Category: Green Mountain Blog

Greetings, Salutations, Bow-Downs:

“It all begins when we say “I”. Everything that follows is illusion” …………………………………………………………………………. Sawaki Kodo Roshi

“I will be the hero! These morons — when this is over, I will be the hero.”………………………………………………………………Rudy Giuliani

“What happened to our promised land? Lost trying to cross the Rio Grande” …………………………………………………………New Days Risin’- (2020)

……………………. You’re my blue sky, you’re my sunny day….and it’s been a series of those days (thank you, Dicky Betts) here in the Greens……The grass is greenin’, the flowers are flowerin’, THE POND is emptyin’, The Queen is dirt movin’…. what a day for a day dream, what a day for a daydreamin’ boy……

Masks, Masks, Masks…. how many do you have in your car?…….Can’t go in the grocery here in the Greens or a Mart, without one……Mask Police at the door…. have you thanked them for their service?

Amazon in the Time of Corona- is better in the heartland…. ordered a two-day Prime delivery two weeks ago- took 12 days to arrive……can’t seem to find The Inn……you can’t always get what you want….

Bears and Brownies…. local King of Edibles, Master Jeb, left all his brownies in a cooler outside his trailer……and our resident local Bear found them…. he was discovered by an elderly neighbor two hours later lying face down in her yard with thirty-five empty bags of potato chips…

How about John Kasich……. you go Guv……….

Where are The Hasidim?…….with the state park they gather in closed …. they have taken up residence at the Rutland Holiday Inn…. a minion a day…

Third times a charm…after two recent aborted, ravenous treks to Rutland, to the fabled Ramuntos Pizza…which apparently closes randomly in Corona-land (you can only order and pay by phone and then open their barricaded front door and yell for them to bring the pizza) ….we scored last night….which resulted in our new favorite activity…..pickin’ up dinner to eat at the picnic table outside my closed chiropractors’ office….which surrounds Allen Pond, and has ducks for Lucy to chase around while we dine….

Goin up to the country, mama don’t you want to go…….Got stuck this week on moving mounds of dirt, plantin’ bells, continuing to beautify and organize rubber bands in the barn and garage space and regular Pond floatin’…so only managed one afternoon outing…..that meant a trip to Ernie’s Hand Carved for Brisket, Corned Beef and Pastrami…it’s not the city, but pretty righteous for the mountains….after cholesterol-laden cemetery lunch and very ominous thunder clouds, we started driving south to beat the storms and find a destination-dirt road before the skies opened…….found one south of Wallingford….and headed straight uphill for a  scenic hike….skies opened after two miles…and we jogged, rolled, sloshed back to the car soaked to the gills, with Lucy looking like a large wet rat…..camera got soaked and died (later repaired), money got ruined, shoes are still dryin’ out five days later….and then driving home in the floods, tried to avoid Trump-ish driver in middle of the road, hit massive pothole, and blew out exhaust system….the proverbial wet blanket…..

Speaking of machines (were we?)-……the ancient tractor is down again…. after fixing the broken deck spring a few weeks ago, the cable (which I refused to buy proactively after we drove an hour a half to pick up a spring) has now busted……penny-wise…dollar foolish……. F___ Me!!!!!……another parts trip to Brandon this week

When we finally returned our soaked selves home, sounding like a Panzer tank, we were so chilled, Papi channeled Bubby and made Matzo Ball Soup (see pix), which seemed pretty weird when most of our flatlander friends were lamenting 100-degree heat……but…it’s the mountains ya know……

Closin’-schmozin’………if the skies don’t fall in, we are heading back to the heartland next weekend for a week to close on our sale of the beloved ancestral home……it has been quite a haul, so keep fingers crossed…..time to say goodbye to the family estate, home of The Country Jew, family graveyard….luckily have had months and months to come to grips with this, so ready as can be…..will get to see the grandkids, kids, make nice with our new house, maybe gather the Bunty boys for a distanced jam…..

Thus…sad to say, but likely off line for a few weeks……Don’t despair, you can watch the news instead…or maybe listen to reruns of Prairie Home Companion…

To tide you over, we have included some pictures of Papi ‘s proverbial Summer of Corona state……hair has not been cut since February and is hardly ever attended to, mostly wearing just a swim suit or just the tidies, Bud-shirt and flips…who needs to get dressed any more, anyway?????…….

