Belatedly . . . the Christmas Snow Arrives

Well, we didn't have it while the family was here for the Christmas celebration but, the day they left, the snow decided to fall.  So, in the waning days of December, we've managed to accumulate a litle over a foot of the white stuff.

Family Christmas in Ludlow

While we had the barest of snow coverage for Christmas, our spirits were still very high as Barbara and Stephen, Veronica and Douglas and Emilia, Jeffrey, and Janet and I gathered in Ludlow for the this annual celebration.

Of course, Emilia was the center of attention as she encountered her first taste of snowy weather.

Stephen and Douglas managed to handle the cooking chores for the Christmas Eve feast after we enjoyed our allegedly reduced-size stocking gifts.  Christmas found us tackling an also allegedly reduced-size present opening sitting around our tree (a real one!).

Emilia took her first ride in the snow - and appeared to thoroughly enjoy it.

It was a great event when we had a chance to be with all the family.

Pictures are available by clicking here.

Thanksgiving in Athens GA - 2012

 

We flew to Atlanta for a week-long Thanksgiving visit with Douglas, Veronica, and, of course, Emilia.   We enjoy a fantastic time playing with (and spoiling) Emilia and enjoying the wonderful company of Veronica and Douglas.  In addition to trips to the local playground where Emilia showed off her gymnastic capabilities, we enjoyed a tour of the new Atlanta Aquarium.  Veronica's cooking was great.  Douglas and I "enjoyed" some football - although watching Notre Dame defeat USC was not in the plans.

 

But it was Emilia, now very ambulatory, who occupied most of our attention.  It was fascinating to listen to her initial efforts at speaking; while we didn't have the foggiest idea what she was saying, she said it with great vigor and determination!

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and look forward to Christmas when all the guys will be with us in Ludlow.  A few pictures of our adventure may be found by clicking here.

 



Great Weekend in the City

Continuing a tradition that goes back to 2002, the Almonds, Kneebones, and Paces (the Thomson's couldn't make it) journeyed to New York for a long weekend.

Probably the highlight of the trip was attending the Broadway show, "Nice Work If You Can Get It" and also taking in Andrea Marcovicci's "Smile" cabaret show at the Cafe Carlyle. 
the show was far better than expected (how can anything with the music of the Gershwins not be great!).  And I thoroughly enjoyed Andrea's cabaret performance.

Naturally we had to eat!  Lusardis on the Eastside was a tremendous joy (including my truffles) followed by dinner at the Brasserie.

The ladies even had time to spend shopping at Sak's.

We ended with a more casual dinner at "The Man of Kent" to return back to normalcy in Vermont.  Photos of the trip may be seen by clicking here.

After the Peepers Leave . . .

With the seemingly unending presences of our visiting peepers, we decided it was time to get in the car and take a little drive around the countryside to do some peeping ourselves.  Due to the past wind and rain storms, much of the foliage was off the trees - but it still was a lovely view.  Janet had time to stop and get some decorations for the season.

Our Bucket List Gets Reduced by 1

It has taken over 15 years but today we did what we've been talking of doing all that time:  we drove up to the top of Mt. Equinox in Manchester, VT.  Considering the various steep pitches, multiple hairpin turns, and the silent concern about the driver's capability to handle this task, it was a pleasant 15 minutes up - 20 minutes down.  When we reached the peak Janet was concerned that the car smelled strangely.  We determined that everything up there smell strangely - the parking area had just been freshly retarred.  Anyway, it was great to do something we've talked about doing for years.  Just a few photos are available by clicking here. 

Douglas, Veronica, & Emilia Visit Ludlow in July

Douglas and Veronica flew up with Emilia for a long weekend.  It was our first exposure to Emilia walking - and boy, can she walk!  We had a great time attending a Gypsy Reel concert at Jackson-Gore, introducing Emilia to the Almonds and Kneebones, swimming and picnicking at Plymouth State Park, and a lunch at Long Trail Brewery - among other activities.

Emilia had a chance to try out a "new" old chair Janet had gotten for her.  She also had time to play with our pre-Devi "dog", Kibby.

Veronica cooked us a fantastic dinner and Douglas, with Jeffrey's help, started to powerwash some of the siding of the house.

We even had time to discuss what our holiday activities will be in November and December.  Still not definitely decided but we've at least started planning.

Some more photos of the great weekend are available by clicking here.

Paces and Kuntzs See VSO at Jay Peak

The Pace's and the Kuntz's decided to spend some time at Jay Peak on June 30-July 1 to enjoy the Fourth of July concert by the VSO.  Kevin was kind enough to drive us up to the Stowe area where we stopped to checkout the von Trapp Inn (huge place) and then have a great lunch beneath the Stowe trails.

While we had no problems with our room in the new Jay Hotel, Patsy and Kevin did and were forced to move to a new room in a separate hotel, closer to the area where the VSO concert audience would be.

It was a very good thing that happened.

