Professor Sharon

We arrived home last night from this year’s Seminar. It was about a 4 hour car ride home – actually not as tiring as we thought it might be after our busy week.

There were two presentations between breakfast and lunch:

The Story of Harvard Shaker Sister Susan Channel (1809-1880) presented by Roben Campbell  and

Mount Lebanon’s Gifts to the Western New York Shakers presented by Stephen Paterwic

Both excellent and informative.

We traditionally (hubby and I have gone 5 of the last 7 years) end with a circle, holding hands, and singing the Shaker Hymn: Farewell Dear Crossbearers  (ca. 1850 Hancock, MA).  I’m not sure all participants were fond of this event; but I found it a sweet and moving way to say goodbye.

We really enjoyed this year.  I encourage any of my readers to check out www.Shakertown.net for more resources.

It is an avocation for several of us; and a career for others in the field.  Hubby came back with some great ideas for archiving and organizing the many resources beginning to appear online.  I did come back with an idea for an article that I think will fill a couple of needs in terms of information about young children in history that I’ll be working on (of course simultaneously with the PictureBook Plays project I work on with my daughter).

It’s been seven weeks now since we returned from our trip: I’m still adjusting in so many ways….most of all it’s challenging to get back to the everyday small details of life: garbage, weeding, groceries.  The Seminar is always a favorite way to spend the better part of the week, but it made me yearn to be back in other lands walking, thinking, enjoying the day as it unfolds with time to reflect and appreciate.  Something that’s very hard to do in one’s everyday work-a-world….