Postcards from Vermont....

Over weekend, I took other photos besides the flags. We happened upon an ice cream social in Marlboro, VT, in front of a church. Marlboro Congregational church was "organized" in 1776. It was a really old fashioned "social." The ice cream was handmade and so delicious! I took a photo of this church last winter and it is here. Looks quite different, doesn't it?

Tasha Tudor resided in Marlboro and one of the ladies serving ice cream told me she had been her neighbor. Of course, "neighbor" means many miles apart in this area that is still heavy with unpaved roads and large farms.

We passed by several covered bridges, but Scott Bridge is interesting. People were diving off it into the water. After a while they replaced the boards they had removed from the sides. We enjoyed lunch parked under a tree and watching the swimmers. It was breezy and quite cool.

Vermont has so much natural beauty. We came across this beautiful pond deep in the woods with this wonderful architecture in the middle.

Now it is Monday again and I am looking at a very large list of things to accomplish this week. The weather was glorious all weekend, but I think the humidity has crept in and it just plain humid this morning.

Enjoy the day...

Happy Monday!

Beautiful churches and meeting houses....

One of the things you will notice when you travel through New England is an abundance of very old churches and meeting houses. You will see steeples and spires rising through the woods long before you get to them when traveling through New England hills and valleys.

In the winter, they stand so stately. In the summer, they appear like cool sanctuaries against lush green forest backgrounds. Indeed, there are several majestic churches just a few blocks from our home that I pass every day, but here are some we passed on country roads this past weekend.

These churches are located from a little north of Brattleboro, VT, south to historical Deerfield, MA. There is at least one old church in nearly every New England town and all are beautiful. I could cheerfully photograph every one I see if I had the time. You can click on all the above photos to see them in a larger format.

As you can observe, the snow is getting dirty as we are now late into the winter. Warmer days this week and a little predicted rain may wash it clean again. However, there is still much time left for snow to happen again. March can be brutal with snow storms and snow storms in April are not unusual.

When we look around we can see what we take for granted is quite wonderful. I look at these churches differently these days and am inspired by their longevity and grace.

Enjoy the day and may you be inspired, too.