Projects, Culture, Local Color, Students

1) Things have been happening here at the top of Apple Valley ( aka 1180 Hawley Road).  Our contractor, L&F Construction, out of Everett Mass has installed drainage around the house for me to connect gutters to if I ever finish with my subterranean efforts, and is about midway through the installation of our new septic system. They have also knocked down about 2/3 of some ugly walls leading to our basement entry way. So far, their work appears to be very well done.

Here are some photos:

Their next big task is to level the basement floor and install  drains, a plastic membrane, and gravel as well as seven concrete pilasters to help secure the foundation walls. All this involves more digging and concrete work than I care to think about.

Masons will be in to restore the aforementioned walls and repair our patio. I'll be tackling lots of repair to rotted wood in the structure and siding of the house as well as the gutters.

The good news is that I may finish in the basement before 2050.  I've put in seven new posts with footings, one more post to go, replaced an 18' beam, secured 24 joists with 3x3" angle irons, secured 3 more joists with hangers and brackets and installed rods and straps to tie sills together.  I now have to replace about 7 feet of sill and install about 20 joist hangers.

Two shots of the new beam including an angle iron support and a tie rod:

I have moved a lot of the virtual forest of beams and posts that were temporarily holding things up out to the barn.

Jean's vegetable garden is going well; we now eat home grown spinach, lettuce, and broccoli, while enjoying home baked bread.  Jean manages to garden, bake bread, look after grandchildren three mornings plus an occasional day each week, and substitute in the local elementary school. She is also taught an afternoon knitting class, is active in the local League of Women Voters, and in our temple's social action committee. Here's a shot of the raised garden plots................

Excuse that delay, I had to take a rest,  just enumerating the things my wife does exhausts me.

2) On the cultural side, the Saturday before Memorial Day we went to a recital by four opera singers in the nearby small town of Huntington. They sang excerpts from Mendelsohn's Elijah, very accessible for an oratorio, and Puccini and Verdi arias. I am always impressed by how much talent there is out and about. It is sad that they do not have a bigger audience. Electronics make good music available without us having to attend local concerts. Also, the audience for the music I prefer seems to be diminishing.

This past Thursday we attended a concert by the Hartford Symphony including an excellent performance the mournful Shostakovitch First Violin Concerto and Carl Orff's very rousing Carmina Burana, a very powerful and entertaining setting of medieval songs for chorus. soloists, and orchestra.

Last night we attended a performance of Miller's the American Clock by the local Ashfield Theater Company. It was a good  presentation of an interesting, if very unpolished, work.

3) Local Color: Ashfield has a  Memorial Day Parade. It is small but the whole affair is done respectfully and done well. It ends at the local cemetery with short speeches and the laying of sprigs of lilac on the graves of veterans and the opportunity to offer thanks to the living veterans.

A nearby village, Shelburne Falls, which straddles the Deerfield River,  is a local attraction. It has a former  trolley bridge over the Deerfield River which has been converted to a linear garden maintained by local volunteers. It is a vibrant and beautiful sight from spring through early fall. I'll post some photos soon.

Also in Shelburne Falls on teh Deerfiled are some glacial potholes. These are created by the action of rocks trapped on the streambed eroding round holes in the underlying rock. In some places these type of holes were used for cooking by filling them with water and then placing rocks that were heated by fires in the water. It saved having to make pots to place on a fire.  I don't know if that happened here. Here are some photos:

Note the lovely effect created by the waves of distorted layers of deposits forming the riverbed rock.

4) Students: I expect to be at Ridge part of the 21st and 22nd of June.

Still not heard from all of my students about where they expect to be next year.

I have been providing some guidance to a student who never was in my class who has become really interested in math. I thinks its working out well for both of us. I am now rereading George Gamow's One, Two, Three, Infinity as a result, and enjoying it all over again.