Greetings fellow travelers and happy Sunday:
“On the journey to myself I’ve been so many people”……………………………………………………..Indigo Williams
“Shine like the whole universe is yours”…………………………………………………………………………….RUMI
“The pure white lotus-
how rare to glimpse it parked in
my neighbor’s driveway”…………………………………………………………………………………………….Haikus for Jews
It’s been a wild week in the mountains- started out with classic Fall weather last weekend- leaves turning, blue skies, autumnal moon…and then had four straight days in the 90s, which I need to report to The Donald for his climate change consideration….then had an all-day soaker Saturday (first drop of rain in three weeks), which led to a high in the 40s and lows in the 20s this weekend…such is life in the mountains…..requires a lot of flexibility and changes of clothes……
We got the back barn roof finished last Sunday after many twist and turns, and it now matches the front barn roof…and MIGHT be our last home improvement project of the year, though I won’t hold my breath on that one………………..just as we were finishing that, we discovered our washer no longer washed- so began the process, which took a week, to find an appliance repair person who would venture up the mountain to overcharge us to get it running again- as “W” would say- “mission accomplished”…so now we are momentarily whole….except for acquiring the elusive pickup truck of Jenn’s dreams. After having our Tacoma offer rejected last week, we found a couple of Nissan Frontiers through the local Ford dealer, and they arranged to have one we liked brought down from a sister(never a brother?) dealer up north. We were on our way to pick it up for a visitation day, when we got texted that the northern dealer had come back and retrieved it and that it was sold. I personally took this as a sign from the Gods about pickup trucks, but Jenn is on to the Ford Ranger now…..there seem to be a lot more folk desirous of pickup trucks in the mountains than there are available payloads (whatever that is)
But…anyhow…home improvement chores completed, we took off for a Sunday drive in the hills of color up around Shrewsbury and found a short walk in the woods for Lucy to chase the wild beasts, and feel the beauty of the changing season (and maybe find a backwoods pickup for sale). From there- we headed down to Rutland for the traditional Sunday dinner at East, where it turned out our friend Beverly (from my beloved Java Baba’s) had arranged for us to have “a drink” on her the next time we came in. Now, we NEVER drink on our forays to East, but we wound up with some gallon size bowl of flaming fruit and spirits with foot long straws to slurp (most of which I slurped down while Jenn went out to the car to get her camera), which generally turned our sedate Sunday dinner upside down, and led to much confusion in our usual seamless ordering process.
So, Tuesday morning came bright and REALLY hot (82 at 10 am) and we took off or the first of three weeks of our usual “fall outings”- pointing ourselves up towards the remote Northeast Kingdom (Canada or bust- before they build the WALL to keep us out). Route 5 along the magnificent Connecticut River Valley was besieged with speckled misty morning light all along the river as we drifted north, with Lucy, happily ensconced in her fort in the back. We spent a directionless day meandering, finally settling ourselves in little Colebrook New Hampshire (we crossed over under camouflage) in a little old knotty pine motel. We had dinner at the only show in town, the infamous Wilderness Restaurant, which turned out to be much better than it looked, and then spent the day Wednesday drifting back across northern Vermont over to the shores of Lake Champlain. At that point, we had nowhere to stay and our prospects- so steered the ship down through the Greens and to the Stowe area, where there are countless places willing to take you to the cleaners. We eventually found an old ski lodge place, the Innsbruck Inn, that gave us a huge room, took Lucy and had an enormous breakfast buffet…..and a bunch of outdoor hot tubs….so we tubbed it at 10 pm (after a magnificent outdoor Italian bistro dinner) on an early October night, and waltzed around outside half naked (Donald- are you listening?) I the tropical mist..…we had to have tow AC on full belts to make it sleep manageable in October……
Which leads me to the title of today’s missive/sermon/rant….on our sunny and extremely warm drive, Jenn began to talk about herself in the third person (as in “no one messes with Jennifer Burrows”)…which led to a rambling monologue (while I drifted to the dog racing side of town) that culminated in her describing her own “Sunny Disposition”….. Agreed….and safe to say, that Stu Berry’s disposition is more likely partly cloudy with chance of rain…..
When we woke on Thursday, mother nature had regained her senses and it was in the 40s. We mosied our way back home through the day- stooping in mountainous Ripton for a hike on the Interfaith Peace Trail (we walked the Buddhist and the Druid trails this time…had enough of the Jews and Muslim last visit).
Friday was a chilly recovery day around the homestead and a quiet night and then the rains came Saturday (rising THE POND up a good inch, so it is now only eight feet down on water). After a day of Rutland cavorting and an afternoon nap, we went over to Claudine’s studio (she is the fearless leader of our local Folk Club and the founder of local legends Gypsy Reel), where she and partner Rod have a recording studio in their barn. This was for the opening of their “performance space” which featured a mountain hoedown with gads of local musicians and eccentrics gathered for a night of home grown music and frolicking. A classic slice of mountain life, where folk congregate to make their own entertainment in the most out of the way and intimate places. The music was exceptional and we made a bevy of really intriguing contacts to help out with the next Tie- Dye Fest next summer. The night ended with several combinations doing A Capella renditions of “One Toke Over the Line” (Sweet Jesus)………only in the Greens…..
So another Sunday is upon us- with a busy week ahead filled with aimless drives, an overnight to the Adirondacks, a house full of leaf peeper guests at the Inn and next weekends’ penultimate Fall event- Cider Daze- on the Green in Belmont…….and possibly a week without any major projects or life changing acquisitions…..but then again, who knows……..
That’s all she wrote……………Dear John……… I sent you saddle home (John Prine)…………….See ya……
Skippy Do
