; the island is about eleven miles long and offers a view of Eastport, ME - the eastern most place in the US.

We then returned to the US via the town bordering Campobello, Lubec, where we spent the night.

From there we drove to St. Martins for an interesting Elderhostel program on both the Bay of fundy and the "Saints," the cities of New Brunswick on the bay named after various saints. Below is a photo of the Elderhostel group studying a cave on the edge of the bay in St. Martins, NB.

Following a five night program we returned home via York Beach, ME. Try http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaN2blo0aNmTM&emid=sharshar&linkid=link5 for a slideshow of available photos of trip. Some videos are also attached at the end of this posting (.avi movie format). These are just snippets but will provide some remembrance of the bay and our fearless leader, Nancy.

TW3 Celebrates 1st Year With Coffee Mug

TW3 (That Was The Week That Was), the local weekly TV news show co-hosted by Ralph and Leo Graham, celebrated its first year on the airwaves with a coffee mug. The mug will be offered as a fundraising device to those who want to support the local public TV station, LPC-TV, for $25. If you'd like one, simply contact Ralph with your name and address (and, of course, a check for $25 payable to him). You'll receive the cup in about three weeks after we receive the order along with a letter of acknowledgement for tax use. Incidentally, you can view some of the weekly news broadcasts on-line at http://lpctv.org/taxonomy/term/14.

Devi Gets A Wardrobe Addition

Pictured above is Devi wearing one of the several kerchiefs designed by Janet to enhance her (i.e., Devi's) wardrobe. As may be gathered from the photo, Devi is very turned-on by the addition.

Strolling of the Heifers

On Saturday, June 7, we traveled down to Brattleboro, Vt, to see the 7th annual "Strolling of the Heifers," a Vermont version (in much slower motion) of the Running of the Bulls. According to the local paper, over 45,000 people watched the parade. It was great fun and certainly mirrored both the agricultural and cultural traditions of that part of the state. It was especially interesting to see the number of people who used the opportunity to complain about the continued existents of the VT Yankee nuclear plant just south of Brattleboro. Below is a quick movie taken with Janet's little digital camera. You can also view a slideshow at share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaN2blo0aNmS7.

Douglas and Veronica Visit Ludlow

Douglas and Veronica took time off from their research efforts at the University of Georgia to visit us in Vermont for several days - after attending a friend's wedding in the city. While here, they toured Saint Gauden's National Monument in New Hampshire, went kayaking with Jeffrey (managing to survive being locked out from the old Explorer), and just stayed around Ludlow and environs. Douglas found time to clean out the woodshed. Prior to leaving for the airport, we all had lunch with Allen at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. It was great to see both of them. Some photos of the visit may be viewed at http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaN2blo0aNmSq&emid=sharview&linkid=link5.

Janet Opens Porch for 2008 Season

Janet, pictured above in her favorite location, officially opened the 2008 summer season in Ludlow as she readied the porch at 1 Whispering Pines for the forthcoming "warm weather" season.

Janet Takes New York at 50th Columbia Reunion

Janet attended her 50th graduation class reunion from Columbia-Presbyterian in New York in April. While Janet was taking part her college festivities, Ralph was walking the hard pavement of New York. Both enjoyed dinners at several of their City favorites, the Sea Grille at Rockeller Center and the Russian Samovar on 52th Street. Pictured above is Janet with former classmate and still friend, Leslie. Below is a photo of Janet and Ralph at the Sea Grille. More photos are available at http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaN2blo0aNmSI. They also enjoyed a wonderful matinee at Avenue Q (it was hard to tell the puppets - or muppets - from the humans).

Signs of Spring

For awhile it looked like we might never see those marvelous signs of Spring that seemed to have been missing even with the technical advent of the season. But, miracle or miracles, we finally are seeing the crocus in blossom, the appearance of daffodil stems, and a temperature that is 45 degrees above freezing.

More About Snow

Pictured above is our rear deck as of the end of February; that's apparently also the end of the weatherman's winter statistical period. At any rate, Vermont had its biggest snow accumulation, over 100 inches, since the early 70's. Unfortunately for us, while we were away skiing we had both snow and rain resulting in a frozen surface that's impossible to shovel. And we have another foot allegedly coming tonight (2/29/08). Below is the view from our media room of the front porch.

