Category: Green Mountain Blog

Buenos Dias:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lots of pics this week to tell the story.

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

 

Stu

 

 

 

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

“Follow your Bliss”……Joseph Campbell

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

PEACE-OUT- NOW…………STUB/STUD/ME

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Es-Stu-Ban

 

 

 

 

 

Good Yontif Fellow Travelers:     (Please note- the blog will not be available this week on my website , as we are moving to another domain host (Whatever that is). Once the transfer is established, I will post this on the website retroactively…so for now…this is it)

“It is the greatest manifestation of power to be calm” Swami Vivekananda

Calm- schmalm….where is the rain? Every day it starts out looking like rain and by noon it is 75 and sunny…blah, blah, blah…the POND continues to look like the Grand Canyon. We had a few days where we had highs in the mid-60s, which seemed like the true Fall arrival, but then back up to the temps that have created record highs here every day for a month. Global warming-schmobal warming…

Despite the warmth- the subtle changes are abounding. See the very unusual early morning mist and the fine late afternoon fall light. See the leaves turning rust and gold at every bend in the road. Feel the brisk night air as the harvest moon rises. But, I digress……..

This week was Jennifer’s’ birthday week- a big one, not in years, but as her first brunette birthday. We celebrated with a dinner on the town, at the fabulous Roots in Rutland and then to the very cool Paramount theater to see the everlasting Robert Cray band…a man who has not aged an iota in 35 years .Max and Tess very thoughtfully got Jenn an inversion table, so she could hang upside down while picking organic vegetables….which arrived in a massive box in front of our door several days early. I rushed out to cover up the box as it had its content labeled everywhere and then had to ask her to help me schlep it in. All good- until a second box arrived the next day (Amazon must like Jenn-they sent her two) and had to repeat the whole adventure…running out of big enough sheets….We celebrated her birthday when I got home from traveling on Thursday night. She loved her gifts but would not agree to keep the Donald bobble head I had gleefully gotten her (“get that out of my house”)..so I guess I have to find a Bernie one.

My overnight trip to DC was quite an adventure. To get there I drove 2 ½ hours to Hartford, ,flew to Baltimore, took a train to DC, and walked a mile and half with my luggage (in 95 degree swelter) to my hotel…then repeated it backward the next day. Left DC in heat of 94-arrived back in mountains at night to 42…apparently global warming misses us at night.

Got out for a hike on the Appalachian trail this week with Lucy- quite the serene place …and then hit the Chester autumn fest on Saturday, where we found the beer garden away from the leaf people, and Lucy found Ms. Indy to romp with.

Just said bon voyage to our guests from the south of France. Toe-mah and Ludie (maybe not their real names) who were delightful. She is a “chiropractie”- but we could not convince her to fix us up. They said the stay was plus-perfect (got to hear the pronunciation to appreciate that). Night before we had Gigi; a Jersey girl here to be a fanatic and run the annual Spartan race at Killington.

Now everyone is gone and Lucy and I are recovering. Trying to catch our fourth movie in 3 weeks this afternoon, if we get motivated to drive down to the Bellows Falls Opery house…only one hour drive to see a movie.

And, that’s all she wrote…for now

Au revoir, mes amis.

Monsieur Stuard

 

 

 

 

Beloved earthlings and flatlanders:

“I am the grapevine, you are the grapes”   Western Koan

See THE Pond………it rained hard this morning…for the first time in six weeks, which might possibly relieve me from pumping water (with three 100 foot hoses, which leads to no water in the house0 )down to the pond to try and fill up the dry canyon….we will need rain for seven days and seven nights if it is going to fill up before next spring…friend Phil says that I am Captain Ahab and THE POND is my WHALE…….

See the Barn Roof…who came up with this color shingles…let me search around the house and find the project-maven………

See Jenn’s hair…and then send her a sympathy card with deep thoughts …she is traumatized by her brazen switch to being brunette…

See our new favorite secret hiking place-…..just down the road a bit, but I can’t tell you where, or I’d have to kill you …short hike down to a magnificent gorge….nude swimming possibilities…warm rocks to sit on for lunch….only crawfish in Vermont!

