Author: stumberry

Bonjour, mes amis:

“Every day you play with the light of the universe”    Pablo Neruda

So we started the week last Sunday with a perfect fall day in mid 60s…by Tuesday we hit 83 degrees and went to bed at midnight at a surreal 70…today it is 33 out, and heading for highs in the low 30s this week. Such is life in the mountains, no? And….the rains came…for several straight days, and the POND Gods are smiling…water level has doubled and now we only have twice as many apples as water in THE POND.

With the perfect fall weather, and absolutely PEAK colors , we headed out last Sunday for an adventure day. Drove up to Shrewsbury hills to see Maya, the legendary potter. She has the outdoor kiln the size of our living room that she fires for 72 hours twice a year, and makes pretty amazing shit. We go up during her annual open house to scrounge her wonderful “seconds” (like going to the early bird dinner) and taste her open house morsels. We encountered her little waif daughter, Iris, lurking around the woodpile like a wood-elf. I asked her if she was an eyeball or a flower, which really stumped her. She was fully dressed in fall apparel, but no shoes, as she exclaimed “I hate shoes”- so I took the “ I hate shoes” pictures which you can ogle. From there we headed south towards Peru (really) for some hiking. We had decided to do the early bird at the Swiss Inn – a small non-descript place we have been driving by for over 20 years without ever stopping, which meant dinner between 5 and 6. As we hit Weston, Jenn felt too hungry to wait, but it was too close to our dinner (it was 3 p.m.) to eat, so we made a quick drive-by through the Vermont Country Store (the world’s’ foremost purveyor of kitsch), for their minion of cheese, jam and fudge samples…milling in circles for 15 minutes around the sampling area until we were sated…..amidst the legions of leaf peeper shoppers. Even got some carry out snacks for Lucy……wondered how many travelers stop there just for the snacking options?

Leaving the store- feeling nauseous, we discovered that the VCS actually had their own “nature trail”, which I doubt gets much usage amongst the shopping hordes, so off we went for a stroll in the woods. Then on to the aforementioned Peru, where we discovered the Hapgood Pond at twilight. Took a wonderful hike around the beauteous pond, ultimately joining two older gents with whom we shared our Bernie passions and spoke of the Trump-devil in hushed tones. These are not hard conversations to find in the Vermont woods.  We walked around two miles and Lucy ran about six. We got to the Swiss Inn just in time to make the early bird and had an unremarkable but quite satisfying dinner, while little Lucy passed out in the car.

Mountain living has limited medical access at times, and when I came down with two wax-clogged ears this week (“did that stuff come out of me?”- Roseanne Roseanna Danna), I was forced to depend on my own Dr. Quinn, medicate woman, who spent around three hours prodding and poking my ears with various unsanitary instruments, which, overall, seemed to work just fine.

We got our Airbnb review from our first-ever alternative lifestyle couple, who were, it turns out, really impressed with our “powder room”, which we were surprised to learn we had.

So, when it hit the mid 80’s tropics on Tuesday, we took off with our beloved Vermont secret hikes book to find Tim’s Trail in West Haven, Vermont. (I do believe our latest compulsion may involve trying to do all 170 secret hikes in the book). Getting to the Tim was quite the undertaking, taking the 20 miles interstate that goes nowhere into NY state and then circling back over a series of dirt roads back into this little unknown corner of Vermont. The trail tuned out to be a memorial to the Tim and quite a beautiful walk along cliff edges and vistas of the Lake Champlain valley below. Four miles, nine for little Lucy …and a deserved trip to see the poets of fish at the amazingly situated Fair Haven Inn, with the Greek owner and his Rumanian hottie bride…who must be uber-exotic in the quaint hamlet of Fair Haven.

Have I mentioned Kevin the dump-master? Every Saturday morning we head to the transfer station (dump) with our assemblage of garbage and recycling (like mail delivery, there is no garbage retrieval in the mountains), and are greeted by the surly mountain man, Kevin. Kevin LOVES Jenn, and rumbles mightily when I show up without her. He gives unsolicited advice on THE POND, local politics, where to go to get good steaks and general living in the mountains. He usually offers to take me into his little Belmont “mall”, where he stores everyone’s unwanted junk, to offer me X-rated VHS tapes to take home for the little lady. He thinks my name is Jay, though I have told him repeatedly ,that it is Chuck. Mountain living, no?

