Author: stumberry

Greetings fellow travelers:

“Men are proof that women can take a joke” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Louise Erdrich “The Night Watchman”

“Eventually, all that one has learned will have to be forgotten” …………………………………………………………………… Ramana Maharshi

“A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.” ………………………………………………………………Carl Sandburg

It’s been one of those weeks where life takes a major turn, yet the days go on, the sun rises and sets as if your world did not change on its axis…………. Tessa and Jake welcomed baby Parker Maxwell to our crazy as shit world on Thursday night……and a sense of incomparable beauty emerged from the wasteland of the Plague years. Nanna and Papi now have FOUR Apples of our Eyes (where does that come from?) ……our fourth granddaughter in four years- and getting close to our own hoops team-class of 2038…. how cool is this? All are home and well…and we look forward to our first visit end of next week…. little Parker is said to resemble Papi….so I guess she is an old Jewish man?

What else is there really to say……well, if you really want to know…. I guess maybe I can conjure up a few thoughts.

Spent last Sunday beginning our recovery from weeklong The Band Visit……cleanup was a can of corn with the last ones standing, Nave and Zoo pitching in…Sunday night we took them out for their shared birthday dinner….to Ludlow and the Hometown Hostel……for a Creekside Tented extravaganza…. then down to the lawn by the school and the huge cannon, to listen to Vermont mainstays, Gypsy Reel…. a comfortable end to a non-stop week. Steve and Sue left Monday morning and we began our recovery in earnest

After the absolute mountain beauty of last week, it turned nasty hot all week…. hot enough to have our five nights a year in which we decry no AC…. which provided an excuse for some floating in the majesty of the uber- clean POND……that somehow became a thing of beauty over the mysterious winter……added heat bonus…. the grass slowed down from growing for the first time in months

Made a trip up to Middlebury midweek to see the new version of The Shaman, and get structure restored, then a quick visit to the dispensary and to see Mama Corleone at wonderful Costello’s’ Italian deli…we had The Don Barzini….

Had to make a trip over to Rod and Claudine’s Mt. Hollywood studios to overdub my lead vocals from our recording session the week before…since they mysteriously disappeared……blessing in disguise…just me in the studio with whisky and headphones…. singing along with the previously laid down band tracks….

Since The Queen was tied up with gad flying most of the week, Lucy and I had a few lunch and walk adventures…making a day of grave exploring  on Friday…..though- lunch is pretty complicated these days in these parts…..two places in Ludlow closed for no apparent reason, two others with lines out the door….so settled for takeout sandwich from the Café at Delight (get it?)…which is no simple task…they have hired a post-remedial young woman to answer the phone …it took me three calls to get my sandwich order in…when I got there , I saw the ticket she wrote for the order, which said  “Edge Salut on Weet”……seems like the labor shortage must be real…..

Saturday turned out to be our outing day this week….after a quick visit to see the Dumpmaster and the local Goat, who did the Vermont two-step with Lucy for 20 minutes and tried to butt my nose and other parts….we put our Ronald Reagan masks on to surreptitiously cross the border to the land of Live Free or Die (Vermont is more  of a Live and Let Live place)….and made our way to the charm of the 300^th anniversary celebration of the Acworth (NH) Meeting House…complete with dinner on the ground….got in a few walks and spent the day alternating between driving rain and bountiful sunshine…winding up in the river town of Bellow Falls for a stroll and a trip to the Dari-Joy (400 flavors of ice cream on the same corner for 80 years)

And, that, my friends, is about all she wrote…. it’s a drop dead gorgeous day here on The Mount……the weather has broken to late summer splendor, leaves are begging to change, Lucy is lounging in the un, Saffron is staring longingly out the window, ruminating on how to repeat her overnight escape….and a drive/walk/ country lunch awaits…..FOUR Granddaughters!…who would had thunk it?…….

Be well, stay safe, be in touch……

Big Papi

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Sunday Greetings:

“Where are the men that I used to sport with” ……………………………………………………………………………David Bromberg

“Oh, what a lucky man…. he was” ……………………………………………………………………Emerson, Lake and Palmer

“Long may you run, long may…you run. Although these changes have come” …………………………………………………………. Neil Young

The week that was……music in the mountains………………. THE POND was FULL…. the tractor got fixed……and after two weeks of rain, the sun came out on Monday and stayed out all week, with mostly perfect blue skies, low humidity and cool mountain nights……with stars abounding…….and….an astounding amount of music was made with much love….

