Category: Green Mountain Blog

Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock,

If I hear this one more time……postal…….

Learned that it really is Cair-Rah Bee-In…..not…. Carib- be- in…and everywhere I went today they had impeachment hearings on radio and tv….do we listen to what is going on in SL?…

Went to three banks and countless stops to try and get someone to change US 20’s to smaller bills….no go….I don’t want the EC currency since you get stuck with it….no changing back….ever…

No run this am—ankles too sore after two days of hills-so went to sauna- like gym…and then one more fish breakfast….then hot streets to make journey to capitol of Castries…”just take the bus, mon, it easy”….bus is actually a mini-van…twenty of them lined up…and go only when full (for buck)….trip in was fine , about 20 minutes…..but back….oy….jammed in back row between very large Caribs…smoldering for an hour of bumper to bumper….people clearly wondering who the white guy is doing this…

Castries is the REAL Carib…packed with people, dirty, loud, grimy…vendors hawking everywhere….blazing hot streets…giant market place of fish and tchotchkes….two hours of the promise of the real….was enough to decide against the potential 3 hour trek (on the bus) to the volcano…so took the cramped ride home…..jammed by the large woman next to me humming along with every Rasta Christmas song on the radio…and…all the commercial jingles…just like traveling with Jenn…

Back to hotel for a few air-conditioned work hours…and then some pool time…and then a nap…

Had Duo call with Tess and Bebe…..Bebe seemed to say “Papi”….how about THAT…….

A day late- a dollar short…went to fabled Chinese Rest. for (better late than never) Sunday dinner….Peking duck to die for….but bill 2X any other place on the island (Ten bucks extra for rice)…is that the absolute reversal ?…and though Indian dining an adjustment….all black serves in Chinese place almost pushed me over the edge…..dishes we served on little candlelit table warmers to keep them hot…liked that…. was about to leave whew when the DAILY Rain came ….two and a half minutes of hell…then gone….Could not pass up the Chinese, by the way, as it is next to the SJ Chinese Embassy……

Time to pack and get ready for next jaunt….6:30 pickup for the airport…and on to Antiqua….till then…..

Happy Day Mons and Monettes:

New Papi schedule….up at 6:30 for jog before the massive and cantankerous breakfast buffet…Sunday morn means really empty Carib streets…up to the top of the nearby hill ..to catch the view of bay and mountains the local elite have….

Making my usual front desk hotel friends pays off with someone cancelling- and getting room upgrade which allows me to stay in my room and not have to move to peasant HQ in ancient building down the resort road….…Gotten used to my little balcony facing the quiet rear….and with two fragrant eucalyptus trees…

Was back and getting ready to figure out three- bus trek to volcano when Gloria, the Eastern Carib project coordinator called me with invite to go with her to a local craft fair…did not want to pass up a local experience so said sure…..said she’d pick me up at 10:30….I forgot to consider Island time…she showed up at 11:30…and then we had to drive to her friend Anthony’s house up in the hills- since she does not drive to the other side of the island, where Fair was housed at Sandals country club…

Fair was an extraordinary mix of people of color….many of whom good-naturedly allowed me the privilege of taking their photos(check out the gallery) …and surrounded by many of the islands rich and famous……unbelievably hot today….hard to stay out of sun….got sunburned just driving with car window open….then got the grand tour of the north side of the islands beaches and back country….got to see the little land mass St. Lucia built in the 80s, connecting the original island and Pidgeon Island….a spot where you have the Caribbean on one side, and the Atlantic fifty yards away….very cool…these are the non-tourist beaches with big families setting up their cook stoves and lights to spend the night….wanna go there…away from the mass of Brits…

Finished off the day with rum and fish lunch at a very local spot in the little community of Reduit….very poor…but very real Carib….not sure they see many light folk there ….but welcomed with open arms…..Got lots of insight about life in the islands from Gloria and Anthony.

By the time I got dropped off at 4…was wasted and bloated….and lulling about ever since….trying to figure out if I can really do another meal today….was planning on traditional Sunday night Chinese…but may have to wait until tomorrow night…faux Sunday….

