It was great to start off the month with the school picnic for the Community Home School Program in Amherst MA this afternoon. I've been working with this group quite a bit over the past several years, doing weekly gym classes several terms, as well as several special events like this one. It's been a real joy watching the kids grow up, the younger ones getting bigger and the older ones coming into themselves. And it's just so nice to work with the (mostly) some group of kids over the years.

   This time, however, the group was bigger than it's ever been, with a wider age spread than ever before. This always present special challenges, but in my business it isn't at all unusual. We started out like I pretty much always do with regular old game of Tag, followed by some of the group's favorite games from the past: Smaug's Jewels, Blob, Flying Dutchman, Lemonade, and Everybody's It. Tucked in there somewhere was one of my new favorites: several different versions of Bodyguard, a study in organized chaos!

 

 

   It was a really long drive for me, but for the third year in a row it was wonderful to be at the Burlington VT Independence Day Celebration at Waterfront Park on the shores of Lake Champlain ("New England's West Coast"). 

   Last year, I carpooled up with Rob Peck and Chris Yerlig. This year, it was with Tim Van Egmond and Chris. As usual, it was really nice to spend some time with these guys. Often, the only time I see them is at our monthly Hats Off Performers Guild meetings, so it was nice to be able to spend nearly 4 hours in a much less structured format. Basically, we just talked about anything and everything most of the way up.

   And last year, 5 out of 7 of the members of our guild were entertaining at this event. I'm delighted to say that due to the skills of  HOPG member Rob Peck, not only were all 7 of us there doing "walk around entertainment" from 5:30-9:00 this year, but we also had a little vaudeville stage on the boardwalk where each of us in quick succession did a 15-minute set for an increasingly larger and larger audience for the first hour and a half of the event. I hope that event coordinator, Maggie Leugers of Burlinton Parks & Rec Department, was as pleased with this as the crowds were because it was so much FUN for everyone involved that I'd really like to do it again.
   After our work was over, most of us didn't stay to watch the fireworks over the lake. And I didn't ride back home with Tim and Chris either. Instead, I hopped in the car with Henry Lappen (a.k.a. Henry the Juggler) and drove to Beantown because we both were performing at the same event in the Boston area the next day. We drove nearly 5 hours through the night to Henry's brother's house in Cohasset MA where Henry was going to spend the night. Then I drove took Henry's car (Thanks Henry!) and drove another hour south to Carver MA and our friends Beki & Jason Greenwood's house where my lovely wife met me at the door in the middle of the night at about 3:30. Half an hour later, I was in a deep slumber after a 16-1/2 hour day.

 

 

   5 hours later, I got up and drove the hour back up to Cohasset, picked up Henry, and together we drove 10 minutes north to Hingham MA where we both stiltwalked in the Hingham 375th Anniversary and 4th of July parade.

   They actually called me for this event last year, but I was already booked somewhere else for their date, so they booked me on the spot 14 months ago for this year! When they called me last year, I referred them to Henry, so I was really delighted when they booked both of us for this year.

   It was a great parade, with HUGE crowds all the way along. And since it was celebrating both the 4th of July and the town's 375th anniversary, they purposely made it the town's biggest parade ever! There were marching bands from all over New England, Mummers from Philadelphia, lots of floats, all the local Scouts and civic groups, and mighty lot of other terrific marchers. I was marching behind a local summer camp's kazoo marching band (!!) and in front of a putt-putting old car driven by Laurel and Hardy.

   At the end of the parade, we were met by my lovely wife who was taking pictures and our friends Beki & Jason Greenwood. They drove us back to the beginning of the parade where Henry's car was parked so I could get the rest of my things and Henry wouldn't have to walk all the way back. 

   From there, Henry went home and the rest of us drove to Beki & Jason's house in Carver MA where I took a shower (it was 97 degrees outside during the parade!) and Jason watched the closing leg of the first stage of the Tour de France. Don't know what the women did.

