Fall Outings 2021

 

Fall Outings

2021

           We do enjoy Fall color outings. But 2 complications this year. After receding in late Spring the COVID pandemic ramps up again in Summer. And my spinal stenosis goes past “pain management” to “shit for back” (as judged from my MRI) and needs surgery. The 2 combine to lead to canceling an early anniversary jaunt to a VT inn ˗ too close to my surgery, too many COVID cases in VT. Undaunted (mostly) we work in some other enjoyable Fall excursions.

          1^st venture in early October: “Hollowed Harvest” at Altamont Fairgrounds on the outskirts of Albany, enticed by promises of 7,000 jack-o’-lanterns creating “stunning landscapes and larger-than-life displays as tall as 3 stories and more than 60’ long.”  Well, no, this proves quite exaggerated and we’re not that impressed, tho the logo is quire striking and it’s a nice evening stroll past displays organized around Halloween themes: Wizard of Oz, dinosaurs, flowers, spiders, gravestones, and more. Some little kids ahead of us seem to be having a good time, maybe we should have brought one with us.

         

Though not an “outing” in the same sense, Colonie Senior Service Centers’ Croquet Tournament is becoming something of a Fall tradition. Cindy Pettit & I agree to team up in hopes of repeating our previous victory. Cindy brings friends Mary Ellen & Erin, and our court is completed by another young couple. Marjorie joins in to help serving beverages. We play at The Crossings, beautiful flower beds plus a large grassy area to set up wickets & all. Rain before and during lunch stops in time for the competition. I start way behind after an opponent “sends” me, but I repay him later and Cindy and I finish well ahead of the other 2somes to win our court.

          Next outing in mid-October: Chesterwood in Stockbridge MA,  former summer home & studio of sculptor and landscape designer Daniel Chester French (1850–1931). Fr. Walsh blesses my back after 8am Sunday Mass. A Fall chill in the air ˗ mid-70s yesterday to 50ish today˗ as we give our new Honda HR-V its 1^st drive of any length. Marjorie makes good: syncing her phone, figuring out how to preset radio stations. Past a clever display of skeletons climbing a building in West Stockbridge.

French, a leading figure in the American Renaissance movement of the late 19^th & early 20^th C. is perhaps best known for Minute Man at Old North Bridge in Concord MA and Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial. We go for an exhibit of large outdoor sculptures around the beautiful grounds & garden: Tipping the Balance: Contemporary Sculpture by John Van Alstine. His abstract sculptures of steel and stone are “a complex synergy between natural forces and man-made materials.” We start with a small exhibit at the visitor center, then to a nearby gallery where we especially like textile birds by Charles Schweiger.

10 or so large outdoor sculptures spread around the buildings, alongside woodland trails, and by the gardens. The grounds & garden themselves are beautiful, including rows of hydrangea and some bright white flowers. A tiny fountain operates inside French’s whimsical “one square yard of water.” A mostly cloudy AM, but some breaks of sun to brighten the Fall colors. [We learn from another visitor that VT colors are done, all the leaves gone, so we don’t feel so bad about canceling the VT inn.] All in all a lovely stop, it sure beats Hollowed Harvest.

A good lunch at Michael’s in pretty Stockbridge, where we’ve eaten before a bit off busy Main St. and most of the crowds.  Beforehand the pretty houses, shops, and Halloween decorations give me some photo ops. After overhearing a nearby table discussing how many marriages don’t last, we mention our 50 years (well, in another month) as we leave.

Then it’s north, thru some spells of heavy rain and at one point past a noisy flag-waving band of anti-vaxxers, to the Laffer Gallery in Schuylerville. We’d missed the opening reception last night, heavy rain & high winds, but wanted to see the new “Upstate Invitational” exhibit of beautiful and quite unusual works. Intriguing piece “Play with me,” constructed of many moving parts, can be had for only $10,000. Gallery owner Erik encourages Marjorie to enter the next show. Pretty shops & windows along Broadway offer more photo ops.

     

            Later that week to aptly named “The Incredible Naumkeag Pumpkin Show,” also outside Stockbridge. Still having 70s temps, Fall colors subdued. Naumkeag is a Gilded Age “cottage” (48 acres, 44 rooms) designed in 1884 as a summer retreat for Joseph Choate, prominent NY attorney and Ambassador to Great Britain, and wife Caroline. Daughter Mabel inherited it and worked with a landscape architect to create the gardens for which Naumkeag is known, including the world-famous Blue Steps. She bequeathed the property, including all household furnishings and fine art, to The Trustees of Reservations. Wow! This really is an incredible Halloween treat! Some 1500 pumpkins (plus gourds, mums, etc.), both real & artificial but all hand-carved with faces, monsters, dinos, etc. 

We walk below the appropriately Gothic house by craggy trees with clusters of beautiful pumpkins & flowers, along woodland trails with colored lights (purple, green, orange) around trees, thru gardens, up hills. Even a bubbling cauldron. Our timing proves perfect: lowering sun bright on the pumpkins, beautiful sunset as we head to the house, darkening at the end so we can enjoy the lighting. The tour includes part of the house’s 1^st floor with a “Haunted Mansion” vibe: floating candles a la Harry Potter (for which Marjorie gets a bit of a “backstage” tour), skeletons lounging in one room, spooky fireplace & windows with thunder outside. The greenhouse has a “thrill ride”: encircled by a rotating cylinder, you think you are rotating! To complete the day, a beautiful moonrise as we get home.

As Halloween approaches, a Facebook post shares some COVID Halloween decorations: headstones with epitaphs like “I DID MY OWN RESEARCH,” “MY Body MY Choice MY Coffin,” “Not smarter than SCIENCE.” And another creepy thing: a huge tour bus parks overnight on the road along the side of our yard. No idea who the “Mystery Bus” belongs to (neighbors across the street are away), a police car swings by but nothing comes of it. In the AM it swings around to park across from our driveway.

I’ll include some things that are maybe too local to qualify as “outings” but add to our Fall enjoyment. I enjoy beautiful Fall decorations at Trader Joe’s and bright mums in a neighbor’s yard. 

Next day a subgroup of Mendelssohn Club brothers sing for the Upper Madison Street Fair; a beautiful day, lots of people including tables full of chess players, and it’s good to be singing! 

Other photo ops in Washington Park, known especially for its Spring Tulip Festival but Fall plantings are also impressive. More music: a lovely jazz concert at the Pruyn House, with its own beautiful gardens.  

Fall scenery enhances golf courses, including Schenectady Muni, one of the prettiest local courses, and later of Lake George from Top of the World Golf Course. 

After a foggy frosty AM, I have my “coming out” 10 days after back surgery to a reception for Marjorie and other “Extraordinary” women (aka “Pillars of Strength”) profiled in CSSC’s “Conversations” series. Certainly an impressive group of women, from fields including art, politics, journalism, medicine, even construction! And we’re both pleased to be recognized by some residents in the audience for our “reassurance” phone calls early in the pandemic.

My 2^nd post-surgery outing includes a visit to the new Clifton Park Trader Joe’s; seems well-stocked and colorful as always, Marjorie finds an “Advent Calendar for Dogs” we’re sure Arlo will appreciate. Then lunch at Snyder’s. Next outing: a stroll along the Mohawk River on a beautiful Fall afternoon. Seems an appropriate conclusion to this journal.