Still hoping to make the trek tomorrow but will see how complicated it is…..certainly making it to the capitol to see city life…

Ready to move on to Antiqua…but one more day of sun, rum and fish…

Caveat……….had dinner with the rum punches of all rum punches with my Fish………………………so….incoherence………

Papi was good today…. rose at 7….. and went to the tiny gym building for workout and 2-mile jog through the empty streets of Rodney Bay…

Then on to the massive breakfast buffet (included)….poached eggs on toast, bacon, plantains, tuna salad, fruit cup, pancakes…lasted me the whole day…skipped lunch altogether….

Brits all eating baked beans, grilled tow-mah-toes and kippers….ugggh…

From there it was on to 3 mile walk along the unbelievably touristed beach…check out the chairs…..and then back to villa…to do nothing for rest of day….napped, pool, read, filled out the start of my fed travel reimbursement forms (will need a CPA to fill this in)…figured out why so many Brits here…apparently this hotel is part of British airways package…I may be the only Yank for miles around….which seems to make every Rasta feel the need to approach me…to ask “do you need anything, mon”?…wondering what the scope of that is?….

What am l going to do for two more full days and nights?….considering a three-bus trip to Volcano tomorrow….after my new best Rasta friend (Simonet) gave me the lay of the land…and I gave him Bunty Station on YouTube

Dinner included 20 minutes of face making with 2-year-old in high chair…she loved Papi….

Lots of Creole woman servants here…and all have really long legs….form fitting white blouses…. and tapered tiny black skirts…old guy dream,…one winked at me tonight and asked where I was staying….but Papi be good…

Am all caught up….did laundry in sink….all expense accounting,…e-mails for next site (Antiqua)….and several hate e-mails to the morons in Washington…..

All I got…..

Short report…long day of training in St. Vincent….location is everything….It’s really St. Vincent AND the Grenadines….very touchy here about leaving that out….and Grenadines is where you want to be…somewhere over the volcanic mountain….that’s where all the Yanks go to sun and sun….I’m at the best part of St. V.-a small inlet area on south shore….but the rest….well, it’s a bit like most of Mexico…..Kingston Capitol….dirty, grimy, poor…..picked up by full-fledged military camo guy this morning for hair raising ride through the hills to avoid rush hour traffic….several teeth loosened from the potholes…..training was in ancient church biding and was a cluster of chaos…need to send them to Granada for some tips…break snacks unimaginable- in church basement, but took one for the team, tried everything to be a good American ……goats, sheep, feral dogs abounding… the locals seemed to like Ol’ Papi…only white man for miles around…..today was a roomful of very colorful women…..no men in sight…crawled back to the villa for more work and dinner under the Noel big top…..fish and more fish…and more rum punch….off to St. Lucia tomorrow with a terrible four hour layover in Barbados….Coup still potentially in the offing at next stop of Dominica so not sure if I wind up stuck in St. Lucia for better part of a week ……………………..could be worse

Highlight of day ….for three bucks had my sewage pants washed and pressed….ready to go……

Up at four….90 year old taxi man comes up the mountain right to my cottage to take me to tiny airport in Grenada….board fight to Barbados to then sit for three hours to board second flight to St. Vincent…but they change flight plan and land in St. Vincent first-so then have to talk my way off the plane and convince someone to get my bag off….quite the negotiation… the result was that I arrived at little resort by the sea before 9 am….after a wild locomotive ride from the airport…barely missing sending many of the goats and sheep along the road….to meet their maker….which is just as well, since I dined on one of them tonight…

The Beachcomber’s Resort is tucked in a little bay on the south end of the island….not quite the accommodations I had in Grenada…more a hotel room deal….but a gorgeous property…with pool and sea fifty yards from my door…

Th rest of the day went…..breakfast, ocean, pool…..lunch….work, nap…..ocean, pool….work….dinner…with harrowing walk to nearby tiny town fit in, in blazing sun and lunatic drivers honking at me at every turn….and on the wrong side of the road I might add….it is so British that even the natives speak with a Brit accent….very formal…when I walk into the office…all the women behind the desk immediately jump upright….