  
View Larger Map

   About an hour later, we all piled back into the car and drove to Beki's friend Amanda's grandparents ocean-front summer house on West Island in Fairhaven MA, which is a rather large island in Buzzards Bay very close to shore just east of Sconticut Neck southeast of New Bedford MA . It was past dinner time, so we immediately pulled out all the nosh we'd brought along and dug in. Amanda gave us a little house tour, and then we all sat out on the deck looking out over the ocean. I pulled into the lead in the last round and won a tough game of Quiddler. Then we enjoyed a simply gorgeous sunset.

   And around 8:30 the fireworks began. At first, it was just locals with "beach boxes" that produced about 5 minutes of fireworks. And then the little club across the water began shooting off much bigger fireworks, and the the Fairhaven fireworks began, followed by the New Bedford fireworks, the South Dartmouth fireworks, and then pretty much absolutely everyone got into the act: I'm not exaggerating even a little bit when I say that we could see at least 36 different fireworks displays from that one fabulous location! Some of them were close by --- one even just two doors up the beach that lasted a good 15 minutes --- and some were so far away that they were only little tiny splashes of color on the horizon... but it was one of the most fantastic, awesome, and just plain amazing shows I have ever seen.

   Looking at the map afterwards, I figure we probably were seeing the ones I mentioned above plus Westport, Fall River, Dartmouth, Somerset, Freetown, Somerset, Asonet, Rehoboth, Freetown, Dighton, Taunton, Attleboro, North Attleboro, Woods Hole, Gosnold, and Martha's Vineyard MA, plus Newport, Portsmouth, Tiverton, Kingston, Greenwich, Warwick, Cranston, Providence, Pawtucket, and Cumberland RI plus 6 more somewhere!
   When we left to drive back to Beki & Jason's an hour and a half later around 10:00, all the major nearby fireworks had ended, but there were still 5 or 6 going on in the distance!
   What an absolutely stunning show!

 

 

   "Where It All Started"
   We had made plans to go to Scusset Beach State Reservation in Sandwich MA today, but when we got there shortly after noon, the parking lot was full and the rangers were waving everyone one. So we drove up the coast, but it was the same at every beach we came to. It was way past lunchtime after our 4th attempt at a beach and we were both starving, so we stopped at a little park on the ocean called Stephen's Field in Plymouth for lunch.

   It had tennis courts, a playground with picnic tables and a little pond with a family of ducks (including 6 little tiny ducklings!), a boat landing, snack bar with bathrooms, and a crummy stone "beach". But we had a nice lunch watching the ducks and ducklings swim all over the pond.
   When we were done, since it was only half a mile away, Nancy suggested that we visit "that stupid little rock", so we drove north and checked out Plymouth Rock (it was just so unbelievably small that it was quite a bit stupid) and the Mayflower II (which was quite stately but hard to believe that so many people sailed all the way across the Atlantic Ocean on such a small beat).

   We did have a nice little walk all along the edge of the ocean though before heading home.

 

 

Tuesday, July 8, 2010
   "A Note to Faithful Readers"
Dear Faithful Readers---
  Please accept my humble apologies for neglecting this blog for so long. A month ago, a started a very major project that was taking me 12-16 hours a day! And then things just began to pile up.
   As of last night, however, I've finally gotten back to it. Since it's near the beginning of a new month, I decide to just start in with July instead of going all the way back to the beginning of June and trying to get caught up. So as of last night, all the July entries are current.
   And this morning I starting in on filling in the entries for the rest of June. I've got the week of June 7th done, and will continue plugging away over the next few days until I'm all caught up.
   Thank you for your patience.
---Trevor 

 

 

 

