A trip to Yankee Candle Company--Yippee!

The flagship store of Yankee Candle Company is right down the street in South Deerfield, and today we felt as if we had resisted its pull long enough. We ventured in to see what brings hundreds of cars and tour buses full of people each day.
Jay is amazed by the parking lot--this only shows about 1/5 of the cars.


Jay is having second thoughts once he gets a whiff of the place...



But once we get inside, Jay gets carried away in the scent sampling room. He carefully followed the instructions on how to properly sniff a candle, then made his way through the seemingly endless rows of shelves in order to choose his favorites.


Once he had selected his favorite scents (sadly, "pizza" and "chocolate chip cookie" are not among the options) he proceeded to the votive candle smorgasbord. This gigantic room is set up like the produce section in a grocery store with bins of votive candles organized by scent. You walk around with an egg carton-like container so you can mix and match your custom selection. Eighteen candles for only $19.99!

As exciting as the candle selection was the highlight for Jay was an encounter with the King Candle. Disappointment set in when he realized it was not for sale...

The visit proved to be a bit too stimulating for Jay, and he was grateful when we finally left so he could give his nose a break.

Jay perked up when we got home and he opened his custom mix of the best votives Yankee Candle Company has to offer! It may take a little while to get the scent off his clothes, though...

-hbc

Postseason!

Cover story in this week's Pulse...

For Twin Cities folk:

Track down a copy of the Sept. 20-26 edition of Pulse! The very cool cover story "Crossing the Great Divide: A bike trek through Bush country" was written by Heidi's aunt Anne. (That's Heidi's sister Holly pictured on the cover.)

If you can't find a hard copy, you can view the article here.

Along the trail: Holyoke Range

The Holyoke Range runs west-east just south of Amherst (one of the only mountain ranges in North America that is not aligned N-S) -- tons of hiking trails, great views of the Pioneer Valley. Last weekend we got out for a short hike to the top of one of the "peaks", called Bare Mountain.

On the trail.
Overlook, facing east, about two-thirds of the way up.
Looking north from top of Bare Mountain.
View south from top of Bare Mountain. If you click on this picture to enlarge the view, look closely near the left side of the picture -- you can see the modest skyline of Springfield, MA, roughly 25 miles away. We could also see Westover Air Force Base, home to the massive C-5B Galaxy transport planes that can often be seen lumbering over the valley.)

Belated pictures: Heidi's first day at school!

A tasty, nutritious, inspiring lunch...

nice new backpack and the good ol' Nalgene bottle...

and out the door she went...

Why I am not a linguistic anthropologist...

Actual line from one of my course readings:

"We may approach the process of entextualization in performance in formal and functional terms by exploring the means available to participants in performance situations to render stretches of discourse discontinuous with their discursive surround, thus making them into coherent, effective, and memorable texts."

I'm taking suggestions on what you think this means, because I have no idea...

(The article is "Poetics and performance as critical perspectives on language and social life" by Richard Bauman and Charles Briggs, just in case you want to check out the full text. It's good reading, I tell you what.)

-hbc

It's the little things...

Whisps of fog on the upper parts of Mt. Sugarloaf this morning – peaceful and pretty. It makes me feel like a hobbit, and I’m suddenly motivated to find a good walking stick and use the word “precious” to describe things.

I just dropped my car off for the fine folks at Fisher’s Garage to administer their inspection magic, and I’ll find out the results later today. In the meantime, I wait and wonder how harshly my trusty Mazda will be judged.

Inspection blues: someone told me that his car failed a recent inspection because his front turn-signal lights “were not yellow enough”.

While walking back home from the garage, I saw a gentleman perched upon a lawn tractor, parked in his driveway. The tractor wasn’t running. He was just sitting there, observing quietly as the day passed by. The king on his throne, surveying his kingdom…

- jbc

Get Your Grub On!

We visited the Moan and Dove when we were first here back in February, and it made our decision to move out here a little easier...true pub atmosphere with barrels of peanuts, dark lighting, large wooden booths and over 100 different types of beers. This place has brews from around the world, including one category simply labeled "Mystery Brews". They even pour the different types of beers into the proper type of glass...
Paired with: Tom Clapp and T.L.B. (of course)

Jerry's Place (no website yet!) is right on the busiest corner in bustling South Deerfield and was suggested to us by Jay's parents when they were in town to help us move. This is a true small-town diner complete with counters and stools, waitresses who call you "hon" and the ability to start a tab (if Jerry, the owner, knows you by name). Coffee is free with breakfast, and the fried egg sandwich would make Heidi's grandpa Bauer proud, so this is paired with: Grandma and Grandpa Bauer

Academic Watchdogs

Yesterday was my first day of class at UMASS--I felt like a little kid going off to my first day of kindergarten! I'm taking three courses and serving as a TA for one undergraduate course, which means Jay will not see very much of me this semester. The workload for my courses is pretty heavy (one professor just listed weekly readings as "yes, lots") but I know I'll be able to stay on task because my portable nerds are watching over me and cheering me on while I am at my desk. Thanks guys!

