On Saturday up in Lenox, we checked out early from our little beloved cottage, took a brisk, hilly, and exhausting (for me) walk around town, and then checked into our one-night-stand motel, a tired sort of place in Lee but one that was clean and took care of our needs. 

* loaded and heading for home *

Then, lucky for us, we drove about an hour over to Northampton to visit Annie and Gabe in their new home. We had a wonderful, reunion-kind of time, a few hours of fun and cheer and (for me) the certainty that this loving young family is going to thrive. We took a walk along the main streets of town, and I was impressed by the almost big-city look -- a relatively small city in the hills of New England but one that carries some of the flavor, perhaps, of their former home, New York City. We then had a wonderful taco meal prepared by Annie, and laughed and found more love than ever at their small table. 

"Mt. Tom from Northampton Meadows"
oil by Bruce Crane

* * * * * 

On Sunday morning, we took another fast (I thought) walk up and down some hills, and then had our last breakfast in Lenox as our favorite cafe, little Shots, right in the main mix of the village. We then spent another special afternoon in sunshine and shade at Tanglewood, where we watch the mountains change their shades as we ate lunch, and then listened to an inspiring concert in the Shed (featuring the great Yo Yo Ma on the cello. Our long drive back to Mystic later in the day was smooth-flowing and uneventful, and we both enjoyed a long, relaxing sleep together in our wonderful bed.

* * * * *

Today I got up the energy to mow the lawn, a job that was made much more acceptable by listening to "The Grace in Dying" on my noise-canceling earphones. It's a deep and thoughtful book about what the author calls "the beautiful nature of death", and it almost made mowing a beautiful experience. (But not quite!)

Looks like rain tonight. The skies are gray, 

and a cool, damp wind seems to be 

running among the trees. 

"Rainy Evening"
oil,
artist unknown