So- midweek I drove up to spend the night at the Commodores Inn in Stowe to attend my monthly meeting in Waterbury of the Governors’ Council for Prevention for Children and Families (in the mountains we would prefer to prevent having any children or families, and in nearby Cavendish, they are reputed to eat their young during the annual peak of foliage). This meeting allows me to hob nob with the movers and shakers of the state (no Bernie, sadly) and have a free lunch. The drive up route 100 was splendid beyond words and the Commodore‘s Inn, though dated from the 70s, had a cute pond out back where the Commodore himself held court with his cronies, drinking local beer and launching miniature yachts into the sunset. The Commodore should be on the Governor’s Council, I believe, and should meet Kevin.

We ended our week last night with a last minute Airbnb reservation. Thought we were done for the season, but got last minute request from two young med students from Yale that were in dire need of a mountain getaway. The Yalies turned out to be quite a cute pair of Korean kids, who I think were named Seaweed and Wussy…at least they did not seem offended by being called that. Wussy had decided to go by the name Wyatt in America (cowboy novels?) and they were quite the a pair of nice kids. We sent them out on multiple tours of the area and they left this morning after having taken nine showers in 36 hours. I guess Koreans like to stay clean….

Well, I way exceeded my word count this week. Must be the cold, as it stays warmer in  my office-cave. We’re on the countdown- leave for the flatlands three weeks from tomorrow and I am off to a secret location for a conference this week. Enjoy your autumnal bliss and be well.

Love,

Jay

Yaba, Daba, Doo………….

“Never curse a fall….the ground is where humility lives” …………………..Yasmin Mohaged

Well, we skipped the prairies, but went from the mountains to the oceans this week. After having multiple Airbnb guests for six straight nights for the Columbus Day Peak, and spending weeks of watching THE POND have more apples in it than water (we are in an official drought here on the Greens, even Bernie says it is dry)) , we scurried out of town to head for the coast.

Our route to the Maine coast took us through most of north central New Hampshire, where we usually go only under the cover of darkness. This is a Vermont joke…but now I see good reason. After being sheltered from the Trumpsters here in our liberal bastion, we encountered literally hundreds and hundreds of the Devil signs throughout New Hampshire and on the central part of Maine (it seems it gets less when you go further south- maybe the healing effects of the sun). It was a stark contrast to the beauty and serenity of the brilliant mountain colors everywhere we went. We bought some tape and taped our mouths shut, so as not to risk any potential sexual molestation by the devotees.

In magnificent sunshine and temps approaching 70 ( I dug my shorts out and reached for a bit more summer), we drove to the Maine coast at Bath and spent the night, then spent two days winding down the coast to York. Great time of year with kids back in school and tourists at a minimum off the beaten path, where our homing devices take us. Being fairly entrenched in the aging process, it was refreshing to find ourselves the youngest people around wherever we went…us and the walkers and the wheelchairs ….……..boy –are we fast.

We spent one night at a Marriott in Bath (points) and then found another dog friendly cottage outside of Kennebunkport (we are retroactively loving the Bushs). The first night we had a nice king bed, which was fine for the 3 of us …but the 30’s era depression cottage on night two had something between a single and a double, so Lucy had half and Jenn and I had half…..by two a.m.- I simply pushed a sound asleep Jenn to the floor and Lucy and I did pretty well for the rest of the night. So, it was basically three days of walking quiet beaches, hiking in the great north woods, driving through mountain and ocean vistas in bright sunshine and doing the Maine lobster-roll tour. Lucy LOVED the beach ,springing around like a dervish, in and out of the surf and then crashing for hours in the car from her “play-hard, sleep hard” lifestyle.

We returned on Thursday and Friday I reluctantly took my aching back to see the country shaman; a woman Jenn had found for her even more ailing back. Vickie practices Integrated Positional Therapy (really, it IS Vermont, after all)….in a two hundred year old one- room schoolhouse on a dirt road no one can find- in the mountains of Shrewsbury. She is an attractive and funny woman…..which made it pleasant to have her try to find places to weave her fingers deep into my tissue and chakras (or some such shit). Not sure if it helped, but it was enjoyable lying on her bed in the woods in the late afternoon autumn light …..it’s possible that it sounds sexier than it was, but…..

