Greetings friends and family:
Scribing from 10,000 feet on way to N’awlins for a few days on secret assignment….a relatively short trip from Vermont (the place where no planes seem to fly to)- will only be about 8 hours travel time as I took a shot at a night flight with very short layover and made all the connections…must be living the life. But, actually it’s Trench Girl who has taken on the “I love my life” mantra (which is usually accompanied by asking me if I am happy…..which then leads to a discussion of 2000 years of Jewish struggle and despair….which hopefully might someday result in no longer being asked that question)…..but back to Trench Girl- who is not only the Queen of home repair, but the proprietress of our thriving Airbnb, and an aspiring organic farmer and yoga master as well as a recently employed shop girl…so I guess you might see where this is life to be easily loved…..
We have now finished our foundation project and put back the shrubbery…looks pretty damn good for do it your-selfers. Plus we have had a run of warranty work….have I mentioned how much I adore my garage door opener…my first ever (don’t remember ever seeing one in the Bronx?). With that and leak repairs by the Roto- Rooter man- we are almost caught up with the needs of our 175 year old house. For a while we have been suffering from REALLY bad water pressure (like having to catch drops as they fall out in the upstairs (read=my) bathroom- to fill a glass to brush teeth). The Roto guy said we needed a new pressure tank, or we could blow our well pump, and said tank would be a 1000 cool ones…ughh…our lives have become driven by water…So-I called our usual plumber (non-warranty) and Bill the Grumpy Plumber, said “nah, check the damn filter system”. So I did…and it was filthy, and I cleaned it out and changed the filter…and, lo, the water gushed forth like the Red Sea (you know biblical, but the red is really more a metaphor). In Vermont, we learn to really appreciate mono-syllabic, grumpy plumbers.
So- after all that- Jenn’ sister Jane came to pay us a visit- to celebrate both their September birthdays. Janes’ flight was due to Manchester (NH- a nifty 2 ½ hour drive for us) at 9:30..but as luck would have it, we enjoyed the fruits of minor Hurricane Danny…and Jane was re-routed through Chicago (never go west to get east) for a 1 a.m. arrival. We took Lucy and headed for the Diner ,and hung till they threw us out and then waited curbside (one a.m., the TSA take pity and let you sit there). Once Jane arrived and we had our hugs, we got in the car to find all our sitting with doors open for Lucy, had led to non- battery delight…and everyone gone. Luckily, the airport kindly keeps someone on site for the yokels who run it dead. We got home at 4..…a jump start to our visit.
So- the highlights of our visit with Sister Jane:
• We visited Jenn’s’ organic farm where Lucy got to frolic with the piglets and we came home with a bumper crop of organic melons
• We made the required visit to Ramunto’s- to get Jane the best slices of pizza outside of lower Manhattan
• Jane got to attend the last Belmont Music on the Green of the season- which featured the musical stylings of yours truly along with Belmont Mountain Boys (the local folk club, really)
• We took Jane to lake Nineveh for her first kayak experience ever (see Jane row)- to go with Lucy’s first real swimming experience- she swam most of the lake (see the wet dog pix)
• We had the Friday evening mountain immersion experience, with a trip to the Ludlow Farmers’ Market, the early bird specials at our beloved Sam’s Steakhouse (when you come, you too will be treated to the famous early bird!) and then Friday night music at the Okemo Resort
• Jane read and napped a lot and looked at the stars and mini harvest moon
So- after a day of doodling down to NH by the back roads we put Jane on a flight Saturday evening and came back to the homestead, where we resumed water blockage duty on Sunday. After Jane left , we had some last minute Airbnb guests on Saturday night – a very nice Chinese couple from Burlington, whose names I could not quite remember- so invented some for them…Max rolled his eyes over the phone when I told him this, and cautioned me to use my plurals (i.e.- two hot teas, not two hot tea…you may have had to be at Sunday night dinners at the Ming Flower to appreciate this nuance). BTW- Max is drifting around the Central California Coast in probable search of the perfect wave-check out the picture of him in the gallery. The family is currently in planning for December trip to Hawaii- so we are warming to full battle mode in preparation….which may have sent Max scurrying….but enough of that.
So- relatively short and sweet in advance of the Labor Day holiday and the official end of summer. Steve and Sue will be arriving this Friday for a week and then we will hit foliage season full stride, with lots of Airbnb guests and our own hunt for red October. I’ll keep you posted…soon to be on the website-you might remember…
Love and kisses to most everybody, Stu and his multiples……..
