Week in the Berkshires August 26-September 2

 

   

Prior to leaving for London, we spent a week at a timeshare, the Oak n'Spruce in S. Lee where we've been several times before. (And, we think they assigned us the same unit we had the first time we went there.) We had splendid weather and managed to get in a few dips at the pool and a round of mini-golf. 

     It was a packed week with close friends, culture and good food. 

Set of Fences

     On our first full day there, we met Nan and Jim for a matinee performance of August Wilson's Fences at Shakespeare & Company. It was intense and well acted. It is a play about the conflicts between fathers and sons as well as the breakdown of a long and happy marriage between Rose and Troy. We enjoyed it immensely. Afterwards, we had a nice dinner at "our" place - lobster rolls, corn on the cob, peach dessert (Jim's), crackers, cheese, ice cream from High Lawn. Such a lovely day.

    The next day, we went with Nan and Jim to the Berkshire Botanical Garden for an outdoor concert. It was drizzling, but it did not get in the way of our fun. We sat in lawn chairs and ate the rest of the lobster salad and lots of other goodies. The concert featured the Wanda Houston band. It was terrific. She is a blues singer backed by talented musicians.

  One day Mark and I went to the Clark Museum where there was a special exhibit of Edvald Munch. Most known for his woodcut of "The Scream," we found that Munch did a lot of other work including seascapes and forest scenes. He was alarmed at increasing industrialization and the cutting down of Norway's forests. He painted farms and orchards and, in fact, owned an orchard. He did a series of pictures of men and women, often quite detached from each other. At any rate, we really enjoyed the exhibit and have a new-found appreciation of his art. We also had lunch at the cafe and ate on the beautiful grounds by the reflecting pool. After that, we checked out their Impressionist paintings. A lovely day.

    One of the evenings, we met Nan and Jim at Tanglewood for a concert of Jackson Browne. We did not know his music the way most of the audience did. We often say that we missed a lot of the music of the 70s and 80s as we were so busy teaching and raising a family. Browne is a balladeer, but threw in pieces that had the place rocking. The musicians around him and the two back-up singers were excellent and the concert was a full 3 hours.

    And, one day we went to Dalton to have a lovely dinner in the new home of Andrew Cromartie and Janet Forest. It was a wonderful evening and we so enjoyed seeing them succeed in their new off-island lives.