Category: Green Mountain Blog

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

Ola Mes Amigos:

“In an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still”……………………………………………………………….Pico Iyer

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves”…………………………………..Viktor Frankl

“OM”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Ferlin’ Norris

“Five thousand years a
wandering people–then we
found the cabanas.”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Haikus for Jews

Ola Mes Amigos:

“In an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still”……………………………………………………………….Pico Iyer

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves”…………………………………..Viktor Frankl

“OM”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Ferlin’ Norris

“Five thousand years a
wandering people–then we
found the cabanas.”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Haikus for Jews

Well, I’m just about recovered from our nine day odyssey with Little Quinn…though it took two days and a lot of naps. Jenn has been sick the whole week after her herculean effort at mothering a two year old. Moral of story…… it is better to be grandparent than be a parent.

Mountain Reward- after returning from Boston and a few naps on Monday, we tooled down the mountain to Rutland to the beloved East for sublime Chinese food on Memorial Day and a visit with our bestie Mexican waiter, who is passing for being Mongolian.

Glasses shopping in the mountains- in between a ton of rain, more napping and a little actual work, I went down Tuesday morning to see the local Chiropractor. Last time I was there they lent me a pair of reading glasses to schedule an appointment. I really liked these old Walmart-type throwaways (of which I have a magnificent collection)….so I brought a pair of my own down this time…and was able to consummate a trade…this is how one obtains new glasses in the Greens.

Mountain dining- about five minutes down the road to Ludlow from our house is the veritable institution of Harry’s Café…which made a triumphant return to this remote location last fall, after a three year sojourn in some ridiculous airplane hangar of a building down on Route 100 (close to the winter ski hordes’ appetites). We used to go there all the time, but A- it is hard to get in and B- they have ski tourist pricing…..but Wednesday night, we could not think of anything to do for dinner, and went down for a combination of faux Thai and British Empire dining….came home short on wallet and long on carbs…

Day Tripping- on Thursday, we woke to a classic mountain day- 70’s, middling sun, no humidity….and took off for our first real outing of the season….heading up the Route 7 corridor to the charming burg of Middlebury. Hit the Middlebury College Art Museum (world class for its size) and their two new and major retrospectives. The first was a retro of the photographic genius of James Blair, “Being There”- which showcased his work of 35 years as the primary staff photographer for National Geographic. Blair was not only a traditional (pre- digital) photo genius…. but a world class social activist (some of his American series photos were part of a book hastily put together by NG in an effort to defeat the environment onslaught by Reagan and James Watts in the 80s……where is Blair now when we REALLY need him?).

From there it was on to their “50 for 50” exhibit with one major art acquisition presented for each of the museum’s fifty years. Amazing shit (who says thee is no culture in the mountains)….and a great way to start an outing. After the museum we motored over to the great Italian deli , Costello’s, for a picnic lunch orchestrated by the apparent Mama Corleone. We even had the Don Barzini sandwich to be one with the moment. Then it was onto the search for a dirt road (around Leicester-pronounced Lie-ster….since we always drop the “ces” part in New England), where we did our first real walk of the year…to Lucy’s delight. We have had so much rain, the Black Flies apparently have not yet realized it is spring, so it was relatively pain free. After several shopping stops in Rutland on the way home, we got back in time to watch the Toronto Raptors whip the hated Warriors in the NBA finals….Oh Canada….my favorite new song…

The Trout King- made a trip on Friday over the mountain to see the Trout King and obtain the yearly supply of POND bacteria and some pond trout. THE POND is looking a little shaky…so hopefully the insertion of the magic bacteria ball- bags will alleviate the need for the kayak/kitchen strainer activities. Lucy loves their big old drooling dogs…and the endless pools of millions of spawning trout…and no one leaves the King’s lair without a half hour oratory on the godliness of all things Trout…..

