I am very much on procrastination mode this week doing everything except writing.  I am not sure why that is.  On top of that the universe is setting roadblocks in my path to deter me as well!  I left off last time going to download pictures from my afternoon of being a tourist this time in Stockbridge, Mass.

I will get to that as that is the middle part of my day.  There were some interesting and crazy things which happened which I would love to share so this could get wordy!  You think I am kidding?  This week alone I have been literally a day late!  With multiple weirdness occurring along the way.

I think it all began Saturday with the 12:30 appointment to get my haircut.  I never cut my hair.  The last time I got my haircut was in 2008 when I lost my house and moved to Williamstown.  A haircut is always good for a restart.  It is a fresh start and all of that.

There was a note on the door when I arrived a few minutes early.  That was okay, as I was waiting for Peter (hairdresser) to return from wherever, my son's Dad came riding down North Street on his bicycle with a food container talking about the best Galumpkis and for $1.00 each

I love Galumpkis and rarely make them.  I recently learned that it works better if you steam the cabbage first instead of rolling them uncooked ~ which I had not realized the three previous times I made them ~ would have been one of the first things I told someone if I was sharing the recipe!

So he offered to run and get me some but first he needed to put his in his house so I watched his bike while he ran in and I continued to wait for my hairdresser.  Now I was waiting on two people!  It is never dull on North Street and I was standing with the bike and watching this guy with his art poster for sale when he all of the sudden threw his keys up in the air and I thought he had gotten bit by a bee or something.

It turns out it was some kind of seizure.  He did not even realize he had lost his keys until I pointed them out to him.  He told me about the cause of his ailment and then Tom's Dad showed up and I went back to waiting for my hairdresser ~ who showed up only a couple of minutes later.

Peter (hairdresser) apologized for being late and the first thing he did was cut off about 6 inches of my hair as a base line not to go above.  He then did the shampoo and conditioner before he sat me down in the chair. He had a few interruptions between people walking in off the street looking for money, selling a gift card and answering the phone.

To say he was not focused on cutting my hair was an understatement.  Soon there were two other people in house with appointments no doubt and he was the only one on.  My food showed up in between all of this and I was soon six more inches light on the length and thankfully done with the haircut.

To say I could have cried would be an understatement.  I am so flipped out about losing not just the six inches of hair which I allowed him to cut off but the other six inches on top of that.  It is cute and perky but damn ~ did you have to forget what you were doing and do what you did?????

I paid the man and left to meet my friend for our big adventure exploring Chesterwood.  I phoned him on my walk home ~ confirming that he had not eaten lunch and invited my friend to eat with me before we took off on our adventure.  I knew he had been working all morning and figured it would be nice to share for a change.

I just assumed that everyone likes Galumpkis since I did not even mention what I was feeding him, I was glad that he was a fan.  They were huge so we each ate one and split a second.  I am sure neither one of us could have eaten two full ones they were that big!

My friend assured me that my hair was good.  Although I was silently freaking out.  I was not going to over react until the next  day after I had a chance to see how long it was (or short) wet.  The next day was worse when I saw it wet ~ on top of that I am sad to say that most of my curls are gone!  I can only hope that they will remember they belong on my head soon!

On the way to Stockbridge we decided to check out Kripalu.  Without a million tourist there due to shut down it was very peaceful and beautiful.  I never realized over the course of my lifetime of driving down the road from the Overlook that  is near Kripalu.

We grabbed a couple of apples which had fallen off the trees and took a ride down around to a large field which sports a labyrinth with a Buddha in the center.  The labyrinth takes you around and around and turns you around a couple of times, and just when you think you are going back towards the beginning you are in the center!

It was quite a trip.  It was marked out by these shrubs, which my friend told me carried a mutant gene and we found a couple with spruce branches sticking out of it.  What was more amazing was one which he had seen a couple of years ago which had almost completely mutated from the shrub to a complete Spruce Tree. If you are lucky the pictures will download today!

Closer look of mutation

Beginning of mutation

 


(I have been writing this blog for two days now ~ with downloading malfunctions with the photo's although the test photo I did earlier loaded fine, my son needing help reinstalling his operating system and life in general stepping in the way!)

