Hello to all:
Since I know everyone has been waiting with baited breath for my return to these dispatches- I wanted to send a quickie to re-establish the blog. We made our way back to Vermont on Sunday the 5th- stopping overnight in Oneonta to visit with Ryan and Lauren in their cool converted barn living space. I guess we were really ready to go since pretty much never stopped between Delaware and Oneonta (we both had cups in the car for bodily functions). We had pawned off bringing up the Kayaks to our friend Karen who was gracious enough to rid us of getting them on the roof of the old girl Jeep. So- we thought packing would be a breeze this year after we had already spent a season here and brought everything known to man here- plus what we had inherited from Karen….two hours later the car top carrier was out and back on and had to be sat on by two of us to close.. Who has this much shit…
After a really hard winter in Ohio (not only the coldest in 100 years- but every heat and water source in our house broke at some point during the winter) we were ready for change. Stu arrived at the house first on Monday morning to meet the plumbers and turn water systems back on. Even in what is called “shoulder season” in Vermont (yes- we are up to seven seasons now in total) the majesty of the mountains as I left Bennington and headed north brought tears to my eyes (may have also been the onions sitting next to me in the car). The house was amazingly unchanged and unaffected; we were not sure how pre- Civil War house like being left unheated all winter. But no plaster crumbling or rats running amok. It was a balmy 20 degrees in the house but the furnace stated right up and I had it up to 50 when Drew the plumber arrived. Water was on in an hour and the house well heated by the time Jenn and the cats arrived. We had a few problems with phone service and hot water but were up and running smoothly within a few days as if we had never left. Larry and Rachel and the kids were really excited to have us back and made supper for us the first night while we were struggling with having no hot water. By the end of the week we had the house pretty much put away and the yard mowed (glory be- every lawn machine started right up after a little Country Jew maintenance)
So –lovely here in Central -Western Vermont, and with the trees blossoming and our gardens went ape shit this week thanks to our benefactress, Karen’s, years of master gardening. I have planted perennials for years but really had no idea you could expect them to come back as mine never really do. The big news in Mt. Holly/Belmont is that our beloved (though cranky) post-mistress, Jane, is retiring (forced out and unhappy about it ) and being replaced by an even more laconic and stoic Vermonter.
It’s kind of quiet around her right now. A lot of businesses take May off to go to Cancun or Burlington- since it is “shoulder season”, and everyone is recovering from the winter (had two feet of snow her the week before we came back). We have managed three walks in the woods so far and a number of Maple Cremees (you’ll have to guess)- but a lot of our time has been overwhelmed with our “other” house in Groton, Vermont- up in the northeast kingdom. We have spent the last six months trying to get the deadbeat renters out – so can try and sell the monster. Finally got them out in mid-April and discovered a house in such bad shape and odor- we had to wear Haz-Mat suits to walk in. How many fist sized holes can two Polacks make? (not a joke, really). The neighbors say that the problem was that they were from Mass.- whatever exactly that means. So- we have been working on getting people into fix some major things, had our neighbor Deb, clean for 45 hours last week and just spent an entire week there ourselves working from dawn to past dusk. Our friend, Karen, drove out from Ohio for the week to help us –which was a gift of the universe, and our young apartment renter, Spencer, turned out to be an incredibly hard worker and skilled house-man- even though he is operating with only one arm (logging accident last year). And to top it off, he kept us laughing all week. We got mountains of stuff done (pulling up cat pee stained carpets should get you into heaven, no questions asked) and young Spencer is now set loose with a six page list for the coming week – while we have the burden of going down to New Orleans (work,,,Really). We will beading back up there for another week on Memorial Day weekend once the Haz-Mat suits are dry cleaned.
Unfortunately the stress and the time (and cash) involved in trying to sell the Groton house has hampered the joy of our returning a bit, but not totally. Larry is still out there preaching at the Holiday Inn every Sunday and howling at sunset while blessing his God. Liz is getting ready to go to the culinary institute and trying to master Duck L ’Orange and Josh is still keeping his American flag lawn chair behind the barn in case a six point buck happens to show up while he is sitting there.
The woods are lovely dark and deep, but we have promises to keep and miles to go before we sleep.
A few pictures attached and more to come(did I say this was going to be short?). New laptop and can’t figure out how to reduce size of file on photos- so will send pix in several e-mails.
Stu
