Greetings Blogsters:
” Tell me baby….why you been gone so long, so long, so long”………………………………………….Mickey Newbury
Some of you have noted that last week the blog was in absentia……computer full out crashed last weekend…nightmare scenario….and has taken me a week to get semi back on line…so apologies….still dealing with mess, so will keep it short (really) this week …highlights and pix…
” Having no destination, I am never lost”…………………………………………………………………………..Ikkyu
” Like an echo…the drip drop of showers: falling autumn leaves”……………………………………….Sozei
” Why am I aging so this autumn?….A bird flying in the clouds”………………………………………….Basho
“Autumn lights fills the room…..Vacancy!”………………………………………………………………………….Soen Nakagawa
Last week started innocently enough, with a Sunday night trip to East…The Queen stayed home, so the Jewish Fish Monger and I went to dinner. Left to our own devices…it was a bad eating extravaganza…without monitoring, we went for the Pu Pu Platter….which I probably have not had since Sunday night Chinese dinners with the kids when they were little…actually quite satisfying…until later in the evening….
Early week was filled with beautiful days and rapidly changing foliage..with the hills dotted in red and amber hues….managed to get the Masseuse in the Trailer and her hubby out to a month’s long postponed dinner….not much of planners, those two…and just enjoyed the smells and sounds of the Fall…The Queen began her ascension to the throne with 12 hour days packed with preparations for the coming Cider Daze extravaganza………
Friday morning we took off, after our latest airbnb guests left, for The City (yes, that one) for an overnight with the cousins…and grand dinner in Westchester County…how cool is it to have found older cousins after 40-50 years..and o longer be the Patriarch?…each visit fills in more of our family history….Lucy, the worlds’ most adaptable dog, loves the visits to stay in the tiny apartment on the seventh floor of the city high-rise where she has mastered the art of the elevator system…
Woke Saturday morning to a totally dead laptop….but more later on this travesty…..gorgeous Saturday drive up the Taconic Parkway (where I drove with my late father over 60 years ago)…on up to old, old Woodstock (moonlight in the trees) for our annual pilgrimage to Levon Helm’s Barn…and a concert with the late iconic legend’s Midnight Ramble Band….100 people packed into his magnificent Barn space..all old friends… and acolytes of The Band…the Hudson River Valley is a magnificent drive this time of year, with long forgotten monasteries and center for peace mansions dotting the banks of the great river and the concert was a true happening..Spent the night at a Marriott in Albany…and on home Sunday.
The past week is a blur…have probably spent upwards of 50 hours trying to recover fifteen years worth of lost files and data on my computer…working with the very easy going local computer guy, who has wonderful equipment but a dearth of knowledge…have gotten about half restored, but have a series of absolute messes making my life semi-miserable…no end in sight…not a lot of resources in the mountains…but…at least up and running…and sending these musings to you…so not all bad….
We had two day trips planned for this past week-our annual fall outings…one of which went into the computer-rescue cluster- F….and the second of which landed us at the Wal-Mart in Claremont, NH……where we had car work done, shopped for groceries ..and did out planned hike around the Mart parking lot…kind of a wasted day, except that this Mart makes the most shockingly good fried chicken (six bucks for a 12 piece bucket)..so we also dined in the Mart parking lot
Jenn did manage to drag me away from my file rescue hunt long enough for a few dirt road walks and a trip down to Sal’s in Wallingford one night…but that aside, mostly going blind and stiff….and brain dead trying to reconfigure lost files…how did we get so dependent? Where are the men that I used to sport with?
Reluctantly left my Jones on Saturday to play a set at the majesty that is Cider Daze in our little burg of Belmont (a TOP Ten New England fall event)..for which the dark day turned bright and sunny…for the peepers to see the leaves in full glory….stopped along the way to see all of our local cronies gathered in one place…went straight from the gig to the Odd fellows to serve for the annual wildly popular Roast Beef supper to benefit the fire department….reliving my old waiter incarnation for three hours and two sittings(no tips) of congenial community connections…I managed to nab my own little 12 yr old busboy..and gave him the traditional five dollar bill cut in half, so that he would spend his time helping me and not the other servers (worked in the Catskills!)…Little Davey and I had the most satisfied tables in the hall…making the Queen crazy in her role as the expediter of the plate food coming out to be served…knocking over the other staid and elderly serving staff to get our tables served first…he got the other half of the fiver at nights end…and… made an astonishing 30 bucks in tips from the local curmudgeons
Returned home to our airbnb guests who had arrived while we were gone…quintessential Midwestern couple from Chicago..who left the vast bedroom and bed very little..but were very pleasant to hang with this morning…best kind of guests: come late, leave early, eat no breakfast..and love the place.
And that is it…Jenn is somewhere in Belmont Queening over the Festival..she has spent 10 hours a day for the last two weeks creating the perfect event…
Though this may seem simple…… I currently have no editing program (excuse the typos)..so will now take me hours to edit the garbage I have written..but who’s counting.
Hope to be better next week….Happy Leafing…
Stu
