We haven't been able to move lately for the piles of Halloween catalogues coming in the door's post slot; the pumpkins on all the front porches (including ours); the goblins and witches in front yards; the decorations in the shops; and the kids' invites to Halloween events.
Yes, unlike Australia, Halloween is a major major event in the States. Of course Olivia and Kieren are excited just at the thought of that much sugar ...
The first event was on the afternoon of Sunday 28 October 2007. This was an event run by the Australians in Washington Association at the Australian Embassy. Have never seen so many 3+ foot tall Spidermen running around! Olivia dressed up as a black cat and Kieren wore his vampire outfit. All the kids had a great time making goodies bags, decorating plates and biscuits, making bead bracelets, playing, colouring in and having pumpkin and spoon races. Not to mention the heaps of food and the candies that filled their goodies bags at the end of the afternoon.
On Wednesday, both kids had Halloween events at their schools. Olivia went as a witch for her parade and then a party. They made bat clothes pins, a Jack-o-Lantern (Olivia's orange was decorated as a cat), cookie decorating and candy bag decorating. Somehow the cookie never made it home! Kieren made his own clown dress up for their parade and then had a party with Halloween food and goodie bags. He tells me they also did more stuff but details are obviously classified ...
On Wednesday night, Olivia dressed up as a witch and Kieren as Batman and they headed off with Donna around 6pm to a neighbour's house where the kids ganged up to go trick or treating. I stayed home to answer the constant demands. Doorbell didn't stop from about 6.15 to 7.30 with marauding but well behaved kids having a wonderful time, some of them sugar assisted. Kieren stayed in a group with Donna and had enough by the time they got back here and was quite happy to stay with me and move into dispensing candy mode. Olivia's group took a bit longer but she had enough by the time they got to our home as well. Between them, they had about one and a half of their Halloween pumpkin candy buckets full of candy. Most of the other kids seemed to end up with their containers full. Have to wonder what happened to all that candy afterwards!
Houses around here and everywhere we've been for the past few weeks have been decorated up with skeletons, witches, goblins, ghouls, spiders, webs, pumpkins, graveyards, etc. Nearly as big as Christmas house decorations back home.
Malcolm
Monday, October 29, 2007
Cox Farm
Both Olivia and Kieren had school trips to Cox Farm on the morning of Thursday 25 October 2007. Coincidence that both ended up going on the same morning and they don't seem to have seen each other there. We weren't sure that the trips were going to be on as it was the wettest and coldest morning that we have had for some time. The rain didn't end until lunchtime Saturday by when 4 inches had fallen, breaking around 35 prior rain free days.
Donna to tell us what happened ...
Donna to tell us what happened ...
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Fallingwater and Laurel Highlands, Pennsylvania
As Olivia had a day off school, we decided to head up to Pennsylvania on Friday 19 October 2007 to see Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater as a prelude to a weekend of seeing the fall leaves.
Fallingwater is often written up as Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece and the most famous house in the States, if not the world. So when we learned (1) about it and (2) that we were living only 3 1/2 hours drive away, it was something we had to do while in the States. Visiting was problematic for us as kids under 6 aren't allowed on the tours. We also didn't book months in advance so couldn't do the longer tour (less people, can take photos) so booked the regular tour. Intention was that one of us would look after Olivia and Kieren (Fallingwater has a family room even if they no longer offer childcare as they did up to five years or so ago) while the other did the tour and then swap.
Was a reasonably pleasant drive up. We stopped just short of Fallingwater at the Ohiopyle State Park visitor centre. The lady there gave us some good tips on areas to visit around there. Unfortunately was raining then and when we came back through the park later so didn't see much though looked like a place where could spend some time enjoying the scenery and hiking etc.
