Photo Pest: Vermont

Showing posts with label Vermont. Show all posts

Saturday, July 5, 2025

Quechee Kids Bash Alligator. Mercilessly!

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.

Adirondack chairs could be glimpsed across the Ottauquechee River.

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.

In addition to the showroom, there's a classy bar and restaurant upstairs. Neither were open so early in the day.

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.

More Vermont:

DKE In Quechee (2024)

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park (2024)

Vermont Quilting Bee (2024)

Billings Farm & Museum (2024)

Lake Champlain Ferry (2021)

Unpronounceable (2021)

Lamoille Valley Rail Trail (2021)

TW Wood Gallery (2021)

The Flavor Graveyard (2021)

188 Floors (2021)

Shiny Domes and Sugar Houses (2021)

Green Mount Cemetery (2021)

Burlington Walkabout (2021)

Another Pride Surprise (2021)

Vermont Coffee Company (2021)

Smuggler's Notch (2021)

The Other Woodstock (2021)

Saturday, August 24, 2024

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park

While Magda & Joe played croquet with the D-Kids on the lawn, Thom and I toured the interior of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Mansion which sits on 550 acres of land. Although the Federalist style building looks pretty large from the outside, only a few rooms on the first floor are open to visitors. The grounds are the real draw because they reflect the commitment to conservation shared by the three families that have owned the property since the early 19th century, when much of Vermont had been de-forested.

Only six people are allowed inside at a time. While we waited, a ranger explained that the first owner of the house, George Perkins Marsh had written what became the ur-text of America's conservation movement, Man and Nature, in between his appointments as ambassador to both the Ottoman Empire and Italy, where he died in 1882.

Frederick Billings, who grew up within sight of the imposing structure, purchased the property after making his fortune as an attorney and a real estate developer during the California Gold Rush. Already under the influence of Marsh, he advocated for the establishment of Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks. Billings purchased the Marsh property after the Civil War and imported dairy cows from the Isle of Jersey, whose genetic lineage continues to this day on the farm named after him. The property stayed in the Billings family for three generations--each of which shared his commitment to conservation and sustainable farming.

Frederick's granddaughter Mary, who inherited the house, wed Laurence Rockefeller in 1934. They considered their marriage a "partnership" which prioritized conservation, too. They soon revitalized the nearly defunct farming operation, which had forced the Billings to sell their sheep prior to the Great Depression, eventually turning it into a non-profit educational institution. The couple also erected a privacy hedge of fir trees to the east of the mansion, so tall now that it completely obliterates what must be a picturesque view of the farm and the rolling hills in the distance. In 1992, Mary and Laurence donated the mansion and re-forested land on Mt. Tom to the federal government. It's Vermont's only national park. The ranger described the interior as a mix of Queen Anne and mid-century modern furniture with some impressive art.

Dining Room

This Federalist mirror is nearly two centuries older than I am.

Chair Upholstery

Two Tiffany windows decorate the house although only one is visible from the inside.

This tacky area functioned as the Rockefeller wet bar and home entertainment center. Wealth wasn't as ostentatious in their day.

I didn't think much of their record collection until I noticed two copies of The Third Album, Barbra's best IMHO.

A gorgeous etched glass chandelier hangs in the hallway.

The gardens, although well-maintained, aren't particularly impressive.

The floral waterspout in the birdbath, the sailboat sundial and the nude statue add a touch of tasteful Republican whimsy.

A swimming pool, bowling alley and greenhouse comprise the nearby Belvedere Complex.

At the height of Cold War paranoia in the 1960s, the Rockefellers built a fallout shelter beneath the bowling alley on the other side of the greenhouse.

DKE in Quechee

Vermont Quilting Bee

Billings Farm & Museum

Lake Champlain Ferry (2021)

Unpronounceable (2021)

Lamoille Valley Rail Trail (2021)

TW Wood Gallery (2021)

The Flavor Graveyard (2021)

188 Floors (2021)

Shiny Domes and Sugar Houses (2021)

Green Mount Cemetery (2021)

Burlington Walkabout (2021)

Another Pride Surprise (2021)

Vermont Coffee Company (2021)

Smuggler's Notch (2021)

The Other Woodstock (2021)

Vermont Quilting Bee

Actually, it was a contest, with the entries on display at the Billings Farm & Museum in Woodstock. This took first prize.

"Road Trip" by Linda Diak

But it wasn't my favorite. If only this one had been for sale.

"Tea Boys" by Verdel Grohman

Nothing like curling up under a little campy homoeroticism every chilly night.

And I don't just mean the cowboys.

"The time of COVID was so sad and demoralizing," said this quilter. "I needed to find some humor in it somewhere."

"Covid---Achoo!" by Sandra Dadik

Covid inspired other people to take up the craft for the first time. "I was sick of watching TV, eating and drinking," explained the man who quilted these umbrellas, who also worked as a docent at the museum. Although the project took him nearly a year, he said many quilters can finish one in a month with the proper set-up.

"Dancing Umbrellas" by Tom Bivins

Jane Austen, who quilted with her mother and sister more than two centuries ago, inspired this homage with a coverlet that combined dozens of diamond-shaped fabric scraps.