Lenox, MA

We drove across Massachusetts on route 9 which is another
winding New England road. It was a very pleasant drive.
We arrived at Elske's in Lenox about 2 PM.

The rest of the day was spent primarily with Robert
and Elske talking cosmology and astronomy while I
read my book club book. The conversation continued
in the evening, but it wasn't all about science. We
did discuss a few cultural and political issues in
which, I of course joined in. Elske is a very interesting
person so it is always fun to hear her take on issues.

Today we went to a National Trust house which was quite
near. We had our membership card, amazingly enough, so
we did not have to pay the entrance fee.

The house is the Brookwood house and it was the home and
studio of Daniel Brook French who was did magnificent
sculptures. We took the tour of the house and studio.
It turns out he, as a young man, entered what has become
MIT and promptly flunked out and decided to become a
farmer. Along the way he got interested in sculpting so
his wealthy father asked him what he needed to do to learn
more about his new chosen field. He went off to school and
later Europe and became a fabulous sculptor. He not only
did the Minute Man sculpture in Concord, Mass and even
more impressive the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. We
saw his drawings and models and we learned about light.
He had a great studio with sky lights and north light and
a railroad track such that he could push his sculptures
outside and it was also on a turn table so he could
view the sculptures in all sorts of situations, rain, shine
night, day, sunshine, etc. BUT no one warned him of the
reflecting pool at the site of the memorial. When he
discovered that and saw what the light shining on the
pool did to poor Lincoln he was devastated. That is
why there are lights inside the memorial always
shining on the statue. We saw photos of the statue
with and without the lights and with just the
reflection from the pool Lincoln looks terrible! It
was an interesting tour. Actually, you have to take
the tour to get into the house and studio.

After our tour we took a walk through the woods and
a modern sculpture garden.

It is an off and on rainy day, but we lucked out
because there was no rain while we were there.

We're going out to dinner tonight.

Thanks for the e-mail...and I shall answer each
individually.

Still in Auburn

Today we drove to Leicester where Robert lived his first 20 years
except during the war years and the hospital following.

We stopped in to visit the library. Robert has an old history
of Leicester which is in excellent condition. He asked if they
would like it. The librarian in charge of the town history
was delighted. They have a couple of copies, but they are
not in good condition. She said that sometimes people have
even torn pages out of them. Now they are kept under
lock and may only be used in the library.

Robert's house looks the same as it did 20 years ago when I
first saw it and much the same as when he grew up in it. In
fact the town has changed, but that area of town has not.

We went from Leicester to Worcester to visit WPI where
Robert did his undergraduate work. We toured the
campus where there are many new, since Robert was there,
buildings. Many old ones have been refurbished.

We listened to Ms Palin last night and I guess if McCain
should win we'll all be hoping McCain's health is still
good.

Auburn, MA

We reluctantly left the Farm this morning. Before we left
Sue and I did our usual gabbing. We packed up and
the 4 of us took a walk to the area that Dick has
been clearing to make a picnic area. They have sold
the development rights to the farm acreage and in order
to satisfy the IRS they need to do something more to
make it an asset to the community. It is a lovely
spot with huge shag bark hickory trees and it overlooks
the Merrimack river except that the hickories are blocking
most of the view. The leaves will be gone in another
month and then the view will reappear.

After we left the Farm we headed for New Hampshire and
Ed's (Viki's Ed Hall) house. It took a while to get
there because of the winding New England roads, but we
finally zeroed in on it with the help of Ms Garmin and
a neighbor. The neighbor has promised to e-mail us
pictures of NH. I think he'd like us to e-mail pictures
of Boulder. He went to CU as an undergrad.

We'll be here at the Comfort Inn for a couple of days.
At Walt Kopesky's suggestion we picked up a coupon
book so got our room for $79.00 instead of $98.

Peabody/Essex Museum

We left about 10:00 this morning for Salem and the
Peabody Museum, Robert, Sue and I.

What a wonderful museum the Peabody is! We had
a wonderful time. Most of our time was spent
in a special exhibit which also cost extra. An
antique house, lived in for many, many generations
in China until the mid to late 20th century was taken
apart in China and put back together inside the
museum. All the tiles, the painted decorations
on the outside walls were there. The courtyard
even had bamboo growing so that when you looked
out a window you saw bamboo. The family had
been quite wealthy and had done quite well until
the Cultural Revolution. At that time, I believe
the house was abandoned.

There were many rooms, all furnished, but sparsely
and as Robert kept pointing out there were no chairs.
They took their food outside to eat, the early on
folks, but the later folks were shown in pictures
eating around a common table from common dishes.

The next hall was set up in 1799, to begin with.
This is an old museum! It contained many figure-
heads from ships. They were truly magnificent.
Each one was described at some length on a touch
screen computer where you pointed at the picture
you wanted described and you got a description.
If you pointed again (pointed, meaning touched)
the picture was enlarged. It was quite an
elegant way to label the various items.

The last hall we entered or spent any time in
was a Polar exhibit. This had gorgeous pictures
of both polar regions included a webcam series
from the north pole.

And finally, I'd really like to hear from you,
any of you who read this. It gets lonesome not
getting feed back.

I have heard from Martha, describing their bike
for diabetes bike ride. Carl rode 100 miles and
she rode 100 kilometers and next year she thinks
she'll go for the 100 miles. They were riding
for diabetes and both made their goals and the
whole group raised lots and lots of money!

I love you all...but miss hearing from you.

Still at Sue's

Yesterday Ellen and family came for dinner. This is a custom in the
household to all get together for a barbeque for Labor Day. Ellen
and all had just returned from Vermont where they had a mini
family reunion with David, John and Emily and their families.

The rest of the day Robert spent on the computer and Sue and
I talked and/or read.

This morning we are heading for the Peabody/Essex Museum
in Salem.

West Newbury, MA

Yesterday we left the boat right after breakfast at
7:30 am. We drove to Old Orchard Beach, Maine.
We were very lucky and found a motel room across the
road from the beach. Also across the street is
an amusement park and in back of the motel is Amtrak.
We didn't care. Everything was full up and we really
didn't expect to get a place at all. For us this
was perfect. We were in the midst of the summer
beach scene. Our room was $139. but he said he'd
lower it to 129 because we didn't have air conditioning.
This was why the room hadn't rented. I asked if we
couldn't have a discount because we were so old. We
ended up paying 105 including tax. I don't know
how that was figured, but I made no compaints.

We had a wonderful time. We walked the beach and
visited the arcade and the amusement park, listened
to two guys from Peru making beautiful music in the
park. I bought their CD. We had fried clams somewhere
along the way and finally made it back to our non-
airconditioned room about 11 PM. We watched CNN
for a while listening to film clips of former
presidential nominees making their acceptance
speeches until we were sleepy. We turned off
the TV and the next thing I knew it was 6 AM.

We walked the beach again before breakfast and
after breakfast we packed up and left. We
drove along the coast for quite a while, but
the roads were packed. We were not in a hurry,
but it did get old finally.

We arrived here at Sue's shortly after noon.
She and I have been visiting ever since. Her
son, Kit and family, showed up. I haven't
seen Kit in about 40 years. I would recognize
him. He has grown up, but looks much the same.