August 22, 2009
Jericho, VT
My drive back to Jericho was uneventful. I stopped in several antiques/collectible stores, and ate lunch in a cute little cafe. I love VT with its large farmhouses, unique stores, and beautiful two-lane roads over wooded hills and through fertile valleys.
This evening we celebrated Peter's 69th birthday. Son Andrew & daughter-in-law, Sarah, with their daughter, Sophie, were there to celebrate. We ate on the screen porch and Peter opened his gifts. The one that went over with the biggest bang was a sheepskin from sister Sarah. Peter and Sophie and even Sarah clowned it up with the sheepskin.
 |
| Peter Bruce Schuyler, 69 years old today |
 |
| Mom and daughter snuggling in the sheepskin |
We also went in to Burlington for dinner one evening. Burlington has become a fun cosmpolitan place on Lake Champlain with street performers and musicians, bike paths, unique shops and restaurants, pedestrian malls (streets blocked to vehicle traffic), and musical, botanical and art events taking place at shoreline. Private yachts, ferry, and touring boats line the docks, getting people out on the water--or across it to New York state.
 |
| Peter and me posing with a replica of the Lake Champlain monster, Champy |
 |
| Sonja and me posing for the Twinkie shot--still have my white feet from the C2C ride |
 |
| A photo of the "real" Champy taken by Sandy Mansi in 1977 |
One day we went to Fairbanks, VT to the Fairbanks Museum. This little known museum housed a fantastic private collection of birds from around the world (big display of hummingbirds), animals, and, most interesting to me, a collection of “paintings” that were insects arranged in a pattern—beetles and moths and others.
 |
| Peter and Sonja before the Fairbanks Museum |
 |
| Lion at the museum's entryway |
 |
| Enterprise owned by Fairbanks, whose private collection the museum houses |
 |
| Beautiful wood display cases under a wooden arched ceiling |
 |
| Part of the museum's very large collection of birds |
 |
| George depicted in moth wings and beetles |
 |
| Abe depicted in moth wings and beetles |
 |
| Beetle and moth wing design |
 |
| Close-up of themoths and beetles taht compose one of the bug art pieces |
The oddest thing that happened while in VT had to do with two old tea kettles that mother used to keep on cast iron shelves in the dining room. One was Pewter or some other metal and the other was brass, I think. Peter had tried to find their provenance and value on the Internet without success. While he and Sonja were at work one day, I tracked them down.
On the way home fron St Johnsville, we stopped at streamside and also at an antiques and collectibles store (one that I had stopped at on my way back to Jericho), and damned if Peter didn’t find the exact teapot and its warming stand on a shelf. He bought it for $40. When we got it home we noticed that the manufacturer was different and the teapot had tiny differences in design. We decided that the original Steadman company had sold out to this one.
