Buon Giorno my friends:
“One who thinks he know, does not know; one who knows he does not know, knows”………………………………..The Upanishads
Jewish triathlon-
gin rummy, then contract bridge,
followed by a nap……………………………………………………………………………….Haikus for Jews
Soooooo….have you missed me? No one has called or written to say ? “Nu, where is the blog”…which makes me wonder….and feel a tad insufficient (Tad is a mountain word). It’s been three weeks since my last Tales of Vermont living because…well…really have not been in Vermont to speak of….and who wants to hear about my various and sundry travels (feel free to jump up and say “me, please, me”)…ergo although it has been awhile, this is going to be a rather short installment (promise, promises)
Soon after my last missive, we packed the car and little Lucy, and made the mid-summer drive to the heartland for ten days. Of most significance on the trip back, was my managing to not get a speeding ticket (again) in upstate New York….a veritable paradise of off duty state troopers to fund the local tax bases. We spent the night on the way home in Cleveland with the kids and our new little grand girl, Quinn, who is a little round beauty; got in quite the evening of cuddling and toothless smiles, and Lucy made sure she was clean all over. From there it was on to the ancestral home in central Ohio, which we were delighted to find in fine shape….no squirrel invasion this year, no animal feces, and a highly suspicious 75 degrees and un-humid. We did our ten day whirlwind, spending time with Tess and Jake, doing dinner with friends and getting down with the Bunty Station boys. Aside from an absolutely dead ancient- beloved Jeep, all went well. Jenn got to spend three days in Cleve-town with the grandbaby, whilst I toiled in my periodic work place of Toledo. We finished up with our never- miss birthday dinner with Steve and Sue, who must be approaching 100 by now, and hit the road a week ago to head back with twice the amount of shit we had brought with us. After an overnight in the booming metropolis of Binghamton, NY, (little Italian joint with the best Eggplant Parm in history) we arrived home….and found ………………
##$$%@#$&*!!!###$$$%%%%%%……….FU…..CK…..htr the pump/fountain in The Pond immediately showing barely a dribble……apparently we can never leave again if we intend to have the beloved Pond in function….the gist of it is that the water level had gone so low (foot and a half down) that the bucket the pump sits in was above the water line. Luckily, it had not blown the pump yet, so we schlepped out there and reconfigured the placement to be in deeper water (not as easy as it sounds), and got the contraption once again spouting (have I mentioned that Phil says that the Pond is my “Ahab”?). So back to working for now, but have no idea why the water level is so low, as OTHER PONDS in the area seem to be doing fine…why us? why us?. We are exploring options including running ten thousand feet of hose down the mountain from the springs above….it never ends……….. Aside from that , everything in the mountain home was pretty copacetic (except for Nico having protested our leaving her here by covering the house with cat pee, which Jenn spent her fist nine hours home hunting down and destroying). We were fortunate to have Old George come by and mow the estate while we were gone, which one has to worry a bit about, since we believe he is around one hundred and fifteen years old…but the grass was all cut, and though we searched, we did not find any trace of his body.
So- we got settled in on Sunday, when The Jewish Fish Monger called, wailing about how long it had been since we got down to have the Asian experience at East, so we headed down the mountain for dinner and a late night grocery shop (us and most of the Rutland addicts). Monday was catch up day and a trip to Folk Club…..and Tuesday I headed down to Manchester, NH (have I mentioned that to go south to Manchester, one has to drive north for an hour to circumnavigate the mountains?)…and caught a flight to Philly for a three night Marriott respite (leaving Jenn to do her project compulsion…which she wound up feeling ill, and not doing…what’s up with that?). Had an interesting three days working in a new site for me – Camden, NJ- which has the highest rate of juvenile crime per capita in the known universe, and tooled around old town, where I stayed in a lovely old hotel recently gathered in by the Marriott boys. Spent the last night there with old friend, Phil, cavorting in a great Greek Seafood place.
Got back again on Friday and spent Saturday recovering…and planning for our next round of projects (which led me to make a new round of Marriott reservations). Saturday night, we did our fist volunteering of the summer at the community supper. It is a uniquely Vermont experience to sit at these long table in the “Oddfellows “ Hall and serve a bunch of apparently famished local folk, screaming for more pork and mashed. I luckily had one more restrained table, who liked my serving so well, they tried to tip me (not allowed)….but settled for plying me with several glasses of wine from the select bottles they had hidden under the table….Needless to say, this improved my attention to service detail. Whilst we were cleaning up the hall after dinner, one of the organizers insisted on taking me upstairs to see the “real heart” of it all…..the Oddfellows meeting spaces…..which became a half hour exploration of the history of the Oddfellows (pretty odd, but will leave more details for a later date). Suffice it to say, it’s apparently quite the religious organization , men-only, and bit on the secretive side…..…and they need new “younger” members which was what prompted the tour and recruitment. I quickly pulled out my Medicare card in hopes that would dissuade any further recruitment of me, but not sure, since there appeared to be a dozen hooded men outside my bedroom window this morning (either the Odds or the Klan, I’m guessing). I was, however, pretty interested in the various cloaks, costumes, hoods and helmets hanging in the anti-room –which are apparently a part of the meeting ritual…..I may sneak back to try some of these on.
So…I said this would be brief…and I lied…..Off to hide from the roof fixing going on today, the carpets coming tomorrow and the itinerant tree cutters, who randomly show up. Off again on Tuesday to Baltimore and more Marriott (good hiding, no?). Next weekend the boys from Bunty Station begin arriving for some or all of the week…..and two gigs here in the mountains. On the 24the- we play the local Music on the Green Series, and then Saturday the 26th– we are having a Tie-Dye Peace and Love festival here at the estate. If you are so inclined…come on up…
Enough already……..till we meet again……happy tails…..
Stu-bert