Name Dropping in the Greens- a few years ago, I met a guy at the gym, who is retired heart surgeon…out of the game due to a near fatal heart attack (missed his own advice apparently)… and quite the guitar payer…and oracle. I see The Irish Celebrity Doctor a few times a week at the Okemo gym and on Monday nights at Folk Club. His heart attack left him with some residual brain affectation, so he tends to tell me the same stories repeatedly …sometimes 2-3 times in same visit…His stories, often set in Dublin, are always amazing, but this week he managed to relate, in one sentence, having had dinner with Richard Thompson, RD Laing AND Margaret Mead……I am working on my own matching story to rise to the occasion…ideas accepted!!!…

The Angst-Ridden Yard Boy- we have had a long history of young men assisting us on our two endless-work properties. My dear young friend, Marcus, long ago set the gold standard for yard boys back in the Ohio homestead, and, we have had worthy competitors since…..the mountain yard boys are another story. For a while we had a very nice young man, who spent most of this time staring at the primordial life in the POND, whilst occasionally picking up a shovel or weed whacker. Our current iteration is in the form of our young family friend, Ian, who is a pretty good worker, when he manages to remember to come down the hill. Yesterday, we had made plans for him to be here at 9 (I dragged myself out of bed after a late night at 8:30 and got right to work)..…he eventually arrived at noon….AND.. had to leave by one. Of the hour we had, half of it was consumed by his morose tales of self-discovery (and trying to get out of his mother’s house where seventeen people are now residing in multi- generation harmony) For the remaining half hour, he alternately weed wacked and kicked and screamed at the ancient whacker with threats of taking it to the Dump…Good help is hard to find?….

And so it goes….Sunday June 2nd…in the Greens….

Stu

Oh boy…..Oh boy……

“Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet”……………………………………………………………………………Roger Miller

“Knowledge is learning something every day. Wisdom is letting go of something every day”………Zen Proverb

“ Grandparenting….The Ultimate Extreme Sport”…………………………………………………………………………..Pinterest

“Lightbulb out again
how many of us must meet
to change it this time?”……………………………………………………………………………………………………..Haikus for Jews

Happy Memorial Day…..It’s a beautiful day here in the mountains (finally) and we both took two naps this afternoon after getting back from Boston where we a returned little Quinn and even littler Olaf to Ry and Lauren, who arrived back from their European sojourn late last night….I think more naps are in store after nine days of being full time (I mean 24/7) Nanna and Papi….. Quinn, who Jenn has dubbed Quinn-Lilly (when you ask her anything that starts with “Who”-as in “Who is a big girl?” or “Who made a big potty?”…she answers with something that sounds like Quin-ill-Lee- so she became Quin Lilly….anyway Quinn-Lilly is a true delight…BUT…she is all of two….and we are all of fifty and sixty something….

It has been thirty plus years since either of us had a two year old…and saying that clearly we were out of practice would be an understatement. We were just getting the hang of it, when it was time to turn her in….and time for us to take the rest cure…thank the Lord for ants and rocks which we have an unlimited supply of…..and which turned out to be QL’s favorite pastimes …bending down and screaming at ants and heaving every rock in sight….

Though I’m sure there are other things that went on in the Greens in the last ten days….we were oblivious while trying to keep up with a two year old.

Thus, I will limit my musings this week to the observations and leanings of nine days of Nanna and Papi-hood…and then go take another nap…..

• 2 year olds require a routine…and it changes by the minute….making plans is a fantasy
• I know remember why kids go to day care and parents go to work
• The Vermont Country Store is a built in babysitter
• TV is GOOD…..VERY GOOD….
• Kids LOVE Maple Creamees
• It’s good thing to spot the returning (from where does he go?) snapping turtle in your yard so that two year olds can go out looking for them again every day
• It’s not a good idea to take wee ones to Walmart at night…can you say MELTDOWN…in front of a hundred commenting Walmart shoppers…
• Papi should never let Nana disappear for four hours in the middle of the day
• Kids love the “Magic Bridge” that swings uncontrollably on the Appalachian Trail
• The Children’s Museum in Rutland is your best friend
• When you have a two year old for nine days…there is NO Nookie…
• There are many more questions than there are answers
• Nine days with a two year old makes housekeeping irrelevant (It’s a mess!)
• You wake up tired and go to bed tired…
• The winds change very quickly…
• Celebrities we read about who have babies in their later years…have LOTS of hired help…
• When the two year old takes a nap…you better take one too..
• Having nine days with your two old sweetie is PRICELESS!!!!!!!!

I’ve been reading Howard Mosher’s’ novel about being raised by his old school farmer Vermont grandparents in the remote Northeast Kingdom in the 40s and 50s….and keep wondering what did those folks do when their two year old went nuts that we should be doing? I’m still mulling that over…which I will be ruminating about into my next nap….

I think the pictures tell the story better than I can…

Goodnight….again…

Papi.

