Bonjour Mes Amis:
“The quieter you become, the more you can hear” …………………………………………………………………………………………Ram Dass
“Each time dawn appears; the mystery is there in its entirety” ………………………………………………………………Rene Daumal
“Did you ever have to make up your mind, to pick up on one- and leave the other behind…it’s not often, easy, it’s not often kind…. did you ever have to make up your mind” ……………………John Sebastian
Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir So that every mouth can be fed…. poor me………. Oh, Oh, Oh…the Israelites…………………………………………………It’s been a slow week returning to the Mountain Groove…………The Autumn Leaves…………. Fall is an unpredictable time in the Greens…. came in a rush in early August out of the blue……stopped in its tracks……start-stop-start……. now inching its way towards glory…. each day a new color …. money time in the mounts……days in the low 70s…. chilled nights in the low 50s
Taken advantage of the slow week to get out and explore multiple times this week….a mid-week trip to Middlebury to see the new Shaman, find lunch at the Café Provence in Brandon, visit The Dispensers, take a walk…..then a Friday outing down to Brattleboro, where the 60’s not only live ….but are thriving (the food Co-Op is the biggest building in town)….put on our masks and snuck over to Big-Red New Hampshire for cheap liquor and dirt roads…stopped along the way at huge Orchard store for lunch, apples, trees AND cider donuts….THAT is the sign of autumn……and then, yesterday, a lazy afternoon trip down to quaint Chester for the annual fall festival…with a fraction of the usual mass influx of Jerseyites, due to The Plaque…… and a Soldier-Tent set up to jab arms for the still recalcitrant……
Speaking of tress, The Queen has stayed on her mission…. buckets of trees abound the property waiting to hit the ground….and we now have a mountain of wood chips ready to join the equally mountainous pile of cardboard on her mission to plant every inch of the property and make our tractor redundant…. which does not even account for multiple home improvement projects taking place here and back in the heartland house simultaneously….no sleep for the Nana…….
TQ had a birthday this week…fifty-something….and though Sister Jane was unable to make the visit, as planned, we had quite the surprise b’day dinner….with a gaggle of her bestie lady friends gathering-seemingly out of the blue- to shock the little woman……Papi managed to secretly slave away in the kitchen all day…resulting in a fine birthday dinner of fish cakes with multiple sauces, harvest salad with my home made Maple Vinaigrette, Eggplant Parm with linguine and da famous sauce (just like fat Clemensa would make it), fresh bread…and a series of decadent desserts made/brought by the co-conspirators…………Returning to my Catskill roots…..I cooked to order, served white cloth style, and ate in the kitchen with the bus boys….even managed a mouth – zipping despite having many opinions in response to the sometimes outrageous conversations spewing forth from the candle lit porch…..birthday soiree?…..CHECK!
Its been an adjustment to be away from our passel of granddaughters again after out two weeks of communing, but had a great portal with Sloane this week and the Cross girls Face-timed Nana on her birthday while taking a break from two weeks at Disney……………
Just got a visit from a big Poodle- something (Big Lucy)-who we have never met, but have agreed to take for five days this week……. friend of a friend, of a friend……mountain horse trading…. should be interesting……tall and dainty girl who will be overrun by our Lucy’s total affection…safe to say we will not see Saffron for the duration………
Our TV watching has picked up with the returns of the intense “Billions” and the magnificent “Sex Education” ……plus a new one with Jeff Daniels, American Rust…have even been firing up the eclectic fireplace at night for couch time………
COVID took its toll this week with an old friend of mines dad getting sick and dying within a week…and our decision to cancel out plans to fly to Madison, WI. next week for my other son, Jesse’s, wedding to his lovely fiancé, Jessica. Really bummed about this but could not feel right about a large indoor wedding with a number of unvaccinated folk……The Prodigal is making the trek from Paradise to fulfill his Best Man obligations……Jesse and Max have been besties since toddler-hood…and the Moons are our second family……so especially difficult is this…but that…is the new world we are living in as long as have so many nitwits abounding…………
Yesterday I was assigned to stop to see The Dumpmaster before closing time to pick up another ream of cardboard he was collecting for TQ……and, while there, drifted in to check out the Belmont Mall (at The Dump) ….…came away with a pair of snowshoes, a spanking new snowsuit and gloves for the arctic…gotta love the Swap Shed………
The POND has remained full to the brim all year long….in an astounding shift of the biosphere….and is dispensing little dancing frogs and toads all over the property…. providing Lucy with endless spaz opportunities……Fall tasks are in the air…and a plan is afoot for three 2-3 day treks over the next month…. money time!
And, that seems like enough for a lovely Fall Sunday……. gotta go see a man about a horse……Stay safe, Smile on your Brother………
Love,
Ferlin’
