Greetings and salutations:
(Spoiler alert…..Max and I are in the process of turning these “Rambles” into a real life blog. Have been loading in the archives…all the past blog entries are in and now working on Stu’s Reviews, for those of you who receive that, so in not too distant future, will join the 20th century –not 21st mind you- and you will get to read these on line. More info to come…kind of cool though)
Mid- August…the leaves are changing, the mornings are chilly, the light is turning to autumn….and we are back ensconced in our beloved Greens after our mid summer trek back to the heartland. It’s been a very busy few weeks with visitors, end of sickness and lots of work on the homestead.
Have I told you about contractors in Vermont? It’s kind of like Jamaica, running in different time. About three weeks ago, the Barn painters showed up…two months after our scheduled time. Wow….four hours in and out…and we have a newly painted horse barn. They are from Alabama which may explain the time thing, but they did an amazing job, whirling around like dervishes to scrape, spray and fix wood. In the end, we now have bright red New England barn. Barn fixing begat water leak fixing, so that meant our local guy, who shows up unpredictably unannounced some mornings and gets to work . We now have the sun room with new flooring and under supports and the roof sealed up…which led to…… the Foundation issues. One of those “dig it out and patch it up” sort of things. Except when we dug it out on a 90 degree day last Monday (12 feet long, four feet wide, five feet deep), we found a gaping hole between the foundation and the original field stone foundation…the size you could crawl into and spend the night. So, Stu picked up and left for the week and Jenn took it on. The contractor turned out to be more of a supervisor than a worker, so Jenn got a mason out here to block it up, then (on her own, stubbornly refusing to call anyone for help) she got stone delivered, put it in, laid pipe, more stone and then sealed it up and filled it in. Stu showed back up from Richmond, VA. in time to fill it in and help grade it. And did I mention, we hit massive rock everywhere we/she dug? Jenn will be on the cover of this months’ “Woman dig Holes” issue (#666) and you can see the cover photo in our attached gallery. The local men all think this woman must be the catch of the year….I mean, what’s not to like, right?
So- now we are hopefully water tight and will not sink…..at least until the next seepage. 160 year old houses do present some conundrums….
We had our good friends Jane and Jeff here for five days, and did the total local Vermont thing. A show at Weston (The Road to Where), two straight days of kayaking at Lake Lowell (our newest most favorite) and Lake Nineveh, a hike over at the hidden -trail man in Hubbardton up to the majestic Moot Point (really) (best view in Vermont for only a half hour hike), Music on the Green in Belmont and some great dining. It was a really nice visit defined by Lucy swimming a half mile back to shore after Jen dumped her in the lake, magnificent star watching, and an ongoing debate on the wisdom of calling woman “handsome” (the lead woman in the play, a seventyish ball of energy was by my account a “handsome woman”- which sent shivers through Jane and Jenn’s cerebrum.) The defining moment of our visit occurred at the music on the green in discussing whether to make a rather long trip over to Maine to lap seawater….debating the merits of going, Jeff stated he really did not need to make that trip since “You are my ocean”…got to put that one on a scroll on the wall, no?
So as I said, I made a side trip this week down to lovely Richmond, Virginia to help save the children. Richmond in mid-August…kind of like the “smell of napalm in the morning” (check your movie trivia)…hot and steamy with a hotel full of Chinese expats. But, you’d never guess, that Richmond turns out to be a food mecca (really, no shit!) and my wandering produced some memorable Italian and Cuban meals . It did take me 12 hours to get back to the mountains on Friday starting with a cab drive to the airport from hell…had to wake up the driver sleeping in in his cab at 6 a.m., and he then he proceeded to drive the wrong way down Richmond’s busiest thoroughfare and go through three red lights at full speed…starting the trip off really well. Then, in the great tradition of trying to fly back to Vermont, I took flight number one from Virginia down to Orlando to get a flight back to the mountains. Orlando, always a lively stop, happened to be besieged by last minute, before school starts, Disney aficionados, so flew back between two people wearing Mickey ears…oh to be home again…
One interesting thing in our adopted state is the prevalence of old deserted mansions. Our favorite is the magnificent Clarendon house in tiny Clarendon Springs, a massive example of country shtick opulence that we have been watching be resurrected for the last 15 years. We drove over last Sunday for a picnic on the porch and stroll through the ruins. We love these places and wonder why were they there? That’s your assignment for this week.
Last night, we made a pilgrimage with a group of friends to see the Poets of Fish over at Fair Haven, where we not only enjoyed the great Prudential dinner (early bird) but got to share the room with a wedding…fun was had by all. Today we head up to see if the house of horrors is still standing and see if we can flag someone down who might be driving by, that we can turn the deed over to.
Good news for the week: Stu had a follow up Western Blot blood test (this is fancy stuff- goes to the Mayo Clinic) and has “converted” (no, still a lapsed Jew)-which means an indication that I “had” Lyme disease rather than “have” it….good riddance.
Well, miles to go and mountains to climb…got to get Jenn out of the ditch and head up to Groton…so until we meet again….
Love and kisses from the Lyme man and the Trench girl,
Stu/Da/Cuz/Ferlin/Uncle
