More Portraits

Catching the very last of the fall color, everybody's thinking of Christmas cards which makes good business for me!

Vermontster

 Say someone asked me, several years ago, if I wanted to go to a Monster Truck race... I would have laughed at them.  When I got done laughing, I would have said "Hell no!"  But...four little boys really, really, REALLY wanted to go, so we did.  And surprisingly, I enjoyed it.  It ended up being kinda cool, watching these big rigs race up a slimy, steep hill.  Loud, but cool.  And the hillbilly dudes that drove them let the kids climb all over them and check everything out.  It was sunny and warm and there was mud flying everywhere!  What's not to love?!

 Whoops, this one flipped over right in front of us.  Nobody hurt.  That's our friend Evan in the whale hat, he owns the ski area the event was at.

 Parker and Ellis are brothers that are in my two boys classes and they get along wonderfully.  So handy to have two sets of brothers that are best friends!

Anyhow, it was an entertaining day, even if you just wanted to people-watch.  The boys are cuddled up on the couch this evening, watching a vintage french film, so I'm not too worried our life is going to be one big monster truck rally after another, but I certainly won't mind repeating this fun day in the future.

Shaker Museum

 This place was gorgeous.  Not nearly enough time to see it all.  The Shakers were such innovative, enlightened people in so many ways.  They had women in positions of power since the 1700's which is quite shocking.  I sort of thought they lived like the Amish, very anti-technology, but the guide told us they were obsessed with technology, and finding the best way to do things... they invented the washing machine, the straight broom, and many other little gadgets.  They were actually highly enterprising and well loved by whatever community they settled in, due to their generosity and peaceful nature.  They knit those letter sweaters that colleges used, among lots of other surprising exports.  Apparently that whole chastity thing put a damper on their continued success, since they could only grow in number by converting people.  A new Shaker would be completely provided for, but upon entering, was required to give up all his or her worldly possessions.  They rotated the work in the village so nobody had to cook, clean, knit or harvest all the time, and they taught everyone a trade of their choice.  There was a no-shun policy which meant they never gave anyone a hard time for leaving or joining.  They opened their doors to orphans and took very good care of them.  This particular village had Shakers still residing in it until 1991, and is such an amazing example of simplicity and ingenuity.  Once several thousand acres, it now has only 700, most being sold off to pay taxes.

 Every drawer, every basket, every shelf had a letter and number label.  Shakers were highly organized and had a place for everything.  All neat and tidy.  My kids could use a bit of Shaker in them, me thinks.

 The schoolhouse was cozy and bright and you could tell how important a good education was to these people.

 Broom making shed.

 This creeped me out somewhat.  It's an 'Adult Cradle' in the infirmary.  I don't know why, but it just gave me the shivers.  I'm sure it was probably a very comforting thing, but still...

 They sold New England baked beans, and also invented some sort of drink called Sarsparilla (not Sasparilla), that helped slow down the sale of rum at the time.

 Every room has pegs so the furniture can be hung and the floors easily cleaned.  The place smelled fresh, like soap and wood, no trace of that musty smell you normally find in older buildings

This museum is huge, spanning dozens of buildings, and time was short on this trip.  I'll have to go back again next summer and see the million things I missed.  Anyone want to join me?

Portraits

 Had a brief spell of lovely weather today and did two fall portrait sessions...these folks got lucky, two other families postponed their sitting until next weekend because they were afraid it would rain, but it was beautiful!

Fallin'

Bookworms

As Fall closes in on us, and the darkness comes earlier, we've upped our reading time, all cozied up on the couch with cocoa and graham crackers.  Eli can read like no body's business now, (I often catch him with a flashlight under the covers when he's supposed to be asleep) but still loves to be read TO.  And Ira would listen for hours on end if you let him.  Trying to think back to what we've enjoyed this summer...We made it through most of the "Little House" series, with "Farmer Boy" being the kids favorite. (They started to become less interested in the main characters as they approached adulthood, so we'll leave those final books for later.)  We did "Stewart Little", "Black Beauty" and "The Indian In The Cupboard" (They LOVED that one).  "Charlotte's Web" they adored although they were understandably upset when the spider died and Ira won't eat ham now. (Which is fine by me, we rarely eat meat anyhow.)  But their all-time TOP book, the one I was begged to keep reading, and the second we finished, they wanted to start it over again, was: "The Trolley Car Family."  I always get a secret thrill when they love something that I loved... that book was one of MY childhood favorites.  We'll crack open "The Secret Garden" tonight at bedtime, or if this rain keeps up, we might start in while we have our after school snack.  I am more than happy to revisit all the stories that were so special to me once upon a time, and it's interesting to see the different things the boys pick out to ponder.  I tend to censor small bits when we read, because Ira especially is so sensitive in certain areas.  Eli has his touchy spots too, of course, and it's trickier now that he follows along with me and breaks in with: "You missed a part, Mom!"  Little Smarty Pants.      

Fort Ticonderoga

What am I not really interested in?  Well, forts and canons and soldiers and all that military stuff.  But I have two boys who tend to find testosterone driven things quite intriguing.  Hence a little field trip to Fort Ticonderoga in New York State.  I believe I went there as a child, but it only left a vague impression on me, apparently, even though it IS a pretty cool place...the same goes for it this time.  I'm not really a girly-girl, Anne Of Green Gables aside, and no way am I clamouring to visit only ultra feminine attractions,  but there's only so many muskets, powder horns and battle scene dioramas I can look at before I tune out.  Silly that I intensely love history, yet military matters tend to bore me or perhaps I am more comfortable ignoring them for one reason or another, despite being a terribly important piece of the past.  I know which war was when, and what they meant, and where they were fought and yadda yadda yadda, but have little interest in breaking down the strategy or dissecting the whole event.  The very idea of war leaves me cold and I'd rather disassociate from the idea, I guess.  But the kids really enjoyed the place, and watching them enjoy something makes me enjoy it too.  Funny how that works.  Next thing you know I'll be obsessed with matchbox cars.