Guten Sunday:

“The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless”……………………………………………………….Alan Watts

“Just practice Zazen….Sit…..like a person deaf and dumb…”…………………………………………………………………………………Dogen

“I always find beauty in things that are imperfect- they are much more interesting” ………………………………………….Marc Jacobs

“ How soft the pedals
of the floral arrangement
I have just stolen”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Haikus for Jews

It’s been a fast week in our mountain home…….was gone much of the week…..and it finally turned to some form of spring in the mountains, whist I was away cavorting in the Twin Cities. Seems like it turns Green overnight, though the waters are still hurtling down the mountain trails and the high peaks are still snow covered.

Sunday last saw the Cross family-with little Quinn in tow, head off to Boston for their flight to Europe, and the handoff of Quinn to Great Aunt Jennie (GAJ) for the week. After 24 hours with our two year old, we were exhausted. Did some clean up, took several naps and then went down for our triumphant return to the great East in Rutland, with our Jewish Fish Monger dinner companion . We had a young Asian waitress who was telling us her story of graduating and not knowing what to do next….we convinced her to take a gap year, which I’m sure her parents appreciated.

Monday dawned with winter back ,and by evening we were down into the 20s and then had two inches of snow overnight….in mid-May for Christ’s sake. So…..Tuesday morning, it was time to go for the tropics…which meant the 2 and half hour drive down to Hartford for a flight to Minneapolis…where it was an astounding 75 degrees…who would think of going to the Twins for the weather?

Our TSA at work…..I took with me a quart size bag of Epson Salts on my flight (don’t ask)..which despite looking like a pound of cocaine, was not detected at screening (pre- check is the bomb).

Spent the week in St. Paul doing my training thing and wandering the balmy streets. Though generally speaking the Twin Cities, is a foodie wasteland, I have discovered this magnificent Russian restaurant (Moscow on the Hill) that requires a 45 minute walk straight uphill…and features 45 flavors of homemade vodka, as well as Borscht to die for. After an immense meal, and several of the flavored vodkas, I was forced to call the hotel shuttle to come get me…and then went back to my room to do two hours of heavily sedated follow up work.

The plan was for me to pick up Quinn and GAJ at the Hartford Amtrak on my return flight Friday…..but Jenn had neglected to inform me I was supposed to take her car, in which Ryan had installed Quinn’s car seat…thus making a return trip prohibitive. So, we skipped the Friday pick up/arrival and had a recovery night at home. GAJ switched her train ticket to come to Albany instead on Saturday morning…and the day dawned bright, sunny and heading for 75. It was like the ending of the ice age…..So, Jenn went down to Albany to pick them up in the morning, while I headed out with Lucy to do the Saturday thing. At the dump, Dumpmaster Kevin the Walrus, bemoaned two straight weeks without a Jenn sighting…and wondered aloud to me if Jenn thinks about him each morning as he thinks about her……Wowish….

The clan arrived back in late afternoon…the Amtrak was predictably quite late (They, like the postal system….should never be counted on)….and we spent some time on the Pond pump installation ritual (dodging massive puddles of water all over the yard), and then Quinn and I applied the anti- schmutz miracle bags (form the home of the Trout King) to the Pond…..see the water spouting into the Green Mountain air…….

GAJ heads back to the Apple on the 5 pm out of Rutland this afternoon, so we will do some mountain hanging today and then deposit her….which will leave us fogies for nine days of two year old heaven….please send whatever energy remedies you have at your disposal….

And bath time is now ending, so Papi needs to joint the game….so….Dat’s all Folks….

Big Papi

Ba-da-Boom….Ba-Da-Bing………

“Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?”………………………………………………….Charles Bukowski

“Your singing and dancing is none other than the voice of the Dharma”……………………………………………………………………….Hakuin

“Chaos often breeds life when order breeds habit”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………Henry Adams

“Jewish triathlon-
gin rummy, then contract bridge,
followed by a nap”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Haikus for Jews

Duelin’ Schmattas: Quinn and Sloane

A Week in the Mountains

Sunday- Dry….into the 50s….picked up the remaining piles of tree detritus….got all yard machines running on first shot (a miracle), retrieved some of our winter- fostered house plants from the goniffs of Mt. Holly…..assessed the level of standing water on the property through which one can wade out in, stared at THE Pond, picked up The Jewish Fish Monger for the Sunday ritual of dinner at the fabulous East in Rutland (Roast Duck with Pine Nuts(, watched the dwindling magnificence of Game of Thrones