At intermission, after some great numbers by the VSO, the heavans decided to open up.  We simply left all our "Tanglewood-type" picnic stuff outside and ran for the Kuntz's room which overlooked the concert area.  We spent the rest of the concert on the Kuntz's balcony.

All in all, it was a fun time, great company, good music, and a lovely trip.  We only took a few photos which can be seen by clicking here.

It Must Be Spring-First Hummingbird Appears

While I haven't had the chance to get a photo of him (or her), both Janet and I separately saw hummingbirds feeding at our bachelor buttons and one of the three feeders that were placed out yesterday.  So it must be Spring!  Photos to follow (hopefully).

The "Boys" Remember Mama

Stephen, Jeffrey, and Douglas remembered Mother's Day by sending a lovely bouquet of flowers to Janet.  While the bouquet will end up on our kitchen table, tonight it will occupy the center of the dining room as we enjoy the beautiful arrangement at dinner.  They are really great guys!  (with a pretty wonderful Mother!)!

Paces & Bolands Gather in Springfield

With Marge Baker, Webster, NY, visiting her "Eastern" relatives Western Massachusetts and Vermont, it became an opportunity for the Pace and Boland clans to gather.   Jimmy and Paula Boland hosted the get-together and served a great meal for the "sunlight" crew (as well as liquid refreshments).  It was a great opportunity to great updated on everyone's medical condition as well as meet the "younger set" members of the family.  Pictured above is a photo of the "Elderly Set" while the Pace family is pictured below.  The really interesting news from this gathering was the realization that a good number of the "younger set" are approaching retirement - the fact that I used to baby-sit only compounding my difficulty accepting this realization.  But it was great to visit with our family.

We stayed overnight at Allan's and enjoyed an unusual Japanese dinner at the Toyko restaurant.  It was one of the few times I can remember enjoying food that had the word "California" in it ( a vegetable California roll).

March 2012 in the South (Sorta of) . . .

This past March we journeyed south (that is, after Janet retuned from a week at Sanibel Island in Florida).  Our purpose was threefold: obviously number one objective was to visit with our beautiful granddaughter, Emilia; to meet our dear friends from Canada, the Brownlies and participate in an Elderhostel (actually, now it's known as Road Scholar) program touring Georgia's barrier islands, and, to start the entire trip, a quick visit to Charleston, SC.

Our two day drive to Charleston included our "regular" lay-over in New Market, VA, thence to Charleston.  In Charleston, we stayed at a lovely hotel called the Ansonborough Inn, a converted paper mill.  And, of course, we had to have a meal at Hyman's - although I must forewarn those with a northern background not to expect too much when it comes to southern fried clams.   We toured the historic district in the city.  We even returned to the grave yard behind the largest church in the historic district to see if we could find the headstone for that departed lady whose engraved tombstone we found so interesting (we couldn't recall the precise verbiage but it seems the woman was considered chattel.  We visited the relatively new aquarium and thoroughly enjoyed it.  To check out our Charleston photos, click here.

We then drove to St. Simon, one of the Georgia barrier islands where our program was headquartered, and met Joan and John Brownlie to start our exploration of three of the thirteen barrier islands off Georgia.  We toured (and sometimes studied) the island of St. Simon, Jekyll Island, and Sapelo Island.  Jekyll was where the northern industrialists, suffering from the chills of the north's winter, decided to build their own island retreat.  It was also, like several of the other barrier islands, a cotton and rice growing enterprise. 

St. Simon was where we walked the beach with our group's expert to examine the marine life found there - retiring to the golf course complex where we stayed during the week.

Probably the most interesting island was Sapelo with its history of plantation development to support cotton and rice crops; especially of interest was the native population that had lived there for centuries.  It was on this island that a truly memorable estate was erected, last owned by the Reynold's family of tabacco fame.  We had the best fried chicken there for lunch that I've ever had in the States.  Then we toured the building with its many bedrooms, a private bowling alley, and, at the top of the structure, the circus room.  Realizing that this was an island withno road link to the mainland, it was quite a structure.  Click here for all of our barrier island photos.

Following our educational sojourn, we headed to Athens, Georgia to meet Douglas, Veronica, and Emilia.  It was a wonderful visit.  Emilia, then about 14 months old, was beginning the process of standing up - not quite walking but oh so close to it.  As usual, Veronica managed to create her extraordinarily exquisite dinners.  It was just the perfect conclusion to a wonderful adventure in a Georgia we never realized existed.  Click here for our photos in Athens.

Owls Head-10th Anniversary Trip

For the tenth year, the Paces met the Brownlies at Owls Head in Mansonville, Quebec to ski, tour the area, and just enjoy each others company.  Had usual, we enjoyed the good food prepared by Janet and Joan along with evenings out at the Lodge.  For the first time, rather than journeying through the Eastern Townships, we decided to visit Jay Peak in Northern Vermont to see the newly developed water park and hotel facilities there.  Had a great time viewing the "Pump House" activities (see photo below).  Alas, this will probably mark our final trip to Owls Head for skiing as our mutual legs, knees, and body aches seem to have reached that point where skiing is no longer that "rewarding".  But, who knows, the other attractions of the Eastern Townships may still draws us back.  A few photos of the trip are available by clicking here.

