Usually about now after my summer break from blogging I talk about the boys going back to school and me getting back to a completely full schedule in the studio. It’s been a little different this last day of August. We have a great deal of destruction here in Western Massachusetts. Roads washed away, farms gone, houses swept into the rivers. It’s been a sad couple of days around here. My home and family are fine, just a little water in the basement. But I can’t say the same for others closer to the river. Our neighbors to the north in Vt. Including my close friend Linda, barely made it out alive, leaving her home in waist high water. She and her family are safe and her house is still standing, one of their cars was washed away, and her land is strewn with bits of other people’s homes, including kitchen appliances. They and their neighbors are stranded due to the roads that were washed away. They are without electricity and are sharing meals. I spoke to her briefly by cell phone yesterday. Hopefully today they were airlifted food from the national guard, as I heard many communities were as of yesterday.
Our main roads here in Greenfield were thankfully still in place except for a few. The plows were out all day Monday plowing the mud and the roads are usable again. Interstate 91 south has been closed for three days now. As is Rt. 2 in Charlemont.
The beautiful town of Shelburne Falls was so hard hit, the town where my potter friends Molly Cantor, Mary Barringer, and Steve Earp live. They are all fine, as are their studio’s, but the town businesses will be affected seriously as they head into our busiest season of the year during the fall foliage.
One of the saddest things for me is the loss of our beautiful covered bridge, just up the road from us. It is not only a beautiful place, a county treasure, a perfect swimming hole with a rope swing , it supplies 20% of our town drinking water. The dam at the reservoir broke, and washed out the road around the bridge. Here is a before and after photo.
Here are some photo’s that I took from the back woods near my house which overlooks the Green River Swim/Recreation area. The red roof you see is the concession building. The rushing water with a log jam is actually a high foot bridge which is totally submerged. The basketball courts speak for themselves. What is so amazing to all of us as the waters receded is that everything is actually still standing.
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Making sure I have some flower vases ready for the 
