Friday, June 12, 2015

Absent Children

You might have noticed that the boys have been missing from the daily pictures for the past few days. This is because they have been away from home. William went on a three-day hiking and camping trip, and Daniel on an overnight stay at the Museum of Science in Boston.

Leaving Karen and me alone for several hours when she came home from work on Thursday, until Tom came home. How did it feel having the house all to ourselves? Wonderful!

Even before the boys went away, we managed to carve out a whole day for ourselves with a visit to the Castle In the Clouds, a mansion on a hill overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee that is loaded with amazing architectural features from the Arts and Crafts period. It also has paintings on the glass roundels in the doors and windows that have fascinated Karen and me since we first saw them about a year ago.

We have been trying to find out more about the artists, and the techniques used to create the paintings, which still have vivid colors after a hundred years of sunlight and New Hampshire winters. The artists are still a complete mystery, but we may have gained some insights into the technique after a visit with a stained glass artist in Vermont during our recent camping excursion. The folks the the Castle are very intrigued, and we will do what we can to keep them in the loop.

The boys are back now, with only three days of school left for William, and four for Daniel. We already have some outings planned, along with the usual swimming lessons and some creative projects at home. It's going to be a busy summer, with me struggling to carve out time for songwriting. I'm trying to launch a crowdfunding campaign so that I can record my first album of songs before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, it's back to life as usual. But Karen and I have had a taste of what life will be like when the kids move away, and I can tell you one thing: we won't run out of things to talk about.