Author: stumberry

Greetings fellow Earthlings:

“The ego says, “It’s always something.” The spirit says, “It’s never anything.””…………………………………………………………Alan Cohen (candidate to be a Haiku for Jew)

“ IT is everywhere”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Chuang-Tzu

“ I only go out to get me a fresh appetite for being alone”…………………………………………………………………………………………..Lord Byron

Well……it just might have hit summer in the Greens….and it’s….well…very Green……The flowers are popping…….The poppers are poppering…….The grass is multiplying……The POND is full……The Turtle is sun bathing….The Herons are visiting……75 and sunny…..coolish nights…..Rain, the rest of the week……………………….Summer in the mountains……..

I’ve been ruminating on what went on during the past week…..and it more or less leaves me vacant…so may just stick with the Headlines……

The Prodigal is wandering around somewhere deep in the Andes…….

Quinn-Lily loves the Portal…and the musical story time with Nanna and Papi (Itsy-Bitsy Spider)…………..and had her first dentist visit….

Bebe Sloane tuned eight months …..and is proving to be an eating machine………..

My other son, Jesse Moon….had a baby this week…WOW………Papa Jess………………

Sunday nights at EAST Asian with the Jewish Fish Monger….are the bomb……………………..

This is the primo time of year at the gym at Okemo…..it is just me, the massive building…..and Led Zeppelin on the sound system…..

It’s a long, boring drive down to Hartford to catch a flight….though the stop at Lisai’ s market in Chester for road lunch…makes it bearable……..

Mid-summer in the Twin cities (they are not really Twins-one is lot bigger than the other) is much better than mid-winter there……and….Minnesotans are extremely polite……

After two long days of training….the hike up the VERY big hill to the St. Paul Russian restaurant extravaganza…is quite the reward…32 kinds of homemade Wodka….and The Borscht….and the Bilinis…

Delta is a vastly improved airline…they have little quality TVs for each seat where you can catch countless episodes of The Sopranos…..woke up this morning……got myself a gun……

Justin Trudeau is hugely more photogenic than The Donald…can’t we just have him?…….

The Vermont State Legislature is almost 100% Democrats…and they can’t agree on anything………….

Jenn has assumed uber-Goddess status with Kevin the Walrus Dumpmaster….he saves junk for her every week (“ I think about her all the time”)…why am I the one going to The Dump?……

Deadwood…..Yes……..

The logging trail behind our house is finally dry enough to walk up….though standing water has been replaced by Black Flies (spoken only in hushed tones)….

The Condemnable Shack below is being transformed into a cute little house…..the neighborhood is changing…..-thanks to the carloads of Jamaicans visiting every week…..got the inside tour last night….Amazing….and…… a weekly new supply of goat bones for Lucy to obsess over….

Ramuntos Pizza….Yes……….

Sunday morning with not much to report….Yes….Yes….Yes…..

No….No….No….Uggh…Uggh…Uggh…Snug in a rug……Give us a tug……Time to unplug…..Oh, what a mug……Been tipping the jug….let’s all have a hug……

Go…………..GREEN………..Go…………

Stu-Bert

Happy Father’s day to all:

Wanted to say a special FD shout out to my Pops followers:….Phil…. Bruce…Les….Omelio….Jeff G…….Howard…Joel…David B……Bud….Doug….Bill P…..RCD…….Eddie…Ed….Berms….Nate….Paul…Jim B……Mitch…Mike M…John M…….and Yumi…..

And….to my special young sons of various types- relatively new in fatherhood:…Ry….Jake….and Jesse…….

And….a very special shout out to THE Nave…who had been a second father to my kids, for more years than I can count, and through thick and thin….

“This morning it rained. This afternoon is sunny. How is that not like the mind?”………………………………………………………………Mathew Kewley

“ History doesn’t repeat itself….but it rhymes”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Erroneously attributed to Mark Twain

“My love language is about affirmation….and it is a language you do not speak fluently”………………………………………………..Jennifer Burrows (to you know who, for you know what)

Well it it’s a rainy Sunday FD morning…..and this father had a big day yesterday, late night…and The Queen of MH is making him a breakfast…so I may (may is the operative word) keep this short and go take a nap (FD privilege). Had a four am e-mail this morning with FD greetings from the prodigal-somewhere high in The Andes…and waiting to have portal activity with the others….

