Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Kinda like Orbitz, but different

Living here in the Adiorndacks I feel duty-bound to enjoy the foliage. Hotels offer leaf peeper specials, restaurants boast their best harvest entrees, and the weatherman on the national stations point at maps indicating which areas are at peak. And I do, don't get me wrong. The girls and I are out there every day oohing and ahing at the brilliant leaves in the trees as we walk clutching autumnal bouquets in our hands (actually they hold the bouquets for a moment and then stuff them emphatically into my pockets, "Ere you go, mama. No you got some leaves for you in your pocket right dere."

I got to thinking what can I do? Yesterday I shared photos, trying to transmit a taste of what it's like here through the pictures of our experiences. I had another idea, because in addition to devouring the beauty of the season, we take frequent advantage of the year-round beauty of Washington County. Frequent readers have heard me regale the adventures we've had on the farm.

Since those first posts our family has come to care a great deal for Jon. I am so grateful for the friendship and the refuge that his magical farm holds for my family. Next month he is part of an event that harnesses the very spirit of the way that he approaches his life. He has fallen in love with photography, like literally fallen in love and is consumed by the passion he has for this new medium. Along his quest to diving head first into photography he has found kindred spirits: an artist misidentified his whole life, first medically and later professionally, Anthony Armstrong has become an integral part of Jon's life and in doing so has found his way to a passion of his own, creating art with his hands and concrete; then there was the little slip of a woman working with her hands each day, resurrecting old buildings alongside her husband, approaching each edifice as if it were a person, painstaking attention to detail and incredible sensitivity to the past, she let slip she does fiber art on the side; and the radiant widow who wrote in the hope of visiting his farm, and who, upon meeting Jon shared she'd been writing poetry since her youth in World War II, never owning the fact that she was a poet.

Jon is doing what you imagine doing, he is making something happen. Together with the three artists he has befriended, he is presenting an event called, Art Harvest: Four Friends Share Their Art. Their art will be displayed in a magnificent barn gallery at Gardenworks in Salem, New York. The proceeds of the sale of Jon's photography will go to benefit Friends of Hospice. At 2pm each day Jon will provide readings and throughout the event the fine people at Gardenworks will have impossibly succulent berries from their farm as well as innumerable other edible goodies and wonderful little must-haves for your house.

I am sharing this because I think that this is a chance to do something, go somewhere. Been considering a trip? Looking for something to do or a place to go? Why not try the foothills of the Adirondacks in October?

Take a trip to Salem, New York and plan on going to Art Harvest on the 13th and 14th of October.

Stay at a B&B in Salem or somewhere nearby.

We plan on taking our girls, it's a memory I look forward to sharing with them, moments frozen in time in all their Adirondacks in autumn glory. Maybe we'll see you there.

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6 comments:

Janet said...

It sounds like a lovely memory to make. Brad and I were talking about how we wanted to take the kids somewhere scenic and wonderful this fall. However, with Salem NY over 7 hours from here, I fear we would arrive as brittle, shrill versions of ourselves. My little Elyse does not travel well, these days.

Enjoy!

painted maypole said...

oh, how I wish we could go! I am needing a good dose of fall!

Girlplustwo said...

that all sounds so, so lovely.

i miss that sort of fall.

S said...

That's the same weekend as Ben's tenth birthday, so you'll have to count us out, I'm afraid. Sounds lovely, though.

Hey, A.? I have your interview questions but don't know where to send them. E-mail me at slouchingmom@comcast.net, OK?

Damselfly said...

I'd love to see that part of the world someday.

Amy Y said...

I wish we could go too!! I love living in Colorado but the leaves here just don't have the same feel as the ones back east in the fall... they are mostly yellow with few reds and oranges like I remember from my native Indiana. East coast fall is the best though!! Keep sending pics so I can live vicariously through you!