See bad music fest and good music fest…we did the haul up to charming Randolph last Sunday for their “New World” music fest…turned out to be confined to a small tent with lots of daytime  drinking, people were not friendly, and they did not care for Lucy…NOT…so back down route 100 we buzzed to catch tail end of the Blues and Folk Fest at Calvin Coolidge birthplace in Plymouth (learned that CC was the first hang glider!) ……..gorgeous setting, God-like day, great acoustic blues, folk and jazz,,,…and a good place to hide out from the Labor Day tourist blitz

See Stu and Jenn go to find a movie…an hour an ten minutes each way to the  grand old hamlet of Brattleboro to see the new Woody Allen movie, Café Society…not complaining, absolutely worth the drive (see the review)..and had Thai dinner in the bargain…but still, can’t we have adult movies and ethnic food in the mountains?

See Lucy swim…the girl hates the water, but she hates it much more to be separated from her pack…so we spent an incredible early fall day kayaking at nearby Lake Nineveh with no one else there (got to love post Labor Day mountain life), with the little beast hurtling herself into the water each time one of our kayaks drifted away from the other one. She wound up swimming the entire lake in her littler orange life vest…….her tiny legs churning, nose snorting, head proudly and barely above the surface….that was Friday and she has been sleeping ever since……

Jen is outside scouting out more projects for the day (yesterday we cut down, cut up and removed a massive dead tree)- so I have to finish this and go hide for when she comes searching for me…heading to Dartmouth this afternoon for a bit more culture…

Enjoy the coming of the leaves and spread peace and love…..and register to vote in multiple states.

 

Stuber

 

PS- check out photo #1- it is the shot that was featured on front page the statewide newspaper from our participation in THE Garden tour…The Inn at Scum Pond is quite impressive, no?

 

Happy Labor Day weekend to all:

“You shall LOVE your crooked neighbor, With your crooked heart”  WB Auden

We’ve had a busy week in Mt. Holly, our home town. Summer is rapidly turning into autumn…see the leaf changes in the pix. The weather here has been Vermont perfect- with days around 75 and nights around 50…which is great, except we’ve had no rain for two weeks now, and the Dam POND is not making much progress in its return…see the discouraging photos. Stu has taken to running 10,000 feet of hose down there to try and fill it up for an hour day, which A- is like eating crumbs for dinner and B- takes all our water pressure to get down there, leaving us with no water in the house. Guess, we’ll have to wait for a good tropical storm to come through.

After my last dispatch last Sunday, we spent nine hours cleaning up the post excavation mess. Bob the Pond guy is a true excavating artist/fool, but he does not seem to have a watch and he does not really clean up…so we schlepped and dug and cut our way into semi-permanent stooped positions, until it looked back to semi-normal. Of course, we have put down a half acre of grass seed and mulch whim is undoubtedly wilting due to lack of rain. We may not really have THE POND until the spring! And, we did not account for enlarging the POND, with a huge apple tree that now hangs over it and is dropping its fruit into the limited waters. We cut it back as much as we can for this time of year, but more will have to wait until spring…in the meantime the returning frogs are delighted with the green balls ever falling into the murk.

On the ever present projects front, we had a surprise visit form Brian, the hippie electrician, who showed up unannounced after four weeks of trying to get him here. Like many Vermont, tradesman, he applied his Zen to our barn breaker box which had previously had a swarm of wires hanging every which direction and now we have a much improved system, which will only result in electrocution of you get within a foot of it. And yesterday, Jay and the Americans, our ADHD roofers show up to put in the barn roof, which is halfway done as we speak- see photos of backside. I’m hoping this will be our last home improvement project of the year…though Jenn is out  there  making lists and thinking about more gardens, paint and bedding.

By the way, on the topic of the joys of country living, our tractor has not started without a jump all summer and the deck has been mowing rocks more than grass- so we finally got around to that issue this week. Got the beast miraculously starting and ordered a bracket, which might keep the deck off the ground. Said bracket was three inches large and nine bucks an then took around seventeen hours to get on…but voila, Jenn is now a mowing fool.