Saturday, July 10, 2010
   "That's How She Found Me"
   In November 2002, I did Tiana Holmes's 7th birthday party. At the beginning of last month, I got a call from her big sister, Tiara Chatman, who booked me for The Outdoor Special to entertain at a special celebration for one of the newest additions to the Holmes/Chatman clan: her daughter, little Peyton Chatman's 1st birthday party in Springfield MA today. The birthday girl was a little too young to participate in the entertainment, but she sure looked adorable in her little pink party dress. She also just stared at me a lot. But right at the end, just before I left when I was saying my goodbyes to the family, she actually gave me a good half a smile! That kind of thing makes my day.
   When I arrived, most of the backyard was taken up by a large canopy tent with at least half a dozen long tables under it and lots of friendly folks seated at them enjoying the food and each other's company. Our host, however, had saved the deck for my show, so there was enough room for me. We gathered all the kids, and they laughed and giggled through The Aerial Delights Show. Then we moved down into a small corner of lawn for some rowdy Parachute Games. Which was followed by Project: Ribbon Dancer.
   The kids all seemed to have a great time all the way through, and I got a whole ton of comments from adults aftewards about how much they also enjoyed the entertainment. "Good job!"

 

 

   "A Wonderful Small Town Event"
  I was surprised to find that it was shorter and quicker to get to Warwick MA from the Northampton area by going up Rte 91 to Exit 28 in Bernadston and driving east through the center of Northfield to the appropriately named Warwick Rd, rather than getting off at exit 27 and buzzing across Rte 2 to Orange MA and taking Rte 78 north. But it was a beautiful drive across Warwick Rd to the  Warwick Ice Cream Social hosted by the Warwick Trinitarian Congregational Church.

   When I got there, they had a good-sized canopy tent set up on the Warwick Town Common. Under it were tables with coolers full of vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and coffee ice cream as well as a variety of toppings including hot fudge, chocolate sauce, strawberry sauce, blueberry sauce, walnuts, fresh blueberries, and a few others I don't remember. There were folding chairs set up in the shade next to the tent, and more than a dozen people there already.
   And by the time I started the show, there must have been at least 30 people ranging from age 5 to what seemed like late 70's or early 80's and everything in between. The Rev. Dan Dibble told me when he hired me that there might be as many as 100 people or as few as 25. But the numbers kept building during my time there, and I suspect there were over 50 people there at one time or another during the event.

    This all-ages crowd obviously thoroughly enjoyed The Aerial Delights Show, with the kids, teens, adults, and elders all participating pretty much equally. And I was especially pleased to have one of my #1 fans in the audience: Hi Nadia! Great to see you and your family again!
   After the show, we had a little vote on what type of games we would play. I told everyone to vote even if they weren't planning on participating --- they would either be playing or watching, after all! So by the will of the people in the Town of Warwick, I pulled out my parachute and for the next half hour or so we played a wide variety of Parachute Games with nearly all the kids and teens and a few adults.

   And a good time was had by all!

   It was really nice to just hang out after the show and talk with friends new and old. I also had a cup full of freshly picked blueberries that were quite delicious!

 

   But time was running short and I had a local attraction I wanted to visit.
   On the Town of Warwick website is this gorgeous picture of Kidder Falls that says what street it's off of, but no exact location, no trail directions, or anything. I love waterfalls, so I wanted to see it while I was so close. Searching on-line, I found one site that said it was on private property. So I made it a point to ask Rev. Dibble if he know where it was. Turns out he didn't but he lead me over to someone who did!
   So after I packed up all my gear, I drove about a mile and a half to a little pull-off and walked briskly less than five minutes up the trail to a beautiful hidden little falls. Since it's mid-summer, there was way, way, way less water flowing than in the above photo, but it was still delightful. Special thanks the the cheerful old gent who gave me directions, and for Dan Dibble for directing me to him. Now I want to go back and see it next Spring when it has lots of water!

 

 

   If you're ever at Pioneer Valley Co-Housing in Amherst MA on the second Monday of the month between about 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and you find a oddball group of 30-something to 50-something men gathered in the Common House just sitting around talking, or watching one of them play a song, tell a story, or do a little skit, more than likely you've probably found the regular monthly meeting of the Hats Off Performers Guild.

