Places East

Two thousand miles later, we are back to "Normal" from our trip to upstate New York, and Massachusetts. Wow! A very long way to go, but rewarding and fun as we visited many historic sites, and ate delicious eastern seafood, and drank New York wines at cute Bistros along the way. A highlight for us was sitting on the grass under the stars to hear both the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops play at Tanglewood. This was their once a year music extravaganza where music is played all day and four of the great conductors (James Levine, Leonard Slatkin, John Williams, Keith Lockhard) each directed part of the program which included the William Tell Overture, medley from West Side Story and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture with cannons. Tanglewood in the Berkshire Hills of West Massachusetts, sits on 210 acres of lush green grass and huge mature trees, and is the summer home of The Boston Symphony. This was their 69th summer to play here at Tanglewood. The event drew about 10,000 people; the highbrow event I might compare to Woodstock nearby, celebrating its 40th year this year. Several other memorable stops included Saratoga Springs, The Norman Rockwell Museum, and the greatest event for me, The Mount, lovely estate of Edith Wharton, one of my favorite authors who wrote Ethan Frome, The House of Mirth and Age of Innocence. I just finished reading her autobiography last year so this visit was particularly meaningful to me. I actually stood in the bedroom where she wrote her Pulitzer prize novel! Edith Wharton designed and built this estate in 1902 according to the principals she developed in her first book called, The Decoration of Houses. I loved the tour, totally wrapped up in the author I love; my husband Mike, bless his heart, tolerated it. A good lunch and a glass of wine followed. We are home for a day to do laundry and regroup before heading up to our beloved spot on Lake Michigan in Onekama, Michigan. More to come from there.