Tag Archives: wmass

Old Sturbridge Village

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Old Sturbridge Village

Any kid who grew up in Western Mass. is all too familiar with Old Sturbridge Village. They’ve gone there on a field trip at least once, but more likely multiple times. And by the time they graduate from high school, chances are they are pretty tired of the colonial New England stuff. I know I was! But then I grew up, moved away, renewed my love for all things old (and especially colonial) and I’ve been dying to take my kids there.

Old Sturbridge Village

Last week while we were up in WMass, I wanted to make time to see my good friend Jenn. And when she suggested we spend the day at OSV, I think I was more excited than anyone! Old Sturbridge Villlage is a living museum. The people who work there are all dressed in costume and their jobs are showing what life was like hundreds of years ago. Once you walk through the doors, it’s as if you’ve stepped back in time. (I kind of wanted to hole up in one of the houses and live there!)

Old Sturbridge Village

We saw a shoemaker, a blacksmith, and a potter.

Old Sturbridge Village

We saw women dying and spinning wool into gorgeous yarns. Aren’t the colors yummy?

Old Sturbridge Village

Some handmade quilts were hung over a split-rail fence to air out (I love this picture so much I had to make it my new blog header!).

Old Sturbridge Village

There’s also a working sawmill, but it wasn’t operating while we were there. The water levels are so low this year. It definitely makes you wonder how people would have handled such a dry summer back in the 1700s.

Old Sturbridge Village

And there were, of course, plenty of chickens wandering around! I still really want a few chickens, and seeing these guys did not help, LOL… Is it weird to think that chickens are cute?

Old Sturbridge Village

We packed in quite a bit, considering we had 5 kids in tow (4 rambunctious boys and one strong-willed 3-year-old). Still, we did not get to see it all so I’m looking forward to going back another time.

Old Sturbridge Village

I do have a few Groupon vouchers for a place here in New York called Museum Village, so I think we’ll take the kids there soon. I’m curious how it compares and how things were different here in NY versus Massachusetts all those years ago!

hurricane irene

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I don’t even know what to say, but I feel like I should write something about this weekend’s hurricane. We are very lucky to live in a part of town with what has to be a slightly higher elevation because aside from some leaves and a few small branches on the deck and some standing water in the lowest part of our yard (not unusual), we experienced nothing from this storm.

At first, from just the observations outside my window, I thought the storm was a real dud. But then I started to hear from friends, and photos started popping up on Facebook, and I realized that it was pure luck that we somehow escaped with no flooding or property damage. If you want to see photos from other parts of the area that were hit, just browse through the Hudson Valley Weather Facebook page. There are plenty. I did not personally venture out, and I plan on just staying out of the way so clean up crews and the electric company can do their jobs.

I think the most heartbreaking thing for me, though, was learning how hard the Catskills were hit. This area really isn’t that far from where I live and it is already a depressed area. To add insult to injury, these people experienced complete and utter devastation. I cannot even imagine. Here’s a video from someone local:

Hurricane Irene – Margarertville 8-28-11 11am from Fred Margulies on Vimeo.

And here is a segment from Good Morning America, in case you missed it:

It’s wonderful that New York City didn’t get hit as hard as expected, but don’t think that the rest of the state fared as well. People in Westchester County, which is considered the NYC suburbs, experienced horrible flooding. Many roads are still closed. Communities in southern Vermont and western Massachusetts are also flooded, roads and bridges have washed away, and people are at a loss.

Once I find out more about ways to help the storm victims, I will post more information. If you know of ways to help, please feel free to comment and I will add the information.

thinking of wmass

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Photo credit: Holly N.

Although I now live in the Hudson Valley, I am originally from a small town in Western Mass. and my family and many of my friends still live in the area. It was completely surreal to turn on The Weather Channel yesterday afternoon and watch the tornado tear through Springfield and then hear that another one was hitting my hometown of Palmer.

Thank God everyone I know is safe, and there was no damage to my immediate family’s homes. Springfield is just a wreck, said people I know who live and work in that area. But my heart breaks for Monson, the next town over from Palmer. I know a few people who live there and to see the damage and utter devastation… well, there just aren’t words. My friend Holly posted several photos of the damage on Facebook, and the picture above is one of them. That church steeple was 137 years old.

I was astounded as I watched this video showing aerial footage of the area. That poor town is destroyed. We’ve been through blizzards and hurricanes, but this is something on another level. Of course, the people of WMass are very strong and they’ll get through this, but my thoughts and prayers are with them. I hope yours are, too.

her bright smile haunts me still

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cordelia's dad at the iron horse

What a super amazing weekend! Friday night Drew and I went to see Cordelia’s Dad play at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Mass. They’re one of my favorite bands and I’d never seen them live. Drew, on the other hand, actually toured with them back in the Rosemary Caine days. We met up with Drew’s friend Jeremy (who we haven’t seen since our wedding 10 years ago!) and had dinner at Bueno y Sano (a mainstay of my college diet years ago) before the show. It was as delicious as ever. Then we headed over to the club for the show.

I also got to see my friends Jess and Chris who I haven’t seen since the Sheep & Wool Festival last October. It was awesome seeing all these great people — it just made a fantastic night even better! The show itself was as amazing as you’d expect. If you’re not familiar with the band, Cordelia’s Dad is kind of hard to explain. They have their own body of 100% original work, but they might best be known for taking traditional early American folk songs, stories, poems, and so on and setting them to music which more often than not could be described as indie/punk. If you want to take a listen, I found this video of their rendition of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” from Friday’s show. It gives the uninitiated a great sense of what they do.

Here are a few more photos:

cordelia's dad at the iron horse

cordelia's dad at the iron horse

cordelia's dad at the iron horse

The first set was acoustic, and the second set was electric. Both rocked! They don’t play together all that often because individually they’re very busy with their own projects these days, but hopefully they’ll reunite again soon. I know I’ll be there.