“Who knows this morning what will happen tonight?” ………………………Chinese Proverb
“Autumn coming is felt not only in the autumn breeze” ……………………..Hokushi
“Coma, coma, coma, Chameleon” ……………………………………………Boy George
OMG…did I miss a week?……………………..Did you miss the week? Did we all miss the week?……………………….too, too much Juju …nowhere to run, nowhere to hide……. Time has come today……TIME…….
As you might imagine, the birthday six weeks for The Queen has taken up some bandwidth and put me in arrears…in a rears?………..so, the gala had continued since we last spoke unabated, with a trip to Les Left Bank in Weston, for a decent diner in an elegant dining room at haute Paris prices…then back to our fave, The Hub, for the monthly FREE lunch…yes, my friends, there is the free lunch (are you hearing me, Feel?)….a magnificent offering, I might add, in this uniquely renovated old Vermont farmhouse , and then on to the Eastern townships of Quebec, for three days of Franco immersion…you might wonder if we are on the stretch run, yet? Non, mais Non. ….still have a fancy ass diner, two more fall outings and an overnight concert trip to go…..I hear the train a comin’, it’s comin; round the bend, and I ain’t seen the sunlight, since…I don’t know when….
The free lunch was surrounded by an inspired day of roaming the hills with The Southies…..who joined us, and got the place to open up the bar for them , at the free community duffer lunch…and patently drove around in circles with us for several hours…..ah…the leaves…ah, the leaves….
After that, Papi was off for three days to CHITOWN, via the hated drive to Hartford, to find The Bear…..stayed in the River North area and wandered my old haunts from my five year run there a decade ago….and did eventually find the Bear’s Italian Beef shrine……dined outside on a lovely fall night at a traditional Italian family joint, watching the big town crowds stroll by well towards midnight…not Kansas anymore, Dorothea…..got to site visit a 28 million dollar neighborhood community mobilization program deep n the hood, that was beyond awe-inspiring…..art, music, podcasts, science, theater, journalism……all for inner city kids to deter them from the system pipeline….take a moment and google –“Build- Chicago”….a testament to the power of vision and positive regard…and hope, hope, hope…..
Came home long enough to spend a day, wash the clothes, pick up the little woman and the hound…and of course, checked in on the return of the grievous Dumpmaster after his two week absence…spent an hour sitting next to him in front of the garbage compactor to see if he would rise to assist…..which he did not, but offer a profound running commentary for each and every dump patron….thinking maybe this is a job for em next year?
From there it was on to cross the border……though it is certainly not the Trumpsters’ border…Les Quebecois are happy to have is…and our own border guards remain proficient at practicing total intimidation, rudeness and inability to smile …I tried several jokes which came close to landing me on a transport to Mexico…but in the end we crossed back thru the quietest crossing on earth …one border guy was snoring in his chair…and managed to bring Lucy back in without being imprisoned…bit, I digress….ah, Quebec….two hour drive to cross the border and within five minutes, into a French immersion course…no anglais, non anglais……found our lil’ chalet in the forest and started our tour…highlighted by L’Abbay du Lac de Benior….a 200 year- old Huguenot order of Benedictine Monks (the silent types) that is magnificent and fully self-sufficient, set in a valley surrounded by the Laurentian’s range….bought a bag of their orchard grown apples- for three bucks American…dollar is bustling north of the border….wow…wandered around the townships in search of Gamache…..and fining somewhere to eat (Sunday thru Tuesday having become a dining wasteland in our necks of the woods)…but managed to find a spectacular Patisserie for les deserts and French cook at home dinners. Then a Parisian sidewalk café in Sutton pour les dejeuner, in the extraordinary afternoon fall sunlight… even having dinner at golf course (only place open for Monday dinner in a 40 mile radius) …food ok- but with a incredible deck view of the sunset mountains in every direction…all accomplished in mumbled Francais.…oui, merci, bon, tres bon, bien, tres bien…ou est la toilette, Merdi, d ’accord….i think that’s about it, non?
So good, we are considering a return trip Les Quebecois instead of annual trek to Maine coast………….
Still waiting for a painter…….
Pond now down four feet- nor rain in a month- and still 70 plus daily….no climate change here……but really, hard to complain…fuck the grandkids…..let them worry about it………
Finished our meanderings with trip down the northeast 91 corridor to nowhere, Connecticut for our sixth annual Bronx reunion………..which is akin to being on the set of Good fellas…….guns and pasta abound…..but re-connecting with friends of 65 to 70 years (no shit!) …Priceless…two unable to come this year…but we still mythically reminisced of the bygone glories of 1950-60s Bronx life……and all the legends that go with it…pas the braciole…..
Got back in time for our annual showing, in our tiny library, of the Manhattan Shorts Film festival……Mt. Holly is one of several hundred venues around the globe, along with Paris, London, New York, Berlin…and us…………. how weird is that? My vote for this year’s best picture of the ten finalists we saw (we all get a vote- even in Belmont, which crowns the international winner)-was for a four minute film, that was able to show a near-tragic and hilarious and heartfelt story in that amount of time…that is brilliance in my book….I’m gonna work on becoming such a storyteller…imagine reading the Blog in four minutes…….
So on to sister Jane’s annual fall visit this week and Cider Daze, our crazed fall fest, next weekend…..hear the sound of the men working on the ch…aainn gang……and, The Beat Goes On…..
Stay on da bus, my friends. Papi
