Roaming around Bridgewater

Posted on October 15, 2011October 15, 2011 by Dusty Roads

The Town of Bridgewater is a little town in southeastern Massachusetts not that far from my home in Taunton, Ma. As a neighboring town I’m aware of it and that it’s a college town home to Bridgewater State College. I’ve been told that they have a good photography program and have considered classes there but not got myself motivated yet.

I bring up the Town of Bridgewater because as I was out and about the other day I ventured into a section of Bridgewater that was all new to me. My exposure to the town has been the main routes like Rt 24, and Rt 18.

This time after I passed through the center I took South Street out-of-town. It wasn’t long before my surroundings became not suburban but rural. There were farms and cornfields. It was beautiful.

And where there are farms there are …Farm Stands. One that stands out is Peterson’s Farm Fresh Produce.

I stopped in because the display outside was so pretty. It was obvious that someone had taken a lot of time in its presentation. Another reason to stop was that it was open. I was there around 5 in the afternoon and they are open until 7 pm. That gives anyone time to stop for fresh veggies for dinner on the way home.

And fresh they were. The tomatoes, one of my great weaknesses, looked outstanding. They are a cash (or check) only stand so you want to be sure to bring the folding stuff with you. No debit or credit here.

The folks that run the stand were some of the friendliest people I’ve met. We had a nice long chat even though I wasn’t buying this time (no cash on me). For mascots they had both a cat and a dog, both as friendly as their owners. It was a great stop in my travels. If you’re traveling through Bridgewater it would be worth while to take a side trip down South Street and stop at The Peterson Farm Stand. I know I’ll be going back but with my wallet next time! 🙂

Fair Morn Milady

Posted on October 13, 2011October 13, 2011 by Dusty Roads

The Faire opens at 11:00 . I arrived just as the gates were opening. On the stage outside I saw one of the new additions…bagpipers!

No mournful wailing for these pipers, the music was lively and the performers even more so as they jumped up and down as if to emphasis what they were playing.

I took my time wandering around outside. I spotted falconer talking to a group of faire goers. As if on que the bird on his shoulder spread her wings.

I gasped out “Beautiful” and his reply was “Thanks. The bird’s not bad either.” Good comeback ! 🙂

Inside the gates it was very shady and dark.

Just in the door was a young woman with a cage full of rats. The sign on the rats’ cage read Cirque de Sewer. The Cirque de Sewer show was at the “Mud Pit” and she was there to promote it. A lot of people we giving her a wide berth but I thought it was kind of fascinating. There was all this noise and confusion going on around her and the rats seemed to be completely un fazed. There was a little chair in the cage and one of the rats sat there quite calmly.

Only a few steps further 2 entertainers were circling in a dueling circle.

Before they got down to serious business they rounded up the kids in the audience to be their “seconds”.

The costumes of the faire goers rivaled some of the actors.

This section of the grounds has a lot of shops.

People were renting costumes and souvenir shopping as the made their way over toward the tournament field.

The first show of the day would be at 12:00. It’s important to get to each of the shows at the tournament field as they tell a story that continues through the day. If you miss one of the shows you won’t fully understand what’s going on in the next show.

I had been stalling by the duels but they were still just warming up their audience. I decided I’d seen enough of that and began to move on.

Columbus Day

Posted on October 10, 2011October 10, 2011 by Dusty Roads

I thought it would be easy to come up with a short little post about Columbus Day. I remember learning a poem in about 5th grade and thought I’d use that. It was not to be. I can only remember bits and pieces . I tried to google it and found lots of Columbus Day poems but not the one I’m looking for. It had a line Sailing West to Find The East and another line about The Nina, The Pinta and the Santa Maria and the refrain referred to the date…1492.

So with no poem to share I thought that instead I would share some Columbus Day Facts that I ran across.

Columbus Day is not an American Holiday but is a New World Holiday.
Spain celebrates Columbus Day as Fiesta Nacional or “National Day”.
Hawaii and South Dakota do not celebrate Columbus Day.
Columbus Day first became an official State holiday in Colorado in 1906.
It became a Federal Holiday in 1937.
Many Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage, the first occasion being in New York City on October 12, 1866.
San Francisco claims the nation’s oldest continuously existing celebration with the Italian-American community’s annual Columbus Day Parade.
New York City boasts the largest celebration.
In 2007, Dane County Wisconsin Supervisor Ashok Kumar replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day.
South Dakota renamed the holiday “Native American Day”.
Hawaii celebrates Discoverers’ Day, the day the Polynesians arrived in Hawaii.

Columbus Day is not without opposition by factions who feel that the day is being used to expand the Catholic influence. This opposition dates back to at least the 19th century.

A 2nd wave of opposition is based on the man himself and his character. Columbus has been described as a social climber and self promoter who would stop at nothing to advance his ambitions .

The Niña and Pinta

As more and more historians dig into the past, more facts seem to emerge and more of the myths are being dispelled. It remains to be seen if the weight of this growing body of evidence will eventually sway public opinion to the point that Columbus Day becomes just a quaint footnote or continues as a viable holiday. In the meantime, I will raise a cup of grog to the intrepid mariners of the day that dared to sail away to unknown seas and new lands.

(Photo courtesy of the Columbus Foundation and their two Columbus replica ships – their original Niña, the most historically accurate replica of a Columbus Ship ever built, and their recently built Pinta.)

October? MacBeth comes to mind

Posted on October 3, 2011October 3, 2011 by Dusty Roads

October can mean so many things…Harvest time, Halloween, Octoberfest, apple picking, country fairs, trick or treating. For today I was thinking of those witches from MacBeth.

Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison’d entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter’d venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

October’s Bright Blue Weather

Posted on October 1, 2011October 1, 2011 by Dusty Roads

October’s Bright Blue Weather

O suns and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October’s bright blue weather;

When loud the bumblebee makes haste, Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And goldenrod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When gentians roll their fingers tight
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October’s bright blue weather.

O sun and skies and flowers of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October’s bright blue weather

Helen Hunt Jackson

I believe I was in 5th grade when we had to memorize this for English Class. Here I am, all these many years later, and it is still one of my favorite poems. It seemed a fitting post for October 1.

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Roaming around Bridgewater

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Fair Morn Milady

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Columbus Day

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October? MacBeth comes to mind

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October’s Bright Blue Weather

October’s Bright Blue Weather

O suns and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October’s bright blue weather;

When loud the bumblebee makes haste, Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And goldenrod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When gentians roll their fingers tight
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October’s bright blue weather.

O sun and skies and flowers of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October’s bright blue weather

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Like this:

October’s Bright Blue Weather

O suns and skies and clouds of June, And flowers of June together, Ye cannot rival for one hour October’s bright blue weather;

When loud the bumblebee makes haste, Belated, thriftless vagrant, And goldenrod is dying fast, And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When gentians roll their fingers tight To save them for the morning, And chestnuts fall from satin burrs Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie In piles like jewels shining, And redder still on old stone walls Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things Their white-winged seeds are sowing, And in the fields still green and fair, Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks, In idle golden freighting, Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts, By twos and twos together, And count like misers, hour by hour, October’s bright blue weather.

O sun and skies and flowers of June, Count all your boasts together, Love loveth best of all the year October’s bright blue weather

Share this:

Like this:

O suns and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October’s bright blue weather;

When loud the bumblebee makes haste, Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And goldenrod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When gentians roll their fingers tight
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October’s bright blue weather.

O sun and skies and flowers of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October’s bright blue weather