I looked at the robot steadfastly and he acted as if he had the thought, 'Nothing to see here, move on.' The young staffer and I had a nice conversation where I learned that each robot costs about $50,000. (You may remember that the Stop and Shop union just recently walked out and picketed for a week in order to settle their contract without a hike of 75% for employee paid health benefits.)
The robots are programmed (naturally) to avoid going behind the customer service counter and cash registers. I had the thought that if the Russians can hack into our election machines, they could cripple us by making these robots go haywire with an ill-timed hack.
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I was chided by someone for not producing a blog entry lately. So here it is -- and I agree -- it has been a long time!
Yes, I have fully recovered from the cold and I am on my second round of poison ivy. I did get an anti-itch cream with a prescription and the co-pay was $25!! The original cost must be $100!! I am very grateful that I only have little (annoying) spots of the rash, which is contrary to my former extremely allergic state. I'm wondering if this keto diet has put some of auto immune system to rights.
And my coffee sludge is no more. I purchased tiny filters for my refillable coffee pods. I'm dutifully putting the used coffee around the flowers outside and the filters are biodegradable.
Note to self: do not ever start a paragraph with a sentence which contains 68 words!
The dishwasher is coming this week, preceded by a disconnection of the old one and followed by installation of the new. That's 3 separate days of waiting for service personnel ...
Another note: it was fun taping and labeling the Senior Center newsletter. Do that next month.
My car has been fixed and it's sporting a new side view mirror and some paint. I only had to pay $50 because I had never put in a claim before, but the bill was so big, I figure my insurance premium will hit the stratosphere on the next renewal.
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Since I have been busy piling up adventures, I'll start with the most recent first. That would be yesterday, May 26.
Two friends and I went to the Sheep and Woolcraft Festival in Cummington, Massachusetts (about 24 miles away). It was a lovely sunny drive in the country. We got to see the young people (probably 4H members) showing their sheep. Sheep don't want to stand still with their head up for a seeming eternity. Consequently, they protest. Loudly. Baaaaaaaaa!
I enjoyed learning that it took 7 different breeds and 7 years to create the giant white angora rabbit who was sitting in his owner's lap. I should say engulfing his owner's lap because this rabbit was the size of a standard dachshund.
And the yarn and the colors! I didn't buy any because I am such a bad knitter, that I feel I would be disrespecting these fabulous yarns. There were at least 4 people spinning yarn. One guy was so good at explaining the process and his batts (of pre-spun wool) were such beautiful colors that I asked if he had dyed them. Yup. (Well, his company which may or may not include a spouse did the dying.) I was absolutely fascinated by a woman who was weaving yarn on a frame using a crochet hook. She was doing single strand weaving. I had never seen such a thing and she was almost done after 5 or so hours. The approximately 4 by 3 foot piece of 'fabric' would be turned into a gorgeous cape-like garment. This one was in purples with a silver thread, but she had an equally gorgeous one in a burberry plaid.
The main attraction for me was the sheep dog trials. Prior to the trials, we were introduced to Reggie who is an Australian Kelpie puppy. His father was competing. I had never seen this breed and Reggie was brown and gold accents. He had gold dots over his eyes and maybe on his paws -- I don't really remember. Anyway, it's always great to meet a puppy who is just so overjoyed to see you and be patted.
The rest of the dogs were the standard black and white border collies. The first dog was up and he raced toward the sheep thinking, 'I am a rocket!! Nobody can catch me! I'll be done way before my seven minute time limit is up!!' Unfortunately, the three sheep became totally spooked by this object hurtling at them and they took off running faster than any sheep I have ever seen run. And that's how it went every time. Again, I have never seen such speed on both the dogs and the sheep. Since it was the third and last day of the trials, the sheep were very savvy about the course and they knew exactly where to go to elude the dog. In fact, one sheep hopped the fence. (I don't know whose job it was to fetch that sheep, but it was going to be quite a chase.) The goal was to get the 3 sheep through two sets of gates, a chute, and into a pen in under seven minutes. When the sheep neared the 'end of the course' which was a pen with shade, they veered that way when the dog and handler really wanted them to go toward a gate. So the dogs definitely had their work cut out for them to stop the sheep from 'going to the barn' before the trial was done.
