Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

See these gorgeous, harmless looking waterfalls? Yes, they are gorgeous and they are generally harmless in the SUMMER, when a dip in these is refreshing, but in October?! Wow. I took Yannick the German and Ginger (two of the Farm's volunteers) to these waterfalls a few weeks back. It was a cold afternoon, and by the time we dared each other enough to get in and actually did it it began to rain. It was cold, but invigorating. We didn't stay in long, but we did it. For some reason, doing this again, two weeks later seemed like a good idea, and a way to introduce (initiate?) a couple more of the volunteers, so this time Yannick the German and I took Magdalena and Rachel with us. It was cold a few weeks ago, so you can imagine what it was like the second time around! Even colder! But we did it, everyone forced themselves back against the pounding waterfall; climbed down big rocks and across rough pebbles to submerge in the wading pool at the bottom of the falls. I have dubbed th...

My family (my Mom, sister A1 and bro-in-law M, and Monster niece and nephew S and A: ages 4.5 and 3 years) came out for a long weekend, driving from Michigan. I had some time off while they were here, but also had to work a little, so I found some things for us and them to do. If you are ever in Berkshire County, MA, here are some things worth checking out: Umpachene Falls : One of the best kept secrets in the Berkshires; Umpachene is a series of tiered rocks which splash the Umpachene River down. You can either hike (carefully) up the falls on the very slippery rocks (I fell and took Monster niece S with me, though we both got up and laughed it off), or hike the trail through the woods which follows the falls. Be careful, you eventually hike to a point where it becomes private property. We had a great afternoon; Mummy Dearest, Hubby and their two kids (Big and Little Fish) and M&N and their two kids (M&S) joined my family. We ate a picnic hodge podge lunch, the kids played wit...