Monday- first sunshine in two weeks-almost 70 degrees….put on our bathing suits…..The Queen uses her fem wiles to re-grease the Bo-Bee and get town road crew to pick up all our dead tree piles and put them in the shredder….Stu hits the slopes of Okemo for first outside jogging of the season…Two people in the Spring House gym building today….which seems like a crowd…Blue skies comes for weekly coffee klatch visit and wonders why fireplace is not crackling in living room for her visit…catch up on local winter yenta-isms…. Java Baba week’s lunch visit # 1…..Folk club in the Library basement….fading Celtics lose again….

Tuesday- Raining and 43….don’t count your chickens, etc.….took morning nap….then headed to Rutland for massive Walmart shop….bought mower sparkplugs for under two dahla….what am I going to do when The Donald fucks up all trade with China (and the rest of the world)….on to Ernie’s Hand Carved, where I sneak off to when the Queen Mother is not along…massive corned beef and pastrami on imported NY rye in this tiny Rutland joint….carved by almost 90 year old Ernie is his big white carving hat….home for second nap of the day….Sox getting hot…..have you seen “Killing Eve” on Hulu?….one of great psychopath killers of all time….running out of heating oil….wearing coats at night in house…..Springtime in Vermont….

Wednesday- starting to all blend together…cannot remember anything that happened with all the mud surrounding us….rainy and 40s…again….blah, blah, blah….went to gym, went to Baba (#2)…took another nap…..Celtics lose again…Sox win again……must have done some work somewhere in there…really… I think I did..

Thursday- play day!!!!!!!spent morning allegedly working….in reality, booking various Marriott excursions to places where it is 70 and sunny…..got oil delivered for furnace so taking off winter coats in the house…..a little sun and into the 60s…..a heat wave……property is greening despite the arctic temps….so got first semi-mow (around the various flood plains) of season done…. The Queen in her yogic glory on the tractor….headed out midafternoon for Dartmouth for monthly dinner and adult movie….stopped halfway in Downers Corners at the newly re-opened Creamee place for state of the art burgers al fresco….on to the cultural wonder of Dartmouth for very dark indie move, “Little Woods”…then magnificent Thai food in a basement with Asian, Harvard-Dartmouth types ruminating over quantum physics…it’s another world when you cross the Connecticut River….arrived home at 10 to a very unhappy and unfed Lucy (let me dump out every garbage can in the house)….feels like Spring is right around the corner…by, say….July…

Friday- More or less the usual Friday in the mounts……back to rainy and 45…..piddled in the morning….off to the mountain Gym where had the building to myself…..Java Baba #3 for lunch….over the mountain on stately Healdville Road back to Belmont village, stopping at Plew Farm for natures best, free-range, organic, yoga practicing chicken’s, big brown eggs- for free as our reward for Green-Up day last week….down into Belmont, where our favorite post mistress, Nicky, was filling in (she is gone to greener postal service pastures in Windsor, and left us with a series of cantankerous fill ins)….walked in yelling for my daily prize (arrival of a one of many long lost UPS packages)..and Nicky coms storming out of her cage, jumps in my arms and yells …”I am your prize”….only in the mountains….Celtics done…Sox win again (are Yankee fans listening?)…

Saturday- Jen has committed to participate in training to be a horse whisperer, so I am tasked with the usual Saturday market chores…..almost sunny- 40 in morning, but soaring to 60 in the afternoon….Lucy and I make for the Dump, where the Dump-master, Kevin the Walrus, is flirting with a Jen substitute (“I’ve been thinking about you all week”), on to post office (closed by 11 am) and down into Rutland. We stop at the Deere dealer to check out the machine of my drams , whilst Lucy inspects the showroom and the lot, then on to the opening of the outside farmer’s market season where everyone greets Lcuy and she receives a dozen treats from different vendors and cavorts with a myriad of her kin. Ramuntos for the two slice special and finally the grocery, where the Queen has assigned me a list that amounts to a treasure hunt thru the store (organic possum meat?). We arrive home to find Jenn in her shit kicking boots and yard weapons in hand, as the sun has come out. After unpacking the grocery treasures, we work on getting the rest of our yard stuff out of the barn and bunkhouse….and then spend hours trying to clear a walking path through the back barn room…..culminating in the hernia- inducing moving of some 900 pound storage unit that the Queen decided we needed to have last fall… it is then assuredly nap time…awakened, shower, shaved and shined we run down the mountain to Ludlow for Tex-Me at the wildly popular Mojo Café….home late…Sox win again…limp off to bed….