-hbc

Get Your Grub On!

We'd like to introduce a new feature we developed while out to dinner one night--we don't have many conversations with anyone but each other lately, so we've had to get creative in our topics!

In "Get Your Grub On" we will profile a restaurant/pub we visit, then "pair" that eating establishment with family/friends we think would also like it.

We went to the Blue Heron on our anniversary. The food featured lots of local ingredients, handmade pastas, and a great wine list. We would definitely go back for a special occasion or long dinner with good conversation and good friends. Paired with: Jen and Scott

Thai Blue Ginger in Greenfield does not quite compare to our favorite Thai place in Minneapolis, but it's pretty close. Fresh vegetables from local farms are featured in most of the dishes, and the "spice" is scaled at levels we Minnesotans can handle! Paired with: Karla and Brian

Stay tuned for more Grub!

Scenes from South Deerfield, part 2: Who was Capt. Lathrop?

Perhaps this monument to Captain Lathrop and his men will enlighten us?





Text reads:

On this Ground Capt. THOMAS LATHROP and eight four men under his command, including eighteen teamsters from Deerfield, conveying stores from that town to Hadley, were ambuscaded by about 700 indians, and the Captain and seventy six men slain, Sept 18th 1675 (old style). [Eds. note: Whoa! No one likes to be ambuscaded! Bad luck, that.]

The soldiers who fell were described by a contemporary Historian as "a choice Company of young men, the very flower of the County of Essex none of whom were ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate." [Eds note: So you're saying they were nice fellows, then?]

And SANGUINETTO tells you where the dead
Made the earth wet and turned the unwilling waters red
[Eds note: Wow -- check out the fancy pants literary reference to Lord Byron's Child Harold's Pilgrimmage.]

The Same of the slain is marked by a Stone slab, 21 rods southerly of this monument.
[Eds note: why southerly and not just south? Geez, get an editor next time...]

Anyways, the whole event became known as the Battle of Bloody Brook, which you can read more about here. The brook itself runs right through our backyard -- we are very pleased to report that the water has long since shed its reddish hue; these days it maintains a murky, slimy earth-tone brown.

So there you have it: this week's edition "The Happy History of South Deerfield."

- jbc

Headlines

From the Greenfield Recorder (As you can see, our news is a little more low-key these days...)

Dog found: Northfield dog, Hank, found in cellar hole after 7 weeks

NORTHFIELD — “We feel like somebody has died and come back to life,” said a very happy Marianne Wood.

Her dog Hank, missing for seven weeks, was found on Monday, alive and remarkably well for a dog that had wasted to 54 pounds from a healthy weight of 75 pounds.

Speaking from her mother-in-law’s summer home in upstate New York, Wood told the story of her beloved golden-haired bloodhound/Labrador retriever cross.


The story actually goes on for about twelve more paragraphs. It was bigger news than the use of a helicopter during a police chase (the helicopter was already in the air for police training, and yes, they did catch the bad guy).

-hbc

Registering a car in Massachusetts (is not fun)

In order to become official residents of the commonwealth (and who doesn't want to--it's a commonwealth!), we needed a driver's license and license plate for each of us. We made our way to the Registry of Motor Vehicles (don't call it the DMV, they don't like that) and filled out the necessary paperwork. Jay, as usual, is not smiling in the new photo for his driver's license, although they still look cool with the semi-high-tech graphics. I successfully registered my car, but Jay has to wait until a copy of his title is sent from Minnesota. He is excited because he gets to keep his Minnesota plates a little longer--this allows him to drive as poorly/slowly/erratically as he wants and people will just forgive him as a crazy out-of-state driver.

After putting the new plates on my car (and saving one of the Minnesota plates to hang in my office) I took it in for the required inspection. The commonwealth requires all registered vehicles to pass a safety and emissions inspection once a year, and you have seven days to complete this task once a new registration is entered. I, of course, waited until 4 p.m. on the 7th day, only to find out that my beloved (and well-maintained!) Saturn had failed. Actually, to avoid damage to my car's self-esteem, I don't like to say that it failed but merely didn't feel comfortable passing the first time around. The problem was with the exhaust system and according to Massachusetts law I was not allowed to drive the car until the problem had been corrected and the car passed inspection. Apparently spewing toxic emissions into the air is a no-no in the commonwealth.

There are three car repair shops in South Deerfield--one was busy getting all the school buses ready for the start of the school year and one was closed until Sept. 5th because the mechanics were on vacation, so that left me with Fischer's Garage. They have proudly been in business since 1912 (I don't think people around here trust a business less than 50 years old) and still have full-service gas pumps, complete with the little hose you drive over to make a chiming noise in the shop so someone will come out and pump your gas. After two days and $395.22, my car has a new exhaust system and proudly displays a "passed inspection" sticker (see right). As Jay's car has not yet been registered or inspected, expect a "Part Two" of the car saga soon...

-hbc