   Six out of seven us were there today; we met outside on the gazebo deck out back; had a good meeting together; discussed some important and not so important stuff: debriefed a gig we all did together for Independence Day in Burlington VT; and then, as usual, had our potluck lunch together. Sometimes for lunch we have unplanned themes. This month it was "rice and peanut butter": three people brought rice dishes and two people brought peanut butter. It happens! There was also bread, rice cakes, some nice mixed greens with avocado, a huge cantaloupe, some crackers, some sweet potatoes, and some fudge brownies and cookies. A good lunch was had by all!

 

 

 

   My buddy Don and his wife Barbara weren't having enough FUN on their vacation,  so he called me this afternoon and invited themselves down to our place to take us out to dinner at our favorite restaurant and hang out for the evening. What a great surprise!

   (It was especially great for Nancy because her summer semester started this week and she has a class from 10-5 Tuesday-Thursday, so when she gets home she's beat but feels like she has to make dinner.)
   So we had a delightful dinner together. I've been in this area for so long that I know at least one person at every single table in our row of tables!

   And afterwards, we stopped in a a used book store before heading back at our place where we hung out on the porch and enjoyed the breeze until dark, and then yakked in the living room until bedtime.

   P.S. Anyone who wants to can take us out for dinner at our favorite restaurant any time they want! 

 

 

   "A Great (Spread Out) Event!"
   What I learned last Sunday also proved useful today. It's shorter to drive from my place to Orange MA via Rte 9, Pelham Rd, and Rte 202 than via Rte 91 and Rte 2. So I arrived 15 minutes earlier than planned at the Orange Airport for the Orange MA Bicentennial Blast!

   This is a gig I found via something new I've been doing: trolling craigslist's "gigs" section looking for potential work. It takes me about half an hour once a week to go through all the possible ads in my performing area (New England, southeastern NY, very northern NJ). I've been doing this for, I don't know, maybe half a year now, and I've gotten three great gigs from it so far. It's well worth the time I put in.

   And what great event this was! They booked me from 10:00-2:00 and I was surprised to discover that that was the full length of the event! I got there a little after 9:00; they announced the official beginning of the event at 10:00; at 2:00 they announced that the event was over and thanked everyone for coming; and 25 minutes later when I left, not only were all the attendees gone but nearly all the vendors, performers, and volunteers were all out of there, too!

   Just to give you an idea of how much FUN this event was, here's a list of all the stuff there that I can remember: several food booths, big rigs, fire trucks, police cars, ambulance, dive rescue unit, school busses, antique cars, stretch limo, miniature train rides, tethered hot air balloon rides, an airplane you could climb into the cockpit of, parachutists, live music nearly the entire time, petting zoo, little tiny flea market (1 vender!), ball-throwing-for-prizes booth, magician, crazy balloon hats, face painting, hair braids, nail painting, free raffle with lots of great prizes, lots of other freebies, ice cream truck, watermelon, dance show, magic show, K-9 show, little private airplanes taking off and landing in the background the whole time, plus me stiltwalking for the first half, doing The Aerial Delights Show halfway through, and then Project: Ribbon Dancer for the rest of the time! There was just so much to do the entire 4 hours!
   The only drawback was that a few activities were kind of far away. They could have put these way closer to the main area and saved people a mighty lot of walking across big empty fields to the petting zoo, to get one of those crazy balloon hats, to see the magic show, or to get a ride on the miniature train... all things all the children wanted to do! But you know what? In the bigger scheme of things, it was a rather minor thing; this event was just so much FUN for everyone!

 

 

   This morning, while I was working on the rock border along the edge of my row of sunflowers at the bottom of my new retaining wall, my lovely wife came out and took some pictures.

I'm very, very happy with my sunflowers!

