Buenos Dias:
“Autumn light fills the room vacancy”………………………………………..Soen
Well, it’s been a very busy week in Mt. Holly, our hometown. And the highlights are:………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Folk Club (my Bunty Boy musical substitute) has become interesting of late , with the addition of a 12 year old violin/ mandolin prodigy…amazing and humbling….I am trying to move her to the joys of the bluegrass music.. and to stave off the influence of the musically evil, crazy woman who haunts the joint
It RAINED. it Rained….our first in two months and a good one overnight last weekend…rained all night long…and THE POND gained maybe an inch (now up to maybe 3 feet of water) which it has since given way to dissipation….it is safe to say there are more fallen apples in THE POND than there is water…on Sunday I scaled the cliffs again with my bucket to retrieve around 500 rotting babies…. we now have tourists coming by to see the famous site where the meteor struck leaving a gaping hole in the ground…. The Inn at Scum Pond might soon be The Inn at None Pond
The peepers are here….we have had guests all week this week at Chez Scum….started early in weak with a couple from Miami via Mexico City and Argentina…we did the SAMBA all night…fine people and a lot of fun…we sent them off with a map to Woodstock and The Kingdom to see the leaves. Starting Thursday we are full through Monday with a wide sampling of the human condition…which means constant changing of linens, vacuuming, restocking breakfast and purchasing additional bedding…..We’ve been lucky to have a stream of interesting people at the Chez, and mostly very appreciative (we are five star hosts on Airbnb you know)…….plus thy all love Lucy…
So- we took off this week for our second fall outing…a rambling trip to northern most Vermont to our most favorite dirt roads. The Colors were unbelievable…popping like a postmodern abstract realist extravaganza….the Stannard Mountain road, which goes from Greensboro Bend to Lyndonville is a majestic 20 miles of vistas stretching well into the Laurentians in Quebec, with rolling farmlands and green forests along the way. We stayed at an Airbnb in the woods in the classic 1970s post commune Vermont style…and I mean in the woods-off the grid…will just say it was a delightful location and leave it at that (did not get five star review)…on our way back home we stopped at the Whippi-Dip in Fairlee on the next to last day of the season and ran into someone we were trying to hide from seeing (you’ll have to guess on this one) in our old hometown of Groton….you can run but you cannot hide…the last of the ride home was filled with a spectacular peak autumn late afternoon light that had Lucy whooping for joy and running in circles (well, maybe Stu too)
Now, we are finishing up the week with our annual Cider Daze Festival in our little town of Belmont. The Boston Globe named it one of Vermont’s top ten fall events, which has led to an onslaught of flatlanders crawling through the tiny town in search of the real Vermont ($9.95 plus tax). Jenn has been off helping to orchestrate the event as she has become entwined in the community organization and may be prone to over volunteering her time (feelings about that, have we?)- so she has been running back and forth for three days, while Stu greeted guests and made mind numbing conversation as well as road trip guides for everyone. I got to play two sets at the festival Saturday morning, which was a pretty pleasant 60 degrees (great improvement over last year’s morning set at 38 degrees). We all joined back up to help with the community supper last night….the annual roast beef extravaganza. We served 228 dinners to locals and leaf-peepers alike. My night was highlighted by one mildly overweight woman yelling “more beef” with her mouth full of dripping beef blood as I walked by with my hands full of dirty plates (I mean yelling!) and then my “co-server” who started jumping up and down yelling “It’s my table –I can take care of it myself ” after I brought people some extra napkins. I eventually put plugs in my ears and smiled my way through the night. Had the post supper, workers only communal dinner and then rushed home to find three guests arrived and settled. I greeted the two woman downstairs -who had apparently let the young couple in who arrived just after them . They are a Marine couple from Quantico on 3 days leave- who drove all night from Virginia to see the leaves and have a romantic Vermont road trip. So, I immediately went upstairs to greet them and found them half undressed and the bed rumpled (they had been here only 20 minutes!)…so I will categorize this as Stuis- interruptus.
Ok- no mas…gotta go… guests are stirring, the pond needs apple-picked. Jenn has to get back to the Ciders today and I need a nap. Off to Maine this week to the healing waters.
Lots of pics this week to tell the story.
Cha-cha-cha…Shang-grill-la…Can you did it?
Stu
