We have some visitors at our house this week, a little unplanned but most welcome. We took a stroll around downtown this afternoon and snapped a few photos. I’m struck by the contrast between this photo essay and another I made during some of the worst moments of the pandemic, where one could almost sense tears welling up in the collective eyes of the town. A year later, a few businesses are gone for good. But there is also palpable optimism, hope, and new commerce in town. We appear to have survived, gentle reader. Come with us and take a look at what we saw when we were out and about earlier today.

The Energizer Bunny is now a mere shadow of his former self, as he has divested from Bennington and marched on to greener pastures in another state. The town of Bennington has been seeking creative thinkers and visionaries with imaginative ideas about how to repurpose this mammoth facility, mere steps from our front lawn.

My kiddo snapped the photo above on his fancy iPhone, an interesting contrast to the one above it, mine, which I made on my Nikon using the new lens my ex-sister-in-law-but-still-my-sister gave me for Christmas.

The community continues to heal after young Emily Haman was struck down by an assailant only a few months ago; her friends and relatives have erected a shrine in her memory near the spot where she was killed.

Meanwhile at home. Chef prepared us a lovely grilled supper last night, pork and chicken plus corn on the cob, and homemade egg and potato salad, followed up with vanilla bean ice cream and maple syrup. A good start to the weekend, with more fun to be had in the coming week.

I leave you with a few images from last weekend, when Chef David and his daughter and I ventured over to his mama’s house in Brattleboro to celebrate a pair of birthdays. She insisted we bring home asparagus cut from her garden, no argument there. And I forever remain smitten by her cobalt glass collection. It is a worthy start to summer in New England.