Also visited the first three of many covered bridges on the way - Lower Humbert Bridge, King's Bridge and Barronvale Bridge. While they tend to be more utilitarian in design in this part of the country, found that their location low down over streams tended to get us onto the smaller back roads and darker areas where the leaves had more colour. So was a good way to get off the beaten track. We were guided by a covered bridge tour brochure that we picked up at the visitors' centre. What it didn't tell us was that the covered bridges were built to extend the effective life from the 9 years of a normal wooden bridge to more than 80. Many that we saw had either recently been renovated, were in need of renovation or were under renovation. After the debacle of not being able to find lighthouses in NY State, The Most Scenic Tours in America book also redeemed itself on this trip, with the covered bridges being where they were supposed to be and even signposted in most cases.
A top day was capped off with a good chardonnay and a surprisingly good meal at Ruby Tuesday's just across from our hotel.
Somerset is close to the United Airlines Flight 93 impact site on 9/11. So after keeping the kids happy with a McDonalds Breakfast, we headed out to the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel on Saturday morning. As their mission statement states: 'Flight 93 Memorial Chapel is a spiritual memorial and perpetual tribute in honor of the Heroes of Flight 93, and all others who perished September 11, 2001. The founder and Director-Curator is Reverend Alphonse T. Mascherino, an ordained Catholic priest for twenty-six years.' The monuments to the crew and passengers outside the chapel are moving, as is the Reverend's Thunder on the Mountain essay. He made the kids' day by allowing them to 'play' the chapel's organ and ring the Thunder Bell. Although this is now out the front of the chapel, not inside as the website seems to imply.
With a detour to Glessner Bridge, we then drove to the Flight 93 impact site. There's currently a temporary memorial site overlooking the impact site. Surprised at the number of visitors while we were there. The site is in the middle of some fairly open hills, with cold winds blowing across it when we visited. It is hard to imagine the events of that day. There's an American flag on a distant fence line marking the protected area around the impact zone. The emotions of those visiting this site were fairly raw all these years after.
We then headed to Ligonier for lunch, via Trostletown Bridge. Ligonier is set out around a beautify central diamond, complete with a central bandstand and a lot of colour in the trees. The entries in their Scarecrow Contest were in the streets all around the diamond which added to the town's character. We had lunch at the Ligonier Tavern after an extended wait of around an hour for a table, made the food taste extra good by the time we finally got to eat!
Took a scenic route back to Somerset and another, not quite as good, meal at Ruby Tuesday's. Bed was looking good by the end of our second long day.
Kieren's weekend was completed with the amazement of a second McDonald's breakfast. Despite taking a scenic route east and back down into Maryland, there wasn't as much colour today. We were driving more through agricultural country than the forested parks etc of the previous days. As we came down into Maryland we noticed the impact of the drought. Trees here appear to have their leaves turning brown and falling rather than producing the colourful displays we had seen in Pennsylvania.
Still quite beautiful in the Catoctin Mountains were we had lunch in Catoctin Mountain Park, allowing Kieren to find little quartz rocks in the sandy beach, and found our last winding backroads for the trip. Apparently Camp David (the Presidential retreat) is in this area. Was much warmer than the previous days as well.
Way home involved a stop in Frederick for Donna to check out a quilting shop. This was also a good excuse for a coffee before facing the traffic that always develops around DC at the end of every weekend.
Photos here.
Malcolm
Fallingwater is often written up as Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece and the most famous house in the States, if not the world. So when we learned (1) about it and (2) that we were living only 3 1/2 hours drive away, it was something we had to do while in the States. Visiting was problematic for us as kids under 6 aren't allowed on the tours. We also didn't book months in advance so couldn't do the longer tour (less people, can take photos) so booked the regular tour. Intention was that one of us would look after Olivia and Kieren (Fallingwater has a family room even if they no longer offer childcare as they did up to five years or so ago) while the other did the tour and then swap.
Was a reasonably pleasant drive up. We stopped just short of Fallingwater at the Ohiopyle State Park visitor centre. The lady there gave us some good tips on areas to visit around there. Unfortunately was raining then and when we came back through the park later so didn't see much though looked like a place where could spend some time enjoying the scenery and hiking etc.
