I just came back from a really lovely Labor Day weekend with my buddy Rafi and his family, up in their vacation home in the Berkshires. This was my first opportunity to visit the area, and I have to say its some of the prettiest country I’ve seen in the Eastern United States.
We spent the weekend hiking around, swimming in a lake, reading, cooking wonderful meals, meditating, and having long political discussions at the kitchen table. Rafi’s family are all news and political junkies, so we had many spirited discussions about Obama, McCain’s new vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, and the impending hurricane in the Gulf Coast.
At their vacation home I had no internet access or cell phone
signal, which was both frustrating and a relief….
I had forgotten what
it was like not being constantly connected to Twitter, my blog, Flickr
stream, Second Life, email and my many RSS feeds. I had to resort to simpler ways of entertaining myself, like this "Gravitation" game I found in my bedroom.
Rafi and his family are huge foodies, so mealtimes were an important part of the weekend. We had some absolutely fantastic barbecue at the Route 7 Grill in Great Barrington, MA. Their "dinosaur ribs" were my favorite dish, but everything from the spare ribs to the smoked duck to the corn bread was excellent. And all of their fare is produced from local produce and meat, so you can feel good while you are pigging out.
Another highlight of the weekend was seeing the amazing jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves perform at Tanglewood. Often
compared to Sarah Vaughn, Reeves sang an eclectic mix of songs, from
R&B to gospel to swing, backed by an enthusiastic and skilled
quartet. It was a magical performance.
What a wonderful weekend!
Click the Flickr badge to see a few more pictures from my weekend.
Need to charge your phone at work or, when going out of town Don’t bother to unplug the original charger from home. http://home.morewrite.com/