Cinderella's closing night, after months of practice and four nights of performance. The Northern Adirondack Regional Theatre's performance was a great success, at least in our eye's and was, by far, the highlight of Zoe's summer. She made many friends among her mouse friends and sparkled and smiled in front of the audience. When we first left for the try-outs many months ago, we ran into our friend who had taken her daughter the night before. She informed us that one of the parents had to commit to being in the show if our child was under 10. I got the job, and so it happened that I have been Gavoting and Waltzing, and spinning about on stage with a tray of lobster for a good part of my summer. But I have had a grand time, and met some wonderful people, even Lizzie has made herself comfortable in this group of dedicated actors. The performances went off with few hitches, most memorable being the pee break the horse had after arriving at Cinderella's. The mice, of course, always received the biggest applause from the audience which always was filled with a great deal of little girls dressed in sparkling gowns.
14 years to the day, we returned to our little white church on the green in East Arlington, VT. In the photo we are standing in the dirt road, just on the other side of the covered bridge, in front of the school house, in front of the church - Norman Rockwell's house is in the background. The church has not changed, and the day was just a sunny, perfect as our wedding day. We continued on our way to Willianstown Mass., where we saw a beautiful show at the Clark Institute - Hopper and Matisse for Tory, Homer and Lautrec for me, and lots of Sargents and others to make us both happy, including Van Gogh's "the Night Cafe".
After finding the stove and retrieving it from the Bronx, I assured Tory that we would have the gas company out to hook it up. I called and made the appointment, and after heaving the old Magic Chef out, and manuevering the Chambers into place, the hour came and technicians arrived, befudled. They cratched their heads, looked it over, and declared that they would have to leave and call someone in Syracuse, and then call me back. The call came, saying they had no idea how to change the stove over to propane. So I called in the heavy hitters, and after locating an old tage with some vague instructions under the front right burner, we finally located the infamous "orifice hoods" tightened them, and now the stove is running beautifully on propane. (well, we did have to clean out a lot of the burners with a pipe cleaner). All is well!!!!
I won tickets to the Champlain Valley Bluegrass Festival, and so, on this late summer evening we traveled off to see Ralph Stedman perform in the fields outside of Alburg, Vermont. The performance was good, but the show in the sky was spectacular. Clouds moved over the evening sky and we received a quick rain shower, followed by an orange glow and bright rainbow. We listened to music into the night, and the girls made a tent out of blankets and lawn chairs. When Dr. Stedman sang “Oh death” I heard one gentlemen turn to another in front of me and whisper with glee – “last time he sang this here a woman died in the audience!”. A little urban legend for Kirk to investigate. The clouds passed, and a chill entered. Fall is lurking in the air. The heat wave of a week ago seems distant as temperatures tonight are forecast to dip down to into the low 40’s. Warm days and cool nights, and baskets of tomatoes.
I have found it - the stove I have been searching for - A 1950 Freedom Red Chambers Stove - made in Shelbyville, Indiana. Dad drove to City Island in the Bronx with me to retrieve it. Now. it sits on our mud-porch, I am polishing the chrome and adjusting the valves before we move it in. The stoves are so well made that they are supposed to use 1/3 to 1/2 less gas than other stoves, and continue to cook with the gas turned off - aside from that they are just a beautiful piece of post-war design. Rachel Ray, a new popular chef with her own program, has a yellow Chambers.