Skyping with Douglas, Veronica, and Emilia

Since we won't have a chance to see Douglas, Veronica, and Emilia again until mid-January 2012 (they'll be spending Christmas and New Years in Mendoza, Argentina), we had a little visual chat with them today via Skype.  Pictured above is Janet as she talks to Douglas and Emilia in Athens, GA.  A couple of other scenes are depicted below with Veronica and the rest of the Athens contingent.  It's great fun to see Emilia as she grows and to witness that growth electronically since we can't be there.  Each time we Skype with them we can detect new growth; this particular visit involved the display of her first signs of a tooth!

Wonderful Thanksgiving in Athens

We journeyed down to Athens, GA for the Thanksgiving holiday to visit with Douglas, Veronica, and - of course, Emilia.  On our way down we stopped to visit with Jube and Mary Ann Stryker in Doylestown, PA.  The trip down was pleasant (which wasn't the case for the return journey - believe what they say about Thanksgiving traffic!).

While in Athens, we spent most of our time with Emilia.  My, but she has grown!  Veronica and Douglas are wonderful parents - and Veronica is one fantastic cook.  We never had to worry about the quality of our meals.  Douglas is doing a great job with his new grill (even had an extra special grilled cheese sandwich from his grill).

Veronica and Douglas served a great Thanksgiving dinner for all of us, including Melina and her family. 

Since they will be spending Christmas in Mendoza, Argentina, Douglas and Veronica decided to purchase their Christmas tree early and decorate it.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience.  For some photos (mostly of Emilia), click here.

Herb Celebrates 90th Birthday

A week before the actual day, 19 friends of Herbert C. Pace, Jr., met at Cal's in West Springfield to celebrate Herb's 90th birthday.  With a large contingent from the Rochester area and from Springfield, Herb had a chance to review his many gifts (for some reason, everyone seemed to think he needed gin) and orate on his interest in reaching a 100th birthday.  Everyone had a great time and, per Herb's plan, were leaving their calendars clear for a similar dinner in 2021.Prior to the historic event, we, along with Allan, decided to renew our acquaintance with the Quadrangle museums and library in downtown Springfield.

Photos of both events are available by clicking here.

Our First Snow and a New Fireplace

After many years of hauling wood (our boys well remember the efforts), we finally decided it was time to switch to a gas insert in the fireplace.  So today we had Proctor Gas arrive with our selected gas fireplace, install it, and, of course via a new remote, turn it on.  It's going to take a while to get used to the gas version of a wood fire but, with the first snow fall today of the season, it seems to make sense.  Photos of the installation are available here.  Below is a picture of the front year birches bent out of shape from our first wet snow of the season.

The Gang Takes a Tour of Portsmouth, NH

In lieu of its usual long weekend in Gotham, some of the Gang of Eight decided to go to Portsmouth, NH in late October to view the sights there.  You can see some of the photos of the tour, especially our visit to historic Strawbery Banke (no, it's not misspelled), by clicking here.  The Almonds, Kneebones, and Paces stayed at the Sise Inn, wandered all over Portsmouth (on foot), and, of course, took a look at the Kittery, ME shopping outlets (the women did the clothing saloons while the men concentrated on the Trading Post).  As usual, we did find time to consume some food and wine.  It was a fun trip.

Stephen Comes East to Rescue Pace Homestead

Stephen flew in from Park City this October to help the "old folks at home" deal with their home, especially winterizing it, repairing it, and, overall, cleaning up some of the outdoor mess and the cellar. 

In particular, Sephen was able to stack the half cord of wood lying outside the wood shed, clean the garage and breezeway roof of pine needles, fix the ailling garage doors, help prepare the garden area by the fireplace for the "hopefully" forthcoming propane tank for our new gas fireplace, clean up the inside of the garage (which, IMHO, was just fine-I knew where everything was in the mess), and begin the process of cleaning up the cellar (the remainder is for his hopefully next Spring visit).

 

In his idle time (about a half an hour), he did try to help us learn how to use our HD TV remote; this problem was fixed when Jeffrey came up and showed us how to properly use the device.

All in all, it was a very pleasant experience, even though I now have to relearn where items are in the garage and cellar.  I was able to prevent my desk and workbench from being impacted by this clean-up spirit.

In addition to work on the home, Stephen also participated in the audio upgrade at the Ludlow Town Hall Auditorium and managed to take two photos of the upgrade and a play rehearsal.

Quite a talented guy!

Emilia - Really Eating Now

By October, Emilia was eating "real" food.  Here are a few photos of the result!