Stay well, drop a line, pucker up, it’s all in the game……

Papi

Bonjour Mes Amis:

“Doing nothing, but leave nothing undone” ………………………………………………………………………………………. Zen saying

“I tell you: one must have chaos in oneself, to give birth to a dancing star” …………………………………………Friedrich Nietzsche

“Sometimes things are just what they seem to be, that’s all there is to it” ……………………………………………Charles Bukowski

Rona-Rona- BoBona- Bananna-Fanna- Fofona- Fee-Fi-Fo- Fona…. Corona………………………………. Have we had enough yet?……….Unlike with some people and places, we are pretty much in total Exile here in the mountains…………………The state had a surge this week with 15 new cases since some fool from the South came to Manchester and spread their wings at the Outlet Stores (come to the beauty of the Mountains to shop) …. thank you, tourista……but that’s about it……first state in the country to go 30 days without a single death……but still we hibernate……long time comin’-gonna be a long time gone……

Tryin’ to figure out what exactly we do with our days here……always seem busy, but not sure how…..Cleaning: we are uber spotless…..Gardening: starting to look like the Botanical Gardens here  (TQ now obsessing over Herb Gardens….is that a Jewish garden?)…….Organization: working on ridding the Barn/Garage of 60 years’ worth of stuff, now have music out there via 60 year old solid state radio and lots of aluminum foil antenna, and have organized all my string and rubber bands into one convenient place…….Work: are you kidding me….is this what retirement is like?….did a two hour lecture to 20 small talking heads on The Zoom this week for the Vermont Law School- has anyone bought Zoom stock yet?……Binging– nighty TV and Corona Fritos (had not had one in two decades and have not stopped, as the Devil said they are anti-viral)…………Writing– lyrics, songs, Blogs, hate letters, curricula, hate letters, Reviews- with being a really bad typist, this takes up half of each day…..Talking- who knew we had so many phone friends…..Exercise– out in the Barn, on the Circuit three times a week, and running up and down mountains, down to weighing 47 pounds now…..Herbs (the other kind)- don’t ask……..Friends?– weekly dinner on the ground at The Big Table in the yard-do not dare to come in our house, fool…….Ponding- sinking a bit with concerted drought, but best ever, PRISTINE, 90 degree plus days shockingly for much of last two weeks, so a good deal of float time- clean enough for even TQ to delve into…..Outings: trying to uncover exactly how many dirt roads there are in Vermont, and walk all of them-twice a week we pack the car like The Beverly Hillbillies (prepared for any Virus or Republican threats) and head off into the great blue……… we are Dirt Road Royalty….

While I toil away at mostly doing nothing, THE QUEEN is distance gallivanting all over the county—-working at the organic farm to feel empathy with the deportables, moving hay bales back and forth over the property, coffees with the Trailer Masseuse, Scavenging with the Dump Master through the 50 foot pile of junk metal for potential finds, doing virtual Garden tours, presiding over the Mt. Holly Community Association…finding piles of rhubarb to make cake for post herb consumption, finding used furniture on the road to take up space in my pristine barn (which I the move back out to her trunk)….touching base every other day with the official Mountain-Yentas: the JPF wife, the French Chef Madam, the Trailer Masseuse, the Empress of General Electric and The British Deck Hair Stylist…..the woman is just plain busy….currently obsessing most about Plastics…..Plastics….

Okay, Kiddoes……since there is really not much happening here, it is almost POND time, and since I need to get in my obsessive amount of written words for the day…. here are three pop quizzes for you to mull over or ignore…all matching answers…. scored on a bell curve….

