Quick Catch Up

I left you on July 2nd and now it is August 3rd!  In order to fill in events, I'll do a recap by week!

Immediately after the Berkshires, we spent a great week in Massachusetts visiting my sister and brother in law, Marilyn and Barry.  

This is a picture of us celebrating July 4th New England style!  We swam in Morse's Pond, tried to pick out granite for the new kitchen, and experimented with different restaurants because of the gutted kitchen!

Michael and I took time to visit Providence, RI and see cousins Kenny and Leah.  We also visited a culinary museum, a very nice independent book store, and found time to relax at a coffee house!

After Massachusetts, we went to Springfield NJ to spend time with Susan and David. We fit in a day trip up the Hudson Valley and stopped at Hyde Park and Cold Spring. What a beautiful area and if you are ever in Cold Spring, make sure to stop at Moo Moo's Creamery!  Yummy!

Uh oh, another kissing picture!

Michael and I had time to take a trip to Yonkers to visit out cousin, Dana.  Fun was had as we went out to Applebee's, Dana's favorite restaurant.

There is no picture to show our visits to Cathy and Bill Sacher, but we were so glad to find Cathy on the mend from almost a year of hip problems.

No trip to NJ would be complete without a visit to Broadway!  Susan, Barbara, Debbie, and I got rush tickets to see Something Rotten.  The seats were crazy- one balcony, one mezzanine, and two orchestra!  We traded around at intermission so it was fair for all.

Next we were off to LBI- or Long Beach Island!

The Berkshires

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CI have always heard about the beautiful Berkshires, but I have never had the opportunity to visit.  Even though it was raining off and on, we had a great time. We stayed at Conroy's B&B in Stockbridge which was convenient for visiting lots of area attractions. 

We started by driving up to North Adams and visiting Mass MOCA.  What a fabulous venue!  It is an old factory space  with football - size gallery spaces and unique exhibits . 

Our next stop was the Crane Museum of Paper in Dalton, MA.  They make all the paper used for US currency.  It is a secret process so we didn't get to tour the factory, but the retired factory worker explained the process.  It was a quick stop, but I loved it!

The day was moving along and we were off to Tanglewood.  For me, Tanglewood  had a reputation of almost mythical proportions.  I had heard about "the shed" and concerts on the lawn, the Boston Pops, and music students .  Well,  the stories are true!  We didn't see The Pops, but we did get in on the student fellows string quartet marathon !  We listened to 9 string quartets that played for a half hour each in gorgeous Seiji Ozawa Hall.  Fantastic music in an amazing concert hall.  These students were young adults from all over the world who had competed in their area and won a scholarship to study at Tanglewood .  So much talent!  Each quartet had their own style and flair. One of the pieces was a world premier of a piece that had been commissioned just for this occasion !

We finally got back to the B&B after 10 even though we had skipped out on the last quartet.

The next morning leaving the Berkshires, we were talked into going to the Norman Rockwell Museum.  We had originally scheduled this museum for our first stop, but because Cooperstown had been so crowded we had not gotten there in time.  I knew a little about his work, but not more than the Saturday Evening Post covers.  Was I surprised!  This small museum details Rockwell's methods and his whole career.  The grounds are spectacular, the outdoor cafe was a good lunch spot, and his original studio is now on the grounds behind the museum and open to the public.  I am so glad that we stopped!