My Childrens Photos

I have not posted in a while so I wanted to get something posted so I am posting photos of my "kids".


Thatcher just loves the snow, he is content just laying out in the snow. After a while, with all the snow on him, he looks more like a sheep than a dog.


This is Preston, he just loves eating the leaves of the roses that one of my wife's friends gave to her.



This photo was a joke that I sent to Cindy Biles a clay sculptor that told me that one of my photos was an inspiration for one of her creations. She just finished a series of sculptures of people holding little dogs; not this size. Check out her blog Scroll down about half way downthe page to see the photo that inspired here. This is Cooper, Thatcher's brother. I tried to pick up Thatcher but he was too fast.

Egremont Inn

South Egremont, MA - Last night the Egremont Inn caught on fire so I thought it would be a good time to post my photos and information.

The Egremont Inn was built in 1780 by Francis Haere near the Albany-Hartford Turnpike. The last battle of Shay's Rebellion was fought about a mile away which caused great excitement at the Inn. During the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, the Inn was a Mustering-in place and a hospital. In the early 1800's it became the center of village with it's store, post office, and tavern. In 1829 it became a temporary school while the Academy was being built nearby. In 1835 a syndicate of leading villagers bought the Inn and tried to make it a temperance house, that idea failed. In 1857, Chester Goodale, owner of the Goodale Marble Quarry, bought the Inn and expanded it into a summer hotel with twenty rooms and renamed it to the Mt. Everett House. In 1931 it was sold to and restored by the Olde Egremont Association. Today it is still used as an Inn and Restaurant.

I just saw on the TV the Inn has been destroyed.


The Inn on a nice Autumn day.



The entrance to the restaurant.

Info from: Egremont Inn - History

The Old Creamery Grocery

Cummington, MA - This is THE meeting place in the Cummington area. They seem to have anything you want from groceries, baked goods, liquor, organic fruits and vegetables, sandwiches, even pottery. I was referred to this place by E.M. Smith, the potter I wrote about an few days ago, he was very adamant that I go here...he was right.


View behind the counter, in the back you can see the workers making sandwiches, quiche, and other goodies.


This is the "Little Gallery" where local artisan's work is displayed.


You can see all the people in the restaurant area, some are here just for lunch, others use this area as a meeting place, I even saw a few girls working on their laptops(Wi-Fi?)



This was my lunch, a "When Pigs Fly" sandwich along with a Blueberry soda.

Riverton Christmas Ice Carver

Riverton, CT - This Ice Carver was working at the Christmas In Riverton event. Unfortunately, I did not see his name on the program.

E.M. Smith Pottery

Cummington, MA - The boys and I took a trip to Cummington yesterday. Along the road I saw a sign for a pottery sale, so I followed the signs to E.M.Smith Pottery. Outside the building is kind of nondescript...


but inside was all these wonderful pottery. There was quite a variety of items, Teapots, Candlesticks, Platters, Oval Bakers, Casseroles, Salt Shakers, Mugs, Storage Jars, and Vases.


Along the wall were some mugs of which I bought one of, the shape fits nicely in your hand; less accidents.


The pottery wheel is in the corner during the sale. I was told that the studio looks quite differently when he is working.



The pottery is currently fired in an electric kiln but outside his studio are bricks in which he is going to build a wood fired kiln for a more traditional firing.

You can contact E.M.(I forgot to ask his name..sorry)at (413)634-5751 or
smithe73@hotmail.com the studio is located at 156 Nash Road, Cummington, MA 01026 I think you would want to call ahead.

Got Some Snow Last Night

We got a few inches of wet snow last night, just enough to frost the trees and a little on the ground. Above is our snow frosted dogwood and below is some snow balancing on a branch.

Greenwood Glass

Riverton, CT - Today my wife and I went to the Christmas in Riverton festivities. One of the places we stopped at was the Greenwood Glass Studio and Gallery. This is a photos I took in February 2007 but it probably looks the same after today's snow. This was the former Hitchcock Chair Museum but now houses this glass blowing studio.


This woman and the one below are making their own Christmas ornaments. I believe on the weekends you can help make a few items yourself, ornaments,paperweights, and a few more small items. But, to be sure I would call ahead, here their website. They also have glassblowing classes so you can learn this art yourself.



The gallery is on the second floor, here you can see some of the wonderful object Peter Greenwood makes here.

Another section of the gallery, you can see the stained glass window in the background; this was originally a church.

Robo Moose

Bennington, VT - I saw this moose by the side of the road while on my way up to Rutland so of course I had to stop and take a photo. This was the most unusual moose I've seen. Most are painted but this one is made of sheet metal, riveted on. There were also blinking lights coming from inside him. The artist's name is Brad Turner.

Halpin Covered Bridge

Middlebury, VT - This is the Halpin Covered Bridge, it spans a waterfall and is the highest covered bridge above a stream bed in Vermont. The bridge is only used by the Halpin Family Farm. It was built in 1824 and renovated in 1994.


You can see here how high the bridge is in this photo.

Information - Addison County Vermont Website

Rock School

Colebrook, CT - This school was used from 1779 to 1911. It is the only Colonial School House in Connecticut to have never been modernized. The school doesn't have electricity or running water; you can see the outhouse out back. It is now an active museum run by the Colebrook Historical Society and is open to the public(but not at the time I was there).


This is the rock for which the school is named for, it is located across the road beside the school. The school was originally in front of this rock; it was moved to its present location in 1971.

Info from sign out front

Kenyon Corn Meal Company

Usquepaugh, RI - This is Kenyon Corn Meal Company aka Kenyon's Grist Mill. The mill was built in 1886 and is still in use. Originally, farmers would bring their corn or "grist"(grain that was separated from its chaff in preparation for grinding*)to be ground and the mill would keep some as payment. In 1909 C.D.Kenyon bought the mill and saw the potential of putting the ground meal into bags and branding it with the Kenyon name. He sold it by horse and buggy originally and in 1919 he bought a Model T truck and expanded to all of Rhode Island and parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts.



They still grind the grains the old fashioned way with these original 2 and a half ton granite stones that were milled in Westerly RI. Hopefully I will get this correct. The way this process works is the grain is feed into the hopper on top of the round wooden thing on the right of the photo, this thing holds the stone which in tern sits atop another stone. The grain falls into the hole in the top stone and goes outward in grooves between the stone and gets ground. The consistency is controlled by how fast the grain is put into the hopper and the distance between the stones. Check out their website for more details.

Across the street is their store that sells their meals, flours, and mixes.They also sell other Rhode Island foods such as Chowders, Indian Pudding, Jams and Jelly's, even RI Maple Syrup.

Behind the mill is a pond at the end of is this dam. In the early days the grinding stones were run by water power, now a days it is run by electricity.

Information and a lot of other good stuff is at their website. Be sure to check it out and be sure to come to their festivals held a few times a year.