Brrr!

-12 degrees overnight; possibly 9 degrees today. Weather is a great subject with nothing else on my mind to write about. Driving to NYC for Philip's birthday gala at Planet Hollywood in Times Square on Tuesday.

Morning snow with fire

Its been a long time since my last post. I realized this last night and this morning decided to fill in the gap. In 2 words roller coaster. Here are some more words. There is a light snow with a fire in the fire place. All is visual so far today. Quiet. All is well. More words on my next post.

Here is a pic of a piece of blueberry cobbler with HD vanilla ice cream ala mode. I actually baked the entire cobbler myself. I started baking these last summer and have improved the recipe since. Only a few select have tasted this summer culinery treasure.

Saturday morning Bonnie, Prana, Mudra and I went tag saling in the neighborhood (lower Berkshire County). It was slim pickens, although I did pick up 2 pieces. The first was a faience lavabo purchased at the flea market on Rt. 7 in Great Barrington. The second piece was a bit unusual for me to purchase or even pick up. We were on Rt 102 on the way to Lee and parked on the median, walked across the street to an "estate sale" on the side of the road. There were a couple of interesting looking items but nothing special. Bonnie purchased a yellow ware bowl and 2 bracelets. I picked up a Wedgwood Etruria bowl with ram head handles. Bonnie was surprised by my choice. I don't buy dishes. But I liked this one. Bonnie said that it matched a partial set of dishes we had in the house. Now that set is a little less partial.

Before leaving our house for the 22 minute drive along the Housatonic River to Tanglewood, I prepared for the mosquito blitzkrieg. I doused my body in deet. I don't think I was bitten at the concert, however I felt itchy from earlier bites. We parked in a field fairly close to the venue. and loaded our new wheely thing (used for our gear). That actually made our hike to the site easy. Previously, we used our backs and our red wagon left over from our 25 years on Fire Island. We joined the endless caravan of picnickers, crossed the street under the careful eye of what is probably all the local gendarme and picked our spot in direct line, albeit far back, with one of the super sized movie screens. It just doesn't really matter where you end up at Tanglewood. Its just nice.

There were thousands of people on blankets, collapsible aluminum chairs with baskets, shopping bags (some provided by caterers) and coolers filled with anything you can imagine. I used to think this a picnic competition. I realize now its just a herd of individual family and friend groups just wanting to hear music, eat and drink in a bucolic setting. Many came with candles, some with exotic or at least heirloom candlesticks. Near us was a group of 4 with a folding table set for dinner and matching chairs. In the distance the sun was setting over giant trees. We had a picnic with great cuisine by our in house top chef and hostess, Bonnie. The bowl mentioned earlier is impressive so we used it for the angel hair pasta. Lemon chicken, a small charcuterie platter with sour dough bread, my blueberry peach cobbler and a celebration beverage were served.

It was Movie Night at Tanglewood last night. John Williams, composer of the sound tracks of ET, Harry Potter and if I had the program in my hand I would list many others that you know, conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Frank Langella (Dracula) narrated.

Unusual for a Saturday night, there was no rain. We had given our Bob Dylan tickets for the same night to our son Philip. The Dylan performance was in Bethel, NY. (Woodstock). Philip and his friend Nicole road their Vespas to the concert. Report said, "it rained there."

This little doggie woke me this morning.

Around 01230

Notice anything new at the estate?