So, we have had our last two scheduled guests of the season the last two nights. The first were two men and a dog…witty professionals from upstate NY, here for one of them to be in a cross fit competition. This was our first alternative lifestyle couple (is this politically correct?), and I think we passed the test, even taking care of their very dainty dog while they went to dinner (she refused to leave the room whilst they were gone). Then last night, we had two women from Minnesota that sounded like they came straight from Fargo or Prairie Home Companion. They were very excited to be here and traveling through the  ALL the northeastern states. Quite the contrast. The fellows were quiet, urbane, restrained, traveled with one sheik small bag, and very cautious about how much they did or took on (had to get home to weekend chores after the competition). The gals  were uber-exuberant, couldn’t decide whether to head north or south the next day, not wanting to miss anything (they are going to do both!) and came in with eight pieces of luggage for ten hours here. They ate car food on paper plates in their room and drank a box of wine. I think this represents the chameleon-like  life the of the innkeeper…no?

Well- it’s going to be a fine week here- heading up to near 80 mid-week- so we need to get out now and search for more leaves. On the dreaded countdown now- with four weeks until the flatland return…ugghh…oy…ugghh..).

Lots of pix again this week. Hope you enjoy and do more autumnal things.

Your humble correspondent,

Stub

Buenos Dias:

“Autumn light fills the room vacancy”………………………………………..Soen

Well, it’s been a very busy week in Mt. Holly, our hometown. And the highlights are:………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Folk Club (my Bunty Boy musical substitute) has become interesting of late , with the addition of a 12 year old violin/ mandolin prodigy…amazing and humbling….I am trying to move her to the joys of the bluegrass music.. and to stave off the influence of the musically evil, crazy woman who haunts the joint

It RAINED. it Rained….our first in two months and a good one overnight last weekend…rained all night long…and THE POND gained maybe an inch (now up to maybe 3 feet of water) which it has since given way to dissipation….it is safe to say there are more fallen apples in THE POND than there is water…on Sunday I scaled the cliffs again with my bucket to retrieve around 500 rotting babies…. we now have tourists coming by to see the famous site where the meteor struck leaving a gaping hole in the ground…. The Inn at Scum Pond might soon be The Inn at None Pond

The peepers are here….we have had guests all week this week at Chez Scum….started early in weak with a couple from Miami via Mexico City and Argentina…we did the SAMBA all night…fine people and a lot of fun…we sent them off with a map to Woodstock and The Kingdom to see the leaves. Starting Thursday we are full through Monday with a wide sampling of the human condition…which means constant changing of linens, vacuuming, restocking breakfast and purchasing additional bedding…..We’ve been lucky to have a stream of interesting people at the Chez, and mostly very appreciative (we are five star hosts on Airbnb you know)…….plus thy all love Lucy…

So- we took off this week for our second fall outing…a rambling trip to northern most Vermont to our most favorite dirt roads. The Colors were unbelievable…popping like a postmodern  abstract realist extravaganza….the Stannard Mountain road, which goes from Greensboro Bend to Lyndonville is a majestic 20 miles of vistas stretching well into the Laurentians in Quebec, with rolling farmlands and  green forests along the way. We stayed at an Airbnb in the woods in the classic 1970s post commune Vermont style…and I mean in the woods-off the grid…will just say it was a delightful location and leave it at that (did not get five star review)…on our way back home we stopped at the Whippi-Dip in Fairlee on the next to last day of the season and ran into someone we were trying to hide from seeing (you’ll have to guess on this one) in our old hometown of Groton….you can run but you cannot hide…the last of the ride home was filled with a spectacular peak autumn late afternoon light that had Lucy whooping for joy and running in circles (well, maybe Stu too)