Song Lines

“Livin’ ten floors above me, in the tower of song” ____                                                                                                 John Prine

“Back of my neck, getting’ dirty and gritty” ___                                                                                                                 The Temptations

“Plant that bell and let it ring” Gram Parsons                                                                                                                             

“We’re the big door prize” ____                                                                                                                                             The Silhouettes

“Just my ‘magination, runnin’ away with me” ____                                                                                                  Neil Young

“With a road sign leading straight to Satin’s cage” ____                                                                                                   Lovin’ spoonful

“Ba-pa-Ba-pa…Ba-pa-Ba-pa-Ba- pa…. Get a job” ____                                                                                                    Leonard Cohen

Movie Lines

“I think we’re going to need a bigger boat” ____                                                                                               Dances with wolves

“Leave the gun, take the cannoli” thermal and Louise                                                                                                                                

“Lets you and me jump in that river” ____                                                                                                  The Untouchables

“You’re a real live outlaw, aren’t ya” Field of Dreams                                                                                                                           

“Individual achievement” The Godfather                                                                                                                                               

“Tatonka…..                                                                                                                           Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

“If you build it, they will come” ____                                                                                                                                         Jaws

Great Presidential Quotes

“Ask not what your country can do for you……” ____                                                                                                          Jimmy Carter

“99 % of virus cases are harmless” _ Richard Nixon

“I lust only in my mind” ____                                                                                                                                                       George H.W. Bush

“Masks are great, in the right time and place” ____                                                                                                               Bill Clinton

“I never inhaled” ____     The Donald                                                                                                                                                    

“A thousand points of light” ____                                                                                                                                                George W. Bush

“Mission accomplished” ____                                                                                                                                                      John Kennedy

“This left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution” ____                                         Ronald Reagan

“All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk” ____

“I am not a crook” ____

Fun time is now officially over……go do your Corona Lives Matter things……………………………………Can we bring back “W” please…pretty please……I’d trade my first born (sorry, Max) for Rayguns…… or even…. Tricky Dick, too……..

Bye-Bye, Love

Papi

Greetings Family and Friends:

I can drive away the sorrow; I can drive away the pain.

I might wake up some tomorrow, and you’ll pass my way again.

I would beg or steal or borrow, on life’s rapid moving train.

I would drive to west of Fargo, just to see you once again……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………” West of Fargo”- 2003           

My good friend, Steve Hekler passed away last Sunday night after a grueling yearlong battle with cancer. Steve was my first and oldest friend in Vermont. He was a funny, kind, unassuming and extremely talented man…and a wonderful friend. When we first came here, I was a bit lost without the music of the Bunty boys and I immediately met Steve, and he became my Vermont musical muse. We played, we ate, we laughed, we cried. He reactivated my long dormant Jewish roots after 45 years of separation from that culture. The fluent Yiddish of my childhood returned. Our Sunday night dinners at East were often the highlight of the week. He was a young man who left us way to soon, and leaves a giant void in many lives. He will be sorely missed and the world is just a little bit less of a graceful place without him.

Rest in Peace, Jewish Fish Monger.                               

I don’t have a lot in me after this very sad week, so will just throw out the highlights via my Blog Newsflash and let the photos tell the rest of the story………………………

Have now entered into the “Dinner on the Ground” phase of Corona 2020……having guests over to middle-of-the-yard dinners at a very long table for social distancing…who knew?

Made my first foray back to the Monday night Folk Club hootenannies on Monday…. standing ten feet apart on the Village Green…. I have been reluctant to go due to microbe expulsions that come with singing, but decided to gather with my other musical friends to sing Steve back home

THE POND is AMAZING……been in three times this week with very hot weather (90s in the mountains…. but no global warming going on here) and endless work on the property…. even got out the floaty devices this weekend…. clean, pure, cool………amazing…. again……who knew?

The funeral took place in 93-degree heat…. over 100 people gathered at the graveyard…and EVERY ONE of them wore a mask…. outside!……the Bernie-state is indeed impressive in it level of social responsibility…

The Moron-in Chief says “99% of Corona case are absolutely harmless” …. I’m fully relieved now…You?

Once again fixed the 45-year-old tractor this week and it’s back to running……My family always said that little Jewish boys from The Bronx are not supposed to grow up to fix tractors……but who knew?

Did several outings this week, north to Brandon and over to the rolling farm country of the Champlain Valley….and then down towards Brattleboro…..too hot to kayak even though we are now schlepping the beasts everywhere, but managed some very hot walks on the endless supply of scenic dirt roads….and a little Diner stop—–dining out in the middle of their very big yard…..this is our new normal-we only dine outside at restaurants that have pickup windows and very big yards……really, who knew?………………..

