My Fellow Travelers:
“To know you do not know is the best. To pretend to know when you do not know is a disease” …Lao-Tzu
“Blind man running thru the light of the night, With an answer in his hand.
Come on down to the river of sight, And you can really understand” ………………………Neil Young
“Happy Trails to you…. until we meet again” ……………………………………………Dale Evans
We have reached the fork in the road…and should probably take it…. Stick Season is upon us……the days are darker and shorter the nights filled with the lonesome sound of cold coyote…..last leaves flutter to the ground as diamonds and rust….It is the season of the witch…….
Despite the frailties of leaving, it has been a varied and good week here in our hometown, where The Queen presides over the Mountain Court.
Vermont music has been reimagined this year and the Monday Night Rambles became A Groove when the varied and talented gathered of an evening to make the music of the folk……I will miss Belmont jammers and the often tri-mandolin frenzy….
I may have negated to fully mention, in the last missive, that we went to see the legendary Bruce Cockburn last week at the splendid Paramount Theater in Rut-land…dare I say that the power of imagination and spirit live wildly in the age-bent Canadian icon…..and that who knew has so many rabid-and still breathing- fans…….of an age…touch of grey …or a bit more…..and along with that discovered the House of Tokyo..…an improbably genuine Japanese eatery on Merchants Row for the last 30 years….how observant we sometimes are?
Amongst my fare thee wells this week, will be the sad parting with my semi-permanent loaner car.……which I have had for over two months this summer/fall……which the legions of Jeepaholics have tried to diagnose and correct to determine the source of its alien-derived misery….the little dealer in on The Mount, has asked for one more chance to find the multiple ghost issues….so I will probably trade them back tomorrow…or I may just take the beloved loaner on a Heartland jag……call it a fair trade ….perhaps I can visit my ghost once in a while?
We will certainly mis our step-dog, li’l Ivy, who now shows up every morning at 7 am to knock and see if Lucy can come out and play….and then spend her time half in and half out of the house…. alert to any possible appearance of the wicked beast, Saffron, who might show up and terrorize her any minute….
Made a three-day trip to Baltimore this week…. reliving past glories and staying at the very cool Hotel Indigo…. a top floor room with a view of the city and the monuments…and sampling the cuisines of Ethiopia and Afghanistan….who knew there were so many colors in the world…. not here in the Brave Little State where everyone pretty much looks like Bernie……did I mention it hit 87 degrees while I was there?……clearly living in the wrong place……
My two biggest recent pet peeves are Ballots and Tolls…. took me three weeks to get nan absentee ballot…. and then have only day to get it is a in order to count…do you feel like your vote is wanted?……who comes up with this shit, these barrier-rules……. feeling totally voter-repressed…. Is it possible that the wee-weenie- controllers of Ohio don’t really want to have my vote count on Abortion Rights and Pot legalization……… Hmmm?……….and then……. try traveling anywhere these days without an “easy pass” ……. Just try paying your toll on line….do you have to demonstrate an under 80 IQ to work for the state in these capacities…let me pay…please let me pay…I really want to pay…..ok, full disclosure: I also just happen to want to pay so that the dealer dos not get the dreaded “pay my toll” billing…….and find out I took the beloved step-child out of state…..
Speaking of farewells……pr…et…. tty…. exhausting process……. I second that emotion…make it stop……
And it just one week, we had ongoing issues with Comcast Cable, Amazon and Verizon……. say……. Representative……. Representative…. Representative………what language exactly are hey speaking?……phones, cars and packages…all feel the pain of mountain life…………………………. can I get a signal?……….
Goin’ down to Ol, Ol Woodstock…..feel the cool night breeze…..made the trek yesterday down the mountains……to the bend of the mighty Hudson….back, back to Big Pink….and to the Midnight ramble…..though Levon is gone, it is now the Helm Family Ramble…….th players were mostly new from our heyday in the 90s, except for daughter Amy and the great horn guys who have been coming up from the city for 50 years of Alan Toussaint charts…but art and beauty are still in the air……100 privileged members of our Tribe gathered in the acoustically perfect candle-lit barn seeming to move back and forth in time…and re-visit the Angels of Saugerties…..to rejoice in the music of The Band, in the holy-land from whence it came ….it amounts to a few hours of rapture and togetherness…….spent the day trolling diners and challenging any possible notions of low carb….how good is it to find a full page of dinner specials at the classic Greek-run diner…tucked inside the 12 page menu…and server with soup, salad, sides and dessert for about 15 bucks…….and then to Levon’s again….oh my; he has a namesake grandson …..a teen angst belter with Joe Cocker like moves…and when he and his mom duet on Ophelia, with young Levon on grandpas kit…..Ophelia, please darken my door…..did I mention the uber-hip 60s revival of Saugerties and the lighthouse?… it a thing after a forest walk…who knew there were lighthouses on the Mighty Hudson……
Well Hallo-Weenie has come and gone, as you can see from the little-dervish pictures of all the heirs….and thus……………………it is really time to go….but, then it is also time to come….endings beget beginnings….and that is where we are….
Stay warm and in touch…see you somewhere on the other side….
Papi Stuber