Paces Enjoy 6th Year at Owlshead

For the sixth straight year, we met the Brownlies at Owlshead in Mansonville, PQ, for a week of skiing and fun. The snow was excellent and the company, as usual, most pleasant. When not skiing, we were either relaxing with a book by the fireplace or travelling to our "favorite" spot in Mansonville, the Vale Perkins General Store. Janet is pictured above on Panarama Trail with the peak in the background. Below, John and Joan Brownlie, along with Ralph, are pictured outside the Vale Perkins store, the source of some food and wine. While Southern Vermont was receiving rain, Owlshead was blessed with powder snow. Additional photos are available at http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AaN2blo0aNmRm.

Now . . . about Winter inVermont

We've all seen the romantic symbols of Vermont in the Winter - sleighs drawn by horses going up to a candlelit inn, etc. - but how about a few facts that you also have to live with occasionally. How about having a fuel company that thinks you have a 500 gallon oil tank? Great, until you realize that the tank is only 275 gallons and that you just ran out of fuel as the temperature hit -3 F degrees and the house was at 54 F degrees (even the dog was getting cold). Then, when you take the dog out for a walk, the trip down the driveway can be very sudden as the 80 pound Lab manages to get you into a cross-country skiing mode - minus the skis. Yet, I have to admit after spending those years walking through the dirty Manhattan mush and slush on a cold Winter's morn, the sight of clean white snow is very appealing.

New Years 2008 at First Night

Along with Kevin and Patsy Kuntz, we traveled up to Burlington to take part in its 25th anniversary First Night program to usher in the New Year. It was a great way to enjoy the many faceted entertainment opportunities afforded by the First Night program (we saw the VT divas singing songs I personally had trouble understanding the lyrics, a comedian, several blue grass groups - I loved the Banjo Dan group and The Tea Company, plus two fireworks displays). Church Street was ablaze with holiday lights and the parade for the event was simple but alot of fun. Aside from returning to Ludlow in a heavy snow storm (thanks to Kevin's driving skill, we managed to bypass a trafic tie-up coming into metropolitan Ludlow), it was a great and sane way to usher in the new year. Some more pixes are available by clicking here.

Christmas 2007 at 1 Whispering Pines

The whole gang was here for Christmas: Barbara and Stephen flew in from Salt Lake, Jeffrey come up from Rockingham, and Douglas from Athens, GA. On the Thursday following Christmas we had a chance to celebrate Stephen and Barbara's recent nuptials with a dinner at the Castle (Jeffrey was unable to make it due to the weather and work). Above is a picture of the group at the Castle. As usual, we had some fun gifts from the stocking stuffers on Christmas Eve including a "potato" pistol and a cardboard tree that, over the course of the holiday, actually grew. The boys (the men!) also helped out by geting rid of the voluminous snow deposited from our new standing seam roof. Janet also was introduced to more hi-tech stuff, getting a video teleconferencing device and Zune.

Holiday Elderhostel Boston Trip

Janet and I enjoyed a brief Elderhostel trip to Boston in mid-December. Staying at the Midtown Motel, the group took in the Christmas performance by the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall, saw "White Christmas" (a take off from the 1950 movie, "Holiday Inn") at the Wang, toured the Christian Scientist Mother Church, had dinner at Elderhostel headquarters, toured the fantastic collections at the Museum of Fine Arts (especially the Eygptology collection), and. of course, managed to do a little "unnecessary" Christmas shopping at several of the urban shopping malls in Back Bay and Copley Square. All in all, we had a great time. Pictured above are some of the folks attending the Elderhostel; below is a photo of the Mother Church of Christian Scientist. For some other photos, click here.

First Winter Storm Hits Ludlow

Starting Sunday night through Monday, Dec 3, we experienced our first snow of the season, totalling about 9 to 10 inches. Devi has thoroughly enjoyed discovering the snow as may be seen from the above photo of me trying to manage her during an outing.

Thanksgiving in Georgia

We journeyed down to Athens, Georgia to enjoy Thanksgiving with Douglas and do some sightseeing at the Un. of Georgia, Douglas' lab, and the town of Athens. We also had time to help Douglas (the primary chef) in the preparation of a 17 lb bird for the occasion - which he shared with three of his co-workers.