The Virus continues to rage in many parts of the country, people are scared and confused and our leaderless nation is suffering from the worst divisive inner turmoil in a century (or at least since 1968) ….hate your next door neighbor- but don’t forget to say grace…and you don’t believe  ___________________________

Be well…stay safe…. eat a little peaches….

Papi

Happy Independence Day weekend:

“You see more sitting still than chasing after” ………………………………………………………………………………………Jonathan Franzen

“Step by step, the early morning breeze” ………………………………………………………………………………………………Hakuin

“When you vote for a Republican…. God kills a kitten” …………………………………………………………………………. Vermont bumper sticker

It’s been a slow week in the Greens…. Aren’t they all right now? Vermont is beginning a slow reopening after being very successful at stopping Covid spread, but now the tourists are going to be coming from the cities, so who knows?

Spent part of last weekend trying to get Home Depot here to mix paint and deliver curbside, which required a note from God…. but eventually got it done after multiple calls and prowls of the parking lot. Nothing like having to work hard just to be able to work hard.

We decided on one of our trips to town that we just had to have fried chicken……so planned our trip to coincide with a stop at the Rutland KFC…only to find it had was gone (literally gone- no evidence of its existing) ….so began a whirlwind journey to feed the chicken-jones on a Sunday night…. ultimately finding the goods at the Price Chopper just before they closed…. surprisingly worth the hassle………………

After a number of fits and starts, we decided that Thursday was officially the start of kayak season, and spent hours assembling the kayak rack on top of my car. A major effort despite the assumed possibility of being more convenient. Mostly The Queen did it while I sat inside dabbling in word affairs…. a wrenched neck later (after hoisting the vessels on), we made our maiden voyage to the peaceful waters of nearby Lake Nineveh. Though the tiny parking lot was crowded with cars, the lake is large, so was the usual tranquil experience. As is custom, Lucy managed to stay on Jenn’s kayak for few minutes before spotting me and diving in, then spending the rest of a two-hour trip swimming after me…. little legs thrashing in the water…. it’s actually quite a sight to behold…. looks like a sea lion making its way across the ocean…

Friday dawned bright and hot for our outing day…. after I finished the workout in the barn, and a jog up and down mountainous Route 103 (my kingdom for a small stretch of flat land), we headed off to find our muse……wandering up through the Greens to South Royalton, with the ambition of finally making it to the legendary Worthy Burger…. only to find it closed for the fiftieth straight time we have tried). By this time, intense thunderstorms had hit, so we found Sandy’s small roadside snack bar (Vermont generally had the best snack bars known to man) and had more fried chicken under a little canopy area…. followed by what was clearly the best yet Maple Creamees (big, cheap, frim, full of maple) …. headed back out in the rain….and passed an empty parking lot –Dollar store- in the middle of nowhere…so resumed our three month quest of trying to find the things our brethren have been hoarding. Hazmat suit on, I scored a major coup…. emerging, fist pumping with multiple bottles of alcohol and peroxide, missing pasta boxes, kitchen scrubber (who knew) and a discount pack of tidy-whities (don’t ask) ……………

Arrived home in time for Jenn to get out and finish mowing…. culminating in a broke down tractor….it has been too good to be true thus far….so the 90-year-old machine going down seemed inevitable….

We had decided that since the hordes were going to be invading our safe space, we would stay around The Inn for the weekend and work on the property. Planned for a relatively light (is this foreshadowing?) wok day painting and staining the decks……woke up bright and early this morning, was a fine and love-a- ley day………eight hours in 90 plus heat, two wrenched backs, third degree sunburns, four bee stings, and the first dive of the year into the healing waters of the crystalline POND ….we limped back into the house…..is this a sign of aging?…..it looks pretty good out there …bur we only got one done….trying to see if joints will work enough today to do the other…and still be ready for the Jewish Pig Farmer and the Empress of Death to come later this afternoon for a masked cookout……..mountain work is never done……

My five recommendations for another week of enduring The Plague:

1. Get a vinyl copy of Neil Young’s newly released 1975 masterpiece “Homegrown”
2. Stream “Baptiste” and “The Missing”
3. Read a new book (see Stu’s Reviews for ideas)
4. Get out on the safety of the water
5. Avoid paining/staining projects

So enough avoidance with this shtick…. time to hit the chores and make the tea……

Be well…………… stay safe, sing a little song……WEAR YOUR MASK….