The Nave and Zoo drove through all day rain on Sunday and arrived safe and sound though a bit washed out. Then, like a miracle, the sun came out Monday morning (after two weeks of rain) and stayed out the entire week. Monday was acclamation day culminating in late dinner on TV trays, ala Ozzie and Harriet, in front of the Olympics- especially the woman’s beach volleyball. My assumption is that those outfits are still worn for aero-dynamic purposes? Nave and I hit Folk club on Monday night -the first of six straight days of music.

Unlike past years, there was not much outdoors activity for the boys, since we had a bunch of old man injuries going on…. but The Queen and Zoo spent the week kayaking and Zoo got in 36 holes at Okemo, with a bunch of New York types.

The rest of the boys arrived on Tuesday and the games began. Joined by four local friends, and the majesty of Fiddler Bob, we got in a couple of practices the next few nights along with the requisite chaotic family dinners. Full house reimagined!

The show on Thursday at the town Green was one for the ages ……. nine of us huddled around the tiny bandstand….and set records for attendance and an extraordinary tip jar of almost $400. Late pizza dinner was followed by the most intense laughing jag (more later) that lasted almost a half hour….…. with Feel spouting liquids out of every orifice and yours truly bowled over with rib cramps.

Friday, we got to the studio at the ungodly hour of 10:30…and spent about three hours laying down three original cuts with a real live recording engineer. Stay tuned for seeing that in your inbox after it gets mixed. Friday night was fried chicken and the Beatles cover band at Jackson Gore, where the sun set and the temps went down 20 degrees (us in t-shirts and shorts) and the Fab Four wannabes lost power during Roll Over Beethoven…which to their credit, they picked up exactly where they left off when the power came back on.

Friday night featured the loss of Saffron, who discovered there is a world outside the house, when the front door latch (an 1850s era type) was left open for the umpteenth time (needed a tutorial apparently). The Queen rose at 4:30 and together with Gracie May, lured her back in…cold, covered in dew…and totally traumatized…did not see her for the next two days.

Saturday was perfect for the Tie-Dye fest, with a smallish, but very enthusiastic crowd. Amazing Mike and bride Cheryl, played a set with Fiddler Bob…then the expanded Bunty played a set with the full entourage (Nine of us, sometimes ten) …….and finished the day with the requisite campfire. In between, the magic emerged as many slowly gathered, one by one, in a circle, and sang spirituals, with our choirmaster, Johnny 99…. a simply perfect moment. Most of the boys were up and out this morning before 7….…. but Nave and Zoo are staying over and we got the mess mostly cleaned up in the bright and hot morning sun.

I could go on for hours, but there are a lot of pictures to tell the story, story. I would be remiss to not note that it is hard to believe how seven of us co-existed in the house for almost a week………guess that’s what happens when the long standing family re-unites (the miscpachah). And……The Queen…. did it all-all week long…orchestrating every dinner and the whole Festival things……she gets the MVP……again. Oh, what a lucky an …. he was.

I would be even more remiss to not provide some of the more astute comments that eked out over the course of the week:

“Up next…. the Burl Ives songbook”

“Is that someone talking at my head”

“I gotta go spread my bed”

“Stu…. I suffer for your art”

“How yellow does it have to be (to finally flush)?”

“My lungs are containing flammables”

“When your partner asks you to do something (a “bid”) …. you gotta accept at least 7 of 10 times”

“My pronoun is Thou”

And, finally, the story of the week: Man walks into a club with an octopus. Says to bartender, “I bet my octopus can play any of the instruments lined up on your stage”. Bet is taken. Barkeep wheels out the piano, and Octopus plays a sonnet from Brahms. The man asks for his bet money……. barkeep says…not quite yet…. brings out a trombone. Octopus plays Dixieland jazz. Man says where is my money…. barkeep says just one more, and comes out of storeroom with a set of bagpipes. Octopus starts checking it out all over the various parts. Barkeep says “what is the problem with him”. Man says “no problem….he’s just trying to get her pajamas off so he can F__k her”……REALLY……It may be that you had to have been here….