There is a cool little boardwalk along the seaside that you have to periodically get off and walk through the tide….and many Rastas….all of whom offered to take me home and share the goods (even with my buzz cut, they seemed to infer I was of their ilk)…

Lots of fish to see in the water, even without my snorkel, which my beloved convinced me I did not need to bring…

And Christmas….these people are nuts…endless loop of Jingle Bell Rock playing and the like…and the dining room decked out with Christmas placemats, candles tree and lights…they are all in….

Last time I was in SV was on a Windjammer cruise with Tess…when she literally hurtled off a cliff into a small pool of water…while all the cruisers watched in horror…..less drama this time…..

Off tomorrow for big day in Kingston capitol…they are sending the military out to pick me up in the morning…..

Are you keepin’ up with this?

Early morning hot rain…..wandered out to breakfast nook high up in hills- could not find my way back to cottage-the place is a maize…

No US electric service…bought converters on Amazon but they don’t work here ….had to borrow BIG black box transformer from hotel…..weighs 20 pounds….lights flicker when it comes on…

Long first day of training….but Grenadians are just wonderful folk…..was at best hotel on island with massive spreads for breaks and lunch for overlooking the ocean….probably all downhill from here. Flight tomorrow at 5 am to St. Vincent, where I have no idea who to contact or where to go……island style..

Jenn should be happy…..eating nothing but fish and salad…but quite hungry at night…….need some pastrami….

Rum Punch…….running on fumes already…and four islands, 12 flights and numerous punches to go….

Got filthy typhoid pants and sox hand washed and dry…but had to go find the massive hotel exhaust fan to lay out my soaked sneakers…still going to be a wet foot journey tomorrow….cooties abound

Place filled with Brits and Aussies …all watching Cricket….what’s wrong with baseball?

Trainings here all start with prayer and national anthem….I wept…..and that was before they read my bio for ten minutes….

Surrounded by warm ocean and hot swimming pools…and no play time….ugggh….

Another long day with dinner poolside with my local peeps…….Onward…..

Been sending nightly dispatches to the family on my Caribbean project travels…and thought… what the hey…should put them on the BLOG….so here’s all of the last week’s…WHY NOT?

Want to keep up with Papi????…here’s the brief synopsis…

CMH at 6 am for flight to Miami…the on to Granada….uneventful….arrived at Grenada (GRUN-NAY-DA)….around 3:30 local time (hour ahead of EST) and emerged to 86 degree steam…..found old taxi-man…spoke some kind of English though I could not get a word of it….hotel eight minutes away……Blue Horizon Guest Cottages…very cute and three mutes from the majestic Grand Anse Beach…600 yards of pristine white sand….Cottages sit on 6 ¼ acre bid sanctuary with 27 species of tropical birds, who will likely keep me up all night…..Had drinks with two local juvenile justice ministry ladies…one of whom was probably is a recent Miss Granada….then a very slow dinner by the pool (island time)…big doings down the road with thousands of Grenadians arriving for lighting of Christmas lights and fireworks….went out to take a peak and fell in a ditch of typhoid quality sewage water (like father, like son )…with all my good clothes on I had worn to dinner…spent last hour making cottage filthy with residue of scum and took three showers….cannot imagine how my shit is going to dry in this heat…including my tennis shoes..

And this is …just…. Day One!!!

Buongiorno:

“Having precise ideas of often leads a man to doing nothing” ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..Socrates

“The torch of doubt and chaos….this is what the Sage steers by”………………………………………………………………………………………………….Chuang- Tzu

“Those were the days my friend..…I thought they’d never end”…………………………………………………………………………………………………….Mary Hopkin

Sunday morning 9 am….November 3rd

There’s a light……..some kind of light……that shines its light on me……I want my life to be…..You don’t know what it’s like…..you don’t know what it’s like…….The time has one…..bittersweet endings approach…and Cowtown beckons….Thursday it is!…the end of another season of wanderlusts and Mountain Zen life……..but…not yet…..

