Oh what a perfect day we had out on great trails, in perfect October weather, and with Western New England in full “calendar beauty “ mode. This 300 acre sanctuary was established in the 1920s on a property owned by Oran RIce, a New York City architect, and his wife Mary, to honor their daughter, a recent Smith College graduate who had died of tuberculosis. We pretty much just basked in it all: in the forest and in our friendship. A small beaver pond caught good dog Sukee’s attention… she had some good swims today! Sukee, Tony’s remarkably great dog, will be 11 next month. Although we’ve hiked here before, today we traveled on new trails and on one of them we came across a memorial site that quietly stopped us in our tracks. At our brown bag lunch stop, a stone well caught our attention. Hiker Conrad, an engineer, was asked a lot of questions about its construction. It led to a new game , which we’re calling “Stump the Engineer” and which we plan to play every week. On the way home, on Western Mass back roads, we celebrated this perfect day with ice cream cones at the Creamery! I’ve sent you this because I miss you and wish you could have been with us today. Love, Penny 
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