In The Green
21/6/09 17:17The flight in to JFK from SFO was pleasant enough--except that Avocado kept lying on my (I am the Mama, that is my job) so that I never really got into the deep drowse I was hoping for, with the result that about an hour into the drive from JFK to Vermont I had to pull over into a rest stop, put back my seat, and took a half hour nap. Avocado, meanwhile, slept pretty much from JFK straight up to Troy, NY (where we picked up Rte. 9 to Bennington), so it was a quiet ride. And green. So green. I forget, living in the golden (read: sere) hills of Northern California, how lush and upholstered the country is here. You step out of the car and it's...green. The smell is green. The whole time we've been here it's been cloudy, rainy, misty, damp and green.
The bat mitzvah, a big three-day affair, elaborate and yet somehow human-scaled, was lovely. It was fun to see all the girls from A's camp cabin running around giggling and singing and laughing and helping set up for the bat mitzvah and for the party(s). Friday night was an informal dinner, Saturday morning the actual Shabbat service led by the Rabbi and the bat mitzvah girl, followed by brunch downstairs at the synagogue. Saturday night was the party--160 people in a vast tent with a band (Lithuanian gypsy music!) and good food. And Sunday morning, brunch for all the travelers before we dispersed to the four winds. There were wrinkles, of course. Most crucial: the bat mitzvah girl had somehow not made it clear to her parents that not only Avocado but I was under the impression that we were staying at their house. While I was camping, trying to figure out if I could get a room at a motel somewhere, Clarissa's mom came up with a solution: the girls from camp were all set to crash in the little guest cottage behind the house (and God, what a gorgeous house--I have such house envy), so with a little shuffling of people, I wound up sleeping in the guest house and Avocado slept on the floor and it was all fine. And I volunteered to help out with cutting and carrying, which was helpful. So it was win-win.
This morning we set off from Bennington to Lenox to visit my Dad. Still green everywhere. And one of the things I love and admire about my daughter (and don't get to see often) is what a good listener she is when older people are talking. She told stories herself, but also listened not just politely, but with genuine interest to the stories my aunt and my father and Dad's friend Meta were telling. It was a lovely evening.
Tomorrow, some ranging around the countryside, and Chinese food with my father. And, of course, more driving.
The bat mitzvah, a big three-day affair, elaborate and yet somehow human-scaled, was lovely. It was fun to see all the girls from A's camp cabin running around giggling and singing and laughing and helping set up for the bat mitzvah and for the party(s). Friday night was an informal dinner, Saturday morning the actual Shabbat service led by the Rabbi and the bat mitzvah girl, followed by brunch downstairs at the synagogue. Saturday night was the party--160 people in a vast tent with a band (Lithuanian gypsy music!) and good food. And Sunday morning, brunch for all the travelers before we dispersed to the four winds. There were wrinkles, of course. Most crucial: the bat mitzvah girl had somehow not made it clear to her parents that not only Avocado but I was under the impression that we were staying at their house. While I was camping, trying to figure out if I could get a room at a motel somewhere, Clarissa's mom came up with a solution: the girls from camp were all set to crash in the little guest cottage behind the house (and God, what a gorgeous house--I have such house envy), so with a little shuffling of people, I wound up sleeping in the guest house and Avocado slept on the floor and it was all fine. And I volunteered to help out with cutting and carrying, which was helpful. So it was win-win.
This morning we set off from Bennington to Lenox to visit my Dad. Still green everywhere. And one of the things I love and admire about my daughter (and don't get to see often) is what a good listener she is when older people are talking. She told stories herself, but also listened not just politely, but with genuine interest to the stories my aunt and my father and Dad's friend Meta were telling. It was a lovely evening.
Tomorrow, some ranging around the countryside, and Chinese food with my father. And, of course, more driving.