Summer blues are nothing to weep about. The low bush blueberries are ripening on Burnt Hill. Anthony, Drew and I went picking over at the Benson Place. You can see forever on that hill, even the spires of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. We picked and picked. For about 15 minutes. That's as long as it takes two energetic boys with the efficiently designed blueberry rake to pick about 20 pounds of berries, along with a few…
It began with a birthday celebration (slightly belated) and a game of Settlers of Catan (excellent), but as we often say here at the End of the Road 'We are having fun, but we are on a tight schedule." And yet there are chores, or chores that are so unheard of in a Houston suburb, that they become entertainment. Anthony and Drew got to watching the goat milking, and then reward the goat with a stimulating brush off.…
The weeds grow larger, but the adventures with Rory, large and small continue. Rory and I visited Frances Avery and her model of A.L. Avery's General Store, an essential supplier of what we need. This small model of the store includes tinier models of everything in the store, clothes, hardware, office corner, kitchen stuff, groceries and EVERYTHING! Mrs. Avery's brother in law and his family lived over the store for many years. It took her a long time…
No matter how devoted we are to our gardens, most of us would admit that the most important crop we tend is the children in our lives. The Major and I are happy to let the gardens take a back seat to grandson pleasures on these cool summer days. We had to say farewell to Tynan, but we met our daughter Betsy and her older son, Rory, in Amherst for lunch and a 'backyard circus at the Emily Dickinson…
Yesterday we traded off boys. After attending the 'backyard circus' at the Emily Dickinson Museum, daughter Betsy took Tynan home and left us with Rory. We had an elegant BBQ with friends (before the storm) and woke up to a beautiful Sunday - perfect for an afternoon of lawn mowing. Rory will be 13 next month and I have been waiting for this day for almost 13 years too. The Major is giving him a good lesson, and keeping…
Even though there are lots of activities here and there, we all spend lots of time at home, playing games, making art, cooking, checking out the Frog Pond, and Reading Aloud. Life at the End of the Road offers many activities right here. But we did hit the road to do some errands in Shelburne Falls. Tourists come here because they think its kind of quiet and old fashioned. But it is not THIS old fashioned. After errands,…
With the weather still cold and wet we devoted yesterday to community service. The only gardening we could do was watch the yeast grow as we started baking bread for the food distribution at the Federated Church of Charlemont. It takes strength to knead bread, but we kneaded until the dough felt like a baby's bottom. We weren't going to get any of the bread, but we baked lemon cookies for the Bridge of Flowers birthday on Saturday…
Grandson Tynan arrived Monday evening, but we wasted no time on Monday exploring the damage done to the landscape. We cleared the path down to the Frog Pond a little more and Ty was amazed at the trees bent and broken around the pond. The frogs and newts seemed to be in good shape. The sundews, too. We still don't know how those tiny, pond-edge carniverous plants, close around bugs to eat them. Since the weather was supposed…
The past week was cold, wet and windy. Not much time out in the garden, although I did pick the last of the lettuce in the herb bed, and lots of sugar snap peas. We eat them raw. On the cloudy, cold and windy Fourth of July we went to a neighbor's BBQ where we huddled in the kitchen, only nipping out to the fire and hot dogs occasionally. We all know that kitchens are the best for…
Grandson Tynan, at 11, is almost 5 feet tall. Gardens are not the only places where growth is amazing.Tynan arrived to spend part of school vacation with us and we devoted ourselves to art, the garden, and celebrating Earth Day at the eleventh most beautiful waterfall in Massachusetts.First, off to Umass, my alma mater, to visit our friend Dan at the new Studio Arts building. He gave us a tour of the undergrad studios where we saw all…