CT Blue

This year my wife and I decided to celebrate Mother’s Day by taking a little trip, so Saturday Morning (this is written Saturday night, but the wireless connection in our bed and breakfast went out, so it likely won’t be posted until Sunday) we set out for the Berkshires, slowly wending our way through Northwestern Connecticut. It’s an area of the state in which we’ve never spent much time.

So, because I don’t know what’s been happening and can therefore not comment on current events, having been cut off from the world, and because I feel like it, I’m going to post some pictures of the trip.

First stop (after lunch) was the Glebe House in Woodbury, which drew our interest because its website boasted that it had a garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll. Apparently the design was not carried out until years after she drew them up, and in truth, there’s not much to the garden. (Portion pictured below).

Turns out the house is somewhat of a shrine to Episcopalians, something we knew nothing about when we went there, since we both must have ignored that portion of the website. Apparently, during the dark days of the Revolution, when the Anglican church was in some disfavor (being almost totally a Tory religion), something was done (I’m still not clear what) that was a foundational event for Episcopalians in America. Among other things they chose a Bishop – Bishop Seabury. That’s a name with which I’m familiar, because the site of his boyhood home is in Ledyard, properly monumented, which I often pass on my bicycle rides. Groton boasts a church named after him, which is one in which the presiding priest is active in the effort to break away from the main church on the grounds that it isn’t bigoted enough against gays. Anyway, the house is worth seeing, even for a non-Episcopalian, because it is an extremely well preserved example, both inside and outside, of an 18th century New England home. The center chimneys, walls, just about everything, are as they were in that period. The people (docent, etc.) were very nice, and seemed frankly amazed that someone had come to look at the place.

Right down the street is the Hurd house, pictured here, which we were told is a good century and more older than the Glebe house, and also apparently well preserved.

Next stop was the White Flower Farm, a well known destination for gardeners. (Full disclosure: of the two of us, only my wife fits that description, but I enjoy looking at them). Herewith some pictures.

Finally, one of the reasons we went back to the Stockbridge area. The first time we ever went there we stumbled on Asia Barong, which is right next to the bowling alley on Route 7 in Great Barrington. The place is full of an incredible variety of Asian artifacts, leavened with some truly weird stuff. The first time we went there, we had almost no time to look around. The owner told us Spring was the best time to look around, since he went on his buying trip in the winter. Every time we’ve returned, the place has been closed, so we figured we’d make a trip up there when we knew it would be open, and we’d have leisure to look around. The owner claims to have the biggest collection of Asian artifacts in the country, and it seems like a believable claim.

As proof of the This is an example, which is displayed on the bowling alley side of the building.

Here’s his brother, on the side of the property across the street from Friendly’s.

A sampling of the stuff on the main floor.

As proof of the aforementioned weird stuff, I submit the following. Notice the artful way I composed this picture to keep the rating to an R.

This is an amazing thing. It’s a sculpture carved from the base of a tree. The face is the base of the trunk; the tresses are the roots.

A lot of this stuff is reasonably priced. We got a Buddha’s head carved from pink marble (they pretty much littered the ground) for about what it cost us to eat for the day.

Finally, I must say a word about our Bed and Breakfast in West Stockbridge, the Shaker Mill Inn. Okay, the wireless kicked out, but the room we had was huge and well equipped. We got a decent breakfast (quiche, bagel, muffin, fruit, juice), which they put in the fridge for you to cook in the supplied toaster-oven or microwave. They even gave us free wine and chocolate, and greeted us by name when we arrived. Cost for the night was just shy of $120.00, which is a bargain in my book. Yes, it is right behind Troy’s Auto Body, but you can’t see Troy’s, and the view through the sliding doors is idyllic.

Anyway, we had a great time. We are one Buddah head richer, quite a few dollars poorer, but well satisfied with the weekend. And I have convinced myself that my Mother’s Day obligation was satisfactorily discharged.