Papi

Greetings Brothers and Sisters and a Happy Father’s Day:

“Cause you’re
The kind of man you know
Who likes what he says
I wonder what’s it’s like

To be so far over my head” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………” Last Train to TULSA”- Neil Young

“Too much talk will include errors” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Burmese Proverb

“The truth is more important than the facts” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Frank Lloyd Wright

Oh what a beautiful morning……have hit 90 a few times this week, which is Sahara like weather foe the mountains, but the nights remain in the 50s………some in the 40s. We have adjusted to our initial return traumas and most of the Inn at Scum Pond is now in working order, after exercising three 16 hour days of compulsive behavior to regain control of the waters and the weeds…………………The Queen has disappeared into the gardens and the embellishment of a myriad of small plastic storage baskets……………. Lucy is spending her days with the Jamaicans on the weekends when they are here……hoping for the big grill to be fired up down there.

We have been trying to figure out what our routines are here in the mountains in The Time of Corona. No Gym…. No Music gathering…. No Bebe to see three times a week……What do you do? What do you do?…………Jenn has been out and about making socially distanced reunions (with people I prefer not come here, since they are wont to barge in the house mask-less), collecting our vacationing house plants and starting back up rolling around in the dirt at the organic garden….I have decided to tackle the long neglected Barn Clean-Up project – my initial plan was to remove five items a week for The Dump or the burn pile but my first attempt, resulted in TQ taking back four of them, for some yet undetermined project- The Virus is creating role reversals in many ways, no?)

Speaking of The Barn…..it has become my epicenter and it houses not only all the yard machines and tools……but the massive Nautilus-like apparatus we inherited from my cousin when they moved back to the city several years ago, which took us two weeks to reassemble, and has mostly sat like a post-apocalyptic sculpture since……But Now….it has become workout central….maybe not to the standards of the Y, but pretty cool….plus trying to do a two mile run/fast walk three times  a week up and down Route 103……which seems moderately flat from the car vantage….but is, in reality, a minor mountain……so….What to do?……gym, run, occasional work remotely, read, serial TV (we rejected having cable for the first time ever, so no TV to speak of , except streaming -does anyone actually watch broadcast TV when there are no sports?) …and how much news can you watch without going postal?), dirt road walks, a bit of laying in the sun, a fair amount of phone chatting, house projects when forced into it, obsessing about selling the ancestral home (two contracts…two back-outs) ….and generally pondering the meaning of life in these dark times……

Thought we had the old house beast sold this week…had a number of critical step towards the finish line……BUT NO…. can I say how much I hate the house market game, the whole realtor rules thing, and every house buyer in the universe?

But……THE POND……up and running with the little makeshift fountain, cleaned up, bacterailized………Magnifico!……………….is this Stu’s happy place???????????????? Hot enough for dip today, if it wasn’t for the ice cold mountain waters…. maybe in August….

Tulsa…. are you kidding me?

VP-make a choice, already, Joe…let’s get on with it….

Is John Roberts the new swing vote on the high court? Who might have thunk it?

Had some major Virus firsts this week……. had our first major outing since mountain return, with a Thursday trip up north to Brandon and Middlebury. Made short stop at the Brandon Dispensary (unlike those in the big city, you can smell this one two miles away), on to Middlebury to Costello’s Italian-Deli take out and a long awaited visit with Mama Corleone, lunch in the shade of the Marble Works, then up over the Pass to the Snow Bowl and dirt road walk, then down on route 100 for the dazzling-ly Green drive down Vermont’s scenic highway. Gorgeous day, blue skies, puffy clouds, hot-but perfect on the shaded walk…what’s not to like?

On Friday night, we had our first restaurant outing since February, down to the Victorian Inn at Wallingford for al fresco dining. Thy have a nice little patio at this Swiss Chef –owned place and added Pub fare to their fine dining menu a few years go (Schnitzel to die for)…..but they had one cute little table literally out in the front yard…which was clearly for us and Lucy….Perfect night out, perfect setting, perfect meal…..a shade towards normal….which is a bit easier to think about in Vermont, where there have been no COVID hospitalizations for three weeks, are just now reopening…and where the restaurant is required to ask you five questions about your health before accepting required reservations….

