Summer at Quarry Hill: July

Hot, steamy today, but beautiful... the mountains look almost blue in the haze, and the day lilies are in full bloom. It will be hard to see Winter come again though many love to ski and do other wintry things.
But how beautiful the mountains are, the valleys... the rivers. After Tropical Storm Irene, I thought that some parts of VT would never be the same, but while people have been affected certainly, the
landscape seems to be getting back to normal...never quite the same.  It must be, in a lesser way, what people felt in 1927.
And yet, it is so beautiful here~!

Come and visit if you get a chance. Send us a post or an email or visit our Facebook page, Quarry Hill Creative Center, which sometimes shows up as a community, a public figure, or even an amusement ride.

It is ...sometimes like a roller coaster!~

Today a friend sent me this quote...

Which was one of Barbara's favorites, and I think Irving's too.


"I in them and thou in me,
That they may become perfectly one..."
        ---John 17: 23

I seem to recall a vanished tempera painting that illustrated this quote or maybe a pastel. It is too bad there are so few examples of Barbara Hall Fiske Calhoun's remarkable artwork.

Will take some photos and try to post them.

Ladybelle

Save Animals! Help Dogs and Cats!

One of the primary tenets of Quarry Hill is to help animals -- children, animals and then others.  Children are the main focus of QH because they come innocent and open into the world and
then often get treated either horribly or without respect...  it's a whole other topic.

But ANIMALS are on my mind these last few days. I have always cared about animals, cats, dogs, birds, bees, horses, cows, and all of the above and it is against all we think and feel to harm an animal. While one does not have to be a vegetarian to live here, we do ask that people not keep animals for killing or eating on the  place and ask not to hunt or fish.
I've therefore these last days been trying to do what I can to help dogs (to begin with) and cats.
All can help! YOU Can save a life in high - kill shelters in Texas and Florida and probably some parts of the Northeast too . I mostly interact for the time being  with animal volunteers in Corpus Christi, TX (Nueces Co., where there are many animals killed every week and more on holidays.)
Unless Rescued, they die. There are also many kind people who want to help.

There are many sites on Facebook and probably Twitter that offer to Crosspost (share) information on  animals in these shelters. There are also 501c3 nonprofit corporations (rescues) that save these animals and people who will foster them... though not enough.
We have a lot of dogs here at the moment and kids too (they don't mix when kids are little), so we are not a shelter, but I often think of this idea... give QH back to the beasts of the woods and fields!

Please if you have a chance, go into FB and find some of these volunteer pages such as Nuaches Co. Animals in Need of Rescue.  Find a dog or cat that you like and "share" its information to the many cross posting and sharing sites. Writing something sweet or blunt about them may attract attention. Or offer to help with money (pledging). Don't pledge unless you can really spare the money and PLEASE be CAUTIOUS before sending it. Make sure you see FREEDOM Pictures and get the feeling that the dog is really free (or ask volunteers by e mail) if it is free.  If so, please send the money you promised, usually by Pay Pal.
I really feel that this is worth doing though it is painful.
Animals are sentient beings!

Thanks!
 Ladybelle
at Quarry Hill
Rochester, VT.

The White pig Inn in Virginia-- a Vegan Inn, owned by my cousin!

http://www.thewhitepig.com

We are all Immigrants.

@WhiteHouse

 

See President Obama's talk on this subject.

Obama's speech on Immigration. "We are ... a country of Immigrants."

I think this video is worth watching. We need to do something to help the immigrants who came here as children, or who have deep ties to the US and have lived here many years. Let us help them as we wish someone helped our forefathers (and mothers). Probably someone did and that was how we were able to stay here. https://amp.twimg.com/v/f6fc5e78-5f3e-46fd-8737-e6d8c992c948

Article on Quarry Hill in the 1970s

This article just came out in VERMONT WOMAN. wwwvermontwoman.com and in print in Burlington, VT. There are a few inaccuracies in this article, but it is a very sweet and very kind picture of us in those days. (The first picture is actually in the 1990s). It states, for instance, that people found selling their houses almost impossible in those days. That is not true... it was just that mortgages were hard to get... We never refused to "let" someone sell their house. The houses belong to the residents and we have a lease arrangement with them now, with some exceptions. Some of the houses are owned by the family corporation, Lyman Hall, Inc. Please read this! It has a real flavor of the "way we were." -- Ladybelle http://www.vermontwoman.com/articles/2015/0215/02-quarryhillarts/quarryhillarticle.html

J. Du Pre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llB7NaWLUc4

Happy Middle of Winter

Almost time for Spring. I can't wait. I miss it so much and it has been a long, lonely winter. But I still feel at one with the stars, moon and the beautiful mountains.

CARTOONISTS' LIVES MATTER!

