Greetings fellow travelers:
“The world is its own magic”………………………………………………………………………………….Shunryu Suzuki
“Our plans never turn out as tasty as reality”………………………………………………………….Ram Dass
“Lacking fins or tail
The gefilte fish swims with
Great difficulty”……………………………………………………………………………………………………..Haikus for Jews
We have just arrived…so time is of the essence, as we are overloaded with moving in and set up issues- but I thought that many of you are probably twitching at this point with withdrawal, so felt obligated to resume pontificating, at least minimally…so the Zen of this moment:
The Winter…….was somewhat daunting….thirty days in a row below 15 degrees and then the rains hit for two months solid….and of course about four days of suns since November…our water system sprang a leak somewhere in the yard, so sump pump ran every minute (we’re on our third one) and Stu walked around with a chainsaw in his left hand looking for wood to cut to keep the house from becoming an igloo…and work travel…ughh….let me count the airports I was stranded in since December…Jenn did yoga 14 times a week, found an ecological center to volunteer at, thus bringing home a brand new range of ideas to translate home dictatorship into, and fruitlessly searched for the magical p-up truck. We also had a range of exotic health issues, but who wants to know that shit anyway?
Prep for the transition went smoothly until I dealt with our cable provider in Ohio- Time-Warner- who I had such a delightful time with, I told them I’d walk on their grave and hung up, terminating a 35 year relationship. Who does not hate their cable company? Then, on our last day, I decided to drive the ancient Jeep and snaking out of our driveway, totally knocked off Jenn’s side view mirror (for the third time),which led to a two hour unplanned – for jury-rigging job to allow her to have any view whatsoever for the 12 hour drive (she’s such a wimp- who really needs to see out both sides, anyway?). Did I mention that this is the fifth year in row of last second calamities trying to leave Ohio…what is the message here anyway? I would recount all of the calamities to you…but it would be very Un-Zen like, so another time, maybe?
Generally speaking…I’m wondering if we are getting too old for this double life? But, then I’d have to start talking about health issues….which I’m refraining from, at least for the moment….. no promise on this
The trip here tuned out to be quite easy on a beautiful sunny almost 70 degree day…with our new strategy of driving as far as Binghamton (yes, it really exists) making it very bearable. Lucy slept the whole way somewhere amidst the piles of shit in the back- I even had to wake her to go potty….and the cats are now loose and crawling all over Jenn for 7 hours. We had great delivered – Italian from our new favorite road stop place and made Mt. Holly by 2 on Friday after a somewhat late start….and arrived to find not only no Green, but a yard with snow piles and very brown grass…no memo here yet on it being spring time…BUT….the POND is peaking…what joyful sight
We then spent almost three hours unloading the cars in a downpour….leaving the almost heated house in a state of utter chaos and confusion…but being the slightly OCD, frenetically driven and competitive schmucks that we are, we had most of it sorted out before going to bed at midnight…though neither one us could bend down by that point (that is not really health related!?)
So- the initial updates……………………………..
Jenn insisted I go down to Java-Baba while we were unloading to see Beverly, who had texted me every Friday all winter to tell me how much she missed me…when she sent me one last week, I replied on Monday, with a link to David Bowie’s “Monday I have Friday on My Mind”….which may have tipped her off that we would be back this week and set up a misguided (on my part) expectation…that I surely needed to fulfill….though it resulted in our usual massive and wonderful free lunch
And by the way…it is April 29th…and snowing out as we speak….ah, mountain life…….
And….we found our return greeted by mouse turds everywhere, so the cats are out at night (instead of being locked up in their hovel) and little Grace is bringing us a daily gift of dead meece at the foot of our bed each morning….
Saturday turned out to be a decent day and we headed off to massive choring in town…so, musings from our first outing:
– The dump now has an office (instead of the beloved Belmont Mall)-which is where Kevin the Walrus in now hiding out…though he came out to flirt with Jenn when he saw us arrive….and Lucy still
thinks the dump is doggie heaven
– The General Store is still very general…and the proprietor, Kevin, is still a world class curmudgeon
– The Famer’s Market is thriving indoors for the moment- and still a cost match with “Whole Paycheck” foods
– Walmart still loves Lucy-and she loves that they stock interesting things on the lowest reachable shelves
– Our favorite Ramuntos- still has the best pizza north of NYC…and a good supply of Burlington’s “Seven Days” weekly news rag for our green-lefty readings
– It’s still a major treat to shop at Hannaford and walk out into the parking lot and be surrounded by mountains
We got home to sunshine and Lucy immediately went exploring to find the best pile of shit she could roll in- which had her banned outside until Jenn deigned to bathe her…I myself kind of look forward to the scents
We have been welcomed back by countless Facebook messages and texts from our mountain friends-apparently the word leaked out that we were back in the greens…though people have been kind enough to stay away rather than have to help us unpack and schlep…
AND…our really BIG NEWS…both my kids (Max and Tess) had offers accepted yesterday on new house purchases…moving on up…and if you don’t already know, Tess and Jake are expecting a little girl in October….which has been quite a shock to us all….and will be our second grandbaby- to go with our dearest little Quinn in Cleveland (Ryan and Lauren’s little girl) who will be a year in a couple of weeks…trying to get used to being Big Papi and Meme right now……
So…back to adjusting-which means Jenn is relentlessly cleaning and ordering shit on line, and I am destined for the couch and watching the Cavs try to win game seven…supposed to be up into 70s midweek so hoping for some mountain hiking, and then next weekend is Green-Up day and the first community supper of the year-both of which we will be volunteering at…but for now, we eagerly anticipate Sunday night return to East for some special duckling and elegant Chinese in the mountains…
Well, once again…not very Zen-like-but there you have it….back in the saddle
Stay safe, do a good deed and stay in touch…
Love to all,
Papi
