Granville Daily Photo

Back from a weeklong absence (sorry). These photos are from farther afield -- Falls Village in northwest Connecticut, where I used to live and where my kids were raised. Gordon Hall, Music Mountain, Falls Village, Connecticut USA Specifically, this is Music Mountain, the oldest continuing summer chamber music festival in America (and possibly the world). Founded in 1930, Music Mountain was built from pre-fabricated houses from the Sears, Roebuck catalog, the parts shipped by rail and assembled on the mountaintop. Gordon Hall, shown here, was custom designed to be a concert hall for string quartets; it was even constructed to imitate a violin in architecture, all wood with a narrow neck and a hollow space under the floor like the resonant body of a stringed instrument. Whether by luck or premeditation, the acoustics are excellent. Today, Music Mountain has concerts for 16 weeks each summer from June through September -- chamber music on Sunday afternoons and jazz on Saturday evenings. I...

June is Pride Month in the USA -- one of the few times I'm proud to be an American!! Yesterday, in between rain storms, there was a Pride Festival in Glens Falls, New York. The turnout was fantastic and the vibe was delightful. These four queens were the featured performers in a drag show. 

Yesterday I took a ride down to the Cambridge Ballooon Festival in Cambridge, New York, about 40 minutes to the south. The weather did not cooperate. Forecasts of strong storms kept the pilots away. We will have to settle for photos I took at the previous festival, exactly one year ago today. It certainly is a photogenic event. Hopefully the conditions will be better next year.

Brattleboro, Vermont, is a city in southeastern Vermont about 1.5 hours from my home. It is renowned for being a very left, "hippie" kind of place with a lively music scene. I went there last night to meet my uncle, aunt, and their two daughters, my cousins Alyssa and Kelsey. We saw Kelsey (seated, center) perform with a school for traditional Celtic music. Kelsey is a remarkably talented young woman -- nutritionist, food services professional, baker of goods using flour derived from beans, and musician. 

In much of North America, along every roadside, in every field -- almost wherever you turn -- Dame's Rocket (Hesperis matronalis) is growing and shooting its colorful flowers. Introduced over many centuries from Europe and Asia, it is ubiquitous here, especially along roadsides, from May through August. It is hard to know how the "matronly" name was attached to it, but "rocket" is probably a corruption of "roquette," French for members of the Mustard family, to which this plant belongs. This modest assemblage was photographed on a noontime walk today. (I should probably stop apologizing for missing days, though I really hoped to keep up the "daily" in daily photo! Work deadlines, other projects, and some changes I am trying to make in my life are getting in my way this time of year.)

Two days of Commencement (graduation) festivities at Bennington College came with unsettled weather and skies ready-made for being photographed. These were taken on Friday evening, May 29. It was chilly but miraculously did not rain as had been forecast. By the time I drove home, though, I was making my way through a violent thunderstorm. Earlier that evening, with the tents set up for dinner and the graduation ceremony. Cloud study. The sunset light was beautiful. By the time of the graduation ceremony the next morning, the weather was unseasonably cold and the rain continuous. Nevertheless, an overflow crowd of students, parents and families, friends, faculty, staff, and VIPs enjoyed the event under the tent. I'm a day early publishing this because I won't have time tomorrow.

  Assembly of God Church, Granville, NY This church is just a few steps away from the Cathrolic Church photographed the other day, Bulkley Avenue.