And that’s ‘all she wrote…..Dear John…just send my saddle home…

Ferlin’

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Mama said……… don’t go near that river:

“The mimosa and the weeping willows. Beautiful strong nature. It takes me a long time to fall asleep”……………………………………………………Albert Camus

“Be like a mirror, or mountain lake, that reflects whatever passes before it” ……………………………………………………………………………………Eckhart Tolle

“Lesson One: I give up”……………………..Zen Proverb

Is anyone watching these Olympics??????????

Twenty –three K new cases in Florida yesterday….is the sunshine state a third world country……………this is like holocaust denying, no?……….Vermont had a surge of 12 cases last week…. where would you rather be?…….

And, the waters shall come………The Greens are having the most rainfall summer in over 50 years……. get daily texts from the weather mongers about flash flooding…. the rivers and streams are swollen to over flow……even when the rain stops, you can hear the sound of rushing water (and, drip, drip, drip) all around……hoping it is not a harbinger of the return of the last tropical storm to destroy Vermont….

Mount Holly Daze came and went last Sunday, with the sun coming out to shine over the Star Lake Algae……had a good schvitz plying the massive grill for three plus hours, whilst the folk tugged of war, and the band played on….

The Queen, aka Jenn Appleseed, is in the daily process of obliterating the property tree line…. she has discovered the chainsaw……removing all kinds of old growth trees and stumps to plant her pilfered pines and arborvitaes………she spent one whole day out in thunderstorms cuttin’, diggin’ up and plantin’…. arrived back in looking like a drowned kitty……mountain makeover?……..

Vermont music….is like nowhere else…..headed over a few ranges on Thursday to check out a little live in the meadow…….over to Middletown Springs (where people once went to take the waters)…..for a little postmodern Celtic swing from a young troupe of hipsters…..the band set up in front of an abandoned train car…sun setting behind them….pizza wafting out of the portable bake overs…..and dozens of Birkenstock shorn lads and lasses…..just about perfect…..snuck in  a stop  on the drive home at the West Rutland snack bar for fresh whole bellies and hand cut fries….Papi’s night out…..A friend of mine from folk club had offered to drive over together, (a car?…with another non-related human?) when I discovered he is not vaxxed (hard to find one of those here in the Greens)…..so declined petri dish of car ride there and back….is this the new conundrum of our times?

Thursday was our weekly day out….and followed up on a tip…. down through Londonderry and over to the hamlet of Wyndham……to The Fourth Corner Foundation…. another post-apocalypse, roadside attraction of master gardens and hobbit-like architectural wonders……THIS is a hidden gem….50 years of creating gardens and putting up very strange edifices……and…it was…. all ours, since no one knows this place exists…. Forgive the obsessive picture taking of flowers…though in fairness I only included about a third of the ones I took……Monet could have lived here……

On the way home, we hit the Verizon store for our bi-weekly visit to see if they can get Papi’s phone to work (not) and then on to Wallingford, where every place we tried to get dinner would not let us in….the worker shortage in Vermont restaurants is astounding….it is almost impossible to find a place to eat without a reservation…even in the smallest dives….is this our ultimate penance….shunned to an endless loop of snack bar dining ?……though “snack bars” in the Greens are a whole other species….

Luckily, none of the above applies to Chinese, who appear to have their own unending labor force……so down the hill we went last night to stock up on groceries (is it possible to spend less than $100 at the grocery anymore?)  and a trip to the magic of East for fine Asian dining…week complete……

The Flatlanders are coming……The Flatlanders are coming…. today marks the first arrival of the Bunty Station boys for our annual week of Vermont music……Ohio arrivals starting tonight….and, even Prodigal Brother, Feel, arriving in a few days from Jersey……Music on the Green show on Thursday and the 20^th (or so) Annual Tie-Dye Fest later this weekend with a recording session thrown in at legendary Mt. Hollywood Studios……our 43^rd year of hacking away for a number of us……tune em’ up, Danno….

The tractor is still in the shop…….so it may be line- up- the- push- mowers again this week to get Festival ready……

The POND is PEAKING……and…. the phones are occasionally ringing for three to five minutes of uninterrupted service before the calls drop………another week on The Mount….

Saw our first changing leaves last night on way home……summer phasing out in the Greens??!!??

