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Welcome to Quarry Hill's Blog!

Quarry Hill Creative Center in Rochester, VT, founded 1946 by Barbara and Irving Fiske, is Vermont's oldest alternative community and at one time was probably also its largest. In the 60s -80s, as many as 90 people lived here.
It was and is visited each year, often in summer (but in every season, really) by visitors from all over the world.
We welcome interesting and creative people who are peaceful, bring no weapons, don't believe in hitting children or killing animals, and enjoy the beauty of Vermont and of themselves.

Most of us do not adhere to any particular dogma or religion, though many do find Eastern philosophy closest to our own thought (some of us are also members of the Quakers/Society of Friends).
We value the individual, particularly people who are energetic and have a sense of humor.
Visitors are welcome-- and prospective residents, too. There are some places for rent, others for sale. If interested, get in touch!
And, please follow the Blog and comment whenever you like!

"The symbol is the enemy of the reality, and the reality is ever one's true guide, true friend, true companion, and true self." Irving Fiske, 1908-1990

Saturday, December 1, 2018

Holidays

Before  Christmas 2016, My daughter, Joya, had an interesting dream. She’s a psychotherapist  working in the field of Internal Family Systems. She lives in Jamaica Plain Massachusetts but visits frequently with her husband, Brem.
My mother had died in 2014. She and Joya were very close, and long had  deep discussions Together.
Joya’s Dream  went like this: it was the last Christmas before  fascism took over the country. (Hillary Clinton had just lost the election and Donald Trump had won).Joya came to visit my mother Barbara in her room, which she rarely left in her later years. It’s a spacious, pleasant  room with paintings on the walls by Barbara  and by many other artists whom  she had taught or whose artwork she liked..
In the dream, Joya came over to give Barb  her present. But Barb gave her one first (As I recall her telling the dream).  It was a ring with a beautiful Crystal  on it through which the one could see beauty and truth. Joya asked Barb  what we should do during the period of fascism.  B said that Joya should consult the ancestors and listen to the ancestors song. And she was singing this song which was about one’s own strength & the strength of all people who value themselves.( I may not have this exactly right, But I will ask Joya about it) . The dream was essentially about the inviolability of the beautiful and creative spirit in  people.  Even Donald Trump and his fascists cannot destroy it.
Joya has these extremely visionary dreams and she also seems to connect to that visionary Spirit Inn my mother, which I sense death cannot destroy. Interestingly when my daughter-in-law chose a date to marry my son, the day she picked was my mother’s  birthday, September 9, 2018 which would’ve been Barb’s 99th birthday.
It is as though she is still around, mingling with My kids own spirit  and way of seeing things. Four instance, in real life my mother would never have said that one should listen to the wisdom of the ancestors. She didn’t have much respect for her family who had been slaveowners in the elder days.
But the spirit of connectivity and creativity reaches across the tide of Existence and non- existence to reunite with my daughter And with the rest of us. In any case Joya has within her some of my mothers our indestructibility. With people like Joya in the world, I feel sure that Donald Trump and the fascists will eventually be destroyed.

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