I would like to say this was very moving and as we used to say, "Right on." I only disagreed with the part where Art said comics of the 60s were not political. The whole thing... East Village Other (publication of the NY Underground) and all of it were political, speaking out more frankly than ever before against the war and American politice (Nixon, et al). No one was murdered, but the whole thing was a rebellion against the rigidity of the times... He spoke well. Even though we have been, sadly, not close for a while now, I think he deserves praise for this, and is probably the bravest cartoonist in the US (well, there may be others) who might be able to speak against these truly vile deeds. Here's the site. http://www.cbc.ca/q/episodes/ All lives matter. Cartoonists too. They are brave and not always too aware of what will really cause them trouble! But I admire them and good for you, Art. Ladybelle

Happy New Year!

Let this be a year of great shining joy for Quarry Hill and for the world!
What will make it a happy year? For one thing, give love and  compassion to children and to animals.  Let there be awareness of the joy of the young and their openness...  never hit a child or hurt any living thing...

And you will have a truly Happy New Year every day.

Ladybelle Fiske

Happy New Year!

Let this be a year of great shining joy for Quarry Hill and for the world!
What will make it a happy year? For one thing, give love and  compassion to children and to animals.  Let there be awareness of the joy of the young and their openness...  never hit a child or hurt any living thing...

And you will have a truly Happy New Year every day.

Ladybelle Fiske

Jaqueline du Pré

http://youtu.be/UUgdbqt2ON0Elgar Cello Concerto-- Jaqueline du Pré!!!
A truly great artist and genius.   I love her work and honor this new year by my thoughts of her!

--LB

Re Abraham Venable of old Virginnie and Kathy Grace and Ellias Lonsdale, and Joya L., and me, and Barbara Hall (my mother) == his artist descendant-- and the oddity of life.

https://plus.google.com/107469769614631198950/posts/JmyBmK2uzrD

time for the ALL NIGHT COSTUME DANCE PARTY!

Aug 2, 2014 will be the night for QH's annual Costume Dance Party, kicked off with a Talent Show and finished with Pancakes at dawn!  We look forward to seeing our friends, new and old, and hoe that we'll get good weather for the party!


Please bring a donation if you possibly can. We need money as our circumstances are not as wealthy as they were in previous years, but we will share what we have with you!  If you can please bring food and money for food. Camping is the best way to get a place to sleep on the place. Please, no underage drinking -- you must leave the following day when you are sober, keys confiscated till then-- or dogs off leash!

We are happy to meet new people. Please do bring sleeping bag and tent if you can... don't leave kids unattended... no hitting or screaming at ANYONE"s kids, especially your own. Animals must be treated with kindness. It is all this, plus a love of fun and freedom and the arts, that has made QH what it is!

--Ladybelle

Have you seen our new Website?

Still under construcion, but full of news and information about Quarry Hill and its friends, www.quarryhillcreativecenter.com includes a contact page to get in touch with us about visiting or living here. We are eager to have new residents, and have nice rooms to rent, and the occasional cabin or house for rent or sale.

www.quarryhillcreativecenter.net

Check it out!!

A couple of topics... food for yourself and a donation of money or work for visiting-- and our 2015 ART and WRITING project!!

DEAR FRIENDS,
We welcome visitors and for many years have "entertained angels unawares," and we hope and plan to continue doing so. However, we can't afford to feed anyone though we can sometimes provide a room or camping space up in the woods. Visitors are welcome to forage, but this CAN NOT be their only way of feeding themselves.

We are also a business and must reserve some rooms for rentals. We don't have enough money to offer room and board in exchange for work. We can sometimes offer a room in exchange for skilled work (such as plowing or working on carpentry or mechanics) on a long term basis.

Recently we've been getting a lot of people coming to visit who arrive with no money and no food. We would like to help but can not support visitors with food or money. Please, please, don't come without food or money for the first few days and a plan for getting money for food for a longer period (such as getting a local job or perhaps applying for Food Stamps, in which case you must eat separately from other people in order not to break government rules. If you want, we can discuss how you can stay for a while, but we ask that you bring money for a room if you can ($200-- 350 usually) and ALWAYS bring FOOD and MONEY to care for yourself. Thanks!

-- Ladybelle and co.

We also welcome donations to our artist in residence co-op project for next summer. Writers will write stories or anecdotes, put them p, and artist will choose which ones they wish to make some kind of illustration or other representation of. We will have a show when it is done... musicians and other creative people welcome, too. Check out our Crowdfunding site (I'll see if I can find it!)
In any case, it will be here in the summer of 2016 and we welcome artists and writers and other creative people of all sorts at a reasonable rate for use of the rooms and the public areas.

Quarry Hill's Blog...

Quarry Hill's Blog-- Vermont's oldest alternative community:

Time now for the All Night Dance Party! We dance till dawn in costumes, and then eat blueberry pancakes from a secret recipe by Brion (with Harold Hubbard's maple syrup!).  We welcome people who are peaceful and who enjoy fun. NO underage drinking or any other kind of substance is allowed. Dogs on leashes, please (we have small children here). We look forward to it!

The North Hollow, Rochester, Vermont. Near Quarry Hill Creative Center.

Death is one moment...

Death is one moment, and life is so many of them. --T. Williams

Love Joy and Peace to Barbara

May she be at peace and filled with joy -- and perhaps be born again to be a child of great wisdom and creativity.