During the T-Day celebration, we also watched, as is required of a Douglas visit, USC handily defeat Arizona State. It was fun to spend time with Douglas and his co-workers, who were from Argentina and Brazil, especially as they tried to engage the fall pasttime of football.

A photo slide show of the visit is available by clicking here.

Pictured below is a photo of Douglas in action at the lab where he is currently doing research aimed at understanding the nature of a particular parasite that attacks the human body, particularly affecting people living in Latin America.

Ludlow Group Enjoys Paris Trip

On Wednesday, October 10, the Almonds, Moores, and Paces flew to Paris for a full four days of sightseeing. It was a fun trip and for most of the participants their first view of the city of lights.

• Day 1 - we bought Metro tickets and wander up to the Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower to the uninitiated) and had our first sidewalk cafe lunch near the tower as we dealt with jet lag. That evening we travelled to the Ecole Militaire area to enjoy a very small restaurant, P'Tit Troquet. It lived up to its name, the little cafe, as it could seat only twenty people. But it was most enjoyable as everything ordered was prepared from scratch.
  


• Day 2 - David and Darrah left early to catch a train to Normandy to tour the D-Day beaches and American cemetery, all of which they thoroughly enjoyed. The ladies and Ralph took a walking tour of La Marais (the marsh) section of the city to view the old homes and buildings used by the nobility. Pam, our guide, provided a detailed background to the history of the area. Following the walk, we stopped for lunch and then went to Musee de l'Orangerie to see Monet's huge oils of water lilies. The guys returned on an earlier train from Normandy so we went to an Italian restaurant then took a tour of Paris by night (the illumination tour) that was great. This was followed by a trip to the Moulin Rouge. After standing in line for an hour, we finally were seated, amongst the mob of other tourists, for a very long show. Got back to the hotel after 2 am.
  


• Day 3 - This was the day we saw virtually everything in Paris. We had arranged a private tour called the Best of Paris with Sophie, a sophisticated and charming young lady. Our itinerary included Notre Dame, the Lourve (with Sophie's fantastic narratives), lunch on a lovely restaurant boat as we plied the Seine, followed by a tour of everything imaginable in Paris from the Champs Elysee to the Place de la Concorde. Of course, the Eiffel Tower seemed to be everywhere we went. The evening concluded with a dinner at La Tour d'Argent.
  


• Day 4 - At Darrah's urgings, we set out on our own walking tour of the Ile St. Louis to discover an ice cream source that was famous. We had a pleasant walk throughout the area, enjoyed the ice cream (although we still think Ben and Jerry's is the top), and returned to the hotel to be picked up by Marie for a private tour of Versailles. Versailles was a magnificent experience with its beautifully manicured landscapes and majestic chateau. We enjoyed our "last supper" at Altitude 95 in the Eiffel Tower.

All in all, it was a great trip. Even the flights were tolerable. Below are some of the highlights of the long weekend in Paris (a fuller version is available as a slideshow by clicking here).

A New Roof Starts at 1 Whispering Pines

On Wednesday, September 26, 2007, work began on a new standing seam roof. Jancewicz & Sons of Bellows Falls, VT (what our local contractor called the Cadillac of roofers) began work in the rear. Pictured above is the portion of the roof covered by the burgundy, 24 guage metal that will be applied to the main roof and the dining room roof.

Below are photos of the staging area in the driveway where the strips are cut and the weather-proofing strips that are placed over the existing shingles before the final metal strip is secured to the roof.

Brodie's Visit Ludlow

Ethel and Colin Brodie paid a visit to us this past weekend. We met them on our Elderhostel trip to Turkey and Greece. The Brodie's were just returning from a tour of Norway, Iceland, and Greenland (from which they had a great selections of photos that we enjoyed). During the visit, we introduced them to the Coolidge homestead (the four of us are pictured above) and Colin had an opportunity to relax, Vermont style, at the General Store. After a short hiatus in their California home, the Brodie's plan to tour Africa early next year. It was great to renew acquaintances with "fellow travelers" from Turkey and Greece.

Janet Busy with Friends of the Library

Janet is spending a good deal of time supporting the activities of the Friends of Fletcher Memorial Library in Ludlow. Above she is pictured handling the money for the Friends' tag sale. The sale drew a good size crowd.