Then yesterday we had our first social visit of the season with the Ersatz Russian Spy and the Mt. Holly Schoolteacher of the Century……very nice to while away some time outside in the yard with some other adult human beings…. a bit out of shape on social discourse at the moment…. but will hopefully improve with more human sightings……

And this week……On to The Grocery…. for the first store visit in three months……have our Haz-Mat suits cleaned and pressed and ready to go for the event….

I sit before flowers, hoping they will train me in the art of opening up…………………Be well………………Stay Safe…………………Be Happy (or at least close)

Papi

Greetings from Scum Pond:

“But every so often something shatters like ice and we are in the river of our existence. We are aware.” …………………………………………………. Louise Erdrich

“It’s all a passing show…. Just watch it.” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Anagarika Munindra- Ji

“Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground. Mother earth will swallow you, lay your body down” ………………………………………………………Neil Young

Wienie, Wienie Quarantinie,

Up the mountain, green-green scenery,

Big brown bear, at front door preening,

Inn’s a mess, we can’t stop cleaning,

Pandemic blues, the streets are teeming,

Houses, houses…fate careening,

Wienie, Wienie, Quarantinie.

Last two weeks a blur….too much even to Blog last Sunday………whirlwind of leaving the heartland…..Last supper with kids an Bebe filled with tears….saying goodbye to our lifeline after months of time together….and then ….The House (the old one)…trying to get it ready to sell without being there…..final burst of cleaning, fixing, removing all evince of rodents…..end of months of updating and purifying……and keep our fingers crossed……naturally, as soon as we left, got two offers as we were driving away…..so now IN Contractus…….with any luck will be down to two houses by end of July….and then, really time to say our goodbyes, which we have studiously avoided through constant work back at the farm, regular hot tubbing and doing laundry….but the soul must have its rest…and the end is not in sight….

Leaving the new abode tuned out more emotional than expected….maybe it is just that it has been the Corona safety zone for months…our own castle and moat from the storm…..but it is also a lot easier to get ready to leave a 40 year old house than a 175 year old house….bet on that…….In our curbside pickups last week at grocery and Walmart, kept count of people wearing masks inside the stores and it hit a bit less than 30%…which is frightening….too much too soon…..greed Trumps safety….think there’s gonna be hell to pay…..

We had last bursts of social discourse before we left…more than in months….had Zoom cocktails with Phil et Maux (a first for us), socially distanced drinks on the deck with our realtor and fiancé, hands off cookout with The Nave and Suba an a garage side visit from our King of lawn mowing neighbor, Roger, across the street…who left us with reams of wipes, sanitizers and gloves for our journey (medical supply business)…plus he turned to be the community Yenta, regaling us with tidbits of choice gossip for folks from each house in the neighborhood………………..

The leaving and the drive east were uneventful, which is a first……very, very hot drive days, but newly fixed AC worked and Lucy slept for nine straight hours…no doubt in preparation for her patrolling duties on the Mount. We bit the bullet and stayed at our usual Marriott in Binghamton, which astoundingly is following a policy of five days between guests in each room…. with contact-less check in and outside entry to our condo like unit…seemed pretty safe…. ardent readers will remember this as the place of the fiery explosion last year when Stu tried to boil water on the stovetop where Jenn had placed the fridge shelf she had taken out. Though the room has gotten over the smell …. hey still had not replaced the missing shelf whish we surreptitiously took with us to avoid hellfire and brimstone…

Had the good fortune to run into local radio station somewhere in the middle- of – nowhere NY….and learned that the next day was the start of “speed week” in New York…..which fortunately I understood did not mean you could speed without penalty….the next day the patrol was out in abundance, trying to match their 24,000 tickets issued during last years “Speed Week”….but we were ready for them and arrived without citation for the first time in many years…also had a chance to hear Governor Cuomo’s daily Corona briefing…..WOW……it’s like a sermon from the mount….can we just all decide to have him be our fearless leader?….