Fallingwater is one of the best laid out tourist sites I've seen. Someone actually followed the theory and placed the visitor centre away from the attraction. You then get a greater sense of the house as you walk towards it. Guess it to be about a 800m walk through some rainforest and gardens. Visitor centre is also quite open with the tour info in the centre. Food (real food rather than the fries, hot dogs and sodas usually sold in the States as well!), 'museum shop', restrooms and the family room extend off that central platform.
Olivia read the sign on the way in (who decided to teach 6 year olds to read!) and worked out that she was old enough to go through. So we bought her a ticket and she came through with me on the first tour. Although we had pre-booked time slots, they were good in just grouping people up as they arrived so we didn't waste time waiting.
Still struggling to work out what I think of the house itself. Wikipedia summarises some of the structural problems with the house with the two articles from Structure magazine they provide worth a read.
House is obviously unique. Lot of the furniture etc struck me as more sixties (good sixties, not bad sixties!) rather than coming from the 1936 - 1939 construction years. Wright was a genius to come up with the concept but I have to take marks off for the poor execution of many of his ideas. The water leaks in areas of the house were still obvious, despite big improvements in recent years. Things like the giant round kettle for mulled wine over the main fire that was too big to heat anything were repeated through the house as good ideas badly executed. The lack of flyscreens which the Kaufmanns fixed after a year of having everything that flies being inside the house. The carports provided instead of the requested garages which Wright refused to include as they only collect clutter. True but you have to live in a place as well!
But those things don't take away from the brilliance of the location and design. The incorporation of the sound of the stream through the house and the general feeling of openness, especially in the main living area were fantastic. Tend to forget how radical the lack of walls and defined spaces were at the time. The incorporation of the rocks in the fireplace and the screened steps down to the stream point towards the genius end of the scale. Even the low ceilings in the bedrooms did work to keep me walking, wanting to get out onto the terraces.
This extract gets to some of the conflicting feelings I have about the building:
'Fallingwater has suffered from an extraordinarily minimalist attitude towards detailing on Wright's part that affected everything from the reinforcing of the main structural members to the provision of adequate flashing at doors and windows. In some cases this can be understood in terms of a desire to have interior and exterior space appear to be continuous and completely uninterrupted by any obvious mechanical intervention. But in others, as with the skimpy application of reinforcing rods, one can only deduce that this was a building where Wright was not only pushing the envelope but also relishing the risk-taking involved. ... Taking into account Wright's own description of it as "an extension of the cliff" shaped to "the music of the stream," Fallingwater, as his name for it implies, becomes an abstraction of the natural environment represented in architectural terms, a phenomenon having a temporal as well as a spatial dimension.' (Ezra Stoller, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, 1999, p8)
While a bit harsh, if counterbalancing the converts' articles, I couldn't help enjoying and agreeing with this Frank Lloyd Wright Isn't God article!
In summary, wouldn't have missed it and am still fascinated by its contrasts. Olivia tells us that it was her favourite part of the weekend. After our tour and some lunch while Donna toured inside the building, we did the kids' tour around the grounds and the outside of the building. This was well set out to highlight the aspects of the natural landscape which Wright brought into his design. Started raining more heavily while we were doing this which just added to the fall colour and spectacular setting that the property offers.
Leaving Fallingwater, we drove back into Ohiopyle State Park to take a back road to Somerset where we were booked into a Holiday Inn for the next two nights. Went through some beautiful forest areas along Sugarloaf Road with lots of colour, although obviously not yet at their peak. View from Baughman Rock was impressive even in the rain. Even if not as colourful as the photo we saw earlier at the visitors' centre of the view at its peak colour. Apparently Columbus Day long weekend is normally the best time in that area but peak this year is likely to be at least a week further away, reflecting the hot dry period we are experiencing.Also visited the first three of many covered bridges on the way - Lower Humbert Bridge, King's Bridge and Barronvale Bridge. While they tend to be more utilitarian in design in this part of the country, found that their location low down over streams tended to get us onto the smaller back roads and darker areas where the leaves had more colour. So was a good way to get off the beaten track. We were guided by a covered bridge tour brochure that we picked up at the visitors' centre. What it didn't tell us was that the covered bridges were built to extend the effective life from the 9 years of a normal wooden bridge to more than 80. Many that we saw had either recently been renovated, were in need of renovation or were under renovation. After the debacle of not being able to find lighthouses in NY State, The Most Scenic Tours in America book also redeemed itself on this trip, with the covered bridges being where they were supposed to be and even signposted in most cases.
