Good morning all you wayfaring strangers:
“In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds” ………………………………………………………………………………………Robert Ingersoll
“I would like to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding” ……………………………………………………………………………. John O’Donohue
“I’m just a lonesome LA cowboy…hangin’ out…hangin’ on” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Peter Rowan
Time has settled into a standstill here in the Greens……the inevitable Stick Season provides the stark transition from the glory of Fall Foliage to the descent into winter ski season……where have all the flowers gone?…….Not many people about, not much doing, not all that much to say (you’d’ think) ……………………………………….
The magnificent Indian Summer of last week, with 65-degree sunny splendor for six days…has turned into the gray, chilly skies of the Pandemic world…. reducing most all human contact to The Zoom Universe………………
The Plague raged across the continent leaving countless bodies and spirits in its wake…..even pristine Vermont has now limited all reasonable contacts….cannot even see anyone not in your household outside…..72 cases statewide last week prompting a massive set of restrictions….though happy to say that our county, Rutland, has the lowest per capita incidence of cases in the country- at 83 cases per million- compared with, say, our hometown of Delaware with around 3- 4000 cases per million….Christmas in Vermont, anyone?
Thanksgiving is an afterthought at this point……relegated to Zooming dinners…while the national shit storm rages ……and The Moron n’ Chief continues to brag about winning, poo-poohing the Virus, running again in 24, creating his own TV station (hates Fox News now) ……and generally providing a level of angst for our collective souls…. not seen since the glory days of Trick Dicky……got no mo’ nothin’…….
Three of the Bunty boys gathered for music in the driveway back in Cowtown this week, since Prodigal Brother Al returned for the birth of first grandkid from the wilds of Florida……which was so depressing to miss I did not even go to my weekly Monday music session…which now seems like it may have been the last one for a while, masks or no masks….
We bought a freezer for The Queen to fill with myriad jars of frozen soup…we bought an inflatable hot tub to soak in under the frozen stars…and likely buying a new car this week…after an impulse Covid-shopping trip that had us meeting the dealer salesman in the street with Hazmat suits, driving cars back and forth across Rutland town, putting the old Subaru on Craig’s list just to see, and immediately getting an offer….this is about what there is to do in the mountains these days…
Though…. we did take advantage of the sterling six day weather to have three straight days of last-ditch Dinners on the Ground…hauled the old dining table out of winter storage and set up in the side yard….starting each dinner mid-afternoon in short shorts and winding up in furs and blankets as the sun lowered…..what a parade….The Jewish Pig Farmer and his Death Cafe Queen bride (ribs), The slightly Brain-damaged Surgeon and his Honey-Irish betrothed (Veggie Lasagna), and finally the Erstwhile Russian Spy and The World’s greatest School Marm (sizzlin’ grill food)….now, all of it back stored in the rear barn – cum fitness center for the gray ahead…..
And what more is there to say……waiting for the car buyers to come down from Burlington with their wad of cash…and see what happens…. take a Sunday-in –the rain drive……and dream about…… sunny days, holiday gatherings, holding granddaughters (see Bebe in prep for Christmas #3), disconnecting Zoom, and the coming of January 20th……this too shall pass…. Chains, my baby’s got me locked up in chains……
Stay safe, take a walk, bake some sourdough, love the ones you’re with……and let’s all keep our fingers crossed…. A Change is Gonna Come…………………………
Mountain Papi
