If it's March, then it's "Music In Our Schools" Month!

Cloverleaf Middle School celebrated in style, with four different musical groups, all under Andrew's direction: the 7th-grade band, 8th-grade band, jazz band, and combined band.

All did a great job, but the audience favorite was clearly the 8th-grade band, whose soloists came in New Orleans funeral-style to kick off a "Gospel in Dixieland" set to start their part of the program (to the great delight of Bob, a longtime Dixieland fan).

Left: Andrew greets some very happy parents after the concert.

Right: Emily and Mom who monitored the computer recording, and timing, respectively (Bob was, as usual, "official photographer")

Easter in Vermont

If it's Eastertide, it's time for a visit to Bellows Falls and Penney's Mom. The weather this year was a little "different" and instead of rolling eggs, we hauled pine branches (which had either come completely down over the winter or were so bent down with snow that they had to be sawed off). There's a "burn pile" out back, where we hauled the slash; larger pieces of log were cut up and piled nearby. They will be donated to a neighbor who runs a sugaring operation. You probably know you can't burn pine indoors because of creosote buildup, but it's the wood of choice for boiling down sap because it makes a quick, hot fire. After its dry, that is (see below!).

There was snow on the ground when we arrived, but it was bright and sunny. The view is to the East, toward Fall Mountain, NH.

Here we are with Mom on Easter Sunday, after Church. The original plan was to take the Lilly to the cemetery for Dad's grave, but we knew it would last about 38 seconds outside, so we brought it home instead.

Some of the branches were pretty big, so we cut them up on the spot and hauled them to the burn pile in the trusty cart.

Of course, to get the cart out of the barn, we had to remove four or five inches of ice for a couple of feet out from the barn door. Nothing like Penney and a pickax for the job!

And since Bob helped with the ice-chopping, it seemed only reasonable . . .

. . . to let Penney have a turn on the chainsaw!

 

At one point, we thought we could burn the slash immediately, and with a little "hamburger helper" in the form of a gallon of kerosene, it looked for a minute or two as if.

But that proved to be a fond hope, vainly invented, so we just added to the burn pile and decided to wait for our bonfire until the summer visit, when it ought to be really spectacular! Bring your hot dogs and marshmallows!

And here's the log pile waiting for some fortunate sugarhouse.

The day before we left, we stopped to buy cheese and maple syrup in Grafton, where we saw this wooden bridge.

 

This is really March 28th, and this picture really is in color! We had four inches of heavy, wet snow the morning we left. Fortunately, we were headed south!

We can't be completely sure if Mom is smiling because we came or because we're about to head for home!

Many of you will remember that, during my time in Rhode Island, I became very close to a family (Cliff and Yvonne O'Brien and their children Kathleen and Scott). I've stayed in contact with them over the years (sometimes better, sometimes worse!). Cliff died quite some years ago, but Yvonne and her second husband, Paul LeVasseur, paid a surprise visit to us in Berea many years ago shortly after their marriage. I hadn't seen them in many years, but on our way home, we dropped down to Rhode Island to see the family again. Kathleen wasn't well, but I did get pictures of her daughter, Chanel (below, left), and her Mom (below, right).

 

This was what we left Vermont in!