Teach your children well…………Stay Safe…. Be in touch……

Papi-San

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Bean me up Scottie:

“It’s not doubt, but certainty that drives one mad” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………Friedrich Nietzsche

“Kind woman…. don’t leave me lonely tonight” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Richie Furay

“Soon I will find the right words…. they will be very simple” …………………………………………………………………………………………………Jack Kerouac

It’s another Tequila Sunrise…. dark, damp Sunday morn on the Mount……been a lot of those in last three weeks……with intermittent glorious days of 70 degree no-humidity sunshine…. feels a bit like Oregon living…when the sun comes out, it is time to go…go…. go…

The deluge has been GOOD for The Pond- whose cup runneth over……and maybe the most pristine it has ever been….no algae, no scummy….no nuthin’……where did it all go? …. Took a dip for first time after grueling mowing (more on that later) yesterday….and it was P_E_R_F_E_C_T………

We are up to one and half working phones……which apparently is par for the course in the mountains…. but not all that much fun….

The rain has had us mowing 2-3 times a week since we got back….which ……predictably, led to our lil’ ol’ tractor blowing up (again) this week….no mas……drained out the oil to see status –and it was almost all gas….which is generally a pretty bad sign….Joe the Mower guy came to get it yesterday….and…of course…..I put in fresh oil, cleaned it up…and the fucker started right up and ran like charm…..I hate the “mechanic thing” when it happens…..he took it away just for good measure or to make me feel less woodchucky….

So…this week resulted in …. twice push mowing the whole property……which I can tell is no country for old men……can I get a witness?

On the bright side…. The Queen’s newest obsession is……. making little gardens around all the volcanic rocks in the yard…. which has led to our newest ritual…. collecting cardboard……allegedly used to kill the grass for the next lil’ garden…and cover the cardboard with clippings from the bagged push mower……see the symmetry of it all?…..And bonus…a few more weeks of little garden making…and there will be no need to mow at all…

Had our first dinner gatherings in two years this week……first at the hobbit-home of The Erstwhile Russian Spy and The World’s Greatest School Marm…. just the four of us, plus Bilbo and Frodo……then last night were graced at the Manse by the Jewish Pig Farmer and the Empress of Death…although we made the dinner, TJPF brought his ribs……he goes nowhere without his ribs…almost always stopping on the way here to munch a few…. THIS feels a wee bit normal…

I have re-entered the world of making live music –returning to the Monday night folk club…to sit in a circle and drone for a few hours…. though it lacks spontaneity (of any kind) …. still good to sit in a room and expectorate with others……and after all, it is Vermont…. not crazed Florida…. Also went to our first music on the Green in Mt. Holly on Thursday…. with local statue, Jeb…and his friends (that is their name) …. how cool is it to see a community return to their green on a warm summer night?

Speaking of which, The Bunty Band will start arriving for a week of music next Sunday……playin the Green, having the Tie- Dye fest and hitting the studio for a short recording session……all, of course….TGLWATCDR…..c’mon social media wonks, you can  figure that one out…..

Friday dawned a G_D day….so we hit the road….crossing the border in good fog, to cover our tracks ….over to the place where everyone is living free or dying (masks optional) hit the super duper State Liquor agency (wildly cheap, no tax-of course-rather die than pay tax)…picked up a bag o’ booze for the coming festivities…..found a dirt road with Sasquatch tracks….and on to the Grand Walmart in lovely (not) Claremont…..where they welcome  Lucy to shop the lower shelves with open arms (theirs, not hers)….muddled around Puerto Nuevo (Newport in mountain slang)  and found the reputedly worlds best grinder shop ….not quite, but passable….hit the Ludlow Farmers Mah-ket on the way home….gorgeous mid-summer late day sun wafting….a little music, a little meat, a few veggies…day complete….

Made my first run to The Dump yesterday…. too busy with phones and mowing until now….and The Dumpmaster could not conceal his glee (I think that’s what it was) …. got the Walrus-hug and a mottle of questions about The Queen…that involved her svelte figure, a 12 pack and a power outage…go figure….

Today is the annual Mt. Holly Daze….so gotta get a move on….to go man the sizzlin’…. which TQ had volunteered me for…. per chance for the sun to emerge and cover the algae filled brilliance of Star Lake…. but that is probably for next week’s edition….