And, that, my friend, was the week that was. Nine hours of sun….average temps: 48 day, 34 night….Spring is in the air…just got our second batch of returning house plants…and getting ready for Ry, Lauren and little Quinn to arrive his afternoon…Stu off to the Marriott this week in the Twin Cities, which is a lot more spring like than here. Sunday- Sunday….

Yeah Boy………Stu

Greeting and Salutations on this Sunday Morning:

“It takes a long time to understand nothing”…………………………………………………….Edward Dahlberg

“Words, like eyeglasses, blur everything that they do not make clear”…………….Joseph Joubert

“Mom please, there is no need
to put that dinner roll
in your pocketbook”…………………………………………………………………………..Haikus for Jews

The SUN is ALMOST shining…for the first time since we returned. Yesterday was our first rain-less day after ten straight days of rain and never cracking 50 degrees. It is cause for joy….and celebration in the mountains….people are dancing naked in the running streams… We spent last night with our loco Bostonites friends, John and Lydia, up the hill. It is good thing it is 90 seconds away to get home after the usual debauchery…which means Stu is feeling it this morning, and thus The Ramble needs to be in shorthand………Ramble Riffing…

• Mud season brings no joy to the local folks. Half of local restaurants are closed until late May, the rivers and streams are overflowing, there is NO green anywhere yet, the grass is starting to grow in earnest but too wet to cut….and everyone’s car (and soul) is filthy…

• The Jamaicans are back…last two Sundays have found small family work group next door….can siding or painting be far behind? (see photo)…..No crew….No Goats…

• Monday night is still Folk Club night….still three hours of 12 people sitting in a circle singing variations of Kumbaya…they seemed to welcome my standing/roaming/circling frenzied return with bluegrass and Springsteen in tow…..

• The Gym at the Spring house at Okemo Ski Resort is still my personal training facility…went twice this week and I was the only person in the building (see Mud Season above)…

• Yesterday was Vermont Green-Up day…where every town and village in the state has volunteers running around with big, big very green bags to clean up the roads and waterways…..Where else but Vermont where we have now outlawed plastic bags along with Styrofoam…..our small enclave turns out en masse and we find ourselves a few out of the way, no-traffic roads to make pristine so Lucy can help….she and Stu wander around making friends while the Queen of Mt. Holly labors up and down the roadways to fill the Big Grin bags to capacity… (she wins!)

• Speaking of Lucy, she has discovered Jenn’s hidden compost pile… and comes home with her face covered in leftovers and smelling like the Dump……

• Wednesday was my Birthday…having reached an age too obscene to put in print…..we woke up to rain, gray and cold…went back to bed until midafternoon when we had our first “Portal” call with Max (excellent device to capture the prodigal’s wandering style of phone calling)….we finally got dressed in time for the evening news.. and drove down the Route 30 corridor where a beautiful valley runs between two mountain chains…to the hamlet of Pawlet….and had dinner at the 250 year old Barn Restaurant….then drove back and went back to bed…Fait accompli…Next year please…

• Speaking of the Portal experience, we had our first calls with Bebe this week….and she loves it ….touching Nana and Papi’s faces on her screen and giggling to the effects you can put on(Carmen Miranda head dress, Blues Brothers hats and glasses)…what could be better than Nana and Papi in 3D looking like Bugs Bunny?….

• And…..we are less than two weeks away from our ten days with Quinn…..we are doing daily workouts to prepare ourselves for 2 year old duty…

• Spent a rainy Thursday afternoon making the post –workout drive down to the Country Girl Diner in Chester to see my friend Beverly, who has been feeding me lunch at Java Baba’s for the last three years. She has moved on to the Diner…which is a pretty drive…but a midafternoon haul…and no more Free Lunch…but Beverly, who texted me every Friday this winter to ask “how many more days?”…was quite excited…and well…it IS a DINER….