 

 

    It's always nice to work close to home. This time, it's the Hatfield Public Library in Hatfield MA. About 35 kids and 15 adults gathered under a huge maple tree out behind this small town library this morning for a whole lot of FUN!

    It was great to see such a large crowd at such a small library they must be doing something right!

 

 

 

 

   In response to an ad in the free section or craigslist, Nancy & I picked about 25 pounds of free peaches in Northampton MA today. I ate two on the way home, and three more within a couple more hours. They are just sooooo good! Fresh-picked, ripe off the tree, local peaches YUM! And I say again: YUM!

 

Thursday, July 22, 2010
   "Backlog Update Done"
   Faithful Readers: I've (finally) finished updating the June 2010 section of this blog. *phew*


Saturday, July 24, 2010

   "FUN in the Berkshires"
   Drove Route 9 west from Northampton all the way to Pittsfield. Went south on Rte 7 to just before the city limit. Then went west on Dan Fox Rd about a mile to Bousquet Ski Area for the Petricca Industries company picnic.

    Judy Condron and her crew had tables set up with all sorts of stuff on them, so as employees and their families arrived, they got checked in, got their meal tickets, got their all-day arm bracelets for the waterslides, packets of Silly Bracelets for the kids, free t-shirts for the adults, and a towel.

   It was pretty hot, so nearly everybody headed straight for the waterslides... either the smaller lower one or the much bigger upper one (pictured below).
   Bowie the Clown was twisting fabulous balloon creations under the big tent while I was on stilts greeting all new arrivals as they entered the area. All the kids had a blast giving me Really High Fives, and I enjoyed giving them several stickers in exchange.
   After a while, the staff had the outdoor grills going and a nice lunch spread out buffet style, so over the next 10-15 minutes, the line steadily grew as those on the waterslides learned that it was lunchtime. Since there were now quite a few more people milling about (as opposed to at the waterslides), I was able to interact with lots more people during lunch.

   And then, all of a sudden, about 45 minutes before my shift was over, it began to rain. I was about halfway across the lawn and quickly realized that I'd better get to shelter as quickly as possible because wet grass is very, very slick and extremely dangerous for a stiltwalker! I made it onto the cement below the upper deck just as the sky opened up and it began pouring buckets!

   Unfortunately, the deck I was under had lots of space between the floorboards, so very soon the rain was dripping through quite heavily pretty much everywhere. I managed to find one spot about 1'x2' that stayed somewhat dry and remained glued to that spot for the next half hour until it began to let up a bit. I still got pretty wet around the edges, but had I been anywhere else I would have been drenched to the bone. I made my way around and went inside at that point, but the only place inside I was able to safely get to happened to be the bar so I only stayed there about 5 minutes. Fortunately, the rain had now nearly dissipated and I was able to move about a bit more freely for the last few minutes of my shift.
   Despite the rain, however, this was a delightful event and everyone seemed to have a really good time... even during the rainstorm!

 

   Afterwards, as I do pretty much every time I work in the central Berkshires, I stopped at Wahconah Falls State Park on the way home. One of the greatest things about this park is that there's an awesome 40' waterfall only 5 minutes from Rte 9: it's about two minutes drive to the park; another minute to get out of the car and collect your stuff; and about two minutes walk down to the main falls.
   Another great thing about Wahconah Falls State Park is that there's a path along the west side of Wahconah Falls Brook that leads upstream past the main falls and where there's 5 or 6 more smaller falls varying from 3'-12' in height, as well as lots of even smaller cascades that go over and even through the rocks. It's easy to spend most of an hour just exploring the many waterfalls on this half mile trail.
   You can actually hear the falls from the parking lot, and today I could also hear that there were a lot of people down there, too. So instead of walking directly down to the main falls as I usually do, I decided to take the first side trail up the hill that goes through the woods and hits the brookside trail way upstream at the point where all the smaller falls start and work my way down to the grand finale at the bottom. It was a good strategy, because about 55 minutes later, after I had enjoyed all the lesser falls, most of the people below had left and I was able to enjoy the big falls with far less distractions. 