Arrival back at The Inn was as expected…only worse……………. after being gone for two extra months….had phone troubles, usual infestations, grass two feet high in places, no hot water, broken dishwasher and multiple leaks…..oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam….something tidy and small, with a housekeeping staff and just one of them, please….needless to say, we have been at it for days, and starting to feel a smidgen on top of the chaos…..Friday brought an onslaught of our local peeps…who we had to hold at bay with stun guns…..Jewish Pig Farmer an Ms. JPF showed Friday night to bring us dinner and stayed ten feet way…but it went downhill from there….the Masseuse in the Trailer burst into the house with arms wide open foe hugging , before I made her, at gunpoint, go get her mask and stay at the threshold……then an endless stream…… we tried shouting about our two week Quarantinie requirement (which may be lifted this week be Herr Guvnor) with only moderate success…….Our local grocery, Hannaford, offers on line ordering and pickup, but no curbside (Boo!)…so yours truly entered a store for the first time in over 3 moths, with my Hazmat suit on….vey impressed with over 90% of shoppers wearing masks…….clearly very low incidence in these parts and getting better quickly, but also getting ready to re-open in earnest…and we know what happens when that happens……

Very uncertain about the whole thing about Race is like in the mountains, since everyone is white…and we have no TV, so cutoff from the 24-hour mind bend of protests and police rioting, which is a relief and somewhat unsettling both…….

Woke Saturday morning to the wafting through the window sounds of Bob Marley, which signaled the return of the Jamaicans down the hill……Lucy immediately joined them for the day……and we had to tie her down when the aromas of roasted goat began to drift up the in the evening….while The Queen hauled endless wheelbarrows of grass clippings in circles around the yard, I rolled down the mount to Wallingford and picked up dinner at Sal’s’…which we ate on the porch in barely 50 degree weather……an adjustment to be back to 70 degree (if lucky and not this weekend) days and 40 degree nights….

The Yard is a mess, the house is overwhelming, The Queen is running round (unkempt/ uncut hair flying in the wind…we have neither had a cut in three mints, and reverting to late 70s-early 80s dos) in circles with a jug of vinegar in one hand and her phone in the other to listening to a podcast on why vaccines are bad, ….But…The Pond…..can you say PRISTINE?

Gotta get tromping through the weeds and ticks and try to get the old machines up and running and stop water from flowing in various house orifices……………. River deep…Mountain High…

In A Gotta Da VITA….Baby…………….Stu

Greetings fellow travelers:

Hope everyone is having a good holiday weekend…the official start to the Bizarro summer…. drove over to babysit Bebe yesterday and every restaurant parking lots were full, traffic was huge, and the parks we overflowing with cars and people…. guess we’re officially back to normal now…. are we nuts or what………we are preparing to flee to the mountain remoteness in the next few weeks…before The Apocalypse…and it is or constitutional right to not give a shit about anyone else….do you feel me?

So- really, what is there to say…. we eat, we drink, we sleep, we work on both houses, we pay the bills, make a few calls to stay in touch, binge watch serial TV, mow one yard, then mow the other yard, paint, prime, stain, fix things…. then start over…breaks to be Nana and Papi a few times a week…and that’s all she wrote…………………

Esoteric fact of the week…the passing of Ken Osmond…. the infamous Eddie “you look lovely today, Mrs. Beaver” Haskell……you have to be of an age for this one…

Feelin fine, the world’s all mine,

Early mornin’ chills, I still can get my thrills.

That woman’s Baa-aa-aad…. The Best I ever had.

I’m gonna get me to the graveyard on time…now,

I write poems, but none of them rhyme …. now.

No more side roads, I’ll go on the main line…now,

Can’t you tell that I’m feelin’ just fine…wow, wow, wow, wow…………………………………………………………….” Ten to One” ……………………….1976, Columbus, Ohio

Match The Quotes Time-  

1. “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix….”
2. “The truth is more important than the facts
3. “I think most people would understand what I would think about the current American President’s handling of the Pandemic, but it’s probably better sometimes not to say it.”
4. “One day…it is like a miracle…it will just disappear”
5. “Book ‘em…Dan-O”
6. “Here and now, boys…. here and now”
7. Pipe dreams and fantasy schemes, it never turns out quite the way it seems…The faster you run, it’s just that much longer to go”

1. Aldous Huxley
2. Ferlin’ Norris
3. Alan Ginsburg
4. Yak Lord
5. The Donald
6. Tony Blair
7. Frank Lloyd Wright

And that’s all I got………………….Stay….Safe….

Papi