Ah yes, yesterday. Yesterday I drove up to West Springfield, Mass to help celebrate the wedding of Amber and Aaron. The latter lad is the son of Stacey's cousin, Steffi. The two of them got married (suddenly and surprisingly) a few months ago while in Colorado on a visit to Aaron's father. This was to be the east coast celebration of that marriage. The kids paid for the party so it was on a budget but, as they say, it ain't the amount of money you throw at it but the spirit, the joy, the happiness. And that was in abundance.
I know West Springfield pretty well as it's not far from Camp Kinderland, the camp of my younger (and older) years. Also, my kids camp. And also where I still take camp photos every summer, even though my kids "graduated" from camp many years ago. It's a progressive, secular, Jewish camp whose origin in the 20's sprung from left-wing Jewish immigrant unionists who needed a place to send their kids where their values, along with Yiddish, would be taught and imbued. But I digress.
The party was held at Amber's grandmother's house. Actually in her immense side yard wherre tents had been set up. Hamburgers, hot dogs, salads and booze was in abundance. I had driven up in miserable weather on a horrible-as-usual I-95, congested with traffic. But once there, the rain stopped and the sun broke through now and then.
The newlyweds.
The very serious Aaron (he doesn't like his picture taken).
In case you've ever wondered, the secret is Elmer's Glue. I'm not kidding ... Elmer's Glue.
Lori Berti and Peter Press were there (to my surprise).
Strange and motley crew.
If you want to see more photos from the party, just click here.
I stayed a couple of hours and then headed back home. But I was so tired that my eyes started to close while driving -- not a great thing. I was on Route 84, having decided to avoid 95 again. I was passing one of my most favorite places on the east-west route: the town of Southbury. "Favorite," because just beyond that town the highway crosses the Housatonic River. I've always been intrigued with that spot. It looks like something out of a movie. The river takes a turn at that point. There are lovely summer houses scattered on its banks, boats plying the river, a beach along the shore and trees, trees, trees. I've always wanted to find out how to get down there by the side of the river and this time I did. I exited at Southbury and just followed a road in the direction of the river. The road twisted and turned, crossed the river and then came back again and voilá -- I was there. I pulled over and walked down a long driveway posted with a sign that read "Southbury Town Beach". A beautiful lawn with picnic tables sloped down to meat my beautiful river. This was heaven. It was late in the day and there were no people about but I imagined that this probably gets pretty crowded in the heat of the summer. Why not? Can't imagine a more beautiful place to lie around and watch the world and the river float by.
I walked back to the car and fell asleep for a while. Awakening, somewhat refreshed, I headed home down 684 to the Hutch, the Whitestone and back to Brooklyn. Lovely day.
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