• I got to be the keynote speaker this week at the Vermont Youth Summit in our glorious state capital of Montpelier (can you say Gold Dome)…and was charged with rousing 150 people toward embracing juvenile justice reform in Vermont…it was a horrendous rainy drive up on the interstate…but serendipitous (who loves “spell-check”) drive back on the fave of faves…Vt. Route 100….got the full Monty of flooding rivers and streams since the road goes through all the valleys splitting the mountains …and saw all the new entrepreneurial activity on the way (none!)…..the training evaluations featured a host of comments that sounded like “we want more Stu”…which made the haul of a day worthwhile….but….has anyone ever had a decent plate conference lunch?

• Birthday Party Vermont style-we headed over though the mud over to the local studio-in-a- barn for Claudine’s birthday bash Friday night(she is the founder of Folk Club and the leader of Vermont legends Gypsy Reel band) and got to see all our cronies in one place…cavorted with Margaritas, Jenn’s pigs in blanket with very oversized pigs, and hours of music circle of fiddlers and such playing Irish Reels…had spotting of The Jewish Fish Monger, The Alleged Russian Spy, the Misplaced French Chef and his Yiddish Wannabe Bride…our social reintegration to the mountains….

• And then came the holy-dry Saturday morning…after our Green-Up chores in the morning, we came home to four hours of chain sawing all the dead tree and limbs in the mud (was a windy winter)..isn’t there a village road crew to do this?…hobbled in for a late afternoon rest period with foot soaking and quinine taking…and then up the hill for the periodic debauchery…which centered on the running of the Kentucky Derby- replete with mint juleps…this was my first ever Derby watching (24 hours of build-up for a two minute race??)..and I understand it was the most controversial in history…John proclaimed he will “never –ever watch the Derby again” after the winner was shamed and disqualified due to a foul….after hours of animated conversations ,we stumbled down the hill to bed…

And so, another Sunday, another week…time to get the motors of the yard running, reclaim our house plants fostered over the winter…and the Queen is eying the muddy garden as the day is allegedly going stay dry and we may be approaching 60…..tonight a trip to the beloved East…and then….. we do it all again…

One year older and deeper in debt………in the mountains….

Papi

“How long have I been waitin’ for you,
How long have you been on your way.
How long have I been waitin’ for you,
Only forever…yes forever and a day”……………………………………………………………………..Jonathan Edwards

“You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather.”……………………………………….Pema Chodron

“The day is coming when a single original carrot will give birth to a revolution”……Paul Cezanne

“Left the door open
for the Prophet Elijah,
Now the cat is gone.”………………………………………………………………………………Haikus for Jews

Good Yontif fellow Wanderers:

Have you been monitoring your Sunday calendars? Counting the days? Ant….tici…pa…tion…….Well….it’s time. Am going to do my best to keep this on this short (doubtful) intro side, since the Queen of Mt. Holly has begun excavating our buried-for-the winter treasures from the basement…and is probably wondering where I am hiding ….but…here we go…

Little Darlin’…its ben a long and lonely winter….cold and wet in the heartland and many delayed and cancelled work trips (who in their right mind takes on a project in St. Paul in the winter?). We did get off to see the prodigal in Paradise (SD) in January and then to annual Keys pilgrimage in March. The Bunty Band played every week this winter with our ridiculously ambitious project to recreate, note by note, the Byrds seminal 1968 Sweetheart of the Rodeo album…to honor the 50th anniversary of its groundbreaking release…..it’s been quite the challenge, and we will be performing it and studio recording in August here in the Greens (3rd annual summer band-visit extravaganza). Jenn did Yoga fourteen times a week all winter and developed a new set of codger cronies at the nearby ecological center.

But….what got us through the winter (and will be keeping us as snowbirds to Ohio) is the two grand babies. We lunched with little Sloane (heretofore spoke of a “Bebe”) and her parents (that would be Tess and Jake) _ every Sunday and got to baby sit and gather many times. We watched Bebe grow from a veritable bump on a log to a six month work of nature. As we left, she had begun to eat food other than mother’s milk- which is quite the adventure in naked debauchery. Missing the next three months of her rapid aging has made the mountain return bittersweet….she may be dating by the time we see her again in July.

We also made near monthly trips and holiday get togethers with our older granddaughter, sweet and precocious Quinnly, who is the trip to end all trips. She will be two in a few weeks and has recently focused her impressive language skills on two words at the moment..…No….and Myself….as in when you are trying to help her put the little boot on the right foot ,and she pushes you away with “No…Myself”…..we are going to have the amazing privilege of having her here with us in the mountains for ten days in May while Ry and Lauren go off to Greece…which will be incredibly exciting and adventurous….and may require a visit to the rehab center for both of us once she goes home.

