We took a short drive out to Harvard Massachusetts for an outing of apple picking. The yield was incredible, the colors vivid and the taste juicy and sweet. We now have a moist Apple Cake on the breakfast menu. The Town of Harvard is also the location of “Fruitland”, Bronson Alcott’s communal living experiment. You cane visit the museum, Shaker homes and American Indian gallery.

September 18–December 31, 2011.

 De Cordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln

This exhibition features thirteen artists and collaboratives who underscore the changeable and active nature of our built environment. In doing so, they take architecture beyond its obvious function as shelter and design and examine its social, psychological, and cultural resonance in our lives. Video, sculpture, installation, and performance converge to address architecture through three broad themes: intervention, mobility, and participation.

Over the past 50 years, architecture’s agency in society has emerged as a growing concern for contemporary artists. Be it the white-cube space of the gallery, the historic walls of a specific site, or the loaded evocations of Modernism embedded in glass and concrete surfaces, artists and theorists agree that there is no such thing as a neutral environment—every space speaks.

Temporary Structures: Performing Architecture in Contemporary Art uses nontraditional spaces of the deCordova Museum’s unique building and outdoor spaces to present an
avante-garde exhibition comprised of site-specific, performative, and participatory installations, engaging Museum visitors in a new way throughout the duration of the
show. http://www.decordova.org/visit

Spring/  Patriot’s Day Celebration

On April 19, 1775, Paul Revere sounded an alarm as 800 British Regulars marched upon the village of Concord to steal away cannon and stored arms. At a rude bridge arching the Concord River Colonial Minutemen faced off and fired the “shot heard ’round the world” that began the Revolutionary War. Each year, leading up to the anniversary, Concord once again fills with Patriot, Red Coats and the loud rumble of brass cannon for over a week of festivities, battle re-enactments,  Colonial bivouac, demonstrations, parades and a Patriot’s Ball. This is an exciting time enjoyed by all ages.

http://www.nps.gov/mima/planyourvisit/events.htm

Summer/ School of Philosophy Conversational Series

The annual Conversational Series and Teacher Institute takes place in July at Bronson Alcott’s hillside Concord School of Philosophy, located on the grounds of Orchard House. In the summer of 1879 Bronson Alcott (father of Louisa May Alcott) realized a 40 year dream of opening a center for the exchange of philosophical, religious and literary ideas when he built his rustic Hillside Chapel lecture hall, that still draws distinguished presenters from around the world for lyceum-style exploration. The Orchard House, home of the Alcotts, opened as a private museum and interpretive center in July of 1913.

 http://www.louisamayalcott.org

Fall/ Concord Festival of Authors

The preeminent annual literary event in the Boston area is held in Concord each Autumn. For Two weeks in October and November as many as 50 contemporary writers gather for public talks, readings, and discussions celebrating the written and the spoken word. The venues vary: breakfast panel discussions, large group readings, lectures and book-signings by many favorite wordsmiths.

http://concordfestivalofauthors.com/

Winter/ Family Trees: A Celebration of Children’s Literature

Returning to the Concord Museum for the month of December, the exhibition’s focus on children’s literature makes Family Trees unique among the many holiday events in Greater Boston. Featuring the work of more than 60 volunteer decorators from across the area, each tree’s décor is inspired by a different children’s book: classic and contemporary, familiar and little known, novels and chapter books. Each tree serves as a canvas for the artistic creations of a dedicated team of volunteer decorators. Inspired by the storyline, the illustrations, the characters or setting of a particular book, the decorators let their imaginations take flight, much to the delight of visitors of all ages from all over New England.

http://concordmuseum.org/

The famed Concord spokesman for individualism and self-reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson, once wrote,”When I go into a good garden, I think, if it were mine, I should never go out of it.” This year the Concord Museum is celebrating 22 years of going into good gardens on the annual Concord Garden Tour. 

The Mueseum’s Garden Tour has become a New England tradition for garden lovers from near and far. Each of the nine private gardens reflects the individual interests and passions of the owners and their families and will inspire both new gardeners designing their first perennial bed and accomplished landscapers with acres of garden rooms.

The tour of Concord-area gardens is self-guided and self paced from 9:00 am-4:00 pm. Tickets are available in advance or at the door.                                                                                    

Concord Museum, 200 Lexington Road, Concord, MA . tel 978-369-9763. www.concordmuseum.org

Beavers have been active behind the Hawthorne  Inn damming the Mill Brook. We have lost 30-40 feet of land to recent flooding inundating the edge of our lower garden. This new and extensive beaver-pond has displaced a great deal of wildlife while creating new habitat for others. The wood ducks were quick to explore the area. But, at the same time, the coyotes have been flooded from the adjacent low-lying farmland and now range accross our property in the middle of the night when they had not before. These new night-time marauders have caused the red fox to now travel by day, in fear of their lives. A beautiful and healthy fox spends time on the Inn’s front lawn waiting for traffic to clear before crossing over to Hawthorne’s home.

MFA Boston

We have had opportunity to twice visit the New 4-story Americas Wing at Boson’s Museum of Fine Arts. With this addition the MFA has more exhibition space than the Prado. The galleries are of exceptional design and cancept, offering open spaces and intimate venues for maximum enjoyment. Many of the “show Stoppers” are on permenant display, but the plan calls for regular rotation of treasures from storage to walls. Be sure to make time for a side-trip into Boston.

Hawthorne Inn Maple Syrup

The sap has been flowing at the Hawthorne Inn. We have a tradition of tapping a selection of our Sugar Maple trees in March each year. The process of refining the sap to syrup is simple, but labor intensive. There is NOTHING like fresh syrup from the tree. We have added a delightful breakfast offering to help convey the syrup to the taste-buds of our willing guests: Croissant French Toast! Delightful. Be sure to look at our recipe section for the Buttermilk Pancakes.

We took a walk down the famed “Battle Road”, just a few miles from the Inn, over the New Year’s weekend. This is a photo of the 18th century Hartwell Tavern. The day was unusually warm, with 60 degree temperatures quickly melting the snow. We saw many people enjoying the weather, including a 3 year-old boy who was happily jumping up and down in a knee-deep mud puddle.

There is a spectacular exhibit of large-format, color photos only 10 minutes away from the inn that we highly recommend!

For the past 15 years, photographer Quang-Tuan Luong has traveled across the United States, treasure hunting. Not for gold or hidden oil reserves, but to capture in photographs the spectacular beauty of our national parks. Luong has single-handedly documented all 58 U.S. national parks, a feat that no other photographer has accomplished. The result of his quest is featured in the exhibition, “Treasured Lands: The Fifty-Eight U.S. National Parks in Focus.”

To get his pictures, Luong kayaked through iceberg-laden waters, canoed down wild rivers, scuba-dived tropical seas, climbed to the summit of Mt. McKinley, and frequently trekked the trail-less terrain of the back country, all while lugging his 75-pound, large-format camera, photo gear, and camping equipment. He once had to sacrifice his gear to escape a bear attack.

For mor info go to:http://www.monh.org

Treasured Land