Happy Sunday my friends:
“All is one, one is none, none is all”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Zen Algorithm
“You have not forgotten to remember; You have remembered to forget”………………………………………………………….Idries Shah
“This is America. We don’t share land here”………………………………………………………………………………………………………….John Dutton (Kevin Costner) in TV Series Yellowstone
“Wet moss on the old
stone path – flat on my back, I
ponder whom to sue.”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Haikus for Jews
Well….we are officially running on fumes after a month of travel, music, festivals and guests. Our August social calendar concludes this week with a visit from Ryan, Lauren and our grandbaby, sweet little Quinn..…then , perhaps we can get back to some sort of normalcy…but I doubt it…with a busy work travel schedule for the Fall along with a scourge of Airbnb guests and Baby No-Name due in October….and then the necessary time to stand around and watch the leaves change….
Speaking of which…..began to see the first blooming of reds in the maples this week…..early August in the mountains means foliage…..it won’t be long until we are inundated with color….last night we saw the first really Autumn night sky….ominous clouds shrouding the full moon, the air crisp, burning off in the distance…hot damn…
Had our annual five day visit this week with Sister Jane, who is inclined to mostly sit around it the quiet of the mountains and catch up on her rest…..which was slightly disturbed by the water rationing and minor stench around the house…..as the “our life is water” theme has continued. No pond issues, no rain roof leaks, no broken water lines ….but now….The Shit has almost hit the fan (though not that high yet)…..had our septic tank cleaned out six weeks ago, and it was quite over filled, so were instructed to keep an eye on it (and a nose)……discovered last week that after only six weeks it was back to way over full and close to the proverbial back-up. So we are waiting for the sewer gods to come this week and excavate…if we are lucky they will find an obstruction…. if not, we may be calling some of you about taking us in –given the cost of new septic systems, leach fields, mounds for shit…..who thought all of this stuff? ….can’t we just dump our crap into the stream down the hill?
So, all of this has meant the Mountain Queen had us on strict water rations…..no showers…..pee-ing in a cup….once a day flush (if its yellow, just be mellow/if it is brown, it can go down- Vermont folk wisdom)……washing dishes and selves in a plastic tub…..we relented and let sister Jane take a shower after five days….but only because we don’t need additional smells in the house…….
Speaking of Jane, we picked her on Tuesday at airport down in Manchester, NH…..and came very close to running out of gas on our trip home after a visit to NH beaches (Stu- “I’m not paying $3.00 a gallon, we’ll just go to next exit……is this familiar?)..…..my newest learning is that there are a lot more liquor outlets in NH than there are gas stations….but the late August lonesome beaches were quite nice and the drive home through the Lake Sunapee region in late afternoon, sun drenched, mountain faded green…was…well, fill it in yourself……. we made the requisite stop for Maple Creamees at the joint in Downers…which may be our fifth Creamee stop in two weeks…flaunting ourselves to the lo-carb gods…
More water….we have had record rains for the past month, which is, generally speaking: BAD for the Septic, GOOD for the gardens…and GREAT for THE POND…see its full glory…highest levels of the whole summer…not too late to join us for a murky swim……
And….more Goat….though the Jamaicans are once again gone…apparently the Goat residue is not….and we keep catching Lucy wandering down the hill and returning with goatish bones in her month…she loves Rasta……
And, speaking of Lucy….we went out with Jane for a celebratory dinner in Rutland at Table 24 on Friday night….and arrived back home to find Lucy had devoured most of Jane’s giant bag of Trail mix…..internet research advised us that raisins are apparently quite toxic for dogs…so began an overnight vigil to see if she turned into a coyote or something….but eight teaspoons of hydrogen peroxide (welcomed advice from Vet- daughter-in-law Lauren) resulted in immediate Exorcist-like vomiting…and possibly due to the fact that she has Lab size kidneys and liver in a dachshund body…..resulted in no apparent damage…except to our sleep cycle…..
We dropped Jane back off in Manchester on Saturday morning and spent the rest of the day meandering back…a classic late summer -early fall New England afternoon providing impetus for a dirt road walk along Lake Sunapee and a stop in Claremont, NH for dry goods (maybe some wet) at the tax free Walmart (Live Free or Die)….and we are in our recovery mode once again…thinking about laundry down at the steam…..
For those of you interested in such, here is the link to the Bunty Station show from the Belmont Music on the Green last week. Rough sound and mix, but still full of that Flatlander fervor…hope to have the studio session available to post by next week… http://okemovalley.tv/bunty-station-belmont-green
Insha Allah,
Papi