And …now… we are back in the saddle…arrived mid-day Friday to a high of 38 and snow flurries…apparently skipping Spring altogether here…and have spent the last 48 hours trying to find everything we hid away from the mice and bears. Going pretty well….we have heat (and need it), water, internet, TV and phones….so not complaining …as I sit and type this missive wearing hat, coat and gloves….while Jenn hangs out in the warm basement….…

We did a quick shopping trip to town yesterday, visiting the usual haunts (can you say Ramuntos Pizza?). Stopped at the post office in search of our first lost Amazon delivery of the season (they can’t find us on our mountain dirt road)..and then on to the Dump, where Lucy went berserk with garbage-joy- and where Stu received the gift of a winter parka from Kevin the Walrus Dump Master from his Belmont trading shack. Did I mention that we unloaded our cars in cold , pouring rain for hours…and that I failed to bring any form of winter wear with me (I do have my snorkel gear though, pending my new work assignment in the Caribbean…but more on that in a later missive).

So… I’ll close with a travel anecdote and a survey: Every year we have some unbelievable last minute adventure getting back here (exploding shaving cream, no keys for our house here with us, etc.)-but this year our journey went exceedingly well with no mishaps….until…we reach our overnight stay in lovely Binghamton, NY at the nice little Residence Inn we usually stay at. If you’ve stayed at this Marriott chain, you know they have a nice kitchen for longer term stays. So….as we are unpacking, Jenn brings in our small cooler, and rather than unpack into the refrigerator, she takes out a shelf and puts in the whole cooler …and… places the solid glass – encased- in- plastic rim shelf on the top the black glass- top electric stove (yeah, yeah…I’m getting to it). She then takes Lucy for a walk and I decide to boil us some tea water (foreshadowing?), and place the pot of water on what appears to me to be a special stove top covering . While I then am waiting for the water to boil and e- mailings the Nave to let him know we had avoided any travel- drama, I smell smoke and the plastic casing around the glass fridge shelf that- has been placed on top of the stove…is up in major flames. I keep my wits about me and douse it with the pot of water…which immediately explodes the entire glass shelf into flying shrapnel across the entire suite.

Once I emerge from under the kitchen table and Jen returns, we begin the laborious two hour process of picking up a thousand shards of glass and then making a trip to Walmart to buy scrubbers and scrapers to get the melted plastic off the expensive and brand new stove.

But, really it was a drama –free trip………………………….

So…here is the survey question. Remember the Saturday Night Live routine that posed the question “Qui es moy macho”?….Fernando Lamas or Riccardo Montalban? So I’d like to pose the new question….Qui es moy loco?…….

Queen Jennifah- for putting a glass shelf on top of the stove and not mentioning it…or…

Estuardo…for deciding that this was special stove covering and then boiling water on top of a glass shelf

Choose one only…and good luck with this contest.

Time to get off to the basement and prepare to have our first socialization- going to a 21st birthday party tonight for our sometime yard-boy, Ian…

But.. there will be more…you can count on it.

Love and kisses,

Estuardo

Greeting fellow travelers:

She stands before you naked
you can see it, you can taste it,
and she comes to you light as the breeze.
Now you can drink it or you can nurse it,
it don’t matter how you worship
as long as you’re
down on your knees.
So I knelt there at the delta,
at the alpha and the omega,
at the cradle of the river and the seas.
And like a blessing come from heaven
for something like a second
I was healed and my heart
was at ease.

Long live Leonard!

Lots of requests for a small missive from the heartland mid-winter……….missing the Greens…loving the grandkids…….dark, gloomy skies each day in the land of flat….but Chinese only five minutes way…..movie theaters, ethnic restaurants take the place of dirt roads an glimmering mountain sunsets….holidays come and gone….respite for the weary…back to the road soon for work travel projects from airport easily in striking distance….Band in regular schedule in lieu of folk club….house sharing with rodents….boom, boom, chicka , chicka…….Spring will spring…..soon off to Cali and the Keys’…..put truck to bed, bought a Jeep….Jenn becoming the Queen of Ecological Center…. newest obsession: “country condo living”….traveled to Maryland to see the soaring Byrds reprise Sweetheart album in 50th year…..Sloane….Quinn….Sloane….Quinn…….

Enough……Happy New year…..

Papi