Mid-summer greetings to all:
“We can’t avoid pain,- but we can transform our response to it”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Sharon Salzburg
“Dahling…Is there anything more boring than being banged at The Ritz”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Unknown European Bourgeois
“We were lying in post-coital bliss when he came crawling in through the hotel window….while the package of meat thawed in the bathtub”………..You’ll have to guess this one
“Jewish triathlon–
gin rummy, then contract bridge,
followed by a nap.”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Haikus for Jews
Well, its ben an eventful week in the mountains….and now…Sunday rainy day, after a week of magnificent mountain weather….time to sit and ponder. Spoiler alert!…off to the flatlands for a two week mid-summer visit on Tuesday, so chances are no blogging for next couple of weeks…unless the Midwestern spirit unexpectedly strikes…..
The week kicked of last Sunday with our goodbyes to the Dutch and Duchess…sending them off to Fenway Park to see the Sox, where they scored cheap scalped tix after the second inning and texted us their glee…Sox won on a walk off homer by who may be the only Dutch born player in the big leagues…what serendipity…..we then headed over to Belmont village for annual MT. Holly Daze celebration, where Jenn presided over the festivities in her role as the Queen of Mt. Holly, while Stu slaved over the blazing hot grill, cooking dead animals to perfection for three hours in 90 degree heat…and got dragged (literally) into community tug of war….which later required icing of all major joint and muscle groups…….
And, while we were away, the Jamaican clan showed up next door for their continued assault on rehabbing the condemned property….. this was a record turnout with at least a dozen burly Rasta’s working on the house and yard while the woman folk roasted what appeared to be goats (had to check for Lucy’s whereabouts momentarily) in the front year….Mt. Holly is going to be a lot more multi-cultural in the near future…….
Made my monthly excursion up to Waterbury-Stowe area this week for the governors ‘council meeting….and an unnecessary, but welcome, night at the only Marriott within a hundred miles…..Driving up last stretch on way there on I-89 you glide from the mountains down into the valley of God surrounding the state capitol of Montpelier and all of a sudden you have Greens to the right, Adirondacks to the left and Canadian Laurentians straight ahead….on a drop dead gorgeous summer day, it leaves you speechless…..this month’s meeting was in the old section of state office complex, where the 18th century state hospital used to be….filled with tumultuous ghosts…..my co-chair on the Jurisdiction committee is a retired Vermont Supreme Court justice, who is the second coming of The Church Lady from Saturday Night Live…which is hard to ignore…..preettttty uptight…..but in the midst of our meeting this week, she told a story of seeing the first live performance of The Band is 1968 at Winterland in San Francisco and rattled off all their entire set list from that date 50 years ago…which has led me to reevaluate my perceptions of Vermonters…..not always quite what they seem…………………
Thursday night, my old friend Feel (that’s Phil to you flatlanders)showed up for a weekend visit from Jersey…which set us off into a maelstrom of activity until this morning. Within minutes of his arrival, we regressed to our 1970s ways and were downing full glasses of 30 year old scotch….and buzz in tow , headed into Belmont for our first music on the green of this summer, which featured the Jewish Fish Monger’s duet group….then on to Ludlow for a three hour supper at the Homestyle Hostel…after some more wine, we just had them bring us the first five things on the menu…and then late night catharsis back home….
Friday dawned bright an beautiful, and we left the Garden Queen for her last day preparations for THE Garden Tour ..and set off to Lake Nineveh for kayak with Lucy, who refused to stay in either craft and spent two solid hours swimming the circumference of the 600 acre lake and whining the whole time in between snorting water out of her mouth….home for short crash, quick dinner prepared by the Queen on Garden break, and off to Weston Playhouse for an absolutely incredible rendering of West Side Story…..27 actors/singers/ dancers on the small stage and voluminous orchestra sequestered in the basement…..simply awe inspiring…when you’re a jet, you’re a jet all the way………
Saturday arrived with a another God-like day, and Phil, Lucy and I managed to get up and out of the house before the Garden Tourists descended on us…leaving Jenn once again covered in mulch (since 6 am!)…. we hit the Dump for Saturday drop off where the Walrus Dump King, Kevin, embraced me and told Phil how much he loved me……he queried about why Jenn was not there, so I told him I had traded her in for my new husband, Phil, and he quit embracing me…though he indicated if we are going to be gone all day, be could pay Jenn a conjugal visit…..after a trip to the post office (everyone in MH is either at the dump or the PO on Saturday morning) we went down to Ludlow to the Café Delight for an hour and a half breakfast (it’s cheap and EVERYONE was there), then off to Weston for Phil to buy his wife, Mo, birthday tchotchkes at the Vermont Country Store….two hours of dirt road driving and then a hike down to the magnificent Ice Caves, where it goes from 80 to 50 degrees in minutes….Creamees in Wallingford and then home to crash….
We finished the night with our monthly debauchery with our favorite Shanty Irish friends , John and Lydia, up at their mountain estate….which was…well…unfit for description in family friendly writing , as usual…..you just have to be there to grasp the experience….. we brought them a dinner Jenn made of brisket and all the fixings plus Rhubarb cake for dessert ….which was a total assault on my purported low-yeast/low carb/low sugar diet….my answer to the mad scientist Doctor for the last three days is “Worse, Worse and Worse”…..but I do plan to get back on the wagon by day’s end…..
Put Phil in the car and on the way to New Jersey this morning….and will be working on recovery….
It has been e beautiful week here in the mountains….and now that the guests, friends and Garden Tourists have come and gone….. it is time to listen to the frogs and contemplate the slow way of life that rainy days bring….
Hallelujah to all,
Papi
