Mes amigos:
“Normality is a paved road. It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow”…………………………………………………………………………………………Vincent Van Gogh
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Jack Kornfield
“Slow reading is like boulabaise”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….John M.
“Hava nagila,
hava nagila, hava–
enough already”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Haikus for Jews
Well, this a shift…blogging from the friendly confines of Baltimore-Washington International (known to the commoners as BWI)….en route from the mountains to the Columbus heartland…no, not it’s yet baby time….actually sneaking in under the dark of night to do a couple of days of training and then sneaking back to the mountains…
This is basically my third work trip in ten days- enduring the heat in both St. Lou and Baltimore (it’s called Charm city for a reason….have you watched The Wire?)….so much for my fabled semi- retirement…
But what a drive…down Route 7 through the splendid Greens on one of those God-like early Fall days that only happens at elevation…mid 70s, big, big, blue skies, puffy clouds and just the hint of foliage busting out all around…we seem to have stalled on the foliage front, and looks like it’s going to a pretty late peak this year…and… love the little airport at Albany when I can manage to find flights out of there…$9/day for valet garage parking may be the deal of the century….AND….did you know that Albany airport was the first municipal airport in the country???
Yesterday was another perfect day for the Mountain Queens’ BIG 55 birthday…in typical mountain fashion, we started the day with mower repair and then a trip to The Dump, where Dumpmaster Kevin proceeded to give Jenn several surreptitious birthday squeezes. He then instructed me (while she was perusing the massive metal junk pile -see the website cover page) on what I should do to get Jen “in the mood tonight for some birthday fireworks”…The Dumpmaster is truly our sage in the woods…. and on top of that he gifted us an almost new massive carnival tent that someone had dumped at the dump…
From there we headed out for a birthday lunch, which in the mountains has an interesting twist, taking us to the Tinmouth Snack Bar (more than it seems….but not that much more)…where we dined al fresco in their backyard surrounded by mountain beauty….then on to find the proverbial dirt road for a leisurely midafternoon hike through the silent countryside…you can see it was a darn good walk from the photo of Lucy with her gigantic tongue droopfully hanging from her mouth…..
And also…. at 8 am this morning (on a Sunday no less) our cantankerous mountain plumber showed up with his SHIT-expert (Bill and Phil…nice ring, no?)….and have collectively determined our septic system reparable without cashing in our 401Ks…so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that this week may be the end of six weeks of water rationing….and the end of showering/laundering at whoever’s house will have us…carting dishwater out to the yard and the infamous once only a day flush (which sometimes provides some unique surprises). I think our months long septic trauma is best captured by the photo at the end of this diatribe (parents-do not let your kids see this)…which more or less captures the whole shebang (if you don’t read The Blog on e-mail version, you’ll have to go through the photo gallery to find it, as I did not think having it on the cover of my web posting was quite in bounds (Bet that has your attention) ….but to e-mail friends….let’s hope so)…
With being gone most of the past week, you would think I would not have anything to say…shame on you…but I am limited…..so maybe briefer than usual…maybe not….
Friday brought the return of our Boston Shanty (but…NOT Southies) friends John and Lydia, who invited us up the hill for dinner and drinks (a euphemism for getting bombed)…we should know by now that these events require sleeping the entire day in preparation and then having nothing to do until midafternoon the next day…but we do not learn well on this…and the usual debauchery presented itself….with the notable addition of meeting our new best friends, Hench and Heather……it is kind of hard to describe what these evenings are like (Phil might be able to chime in here after having the experience this summer)…but it is somewhere between a carnival, a 60s “happening”, performance art and watching/being gladiators…..maybe best captured by some of the quotes of the night…….”I drop acid and I want to kill my husband”…”You’re a big fake on the intoxicant front”…”I really just want to be making pickles”…though, maybe, you have to be there and keeping up to appreciate these…
And finally, I am thrilled to get around to providing the elusive link to the Bunty Station Vermont 2018 studio sessions, that we did last month…if you are so inclined to listen…enjoy….and let us know what you think… https://vimeo.com/album/5415238
And that is about it…Jenn is now a legal senior…I am casting my shadow around various airports…Tess is 25 days out but on day to day watch….and autumn soon abounds….what’s not to like?
Papi
