Good Sunday to all:
It has been a quiet week Mt. Holly Vermont, our hometown, on the edge of the mountains. We left the country estate in the mountains for a five day sojourn in Asheville, NC- for a 23 cousin family reunion- many of whom had never met before…an interesting experience. Asheville is beautiful and it was good to spend the time with family- but we could not wait to get back to the Green hills- where it has been an amazing 72 degrees with blue skies and white clouds and brilliant sunshine every day almost for the last two weeks. The really bad news was we returned to find our beloved wild outdoor three legged cat- Tripod- missing in action. He seemed to have adjusted to the move – but apparently took off while we were gone and has not returned as of one week later. We continue to hold out hope for his safe return.
The past week has been filled with chores and upgrades around the villa and various expeditions to the countryside. We went back to the Weston playhouse for another show- Loving Leo- a two person one act play about an aging hippie couple coming to grips with their lot in life while taking care of the step father in law, Leo, who we never see. This one was at the playhouse annex- which is the former Gun and Rod club just down the road from the mysterious Weston Priory. It is a bit like going to a Broadway play with no traffic; when we left for our 15 minute drive home- up Vt. Route 155- we did not see another vehicle for the entire ride.
We continue to work on cleaning out the slimy pond and are making progress; the frogs seem willing to go back into it now. Our 16 year old neighbor, Josh, has been helping me- since I cannot get Jenn into the slime. My new approach has been to float out on a rubber float and skim it out with a kitchen strainer- quite a site as you can see form the pictures. Another ten years and it will be an appealing swimming hole. When I am cleaning it- several big ass fogs just ride around on my legs looking up at me with unadorned affection.
We have been interested in some of the Vermont folk objects we find in everyone’s house; almost each home has a set of miniature irons which hold the front door open and cloth covered bricks to hold the other inside doors ajar…I mean EVERYBODY has them…pictures attached (order form enclosed in case you want to by some from our burgeoning Vermont kitsch business).
We were invited to our first dinner party last week- by our new best friend, June, who is the thrice divorcee who lives alone in a manse on beautiful Lake Nineveh. We drove around in the woods for an hour trying to find her house on a series of unmarked dirt roads…it is deep in the woods and gorgeous. We got to meet another couple and the conversation and dinner were enthralling- filled with inside info about the community. We have now made it to inclusion in the grapevine. Our diner companion, Carol, later took our photo at the community gild fair- to feature in the local newsletter (the Chit Chat). We have found that many places we seem to go- we are not only the newest people there- but appear to be the youngest by far (notice I said appear to be).
We have had quite a weekend on wandering. On Thursday- we drove over to Tinmouth to find a snack bar that serves fresh seafood that everyone raves about; it was not open- so we meandered over to West Rutland and found the Good Food traveling cart (fresh lobster on Saturday for $9.00 each)- another roadside attraction. We spent the rest of the day on our weekly shopping spree in Rutland which seems never ending. Rutland has a miracle mile to rival any other place I’ve been. Dinner at Harry’s capped the evening. We don’t watch TV per se- but we are staying up to date via internet and Netflix with True Blood, the Newsroom and Dexter as well as having watched the modern Sherlock Holmes miniseries on BBC. Someone told us about another BBC series- Foyle’s War- which we watched the first episode of on Netflix last night-check it out- it’s a keeper.
Friday we went to the Ludlow farm market in late afternoon and grazed, then bought a bunch of locally farm raised, organic lamb (it took the farmers and us ten minutes to calculate how much we owed for the products). All the markets always have live music and this one had a classic guy who played all Dead music and sounded more like Jerry Garcia than Jerry (picture attached). We stopped on the way home for a short hike in the Green Mountain National Forrest- the Glendale trail , which it seems fair to say may not have been walked by anyone in the last decade.
Saturday came bright and sunny and we headed out for a day of planned exploration (an oxymoron?). We headed into nearby Belmont for the Craft Guild Fair (birthday shopping) and had our picture taken, dropped off our garbage at the transfer station (open Saturdays only) and hit the post office/ general store. We then headed down Rt. 103 and circumvented Rutland (stopping at the Good Food Cart for a breakfast sandwich- they have a drive through!!!). Up rt. 3 to Proctor- a town built on marble and back over to our main road – route 7, to Brandon, for the community yard sale (bought a workout bench for $5 and two chaise lounges at the local Rite Aid). Ate surprisingly good Thai food from one of the yard sale houses and then up Route 7 to Middlebury to the college’s museum to check out their once in a lifetime show of Edward Hopper in Vermont (who knew the primal urban night life painter also loved the pastoral countryside?). From there back to Rutland to the only Home Depot in 100 miles to get deck- stain supplies and into downtown for the summer fest which turned out to wrapping up (this foreshadows theme of showing up a day late and a dollar short- events in Vermont tend to start earlier than what is listed and end abruptly when everyone goes home). We stopped for a quick beer at a shady bar named “Two Sheas” (get it?). We then set off to Pawlet- south on Route 30- for the highlight of the day- a roast pork church supper. For 25 miles down route 30-in the golden afternoon sunshine- we were tailgated by a state police trooper looking for something to do on a slow day (can anyone say out-of-state plates?). Finally got tired of it and pulled off into a farm market in Wells- where we would up shopping (again!) eating homemade ruggaleh (who knew!). The market also housed another of the ubiquitous lunch carts that specialized in homemade bar-b-q and southern comfort foods. We took note and headed down to Pawlet for the supper- arriving around 5:40 to find that the 5 pm supper was all gone. Turns out the town folk line up at 4 pm for the 5 pm supper and they just wind up starting early and being done in an hour. Dazed and disappointed we jumped back in car- and headed back to the comfort food cart. We wound up having a great dinner sitting with the farm family (including what appeared to be the 100 year old grandpa) at a picnic table and trading Vermont stories, while falcons, hawks and vultures circled around the mountains surrounding us on all sides in the sun drenched valley (is this poetry or what?). We finally headed home around 9 after a 12 hour day of adventure.
Last thoughts on “communication” companies: I have been caught in a Bermuda Triangle of craziness between Time Warner and EarthLink on my Ohio internet service. Spent eight hours this last week going around in circles between the two companies and prepping to get on a rooftop and start shooting. Most of the time has been spent conversing with people on the subcontinent who I cannot understand. Most of it has been really distressing- but laughs and irony can be found almost anywhere. In trying to resolve my issues- I am keeping track of who I speak with and when- so this week I spoke with Indian gentlemen respectively named Brian Miller, Rocky Smith (could not help saying to him “are you shitting me”) and my all time favorite, Johnson (yes- just Johnson, like Kareem, or Madonna, or Elvis)…I asked him if he played in the NBA…..
That’s’ all folks- off to Ohio for nine days this week to take care of everything we forgot to do before leaving.
Love many of you, really like most of you, and, well…..
Stu