A top day was capped off with a good chardonnay and a surprisingly good meal at Ruby Tuesday's just across from our hotel.
Somerset is close to the United Airlines Flight 93 impact site on 9/11. So after keeping the kids happy with a McDonalds Breakfast, we headed out to the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel on Saturday morning. As their mission statement states: 'Flight 93 Memorial Chapel is a spiritual memorial and perpetual tribute in honor of the Heroes of Flight 93, and all others who perished September 11, 2001. The founder and Director-Curator is Reverend Alphonse T. Mascherino, an ordained Catholic priest for twenty-six years.' The monuments to the crew and passengers outside the chapel are moving, as is the Reverend's Thunder on the Mountain essay. He made the kids' day by allowing them to 'play' the chapel's organ and ring the Thunder Bell. Although this is now out the front of the chapel, not inside as the website seems to imply.
With a detour to Glessner Bridge, we then drove to the Flight 93 impact site. There's currently a temporary memorial site overlooking the impact site. Surprised at the number of visitors while we were there. The site is in the middle of some fairly open hills, with cold winds blowing across it when we visited. It is hard to imagine the events of that day. There's an American flag on a distant fence line marking the protected area around the impact zone. The emotions of those visiting this site were fairly raw all these years after.
We then headed to Ligonier for lunch, via Trostletown Bridge. Ligonier is set out around a beautify central diamond, complete with a central bandstand and a lot of colour in the trees. The entries in their Scarecrow Contest were in the streets all around the diamond which added to the town's character. We had lunch at the Ligonier Tavern after an extended wait of around an hour for a table, made the food taste extra good by the time we finally got to eat!
Took a scenic route back to Somerset and another, not quite as good, meal at Ruby Tuesday's. Bed was looking good by the end of our second long day.
Kieren's weekend was completed with the amazement of a second McDonald's breakfast. Despite taking a scenic route east and back down into Maryland, there wasn't as much colour today. We were driving more through agricultural country than the forested parks etc of the previous days. As we came down into Maryland we noticed the impact of the drought. Trees here appear to have their leaves turning brown and falling rather than producing the colourful displays we had seen in Pennsylvania.
Still quite beautiful in the Catoctin Mountains were we had lunch in Catoctin Mountain Park, allowing Kieren to find little quartz rocks in the sandy beach, and found our last winding backroads for the trip. Apparently Camp David (the Presidential retreat) is in this area. Was much warmer than the previous days as well.
Way home involved a stop in Frederick for Donna to check out a quilting shop. This was also a good excuse for a coffee before facing the traffic that always develops around DC at the end of every weekend.
Photos here.
Malcolm
Taste of Bethesda
Many of the local communities around Maryland and DC have 'Taste of' days. Saturday 6 October 2007 was Bethesda's turn. We met some friends from Canberra at Bethesda metro and headed down.
They had streets in the Bethesda triangle closed off with heaps of food stands from the local restaurants. Arrangement was to buy 4 tickets for $5 with snacks mostly 2 tickets and up to 4 tickets for more meal sized portions.
Kids also had a tattoo painted on which made their day.
Was yet another hot day so a cold beer in a local tavern was a good break from the Taste in mid afternoon!
Malcolm
They had streets in the Bethesda triangle closed off with heaps of food stands from the local restaurants. Arrangement was to buy 4 tickets for $5 with snacks mostly 2 tickets and up to 4 tickets for more meal sized portions.
Kids also had a tattoo painted on which made their day.
Was yet another hot day so a cold beer in a local tavern was a good break from the Taste in mid afternoon!
Malcolm
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