Watching the small-town parade made me feel a lot better about life in America than anything I read in the newspaper. I felt the same way after driving to Seattle and back three summers ago. Polarization is less apparent in person.
Wrapped samples of Red Kite Candy, tossed from this tiny Fiat, definitely elevated my blood sugar level, but in a really good way. If the store hadn't been closed, I would have bought a box of melt-in-your-mouth caramels and I'm not usually a candy guy.
A fierce bull painted on a blue pick-up served as a reminder that they're not all like Ferdinand whom Thom and I had visited on the drive to Quechee.
Dartmouth's Hood Museum of Art commissioned this work for a nearby building's exterior. Artist Ellsworth Kelly says its architecture reminded him of symmetrical Renaissance arches. Alumnus and private equity investor Leon Black paid for it before he was besmirched by the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
Dartmouth Panels (2012)
Victor's college experience must have been considerably different than mine, not only because the campus is somewhat rural and isolated. Dartmouth has the Ivy League's smallest undergraduate enrollment and a reputation for conservatism. Both of these buildings face the Green, a large town square where the paraders and locals celebrated the sweat-inducing holiday.
Dartmouth Hall
Brauner Library
Somehow, I can't imagine a petting zoo on the South Lawn.
Local firefighters displayed their trucks and equipment and gave away some red plastic hats. Too bad Dagny was at sleep away camp for her first time. Kids really do grow up so fast . . .
Della always manages to find a way to provoke. Nobody else was shouting out the British capital on their tees!
Thom and I found a stowaway from Alligator Alcatraz in Delia's trunk en route to Quechee to celebrate Independence Day.
Actually, that's fake news. My stepmother had it custom-made in Juarez after I casually mentioned how cool a piñata that looked like the Lacoste logo (which the French company identifies as a crocodile) would be. In just a day, a couple of Vermont thunderstorms washed away four decades of dust it had accumulated lying-in-wait on top of a pair of bookcases at 47 Pianos.
Thom and I arrived the night before Magda, Joe and D-Kids. Without paying much attention to the weather forecast, we went on a walking tour of Quechee first-thing Thursday morning. Ya gotta love a small-town library.
The Quechee Church is open to all Christian denominations.
For a state as white as Vermont, it takes Black history pretty seriously.
One of Vermont's hundred covered bridges crosses it.
Look what happened when the river rose eleven feet during Hurricane Irene. A sudden thunderstorm forced Thom and I to take refuge in the basement of a Simon Pearce glassblowing factory, powered by the rapids outside. Quechee's hot air balloon festival had taken place two weeks earlier.
Employees craft expensive glassware sold in the show room upstairs. When Joe rescued us, he self-purchased his birthday and Father's Day gift from Magda: a pair of whiskey glasses for $90 each. It was news to her!
Wooden blowpipes and other tools comprise a striking, three-dimensional collage hanging in the visitor's area.
After high winds and thunderstorms closed the pool at the Quechee Club, we dined at a pizzeria in Bridgewater which also included an arcade. Della and Dagny proved to be equally adept at shaking down cash contributions and scooping up rubber duckies.
They even spent a little of their allowances unsuccessfully trying to win plush toys.
Meanwhile, Thom and Desi continues an unexpected bromance that had started at the pool.
On a Friday morning hike, Della demanded to know where the dinosaur tracks were.
A seesaw hidden in the woods and a pretty fast merry-go-road at Lake Pinneo later that afternoon enabled the D-Kids to burn off some energy. Magda and Joe subscribe to what I call the shark school of parenting: keep them moving at all times.
Dagny's fashion sense definitely doesn't include camouflage.
Desi, like Thom, can nap anywhere.
It turned out the still sodden piñata lacked a plug so it remained forever-unfilled with candy. That absence didn't diminish the D-Girls's bloodlust. Joe, Magda and I got several whacks in as well. Newspapers inside were dated 1987, a year after Magda was born which raises the question: why didn't I give it to her or Zoltan when they were young children? Because it was a crucial element of my apartment's decor which Audrey once accurately described as "late-college." The de-accessioning era continues, here literally in full swing!
Thom presented the kids their new outfits afterward. Too bad Dagny didn't embrace the Parisian look. It really suits her.
I brought the D-Girls personalized key chains in Williamsburg when my friends from Colorado visited the week before. They include tiny states of Vermont (Massachusetts was out of stock) and peace signs as well as unicorns, the first letters of their names, lips and an eye.
All the D-Kids got a ride in Delia. Dagny and Della quickly mastered turning up the music volume to accelerate the car, and Desi looked truly awestruck when Thom put the top up. Just call us the fun uncles.
I had to fend off an attack from a piñata basher before our departure Saturday morning. Fortunately, the inflatable Pittsburgh Pirates bat couldn't do much damage. Wherever did I pick that up? From the secret drawer, of course! Soon to become the portable secret drawer since it's unlikely the D-Kids will ever visit 47 Pianos.
On our way back to New York, we stopped for a terrific seafood lunch in Niantic with Randy.
What an enjoyable four days! Thanks again, Magda & Joe.
Fifty years ago last month, Tom and I graduated from college. Although camera-shy Audrey is younger than both of us, she earned her B.A. three months earlier at Barnard.
Who better to spend the summer solstice with at their beautifully landscaped home in North Andover, MA? Time doesn't go by quite so fast on the longest day of the year.
Zoltan, their son, was with us in spirit. That's his childhood dino on the front step. It occupied the same pride of place in Bernardsville, NJ, where he and Magda mostly grew up.
Tom spends a lot of time skimming the pool, especially when it's windy. The water temperature hovered at a delightful 80 degrees, still cool enough to be refreshing. Audrey gardens, a massive job.
I took a walk before the rest of gang arrived on Saturday. The well-preserved Parson Barnard House was built in 1715.
It's located on Osgood Street, a name familiar from my quick tour of the Second Burial Ground.
Walking really helped me appreciate the beauty of the neighborhood. Flowers bloomed everywhere.
Magda, Joe and the D-Kids blew in like hurricane for their first pool day of the season.
Joe hit forty last year. Magda still has 15 months before she reaches that milestone. It appears she finally has left tanning behind.
Dagny turned seven earlier this month.
Della will be five in July
. . . and Desmond two the same month.
Magda dove into the pool with élan.
Della needed some coaxing from Audrey to jump.
Dagny did not. She's loving an after-school swimming program at the Boys and Girls Club in Boston.
Meanwhile, the men of the Lazar family conformed to type. Joe prepped the spic 'n span gas grill with some help from an IPA
. . Desi adopted a wait-and-see attitude
. . . and Moofy loafed. It turns out we share a prescription for meloxicam.
Audrey makes sure the D-Girls have a full complement of art supplies. Della solved the Hermes Mystery at the Grooms' in between poking me with her pencil.
Dagny used her art work as a sun shield.
Apparently, Della shares her little brother's fascination with trucks.
Dagny loves decorating her Crocs. Would you believe it costs $20 to plug up ten of those holes?
Before the day was done, I was back in Manhattan, dreading the forecast heatwave. The days start getting shorter tomorrow.
