A Passerby’s Trail

Home to the world famous annual Longsjo Classic bicycle race,  Fitchburg is a good hour drive from Boston or the Berkshires.  Although Fitchburg is a relatively small city, it is only 211 miles from New York city  and has a small airport of its own and an excellent access via highway or MBTA commuter train to all points.  It truly is a city worth visiting because it is accessible and its historical value is visible through its major cultural institutions including a world class art museum. 

Courtyard by Marriott Fitchburg and CoCo Key Water Resort
150 Royal Plaza Dr.
Fitchburg, MA 01420
Tel. No.  (866) 754-6965
http://www.cocokeywaterresort.com/locations/fitchburg/

This summer, why not get away to the tropical islands without leaving Massachusetts?  Everyday is a bright, sunny 84 degrees at CoCo Key Water Resort.  Yes, even during the rainy days!  CoCo Key is a 50,000-square-foot indoor water resort with thrilling slides, exciting arcade games, Pizza Hut and A&W Root Beer restaurants, and birthday party rooms.  It also has the Courtyard!  The Courtyard by Marriott Fitchburg is a newly renovated 366 guest room and suite hotel located on 45 wooded acres. It offers great amenities, warm hospitality and a convenient location on the Johnny Appleseed Trail and close to Wachusett Mountain Ski Area, universities, shopping and entertainment.  Hotel guests will be minutes from several top golf courses and a variety of other activities such as mountain biking, hiking and fishing.

Fitchburg Art Museum
185 Elm Street
Fitchburg, MA 01420
Tel. No.  (978) 345-4207
http://www.fitchburgartmuseum.org/

Home to permanent collections of American, European, and Asian paintings, prints and sculptures, decorative arts and antiques from Egypt, Greece, Rome, Meso America — the Fitchburg Art Museum is North Worcester County’s oldest and most treasured cultural institution founded in 1925.  An ongoing exhibit til September 13th is the 74th Regional Exhibition of Art & Craft.  You can view over two hundred imaginative works of art in all media by talented regional artists. Many of the one-of-a-kind photographs, paintings, and crafts are available for purchase!

Marshall Farm
340 Marshall Rd
Fitchburg, MA 01420
Tel. No. (978) 342-4100

Marshall Farm is New England’s largest petting zoo with over 150 animals. It is one of the oldest and most established farms in New England. Located on 98 gorgeous acres of land in the hills of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, all of your senses will be excited. Make your own sundae or caramel apples in the fudgery, and visit the petting zoo with new baby goats.

Fitchburg Civic Days
Fourth of July Parade
Tel. No. (978) 345-9550

The Fourth of July weekend kicks off July 3 with Cow Chip Poker at 4 p.m. at Amoit Field, then a downtown block party with a host of live entertainers and vendors at 5 p.m., and ending with a display of fireworks. The parade, which is the largest and oldest Fourth of July parade in North Central Massachusetts, starts at the intersection of John Fitch Highway and Summer Street, and ends at the Upper Common.  Entertainers and special guests are coming in for the event, and an after-party barbecue will be held at 1 p.m. at the Senior Center. Tickets cost $7 and $5 for children!

Last but not the least:  The 50th Annual Fitchburg Longsjo Classic is scheduled this weekend!  Watch world’s elite bikers make their way to Princeton Center from Wachusett Mountain on the 4th of July! 

 
“The wise man in the storm prays to God, not for safety from danger, but deliverance from fear.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Trees fell blocking our roads.  Wires sagged heavily filled with icicles. Power and telephone lines were all torn down in our neighborhood.  Households were without power — no heat, no lights since Thursday night. 

I heard from the radio that hundreds of utility crews have been busy through days and nights.  But our power here at home hasn’t been restored until now.  My daughter has been sick all this time. The night when she ran a high fever every thirty minutes and so, we couldn’t bring her to the emergency room because we had to wait in line for at least six hours.

Last Saturday, it felt like we were sitting at the park even when we were in fact inside our house.  We had gone to a different household in Leominster to stay overnight.  They had power.  They had heat.  They had Christmas lights on.

 
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” — Cicero

It’s chilly outside and the air smells like snow. Before you know it, the holidays will be here. This Thursday, for instance, is Thanksgiving Day. It is a time when we can be especially aware of the things we are thankful for.

For some reason or another, some people are unable to feel thankful even during this very special day. They may be focused on the things that they don’t have. This is rather intriguing to me because I have met a lot of people with less who are more able to feel thankful than some who have much more. So, I’m sharing some facts I would like you to think about most especially this Thanksgiving Day:

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week. If you have never experienced the danger of war, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people around the world. If you attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than almost three billion people in the world. If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish some place, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy. If your parents are still married and alive, you are very rare, even here in North America.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!