Now, we are finishing up the week with our annual Cider Daze Festival in our little town of Belmont. The Boston Globe named it one of Vermont’s top ten fall events, which has led to an onslaught of flatlanders crawling through the tiny town in search of the real Vermont ($9.95 plus tax). Jenn has been off helping to orchestrate the event as she has become entwined in the community organization and may be prone to over volunteering her time (feelings about that, have we?)- so she has been running back and forth for three days, while Stu greeted guests and made mind numbing conversation as well as road trip guides for everyone. I got to play two sets at the festival Saturday morning, which was a pretty pleasant 60 degrees (great improvement over last year’s morning set at 38 degrees). We all joined back up to help with the community supper last night….the annual roast beef extravaganza. We served 228 dinners to locals and leaf-peepers alike. My night was highlighted by one mildly overweight woman yelling “more beef” with her mouth full of dripping beef blood as I walked by with my hands full of dirty plates (I mean yelling!) and then my “co-server” who started jumping up and down yelling “It’s my table –I can take care of it myself ” after I brought people some extra napkins. I eventually put plugs in my ears and smiled my way through the night. Had the post supper, workers only communal dinner and then rushed home to find three guests arrived and settled. I greeted the two woman downstairs -who had apparently let the young couple in who arrived just after them . They are a Marine couple from Quantico on 3 days leave- who drove all night from Virginia to see the leaves and have a romantic Vermont road trip. So, I immediately went upstairs to greet them and found them half undressed and the bed rumpled (they had been here only 20 minutes!)…so I will categorize this as Stuis- interruptus.

Ok- no mas…gotta go… guests are stirring, the pond needs apple-picked. Jenn has to get back to the Ciders today and I need a nap. Off to Maine this week to the healing waters.

Lots of pics this week to tell the story.

Cha-cha-cha…Shang-grill-la…Can you did it?

Stu

Yaba-Daba-Doo..the Leaves are here and you should be too……….

“Follow your Bliss”……Joseph Campbell

What a time- feels sublime. Wu-wee, ride me high…nothin’ could be finah’ than to be Vermont sun-shinah’ in the mornin’……Big week, as we seek, the leaves a’ peep, got to keep…make the leap

Fall outings time- up to the Islands (yes, yes….we have Islands dear)…hikes…sunsets (captured for Max)…dunes……books to read, gardens to weed…the usual cottage on the big (BIG) lake…post summer mortem…no one else but us, the Lucy beast and the loons…who are the loons anyway? we always just show up…”Alan, can we stay tonight….Stu, can’t you ever call ahead…would ruin the fun, no?”

How can it be 75 in the northern climes so late in the fall…how? how? how?…yow, yow, meow, holy cow……too good, yes? driving home after the sunsets…what a day, try a new way…over the BIG gap at Lincoln…rollin’, rollin’, rollin’…rawhide….oh, the colors…magic carpet ride….YAAAAAAAA….YIPPEE….

More colors in Vermont….YIKES……Asian guests from JERSEY CITY….oh, it’s a metaphor…bring me more…yes, yes. more…NEW neighbors for the shack…and BLACK….oh my Jack, what will the natives say….four little brown babies… come to grandma and grandpa….just increased our local Diversity pop by 600%….holy jumping’ juniper…

Jenn is now a Vermonter….nine trips to the BMV….46 hours of work…and the little green plate on the little white car….see Jenn’s car, not that far, who she are?

See Stu the photo- man…throw his pix in the can….go, man, go…..1^st three shots of this week’s highlight reel folks…those are my winners….maybe…who knows…thar she blows…see Lucy the traveler…I wanna go, I wanna go…assume the position, girl-beast

Way too much, and as such, gotta go, gotta go….DIG on  the pix-lots this week and BACK  on –line too….modern thru an thru…who are you, who are you?

PEACE-OUT- NOW…………STUB/STUD/ME

Good God, Ya’ll: (Website still being transferred- so no link again this week- up soon)

“ I Leave, You Stay, Two Autumns”…Buson

Well, our 75 and sunny has turned into days high in the low 50s and night at freezing…Fall abounds. the leaf changing has slowed quite a bit after a crazy early August jump. And now most is seeming pretty green except for the wonderful red maples…which are RED! Very busy week at Scum Pond- so it’s time for the ZEN news (too tired and cold to do more)

We love Chinese in Rutland…East Restaurant…classy and adventurous…have developed addiction to the roasted duck with pine nuts…. Steve the fish maven says he will have to ship it to us this winter..

