After August’s two-month checkup on Thursday morning, we drove north, our sights set on Massachusetts. Things were relatively uneventful as states flew by. Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey. It was in New York that we ran into trouble. Suddenly, Kato started crying. The reason: projectile vomiting. We pulled over, cleaned him up, kept going. Things were fine until Alden exclaimed that she had thrown up, too. She wasn’t crying. In fact, she seemed rather pleased with herself. We stopped, cleaned her up, kept going. And then Kato started crying again. Projectile vomiting round three. We stopped, cleaned him up. At this point, we were in Connecticut.

Connecticut was, as Connecticut always is, bumper-to-bumper traffic. We endured Connecticut the way one endures an infestation of fire ants.

Eventually, we reached Massachusetts, which seemed even more spectacular than usual on account of its representing escape from Connecticut.

We went to Massachusetts to visit Mom, who is the head librarian at Andover (or Phillips Academy, depending on who you ask). On Friday, we gave presentations to a printmaking class and a creative writing class.

We presented to the printmakers in a big auditorium.

With a very big screen.

We presented to the writers in a cozy classroom.

The kids were great and very appreciative. As much as we enjoy sitting in our barn making books, we really enjoy talking to the people who read them or other people who want to make them.

That night, we had dinner with a bunch of students in the aptly named Mural Room.

We lured them in with cheesecake.

It is lucky that I showed up to intervene, or there may have been no cheesecake left for the students.

After dinner, we stopped and watched the women’s varsity basketball game for a while.

The halftime entertainment was the slam team.

Kato tried to join.

The visit with mom was not all teaching and basketball. There was also time for making cupcakes.

And strolling the campus.

And playing in the library.

I must take a moment to applaud the Andover Library for its excellent selection.

And, of course, no visit to Mom’s house is complete without taking every single Dixie cup out of the dispenser.

On Saturday afternoon, we hugged goodbye, and drove west toward Williamstown.

It was a spectacular, blue sky day. We pulled off the road in Shelburne Falls to take a picture of this wonderful old building, yet another candidate for the factory/school/compound/colony we hope to start one day.

The skies were blue as we started to climb the mountain just shy of North Adams.

And then, suddenly, it started to snow.

By the time we reached the top of the pass, it was a full-on blizzard.

We pulled off and gazed across what should have been a sweeping panorama of the Purple Valley.

And then we headed down.

And around the hairpin turn.

Due to the wonders of Facebook, we secured a last-minute invitation to visit some subscribers and their newly-hatched chicks.

Thank you, Erin and Jonah, Thalia and Lyra!

We spent the night with our dear friends Gina Coleman and Michael Mongue. Gina is the lead singer and bandmaster of Misty Blues, the band I am the sometimes member of. Michael is a painter and devout Zappa fan.

Gina and I headed out to the studio first thing Sunday morning. It was another beautiful day.

Some of you will recognize this view up the hill from Route 43, driving out of Williamstown toward Five Corners.

Once we got to the studio, I set up my rig. I play into an old Gibson 5-watt tube amp and record to the mixing board with a Shure 57 microphone.

When I say “studio,” I should qualify that it was a bit of a home-brewed studio, set up in a library. Hence, the album name, Between the Stacks.

The record is a collection of 11 songs, all originals by Gina or other members of the band.

The session went well. I had to divide attention between my harps and my babysitting duties.

Gina sang, as she always does, like the lovechild of a nightingale and a hurricane.

Perhaps the highlight of the day was the chance to play with Charles Neville (of The Neville Brothers). When he’s not recording with the various other Nevilles, Charles lives in Berkshire County. He just happens to be a friend of Gina’s.

The album is being mixed as we speak and will be ready in a few weeks. I’ll post a sample track here when it’s done and will post a link in case you want to pick up a copy.

When we were done recording, it was time to drive home. There was no vomiting. No drama, though somewhere along route 95, I must have picked up a bug, because I find myself blowing my nose today a lot more than usual.

Next up: a trip to Chicago a week from today for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference. More on that to come.