So…another day gone deeper in debt….do you owe your soul to the company store?      Be good, be careful, make it better world….

Stu

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Bonjour:

“Give me those Green country mountains; give me that Green country air” ………………………………………………………………MacGuffy Lane

“Having no destination, I am never lost” ………Ikkyu

“You have come to the shore- there are no instructions” ………………………………………………………Denise Levertov

Strange week, filled with various obsessions……. No pictures this week……. too obsessed……No real Mojo……just some randoms……

1. Who’ll stop the rain?………………………seven of last nine days……may be the end of the world as we know it……………no climate change here……

• I’d love to see the Green, Green grass of home……………………. mowed and whacked five times in two weeks….is this semi-retirement?……with a fifty year old riding mower that will soon be likely seeking respite…..

• Into The Mystic…………………after a months long search, located a mystical Shaman- Osteopath up in Middlebury, and made the hour trek to see him…. pipe, classical music, dog in the treatment room…have had one of these mystics in the Heartland, never thought I’d find another…. keepin’ the torso nubile…

• Cheeseburger in Paradise…………it has become hard to find restaurants open much these days in the mountains, with the COVID induced worker shortage…. but had couple of jewels this week at local Paisanos Deli (hidden in the bowels of a raunchy carryout in downtown Rutland)- and the Café Provence bakery (in Brandon, on the way to The Mystic and the dispensary) …. (4A) you can get it if you really want it…

• I believe in you…………………the next to closest local library, in Ludlow, allows you to order books on line….and they put it out in a grocery bag for you to pick up whenever……. trust is a beautiful thing…. kind of the polar opposite of dealing with the postal service, the IRS, the phone and cable behemoths……

• Security, Yeah, Yeah……I want some security………………………how many times have you gotten a response online that required sending you a security code to your phone?……try dealing with that with no cell signal…  and the requisite fifteen-minute expiration time on the code……trust is a beautiful thing…

• It is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius……. Farmers’ markets in Vermont are like a trip to Woodstock or The Haight……naked, children, dogs abounding, patchouli in the air, hippie musicians….and a ton of Granola……it’s another sign of the return to some normalcy here in the 90% Vax state….

• I woulda followed all the way to the graveyard……………………………………wandering the verdant mountain landscape, we come upon another of the magical places that dot the Vermont mountain skyline…. rich with terraced levels of beauty, mountains above-valley below…..stones gently asleep in wonderfully precise formation….telling the stories of lives and times…..there is such a beauty off a back road in Ludlow….who knew?

• You’ve got a friend…….The queen went prowlin’ this week (takin’ a break from on line shopping, whacking  and volunteering)to find the Woolley man, who is the emperor of roads in our hamlet……and flirted enough to get him on our side on the issue of the replacement of our little bridge which lead to the Manoir…..state wants to update our backyard dirt path into a passable road, whilst they replace the bridge….which would turn our driveway into a super highway…..but, no…..The Bowbie says (9A) don’t worry, be happy…..he’ll nudge them to put in a temp replacement bridge instead…..once again The Queen Greases the Bowbie…..

1. Get yourself a little piece of watermelon, put it in your mouth, it tastes like heaven………bought a luscious watermelon this week at Hannaford….which was left on the counter when after a day at home,  it seemed to be a deflated melon…all squishy and stuff…..TQ felt like she needed to keep it in order to show the grocery bastards what they had done……woke this morning to three gallons of watermelon juice all over the counter, the pantry floor and down into the basement….must have been a juicy one in its prime….

1. Ring the bells-that still can ring……in four days we have switched from Sprint to AT&T and on to Verizon……worse than used car shopping……and still searching for a mountain dial tone…is it evil to want to have a flip phone?

If you’ve made it this far, there is now a bonus….A QUIZ……Match the creator below with the numbered phrase or lyric above……winner gets  four old cell phones with cords…

Carol King___

Etta James___

John Fogerty___

Leonard Cohen___

Halsey___

Bob Marley___

Eric Weisberg and Deliverance___

Merle Haggard____

Neil Young___

Hair____

Jimmy Buffett___

Van The Man___

Bobby McFerrin___

And that has got to be it………. Feliz Navidad………………………Ferlin’