Greetings Friends and Fellow Americans:
“Let the sky outside awake a sky in your mind” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Sogyal Rinpoche
“The simplest questions are the hardest to answer” ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. Northrop Frye
“Snowflakes falling, flake by flake. Each flake falls in it proper place” ……………………………………………………………………………Zen saying
“I know I picked a bad time to be in love” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Grand Funk Railroad
It’s been a good week in the far northeast…… After five days of snow and highs in the 20s, the winds of Quebec have showered on us a reprieve with sunny mid 60 days for a predicted week…. we got out, we took off our coats, Papi put his shorts back on…and headed for the hills……and while we were there……driving and hiking through the barren- stick- season beauty of the Greens……we were off the grid….until we hit a cell signal on a mountaintop….and all the text messages hit both our phones……with The News that democracy had stepped up…..
We remain in a shit storm of trouble for the moment……… but many of us believe we now at least have possibilities….to be just, to be fair, to come together………
I am PROUD of our people…………………………
I am certainly PROUD to be a Vermonter, where almost everyone voted by mail and where a clear victory was announced in an hour on Tuesday…. despite a large number of Bernie write-ins………………
I am Not So Proud to be an Ohioan……. I will be rooting for Michigan this year in the annual rivalry game…. Go Blue!!……………………………..
I am REALLY PROUD of our kids, who all got out to vote and be heard, by mail, by early vote and on election day…. special kudos go to Ryan, who stood in line in Cleve-town 2 ½ hours on election day…. we will not be suppressed……
I am PROUD of the media who have refused to spend time focusing on the ridiculous contestations and protests coming from he and his minions…. expectable…. Can you say Hanging Chads?………
I think we can sum up the response to El Presidente in two words……You’re FIRED……
Soooo…. what else happened this week…. not much here…. five days of snow and cold demonstrated a touch of what Covid isolation can be in the mountains………but we remain way ahead of the curve in Vermont……though not immune…. are there really people still refusing to wear masks?………….
Did a bunch of yard cleanup, and winterizing on the house (The Queen has bought out Amazons supply of insulation materials) ……decided that we will be staying in hibernation here at least through November and Thanksgiving………first Turkey-day without the kids and Nave and Suba for 30 plus years……. this will be strange……but this is the boat we are in for now………playing’ any return to the red-going-purple heartland by ear at this point………
Lots of Zoomin’ this week with various projects/colleagues around the country…has anybody not bought Zoom stock yet?……….
Halloweenie passed like a ghost…. though we did have trunk or treat at the local fire station foe the kiddies….and we got to see the granddaughters do their thing from afar by Portal…. see pix of Bebe and surrogate granddaughter, Maddie…….
Donned my Hazmat suit and went back to the newly reopened gym at Okemo this week…after trying to work out in the barn in 22 degree weather (not too bad actually)….and jog up and down the snow/ice covered hills on our major Route 103 (absurd)…..so l found they were only allowing 6 gymsters in at a time for one hour blocks , with a host of safety protocols….picked a time to reserve a slot with no one else signed up….and indeed had the entire building to myself……got to consider risk and need…..and working off election blues was high on the need scale……but felt safe there and it went well -despite 35 minutes of treadmill wearing a required mask ……can you say oxygen ,please?………….
Signed up for Social Security……and thought, give me a break, can this really be true, how did it happen overnight…I mean Social Security, for Christ’s sake…….
And Saturday…..well Saturday was an almost perfect day (can’t tell you all of it for fear of landing on the FBI subversive list)………but when the sun comes out and it hits 70 degrees in November, in the Mount……you gotta be ready to go, go, go in the Greens…..so did our in- town chores and made for splendid Route 100 for a drive between the ranges….over both the Mad River and Lincoln Gaps….lunch on the Green in lovely ville of Bristol, strollin’ through the graveyards, up and down the dirt roads amidst the slanted bare trees light of shortened days……trek to The View at the Lincoln Gap…………….picked up Chinese at long lost, beloved East in Rutland, on the way home…..a buy of yard art for Christmas shopping….and home in time to watch Uncle Joe give what may be the most inspiriting speech of his career…and how about Kamala the Socialist….what a moment for liberty…….
And…since we are having a run of his ridiculous weather……we have lunch on the ground here planned for the next three days with friends we have not seen since the dark cold descended on us and all moved indoors………gotta go retrieve that big ass table from the barn storage…….
So, my friends and family……continue to be safe, take good care of one another…… and let’s come together now and find our true selves…. we can reach the mountaintop yet……
Papi
