Happy June my fellow travelers:
“The meaning of life is to see.”……………………………………………………………………………………………..Huining
“Explanation of the unspeakable cannot be unfinished”……………………………………………………….The Buddha
“Long may you run”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Neil Young
Happy June my fellow travelers:
“The meaning of life is to see.”……………………………………………………………………………………………..Huining
“Explanation of the unspeakable cannot be unfinished”……………………………………………………….The Buddha
“Long may you run”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Neil Young
Spring seems to have finally sprung…at last….in the mountains- with four straight sunny days in the 80s…Praise Be…..when you step out our front door, you inhale a plethora of lovely botanical smells, THE Pond is perfectly full, the wetter than wet grass cut…and colors abounding (mostly Green)…we can soon settle in for about six weeks of summer, before we head back into the 20s at night….
In the mountains , there is not much radio reception in the car, so we mostly listen to VPR talk radio. The network regularly features these little ditties on Vermont…. called Brave Little State…which though I roll my eyes when hearing…is actually pretty truthful. The level of social consciousness and community involvement here in the Greens is quite unlike anyplace else I have been. Woman’s rights are hugely valued at every turn, all children have access to health care, the legislature is soon to pass a 15$/hour minimum wage law (in a very economically challenged state) as well as required paid family leave…and….RECYCLING is a mania…we soon will no longer have plastic bags at any store-and have required composting laws for food scraps. This shit is serious….and moving.
Speaking of social consciousness, the Jamaican clan next door are hard at work on overhauling the crumbling edifice you pass on the way to our house…which means carloads of very exotic folk (for these parts) ensconced on most weekends…as well as: loud music, laughing children abounding, roast goat, backyard fires all night long…and a draw that keeps Lucy wandering down day after day (luckily, they seem to love her….and she seems to be cued in to crossing the railroad tracks)…the minority population of Mt. Holly quadrupled this week…….
Tuesday, Jenn was off gallivanting (feeling better after being down for almost ten day) so Lucy and I hung and took our first walk of the year up the still very wet logging trail that abuts the rear of our property…it’s like a post glacial experience- tip-toeing on boulders most of the way….and avoiding the newly empowered hordes of black flies……When evening came and Jen not home, I made the 45 minute- back road voyage to a small country inn in the hamlet of Perkinsville (two ridges over) to see The Jewish Fish Monger play with his buddy (Stu-2) at the venue. They had two other friends there and we were about the full audience….. but had a great time with these classic Vermont types and listened to the tunes while eating country rustic…one can surprisingly find some very kindred spirits in the mountains…both these fellows were artists and….amongst many typical Vermont -like endeavors, they have developed a small humidor device to dry pot in one week…..mountain ingenuity at work…
In between walking the trail and finding the pot trailblazers…I had a deck – side visit from our British Hair Maven….who home delivers our haircuts and lively across- the- pond wit….in exchange for various Jen home improvement projects at her house….she wants me to consider blue streaks for the next cut…
Thursday afternoon sprung the start of our current weather streak- so we meandered down to the Ville of Weathersfield to see the painting studio of one of the humidor pioneers….Vermont oil scapes and French Plein Aire works in a two hundred year old Vermont classic cape….new bestie!…then on to the never before explored Dam on North Springfield lake….for a bewitching hot afternoon walk around the 1920s era Army Corps project – one of a lot in Vermont…these guys do good work…
Friday, we spent the day manicuring the yard for the first time without puddles of water, and then went down to our first Ludlow farmers’ market of the season- to meet our weekend Airbnb guest- a many time stayer with us. We had a nice Jenn inspired dinner together- watched the Heroes of the North dominate the hated Warriors and then got up Saturday (leaving Lucy with our houseguest) and after a quick stop at the Dump (Keven the Walrus Dumpmaster gets very feisty if he does not see Jen for two straight weeks) shot down the I-91 corridor to Skunk Misery Rod (really) somewhere in the midst of mid-Connecticut…for the third annual reunion of my childhood Bronx posse. This is an unreal, larger than life gathering of six guys (and spouses) who had not seen each other for forty plus years until reconnecting in our close –to- twilight years. To say this is profound (as well as raucously funny) is an understatement. Three of us have known each other since grade school days…which exceeds sixty years…Holy cow-that is SICK……It was a memorable overnight, only slightly dampened by our phone conversation with the soon departing prodigal son for an Andes trek, losing track and …then…amazingly running out of gas on the busy interstate on the way home….
But now…it is Sunday night…we are safely ensconced in the manse…the Jamaicans have fled back to the city…and mountain quiet has set back in…
The hills are alive…..
Stu