Stu made like Paul Bunyan this week, with Jenn’s considerable help (and advice)…spent full day taking down, cutting up and moving trees…in about another week should be able to stand up straight- I keep asking Jenn….”do you know how old I am?”

THE POND….don’t ask…no rain, looks like Mesa Verdi and fills up with fu__ing apples every day from the tree that now hangs over the lengthened empty pit….so every other day have to rappel down to pick up a hundred apples…Jenn made me do this project…Honest!

Went down to the cult like Spring Lake Ranch, as semi-invited guests, for their annual outdoor harvest dinner. This is 75 year old treatment center for wayward young adults…beautiful fall late afternoon, strange but nice people, and they produce all their own food, so dinner was a treat, albeit somewhat weird (they kept asking, “and who are you?”).

And then there is the post office and the mail in small town Vermont. We have a PO box because to have a mailbox we’d have to walk a half mile and cross a major highway…so the stop at the PO is dally event…which also happens to be in the general store…the hub of village life and home of all the yentas…stopping at the PO has to be strategic since it’s only open about 3 hours  day and we have to go when it’s open since we get these little yellow cards in our box that tells us that we have long delayed packages (Amazon Prime ‘s 2 day guarantee takes about week to find us)…so I usually stop on my way back from gym and lunch in Ludlow and ALWAYS run into one of the yentas…this week I ran into our State Rep, Dennis, who, is the major yenta in town, and he usually covers two topics with me: 1- reminds me I will always be a flatlander and 2- updates me on the status pf pot legalization……talk about being Pigeon-holed…

Thursday was our outing day this week- and it was an incredible fall day- so we headed down to the Weston Priory and illicitly lunched before cruising down to Londonderry and Peru (really) for a drive up a dirt road where we found the ubiquitous Appalachian Trail and did a short 2 mile hike, which turned out to be straight up and took hours…but provided quite the view. Having earned our supper, we headed for “Vermont night” at the prosaic Landgrove Inn- a three course Prix fix dinner with all the charm of what you think of when you think of a Vermont country inn

While we ate, the exhausted Lucy passed out in the car…we believe Lucy is the most stress free being on the planet…she can drop down and sleep anywhere , any time and in any position…check out the photo of one of her stress free catnaps….

We had a special treat this weekend- heading down to old, old Woodstock (“feel the cool night’s breeze”…Van Morrison)…to the legendary Ramble at Levon Helm’s barn. We had not been since Levon passed a few years ago, but were drawn to see a group called The Weight perform…for those of you who share my invaluable insights, THE BAND, set the standard for American rock music ..most of them are gone now, but this is a BAND tribute band….an unusual one since all of these guys played with THE BAND at one time….and they have created the most amazing simulation of the beloved music. It’s a magnificent setting- only about 150 people in a beautiful barn with fireplaces and unusual level of dialog between the musicians and the audience… after two and a half hours of inspiring music, I felt like I had sung two sets myself as I could not help (to the likely chagrin of those seated next to me) to sing the fourth harmony part on every song…

And only in the northeast…we were able to dine at midnight at an all-night classic diner (THE Ambrosia- love the Greeks!) after the show…on our way back to spend the night in Albany….So, Albany…did you know that Albany was founded in 1610 by Henry Hudson who was trying to find a quick way to China (a little lost, no?). Very cool old city, with buildings that look like the Dutch are still presiding over the town. We stayed on State St., which was originally called “Path of the Woods’-  named by the original inhabitants, The Mohawk Indians. who were then unceremoniously booted…but not before they named everything with funny Indian names…so… the Mohawk name of for “Path of the Woods” is Ske-nek-ta-dee…got it?

We should have been home in two hours this morning, but got distracted as only Vermont can do, and wound up taking an old favorite-the 20 miles Kelly Stand road, a dirt gem that weaves in out of amazing ponds and over the mountain where Daniel Webster spoke to the devil. (honestly, there’s a plaque)

So home now, and readying for a three day fall outing tomorrow up to the Islands (yes, we do have islands here, dear)…so gotta go….what happened to the Zen, anyway?  Check the myriad of photos from this week’s adventures, and,

Stay strong, be peaceful and love one another right now (right now, right now)

Es-Stu-Ban