Saturday Step Back in Time

M.E.G., Son and Wife at Old Sturbridge Village

Yesterday was a very interesting day.  My son and his Most Excellent Girlfriend came down to spend the day with us.  At the suggestion of the M.E.G. we decided to pay a visit to Old Sturbridge Village.  This place is literally ten minutes from our house and a major tourist attraction so of course we’ve never been there in the nearly seven years we’ve lived here.  The weather was a bit dicey as a series of showers were moving through the area and my wife is never one to venture outside when moisture is involved. After a delicious grilled chicken lunch out on the deck we headed over and had a fantastic time.  Old Sturbridge Village turned out to be a truly fascinating place.  It is an entire village set up to replicate New England life back in the 1830’s.  We wandered through a series of houses and shops that had staff dressed in appropriate period costume and provided very educational information.  I doubted ahead of time I was going to enjoy this but it was both a lot of fun and enlightening.  There was a series of fife and drum bands playing on the town common when we arrived which were very entertaining.  My wife was surprised to see a lot of items (wells and farm implements) depicted that she had grown up with at her grandparent’s farm back in Panama.  She was constantly assuring the MEG that things had progressed significantly since then.  The rain showers did arrive but we were more than ready for them armed with just a portion of my wife’s impressive umbrella arsenal.  I love to be surprised and this visit to a place I had no interest in beforehand certainly did that.  My wife was concerned all the walking would jeopardize her planned dancing activities for the evening; somehow she managed.  We returned home and my son and MEG showed us some of the photos from their recently completed Mediterranean adventure.  They had a fantastic time and this was ably demonstrated by the photos.  They did admit the bill they received getting off the ship in Venice was a bit of a shock but seemed content they had realized one of their life goals so early in their lives.  Before we left for Maxwell Silverman’s in Worcester for dinner and dancing we prepared Buddy for the thunder storms that were due to pass through.  We left the lights blazing and tuned in his favorite “oldies” radio station which we left blasting just outside his cage; so Buddy joined in the throw back theme of the day.  Speaking of throw back, after eating a great dinner, the DJ started up and we had about thirty minutes of Sinatra music.  I cringed a little thinking this was not the type music my son and MEG would enjoy dancing to.  Luckily things got a tad more current and all of us were able to appreciate some dancing.  My son did not even mention that we had him dancing to music that might have been current during the times of Old Sturbridge Village; he’s nice that way.  We returned to the house passing through evidence of some very extreme thunderstorms and found Buddy completely tranquil enjoying his oldies.  We may be on to something here.

MEG and Son in Period Mode

A Better Shot

One of the Fife and Drum Corps

Wife Helping MEG with Period Dress

Print Shop

The Umbrella Queen

Back in Uniform

Water Powered Saw

Blacksmith Shop

Fragrant Barn Smells

Potter at Work

Back in School
MEG Showed us How to Use Time Delay

At Maxwells Grooving to Oldies

The Oldies in Person

They Actually Did Dance