Been a weird week in the Greens…alternating between a very, very late spring….and a very ,very early fall….cold and rainy going down to high 30s some nights…and up to near 80 some days….keeps us hopping…

The Jamaicans next door are far into the roofing and siding beautification project, which has had an interesting assortment of colorful folk here through the week…we’ve had the Full Monty Jamaican clan….a leftover group of Mexican itinerant laborers camped out in the primitive shack setting all week (I assume they snuck trough the dam unguarded Canadian border)…and a dozen (at times) Vermont Woodchuck contractor types milling around drinking beer and occasionally tapping a nail somewhere….the whole project is the talk of the town….

We The North…hooray for the Canadian Raptors…..Trudeaux for President….

And…who the hell would want to shoot big Papi?…….

The Jewish Fish monger is trying to charm us into going down to a greater Boston Jewish enclave in few weeks to catch the first ever “Yidstock” Festival…this is Real……..oy …

Hit the road this week for an overnight to steamy Baltimore….lucky enough to catch a flight out of Albany…which means the beatific drive down route 7 through the Greens…though two hours , it seems like no drive at all, surrounded by the pastoral beauty…plus….. leads to a stop at the Greek Diner classic in Troy for a fresh ham sandwich (why is there no “fresh ham “ in the Midwest?)….have always wanted to try and walk around the entire Harbor area in Baltimore.. and it was the perfect night for a five mile stroll before the requisite fish dinner….I am certain there are more people of color(a lot of colors!) in circling the Harbor than in the State of Vermont…..maybe we need a Harbor here?……

Our roads supervisor, the Bowbee, stopped by this week. When he thought I was the only one here, he was going to turn his truck around and leave…but then he spotted Jenn on the mower….and settled in for the periodic Greasing of the Bowbee…he had a list of things to go over with The Queen (don’t ask)…but really wanted to know what was up with the Jamaicans…not that anyone rally cares…

After a long week of travel, rain, POND activities, basketball and more rain…Saturday dawned bright and sunny…after the weekly required trip to see the Dumpmaster, we took off for a day log adventure….driving up to the north central part of the state for the 10th annual Podocks (not Podunk) Music Fest in trendy and hippiified Bristol, and the 35th anniversary retrospective at the wonderful Alden and Mary Bryant Gallery in Jeffersonian. The day took us flush down the middle of the Greens in all their early summer splendor, with a host of sweeping vistas of the rolling hills, farmland and mountains beyond. Caught lunch at the newly trending General Store in quaint Jericho Center, found a couple of dirt roads for Lucy walks, stumbled onto a secret observatory in Hinesburg (two wooden shacks on a hillside)…..eventually making our way north of Stowe to the gallery, which welcomed Lucy the Art Dog with open arms. Took the long way back down, over the magnificent Smugglers Notch and through summer-quiet Stowe, back to Bristol for the delightful street fair…with the hip Burlington undertone vibe….. Had the requisite street food, Creamees and listened to the latest of a long line of Phish wannabee bands (though quite , quite good). A perfect Saturday afternoon in the Greens…except for getting lost coming back, and missing the festival by being four hours early the first time around….so…..mountain perfect, maybe?

And that, I think….. is all I got…until there is more….which may eerily happen next Sunday…….who knew…..

Best of the Best, Papi

Happy June my fellow travelers:

“The meaning of life is to see.”……………………………………………………………………………………………..Huining

“Explanation of the unspeakable cannot be unfinished”……………………………………………………….The Buddha

“Long may you run”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Neil Young

Happy June my fellow travelers:

“The meaning of life is to see.”……………………………………………………………………………………………..Huining

“Explanation of the unspeakable cannot be unfinished”……………………………………………………….The Buddha

“Long may you run”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Neil Young

Spring seems to have finally sprung…at last….in the mountains- with four straight sunny days in the 80s…Praise Be…..when you step out our front door, you inhale a plethora of lovely botanical smells, THE Pond is perfectly full, the wetter than wet grass cut…and colors abounding (mostly Green)…we can soon settle in for about six weeks of summer, before we head back into the 20s at night….

