More fun, less stress

The Tanglewood Marionettes perform "Hansel and Gretel" Saturday in Watertown.

Amid the torrent of worrying financial news, a quiet countercurrent of stories on how to deal with the stress of it all have started popping up. Among other advice on how to cope (such as talking about it or exercising), experts recommend getting out, seeing friends, and finding fun distractions. To aid in that pursuit, here are a few of the best recreational offerings on tap this weekend.

FREE PUPPETRY: Tell the kids you're going for their sake, but take in a free performance of "Hansel and Gretel" on Saturday in Watertown for yourself as well. We could use a story now that turns out fine in the end.

The Tanglewood Marionettes, a national touring company based in Ware, puts on a superb show, featuring handcrafted puppets, colorful sets, and miniature stages with their own lighting. The show unfolds to music from the Humperdinck opera.

This show is sponsored by Watertown Children's Theatre, underwritten by the Dinah Lane Theatre Arts Fund.

"Hansel and Gretel" will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown. Free. 617-926-2787, watertownchildrenstheatre.org.

FARM FUN: Hayrides, cider- and butter-making demonstrations, apple bobbing, and more await at Sweetwilliam Farm in Upton this weekend.

As part of the Footsteps in History observances in the Blackstone River Valley, the 90-acre operation is putting on a wholesome three-day party. View farm equipment and vintage clothing and antique home goods, take a barn tour, and then hop on a hay wagon for a meander through the woods, where you might spot a few wild turkeys or hawks.

You can secure at least one thing for your future while there. Shares of next year's harvest at Sweetwilliam are on sale. With the $50 advance-purchase discount, $600 buys 20 weeks of organic produce, enough for a family of four (half shares are $300).

Footsteps in History at Sweetwilliam Farm, 153 North St., Upton, noon-4 p.m. Saturday-Monday. Fees for some activities. Hayrides weekends this month, $3. 508-529-2000, sweetwilliamfarm.biz, footstepsinhistory.com.

MUSIC IN THREE PARTS: Take one guitar, one banjo, and one dobro, and add buoyant three-part harmonies, and you get Red Molly, the weekend's best balm for worried souls. The increasingly popular female trio may be from New York, but their bluegrass and old-time gospel sounds are so down-home it's as if their notes are carried to you on the crisp air of the Ozarks.

Red Molly plays the Amazing Firehouse in downtown Framingham tomorrow night. If you miss that, they circle back Nov. 22 to play the Circle of Friends coffeehouse in Franklin. It's your ticket to an easy front porch vibe.

Red Molly at the Amazing Firehouse, 160 Hollis St., Framingham, 8 p.m. tomorrow, with Marc Douglas Berardo. $15; seniors, students $14. 508-405-2787, amazingthings.org.

MEET THE LITERATI: Losing yourself in a book is another easy escape, but if you can't decide which one, Newtonville Books has a solution - let a gaggle of authors pitch their books to you.

On Sunday, seven writers will help this independent bookstore celebrate its 10th anniversary by reading from their latest works. The event begins at noon with cookbook author and chef Marjorie Druker, owner of New England Soup Factory in Newton and Brookline, doling out some comforting samples, followed by Anita Diamant and Sue Miller at 1 p.m.; Alice Hoffman and Jim Shepard at 3 p.m.; and Tom Perrotta and Richard Russo at 5 p.m.

Activities for youngsters will be noon-5 p.m. at nearby children's bookstore, Lizard's Tale.

Newtonville Books readings at noon Sunday, 296 Walnut St., Newtonville. Free. 617-244-6619, newtonvillebooks.com.

RED SEA STORIES: Kathryn Bard, a Natick resident and archaeology professor at Boston University, has spent seven years helping direct excavations at a 4,000-year-old harbor on the Red Sea in Egypt. At 2 p.m. Sunday, as a guest of the Natick Historical Society, she'll share tales of artifacts from long-ago seafaring expeditions to the fabled land of Punt (now known as eastern Sudan and Eritrea) in search of incense and other exotic materials.

Archaeologists have uncovered remains of cedar ships and rigging, equipment in man-made caves, and hieroglyphic texts about the expeditions. Call it campfire stories for adults.

Kathryn Bard, 2 p.m. Sunday, Eliot Memorial Hall, 40 Eliot St. (Route 16), South Natick. $5 suggested donation. 508-647-4841, natickhistoricalsociety.com.

BUYING WELL, DOING GOOD: At the fall crafts fair organized by the Sudbury Savoyards and the Sudbury United Methodist Church, you can do some shopping and do some good. During Saturday's annual event, roughly three dozen New England artisans will be offering handmade wares for very reasonable prices, and all display-table fees will go to the relief of world hunger.

Finds will include Swarovski crystal hairclips starting at $6, herbs in cloth bags for $1-$3, and cross-stitched and knitted housewares such as placemats starting at $5. Finer, and pricier, wares can be found among ceramics, photography, jewelry, handbags, scarves, baby items, quilts, doll clothes and art at the Old Sudbury Road church at 9 a.m.

The Savoyards, a Gilbert and Sullivan theater troupe, will hold auditions next month for "Utopia, Limited (or The Flowers of Progress)," an 1893 opera lampooning the idea that a company can go bankrupt, leave creditors empty-handed, and assume no liability. Let's just hope this theme feels like long forgotten news when it's staged in February.

Fall Craft Fair is 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday at Sudbury United Methodist Church, 251 Old Sudbury Road (Route 27), Sudbury. Free. sudburysavoyards.org.

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