It really seems like it is time to go….the leaves are gone…and it’s officially Stick Season on the Mount…restaurants are closed, people are hibernating…we can see the road from our house with no foliage…a stark kind of beauty, in reality….and getting’’ mighty cold…

Our delightful weekend with Ry, Lauren and The Mighty Quinn ended last Sunday night with a Full Monte Vermont fireside dinner in the rarely used living room that is the Walter and Karen Shrine (unchanged since the day they left the house to us )…..then Monday morning they were off to the heartland….

The last week has been a blur with a series of “lasts”….transitions suck….REALLY…but we are relatively on top of it……So…..Endings are what we are currently about….went to a cocktail party , hosted by The Queen last night….to honor the retiring Queen Emeritus of the community association…..filled with locals we usually don’t see or interact with….Friday night was our final trip to the beloved East, the most elegant of Asian emporium’s, for one last dinner date with TJFM…who we will miss greatly as he continues his ongoing battle with serious illness….

And packing, organizing, lists galore, arrangements….that is who we are right now…..so….this will be short, by necessity….will there be more?….who knows….Is winter life as Snowbirds to Ohio Blog worthy?….only your hairdresser knows for sure….

But tonight…. is our last hurrah….eighteen of our nearest and dearest gathering here for the annual Friendsgiving supper…..and They will ALL be here……so in honor of that…and of the impending leave…..I will be posting tonight a photo gallery of BLOG character credits with photos after The Soiree….as I know you have waited for years with baited breaths to see what the cast of Vermont Ramble look like in real life (or maybe surreal life)….

So put my symbolic pen down for last Sunday preparations, last visit to The Dump, making friend deposits, the post office box…..and to see the bare trees….and he will finish this post later tonight…after The Soiree, with the inclusion of The Gallery….

Suffice it to say….I will miss The Weekly Sermon from the Mount….and now sign off from The Inn at Scum Pond…until we meet again……….

Happy trails to you,

Ferlin’/Papi/Chuck/Dad/Cuz/Uncle/ TCJ/Skippy

Ola:

“Over railroad tracks…wild geese fly by…..low on a moonlit night”……………………………………………………………………….Shiki

“Everything will come….exactly as it does”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Zen Proverb

“When shall we live, if not now”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Shirley Jackson

“Be an idiot on your own time”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Lauren Butch Cross (to husband JR)

Ola:

“Over railroad tracks…wild geese fly by…..low on a moonlit night”……………………………………………………………………….Shiki

“Everything will come….exactly as it does”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Zen Proverb

“When shall we live, if not now”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Shirley Jackson

“Be an idiot on your own time”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Lauren Butch Cross (to husband JR)

Leaves forever…..the gift that just keeps giving….the week has been filled with falling and turning leaves, as we scampered up north to extend the magnificence of Autumn….and….took way, way too many pix….forgive the indulgence….and…by the way….

THE POND….is BACK!!!!!!!!!

Last Sunday led to one more walk up the hill to catch the late afternoon shadows…SHADOWS….of the season…not a long walk up the Bowlesville road…..but quite the blow getting up there for the view….found little men hiding in bushes with bows at the ready to bag their five pointers (bright clothing a requirement for any walk at the moment)….came home to prepare for our long awaited (thrice cancelled ) Jenn birthday dinner reservation at the legendary Downtown Grocery (for real) in Ludlow (with our handy dandy birthday gift certificate from Tess and Jake that we had been trying to use all summer)….BUT NOT….ten minutes before we walked out the door they called to say we ware their only reservation and they were going to close up rather than serve us ….only in the mountains……we then spent an hour trying to find somewhere open on a Sunday night in shut down, Stick Season…all dressed up with nowhere to go….eventually winding up at old standby, Harrys ’Café just up the road apiece….