On our way back to the car, next to the most amazing field of wildflowers, a woman approached us and she and my friend got into a discussion about Kripalu and she told us that she was a resident there before it was a Healing Arts place.

The history of the property is amazing as it is beautiful.  The things you don't know will amaze you to be sure!  I am learning so much about our local area which I am amazed by.  The history, the people who lived there and all.  Quite colorful to be sure!











We left her to enjoy the labyrinth and we headed to Chesterwood, the home of Daniel Chester French.

 It was a nice day and a beautiful drive as well.  On the way in I happened upon another friend of mine and introductions were made.  I have not been to Chesterwood in about 30 years for  a class trip.

We got a tour of the Studio Barn back then, which sadly was closed for renovations.  I do not think they let our class in the house however, so it was a treat to enter the house and see the rooms and the we even got to go upstairs.

Chesterwood

Never a dull moment, while we were looking in the bedrooms on the second floor we ran into one of our friends, Danny who was in town from NYC with his Mom, inviting us to the Lion's Den after our tour.  My friend was volunteering at the Theatre that night so we had to decline, taking a rain check instead.

There was a exhibit of Sculptures of varying degrees of design and media which was part of the reason we were there.  They were placed throughout the woods and off the beaten paths for our viewing and voting. We had a map this time before we walked around, not wanting to miss any of the exhibits.   I liked 5 out of the total very much and the others were okay.

Abe Lincoln ~ Daniel Chester French

Inner View Nexus III  Caroline Ramersdorfer

Arch Path between Studio and Woods

Studio at the end of the Pathway

Our Favourite

My close second fav!

Of course the videos would not download, so I recommend a visit to Chesterwood to check out these really amazing sculptures for yourselves!  I really had a good time and on our way out we voted for the exhibit we liked the best.  It was a hard call between two of the exhibits, in the end we voted unanimously for the same exhibit.  Great minds thinking alike!

Curtain call was rapidly approaching.  My friend had just enough time to run home and shower and change to be on time for his duty which is a good thing!  My son was anxiously awaiting my arrival when I returned. I told him about my day as he teased me about my short hair!  He is lucky I even fed him after that!

It has been five days now since I cut my hair.  I don't hate it per se, I am just not used to it.  It is shorter than I would like it.  It does give me less of a hippy look however which is the part that is most upsetting to me I think.  It is more of a grown up haircut if that makes any sense ~

Since I did begin with how weird the universe has been this week, I would like to get that out of the way and explain in more detail as well while I am here.

On Friday, I had found the coat and the dress at a bargain which was awesome.  If you recall, I mentioned the purple dress as well which was too pricey, although if I had wanted to be frivolous I could have bought it.  I am not really frivolous so it was easy to walk away from the beautiful and pricey dress.  I am more a fan of finding the steal of the day.

So, I left the store and headed down the street to finish my errands for the day.  I was curious about this necklace that I have been admiring for more than six months and so I walked over to peek at it and perhaps put it on layaway.

The store was busy and the display was empty.  I was shocked!  I waited to speak to the salesman and we were both surprised to find that it had found a new owner the day before!  Talk about timing!  Norm said he would make a call and see if the manufacturer could get another one to us and so I left my number a bit less disappointed.

First the dress and now the necklace!  It was more than I could bear!  Of course I was beating myself up over the dress, but I loved the necklace so it was more of a disappointment.  I know myself pretty well and I decided that I needed to try the dress on and convince myself it looked horrible or whatever so I did not regret not buying it.

Later that day when I returned, Norm phoned and told me the manufacturer is not sure if they can get the same necklace as it is a limited piece.  They are going to see what they can do however.  More time to consider if they even find it!

The  dress store was closed on Monday when I strolled by with the sole purpose of trying on the dress to hate it.  I made my way back there Tuesday and what do you know ~ the owner of the dress had taken it back that very morning!

See what I mean about the universe!  Now, today I realize that I have other things which I need more in reality so the Universe was just watching my back.  Some compulsive person snuck in between Friday and Tuesday disguised as me and thankfully did not get what she wanted on either matter!

I am going to try to download pictures again and technology willing we will have more than one rambling account of my stranger days and events and thought patterns!  I hope you enjoyed it.  Thanks for reading!