Leaf Peeping

We're off on our fall leaf peeping trip.

So far so good.

We stopped at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass. We joined 3 bus loads of people older than us.
It was interesting - the guide pointed out things about several paintings- things to look for as we looked at the other pictures. His pictures were in several magazines, most notably The Saturday Evening Post . Mr. Rockwell felt a picture had to be framed to be finished. The magazine would remove the frame and make the copies etc and then throw the picture in a pile, so, the guide explained, Mr. Rockwell would pick them up the next week when dropping off the new picture.
He used family members and local people as models for his pictures. The guide told us about one picture where a young boy on a train is trying to figure out how much he should leave for a tip. His son Peter was the model and he told how hot it was that day and the suit was scratchy etc. He said his father finally told him if he'd sit still for an hour he'd take him to FAO Swartz and buy him anything he wanted (he got a train set). Bob's cousin had been a model for 2 of the magazine covers, the window washer and the University Club, both were Saturday Evening Post covers in the 1960's.


Today Tim, Ann Marie, Bob and I went to Fruitlands. Tim and Ann Marie had been there for some functions but only outside on the grounds.
There are 4 different buildings. As recommended we started at the Farmhouse. It was, briefly, the home of Bronson Alcott and his “consociate” family' ( he was the father of Louisa May Alcott). Then we went to the Shaker Museum, the Indian museum, and the Fine Art Gallery. All were very interesting and more information is available at http://www.fruitlands.org/attractions.
It was a very good day.