Guten Morgan:
“The fireflies’ light. How easily it goes on. How easily it goes out again.” …………………………………Chine- Jo
“From the evening breeze to this hand on my shoulder, everything has its truth” …………………. Albert Camus
“Seeking Love” Letter of the Year (From Vermont Seven Days):41 y/o loner male, formerly moderately handsome, now world weary, depressed and socially isolated——– looking for 30-50 y/o female to share time with. I’m considerate, but years of depression and self-doubt have rendered me something of a self-hating loner. Interested to hear about you and your story. Hmmmmm……………………………………
The Greens continue to unexpectedly remain mostly Green in this extended drought year, tho hints and teases abound. Have settled into a week of mostly perfect fall days and very brisk nights……I can feel the color, but not see it…. next big rain…. for The Pond…. for The Leaves……. For The Soul……………………….
We started this week last Sunday night with a potluck dinner at some activist friends of ours………………………………… activist enough that the lady of the house at one point said “ I spit on republicans”…….so probably not going to work across the aisle, per se…..there were five couples of a certain age (mine) in a rainbow of colors….the most distracting of which was a very nice 82 year old man who was the absolute doppelganger of Gus Frigh from Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul….despite being a very kind and witty man, I was afraid of him all night….being in Vermont, every single person brought a dish that featured corn and tomatoes (last of season)…and we had bread that the Retired Postal Mensch had waited at the Woodstock Fahmers Mahket for 4 hours to get….every person aside from us had read the NY Times start to finish that morning…whilst I was reading a steamy detective novel…..all quite stimulating…
My stunted work life took a turn while doing a 4 hour on-line live training session this week on some new Zoomish platform with almost three hundred people…I did put on a nice shirt along with my uniform of lounge pants and sweat socks…. was everybody wearing lounge pants out of sight? ………………………………Still?
Spent hours this week trying to find someone to fix my injured auto body…. best I could do was some guy telling me I could leave my car with him for three weeks and he could then probably get it done by mid-November vs. next March……this guy also featured a major junk yard and a snarling dog outside his door and………… never took his feet off his desk while we talked…there were many guns mounted on the wall……car care in Vermont….
Big birthday week…for Jenn, Sister Jane, Ry and Lauren…all in 2 days……HB to all………………
I broke down this week, after a month of some form of sciatica and related countless home remedies, and got a message. The Masseuse in the Trailer is not up to it right now, so went up to our friend Linda’s abode, where a host of feral young adults coalesce. One of them happens to be a licensed massager. So picture this—-walk in to have a message with a stunning and underdressed 25 y/o woman…………and start thinking it would be good if Phil were here to see this………… I already had my silent mantra ready in the event of any overstimulation, but upon arriving found that I has recently sat in something that smelled like poop, so had to run into the bathroom and clean my inner and outer garments, to avoid total smelly diaper embarrassment. KS, the massager, is really quite good, but 25 and, thus, somewhat distractible…..so she had to refrain from digging deep into the problem gluts because (I later learned upon inquiry) at some point she apparently had a vison of sailboats, which intuitively led her elsewhere (these are her exact words)….when I was done, dressed and emerged…..the whole kabob of ferals was outside to greet me and my washed out underwear. It’s possible this is too much for gentleman of my years….
For The Queens big day on Thursday, I had a shakily-conceived plan for fanciful takeout, but when time came …had two local places tell me they were “too busy for takeout” …is this really a thing????…..the whole supply chain-understaffed scenario has lost it sheen with me…..so- zipped down to the Wallingford to see Mr. Sal and his red gravy extravaganza……….for gifts, got her a Retro, a Currently Fashionable and a Future……..quiet evening in the mountains….
So, Saturday was actually the birthday extravaganza. After a quick stop to exchange insults with The Dumpmaster and his cronies, we picked up an unparalleled Turkey Town grinder from Curmudgeon Bob at Baba’s and had the Ludlow Cemetery lunch overlooking the reservoir and then a hike…. then meandered our way up to tiny Reading to the Hall Art Foundation- which is a middle of nowhere relation to MOMA and has galleries in New York, London, Paris and Nowhere, Vermont. These rich folk bought a zillion acres back in the 80s and turned all the old barns into spanking new state of the art galleries, along with acres of grounds with statuary. For this season, thy were featuring the sublime, bucolic water colors of the still-painting, 95 y/o Lois Dodd- set against the tyranny, fright and anger of the Golem-like woks of Leon Golub. Serene-Intense………………Lucy was allowed in for the birthday and is becoming quite the art hound. We finished off our day out with birthday-dinner at the Maple Kitchen…….high up on the mountain access road to the once world renowned Ascutney Ski Area….which has fallen into disrepair but still hosts a colony of enthusiasts…local Roast Duckling, Butternut Squash Ravioli, Harvest Salad and a decadent Lemon- Raspberry cake- all concocted by an imported Moroccan chef.
And that’s about all I got. The Erstwhile Russian Spy and the Worlds’ Most Beloved School Marm are coming for dinner tonight, and we are off this week to the Northeast Kingdom for our first fall-outing of this year….
The harder they come, the harder they fall…. for one and all…..
Stuber
