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The shower
I don't mind outdoor showers, just didn't see the need for one that morning. When I left on the other hand... Ordinarily I might not blog about travel that's really not that far from me physically. Waitsfield is only about 40 minutes due west of me. You can travel only a few minutes from home but wind up being transported through time and have it affect you.
The July 4 holiday was weird for a number of people, being smack in the middle of the week. Our old July 4 getaway wasn't available anymore. As an aside, I found out maybe 2 weeks ago we might be able to continue that old getaway but differently next year. Anyway, since our old getaway isn't available yet I hadn't really scheduled anything. An overnight retreat via the Barre tones was offered and since I was open and our events are usually great things to be at, I signed on.
Holy cow, I had no idea how the event would work for me.
I may have to rewrite this once I have some memory holes filled for me. The house at the Knoll Farm in Waitsfield, VT looked and sounded so much like what's
Inside the restroom
This whole building was curious. The toilets were on the right, showers on the left. It reminded me of Indian adobe on the inside. now an historical landmark in my childhood I had to blog about it. I looked at it, did a double take, blinked and eyes went wide. Asked an employee and was told employees were housed there and it fit. My dad's mom died when he was about my teenager's ages, 14-15. She was friends with one of the teachers, a lady named Page. She was married to an attorney named Branch Bird. He was instrumental in getting my dad into the Naval Academy. He had the choice of that or West Point. I'll have to ask to be sure but having him there might have put him in close proximity to meet my mom. My mom's dad immigrated from Italy via Ellis Island to settle in southern CT, Greenwich/Cos cob. My dad was born in a shack on an Idaho plain. My parents, now in their '80's, have a picture of that shack in their house.
Caryswood Plantation was a place I grew up in. My parents regularly visited. I loved the enormous, rambling old house. I can still see the beautiful canopy beds, the spinning wheel, the kitchen. The great hall upstairs between
First set of yurts
I think there eight yurts on the property, or at least that's what I saw. Chrissy and I slept in the furthest blue one. bedrooms. We only knew the front and back yards we could see. Their acreage went on forever since it was a plantation. I never knew what a peacock and their curious call was til this place. They owned a couple horses, one of which wasn't trained. It was built in the 1860's, around the Civil war so it was appropriate I asked the age of the Knoll Farm house. The employee mentioned something about a fire, I remember the number 1804. The barn we ate and had classes in was built in 1840.
Looking around the property, the lay of the land, it was the equivalent of a Caryswood “with hills”. The original is in Dillwyn, VA. I had to google to remember things, I'll ask my parents about their involvement today. I remember Kate Trent, Page and Branch. It seems one of the readers on this website, his mom painted a portrait for them that still hangs in that home today. The one portrait I remember was huge and in that great hall upstairs, I believe it was of Branch.
Back to the retreat. We
learn and play, putting our backs into it to the point of exhaustion. I brought two teenagers, it was great watching them play in the water. I found out later mine might not have slept well. She's our fish and when our time there was done she
didn't want to go back to the water. Water is her world so I wondered how much rest she'd gotten. There were other indicators of things she wasn't ready for so I'll be paying more attention to those other things as we get closer to our next event in November.
In our classes we learn to be more expressive on stage as well as the obvious, singing well. I have troubles with posture. I'd learned something at a contest I've tried to apply but didn't understand how it was useful to me til my PVI or private voice instruction. Not everything comes at the time you learn it either. Some can take years. I tried to go into that with something that needed studying or work. Working on posture is a good start. She added a couple things to complement it too, projection both far and
Lord of the Rings
How much this looked like a Hobbit house... close up.
If we'd stayed there longer I might have lost weight. Much of the food there is vegan and we were pouring through the calories working. I eat plenty of salad anyway but there was more, different greens there.
I hope we do this again. Barre tones hasn't done an overnight retreat in yea
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