In the mountains , there is not much radio reception in the car, so we mostly listen to VPR talk radio. The network regularly features these little ditties on Vermont…. called Brave Little State…which though I roll my eyes when hearing…is actually pretty truthful. The level of social consciousness and community involvement here in the Greens is quite unlike anyplace else I have been. Woman’s rights are hugely valued at every turn, all children have access to health care, the legislature is soon to pass a 15$/hour minimum wage law (in a very economically challenged state) as well as required paid family leave…and….RECYCLING is a mania…we soon will no longer have plastic bags at any store-and have required composting laws for food scraps. This shit is serious….and moving.

Speaking of social consciousness, the Jamaican clan next door are hard at work on overhauling the crumbling edifice you pass on the way to our house…which means carloads of very exotic folk (for these parts) ensconced on most weekends…as well as: loud music, laughing children abounding, roast goat, backyard fires all night long…and a draw that keeps Lucy wandering down day after day (luckily, they seem to love her….and she seems to be cued in to crossing the railroad tracks)…the minority population of Mt. Holly quadrupled this week…….

Tuesday, Jenn was off gallivanting (feeling better after being down for almost ten day) so Lucy and I hung and took our first walk of the year up the still very wet logging trail that abuts the rear of our property…it’s like a post glacial experience- tip-toeing on boulders most of the way….and avoiding the newly empowered hordes of black flies……When evening came and Jen not home, I made the 45 minute- back road voyage to a small country inn in the hamlet of Perkinsville (two ridges over) to see The Jewish Fish Monger play with his buddy (Stu-2) at the venue. They had two other friends there and we were about the full audience….. but had a great time with these classic Vermont types and listened to the tunes while eating country rustic…one can surprisingly find some very kindred spirits in the mountains…both these fellows were artists and….amongst many typical Vermont -like endeavors, they have developed a small humidor device to dry pot in one week…..mountain ingenuity at work…

In between walking the trail and finding the pot trailblazers…I had a deck – side visit from our British Hair Maven….who home delivers our haircuts and lively across- the- pond wit….in exchange for various Jen home improvement projects at her house….she wants me to consider blue streaks for the next cut…

Thursday afternoon sprung the start of our current weather streak- so we meandered down to the Ville of Weathersfield to see the painting studio of one of the humidor pioneers….Vermont oil scapes and French Plein Aire works in a two hundred year old Vermont classic cape….new bestie!…then on to the never before explored Dam on North Springfield lake….for a bewitching hot afternoon walk around the 1920s era Army Corps project – one of a lot in Vermont…these guys do good work…

Friday, we spent the day manicuring the yard for the first time without puddles of water, and then went down to our first Ludlow farmers’ market of the season- to meet our weekend Airbnb guest- a many time stayer with us. We had a nice Jenn inspired dinner together- watched the Heroes of the North dominate the hated Warriors and then got up Saturday (leaving Lucy with our houseguest) and after a quick stop at the Dump (Keven the Walrus Dumpmaster gets very feisty if he does not see Jen for two straight weeks) shot down the I-91 corridor to Skunk Misery Rod (really) somewhere in the midst of mid-Connecticut…for the third annual reunion of my childhood Bronx posse. This is an unreal, larger than life gathering of six guys (and spouses) who had not seen each other for forty plus years until reconnecting in our close –to- twilight years. To say this is profound (as well as raucously funny) is an understatement. Three of us have known each other since grade school days…which exceeds sixty years…Holy cow-that is SICK……It was a memorable overnight, only slightly dampened by our phone conversation with the soon departing prodigal son for an Andes trek, losing track and …then…amazingly running out of gas on the busy interstate on the way home….

But now…it is Sunday night…we are safely ensconced in the manse…the Jamaicans have fled back to the city…and mountain quiet has set back in…

The hills are alive…..

Stu