 

 

   Following through on a promise I made a few weeks ago, I delivered a goodly portion of our overabundance of morning glories to the Peace Pagoda in Leverett MA today. This has to be one of the most beautiful man-made structures in all of New England -- it is just so amazingly beautiful! It's majestic, awe-inspiring... and this little binky photo doesn't really give you a clue about how HUGE it is either.
   I was there for the first time earlier this month helping a friend deliver a tree. We ended up staying for over an hour: repotting the tree into a much bigger pot, planting another tree that was in a pot but not very happy about it, and talking shop for a long time with the Peace Pagoda's chief (volunteer) gardener, Sister Marilyn. I mentioned that we had an excess of morning glories and she expressed an eager interest in some. I was hoping she'd be around when Nancy & I arrived today, but alas. So Nancy roamed the grounds taking pictures while I wrote a note of planting hints to leave with the bucket of little morning glories.

 

   By the time I got to Haverhill MA, I was hot and sweaty but cheerful and really glad I wasn't driving through rush hour traffic on Rte 495 any longer. I was also happy I got there with about half an hour to spare before my 6:30 p.m. show at the Haverhill Public Library. I've entertained there several times before, so it was just like old times for me.

   They have a terrific auditorium with comfortable chairs and a low stage at one end. About 15 minutes before show time, the first arrivals began filtering in. It was a smaller crowd than usual this time --- about 20 people --- but that just allowed me to be much more personal with the audience, interacting with each of them one-on-one, and even getting to know them a bit.

   A special thanks to HPL Young Adult Librarian Alissa Lauzon for her help.
   And now I'm looking forward to next time!

 

 

   Nancy & I came up to camp a day early today. There were several others here already helping get the place ready for opening day tomorrow. I absolutely LOVE this place! I've been going all my life. So have my kids. So has my mother. And my grandfather was one of the founders. So it's in my blood. I can't imagine not being here the first two weeks of August.   

  Here's a picture of our little room. It looks out over the front terrace, the Saco River, and the White Mountains. We've been working on it a really long time, so despite how really small our room is, it takes care of our needs very well.

 

 

   FNCA DAY 1 The first official meal at the Fryeburg New Church Assembly was dinner tonight, so throughout the afternoon all sorts of people kept arriving. Teens, young families, middle-aged couples, a man in his 80's and his step-son, locals as well as people from as far away as the West Coast.

   Before most of them got here, however, I spent a couple hours scanning 25 group photos of all the people at camp dating back as far as 1928,  only seven years after the place was founded. There's quite a few more to go, too. I don't think we have a group shot for every year, but I know we have a mighty lot of them. 

   By the time I finished this first batch, though, I decided it was time to do a little job down at the waterfront because one of the great things about this year is that we (finally) have our beach back! Because of excessive river flooding the past two summers, we haven't seen our beach at camp at all since 2007! 

   So I grabbed the canoe chain and key and walked down the hill to the river with the float line in hand. (FYI: the float line delineates the downstream edge of our swimming area; campers are not allowed to cross it.) After getting it all untangled, I tied one end to a tree on the bank, tossed the rest into a canoe, paddled across the river, and tied the other end to a tree on the opposite bank. Then I paddled back across and tightened the line up from the camp side.

   I was just about done when my lovely wife came down to see me, so a  few minutes later we were walking back up the path. When we got to our room in the Main Building, we put on our bathing suits and with several other people, had a really nice swim for over an hour.

   The rest of the day was filled with greeting new arrivals, a delightful dinner prepared by our brand-new Jamaican cook (very yummy food!), Sparks Games, a crazy controversy, a staff meeting, the FNCA Puzzle Club finishing our first puzzle of the year, and some more work on the FNCA website.

   All in all, a pretty good first day. 

     

 

...

trevor@trevorthegamesman.com

PO Box 463, Haydenville, MA 01039