And, speaking of Stick Season…..indeed it is….just returning from a rainy, bare tree excursion with Ry, Lauren and our little darlin’ Quinn-Lily, who made a quick weekend visit…our last hurrah of friends and family…since we are on the 12 day countdown to THE RETURN….todays adventure started with a visit to Farmer Jeff to send the family back with winter meats from the free range-organic- grass fed- poison free hill farm….thought it was to be a quick visit…but Farmer Jeff had some very expansive opinions about how to divert water to THE POND…which led to an hour long manifest on all things spring-fed like……from there it was on to the glory of the Vermont Country Store…for the Emporium of Tchotchkes…and filling Quinn up on samples of every sugar imaginable…she managed to find a broken package of tiny air darts and proceeded to delightfully terrorize the rest of the happy shoppers….along with a howling Lucy, who was enthralled by the sailing darts….now back home, she is parked in front of Elmo….and possibly headed into nod off mode….

The kids arrived yesterday on a sunny, chill autumn day….and hung out (playing with Quinn a dozen varieties of Papi generated marble games) until it was time to go into Rutland…for the annual Majordomo Halloween parade extravaganza….over two hours of floats, marchers, masked Donalds….and an astounding level of mayhem and tomfoolery…..before escaping to Ramuntos for pizza……Quinn quite the site in her little pumpkin outfit…..and despite having no bag or sack prepared, she came home with enough candy for the millennium..…moved home to needed but unhappy bed time……conquered with a rousing rendition of “Where the Wild Things Are”…….

The rest of the week was devoted to our final Fall outing…the annual trip up the Islands. Yes, we really have Islands in Vermont…sort of the like the Lake Erie variety, for you flatlanders…and similarly, they are a very unique culture…not quite the Caribbean variety, but quite different than the mainland lifestyles…..before leaving Jenn had her now -up- to -five minute- ice cold shower together with her newest guru….Sven.. the invincible (I climbed Everest barefoot in the blizzard, in four hours with no food or water guy)…I am desperately trying to capture these moments on record, as they are not to be believed without hearing them…. Then on up through Burlington and across the bridge to the very quiet an empty Islands (South Hero, Grand isle, North Hero and Alburgh)…to our regular cottage stay on the banks of lovely Lake Champlain…120 miles long, 12 miles wide at it widest and 150 feet deep at its deepest….coming in just short of qualifying as one of the Great Lakes…but majestic nonetheless….AND…it was amazingly PEAK fall colors everywhere we went…which combined with sunny, 60 degree weather (unheard of), and nobody around….was simply pure magic….we had a deck on the water, a fireplace and a great view of the Big lake and the Adirondacks behind…which is really the way to end Autumn…

So….what do you do on the Islands for three days in very low season….well, you drive around the lakeside dirt roads, take 200 pictures, look for the best foliage and bird boxes (an islands thing) you can find, hit he Dunes at Alburgh State Park, take a bunch of little hikes….and naps at the cottage…there is a little store to pick up lunch and have a lake picnic….and we have discovered a remote smokehouse down a dirt road, which raises and butchers their own elite chicken and beef…so we had an extraordinary smoked chicken pot pie….enough to feed eight…back at the shack for dinner one night….there is good WIFI…a moderate phone signal and cable tv….and…Tuesday night was the promised land night of the year in my book…Game one of the World Series (Go Nats) and the start of the NBAs season (go Cavs….really???)…a very happy respite before taking on the last days of prepping, schlepping and cavorting to leave the mountains foe the winter……

And…a tale of two meals…up at the islands, we discovered the quaint and lovely Ransom Inn (Alburgh)…blink and you miss it…and we were the only people there…where they wined and dined us at a candlelit, fireside table for a lovely evening. Food was just decent, but a most welcoming and intimate experience. Then, Friday night we had our re- scheduled dinner at the Grocery…..which was loud, disorganized and chaotic..…service as terrible…but the food was magnificent…and…they bought us dinner…for the Sunday night cancellation…quite the dueling dining experiences……..

Quinn-Lilly is demanding attention….and this has probably been a most disjointed blog…as I have done it in between bursts of two-year-old energy lapses….so….enough for now…

Until next time,

Papi