Sorry, no pictures.
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Visit to the New Britain Museum of Art, New Britain, Connecticut: Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit. (64 miles one way). May 21, 2019
We couldn't have picked a better day for driving. It was sunny and not too hot, not too cold. Our merry band of three had a wonderful time!
The museum is small but had many wonderful works, including a room of Hudson Valley Landscapes, NC Wyeth, Winslow, and impressionists galore.
The O'Keeffe exhibit not only opened my eyes to many of her works that I had not seen, but the museum had collected many other artists' renditions of their interpretations of O'Keeffe.
I had thought her latest works were those sun bleached cattle skulls, but I was wrong. In her later life, she was taking many trips by plane and she did some views out of a plane window. At that time, she had lost her central vision (agony for an artist!) and she only had her peripheral vision to work with. One of the airplane paintings really enthralled me with its simplicity and skill in evoking the mood of flying.
I absolutely fell in love with a very small still life of a peach partially wrapped in a white napkin. I have always been a big fan of a still life, but this was exquisite in its simplicity. I also imagine that she was going to eat this sweet treat for an afternoon snack, but she decided to paint it first.
Georgia O'Keeffe, Cow Vertebra
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Canaletto and the Art of Venice, (May 25) movie at the Amherst Cinema: I admit that I knew nothing of Canaletto. He painted (mainly) the Grand Canal in Venice and he became the darling of English tourists who would buy one of his paintings as a souvenir of their visit to Venice.
These landscape paintings are beautiful and exquisitely architecturally detailed. The sunlight in the paintings is so fabulous that it makes other paintings of the time seem dim. Do look up some reprints of his work and you will see what I mean.
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Photographer, movie at the Amherst Cinema. This is a very sweet movie set in Mumbai. Much of the film has subtitles, but some of it is in English.
We first see a photographer at the Gateway to India and he is accosting tourists and asking them to buy a photo. He has a nifty box that enables him to instantly print a photo.
Finally, he convinces a shy young woman to let him take her picture. While he is concentrating on extracting the photo from the box, she is called away by her family and she runs off without her photo and without paying him. He tells his friend, another photographer, about the incident with less anger than one would think because he depends on the pittances he gets from the photos. But you can see that he is still thinking about her.
The rest of the movie not only shows quite a bit of the culture in Mumbai, but also how crowded it is there with many many people swirling around you when you are in public and what the private spaces of some of the citizens are like. There is a story about person to person connections which is the major portion of this movie.
It is sweet with no violence and no bad language.
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Finally, we had a sunny day after weeks of rain and clouds and cool weather (May 18)!
First, we stopped at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge for lunch. It was delicious and elegant with old world charm. We were able to join a tour of the Inn which is held every Saturday at 11 a.m.
Entrance to the bar (tavern)
Before the dining room opened. It filled fast.
In a corner near the rest rooms.
This and the one below are original Norman Rockwell artist's proofs owned by the Red Lion Inn
Norman Rockwell signed them in pencil because pencil does not fade.
Visit to Naumkeag, Stockbridge, MA (61 miles) on May 18, 2019. This was the summer estate of Joseph Hodges Choate.
Driveway to main entrance is on the left
Path lined with daffodils is about 1/4 mile long.
View while lounging on Adirondack chairs.
After looking at these pictures (and there are more), I realized that I do not have one of the mansion. They may have called it the 'summer cottage,' but it was a big old place that could hold 5 kids, parents, guests, and some servants comfortably. The main entrance is brick, but the back side facing the rolling hills and acres of gardens was "rustic" shingled in cedar shingles.
And that's it! I'm done for a while.
I'm sure you have all bowed your head for a minute for those military who have passed on and I'm sure we are grateful for those who have served and are currently serving on this Memorial Day. I just wish we could eliminate wars so that our military could serve in peaceful times.
Have a wonderful week. Cheers!
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