We had two sets of BnB guests this week. Tom and Jerry (no shit) from New Jersey, who we spent a manic evening and morning talking to and around. She is nice Jewish girl from the burbs and he an Italian plumber whose dad was  a painter for the Mob. They liked it so well here, they are now looking to buy a house down the road. Last night we had a couple an their aunt form The Netherlands. It was Marlene’s’ 30^th birthday –and Jenn baked her a cake. We worked the community supper last night, so they arrived after we got home, and we spent a few very nice hours mulling about American work permits, living in greater Boston and why the Trumpster might be the end of the world as we know it. They went to bed, they got up, they left…the perfect guests…we love the Europeans…and especially those who don’t really speak any English. You can see the birthday pix and in the photo show.

Amidst all the projects, deadlines for a manual I am writing, side trips for work and day to day bedding decisions, we have been pretty house bound for weeks (more prisoners to the POND GUY)- so took of mid-week for a trek up to Middlebury. Another perfect day found us haunting Costello’s’ most famous Italian deli (mama looks like Mama Corleone and cooks like her). We found a walking tour of Middlebury which led us around in circles for two hours ..the chamber of commerce probably needs to hire someone new to do their tourist brochures…….and then headed up into eh mountain pass to the wonderful Robert Frost nature trail, whir we romped for a couple of hours and Stu recited “Stopping by Woods on a snowy Evening”, in fifth grade recital mode, at least six times. The drive back at dusk was illuminated by the wonder of leaves changing as we watched them.

So- we are in getting ready to leave Jay and  the Americans to finish the barn roof today and we head up to Randolph for their annual Arcadian music festival. We are trying to find every opportunity to make nice with our Canadian neighbors, so when they build a wall to keep all of the trump-ites out, they will let us come live there.

Hope you are all having fun  and thinking about us…..a lot…..

 

The Stu

Bonjour mes amis:     https://vermontrambles.com/2016/08/28/the-mountains-the-pond-the-leaves/

“It’s been a long time coming…it’s been a long time gone”   David Crosby

Lots and lot of mountain movement, (not the bowel kind) in the last week…so let me simply  present the Zen and LOTS of photos:

THE POND is on the brink of completion. Bob the Pond guy is a magician with the excavator, albeit one without a watch…..he appears- he disappears. Arriving at 8:30 means maybe arriving at 11, thus, we have been Pond prisoners for most of the last two weeks, but the damn thing now resembles a massive archeological dig- we are now in search of wooly mammoths. The whole thing is now amazingly larger with rock gardens and steps and we have a new secret area, which was once woods, that is a primeval graded pit of fertile life-filled soil. Jen spends her days out there consulting with Bob, cleaning rocks and ledges with a broom and scrubber (really) and saving the water lilies. The frogs have started to come back from vacation. We will be done today and then wait for the rainmakers to do their thing. The photo display of the process is sacrosanct. Check out the collection of long buried kitchen strainers from my years of futile skimming in the kayak.

The exercise machine extravaganza is now fully erect, though we are less than erect as a result – more like orangutans, once we finished the assembly. One can now never leave the barn and be fit as a fiddle.

Like Bob the Pond Guy, Steve the Mower Goy (should be guy, but it fits and WORD recognizes the double entendre), is equally reliable (not) and works on VSCT- Vermont Standard Contractor Time. We have been jump starting the tractor all spring and summer and waiting for Steve TMG to show up and fix it, but, alas, waiting is the Devil’s idle time, so last weekend we got the damn thing started and wired the dragging deck into a position that will now mow grass instead of rocks, so another contractor-less job completed with smoke and mirrors. All of this completed during my extended break from last week’s Blog……

Made a visit to the metropolis this week to see family and deal with the nursing home bureaucracy. Spent the night in faulty towers with cousins Sherry and Joel (without Jenn and Lucy, who stayed home to excavate with Bob), had a second reunion dinner with the extended Paul tribe (Chinese dinner for eight, of course)- these are  50 year lost and re-found cousins-  and then spent a sidewalk steaming NYC day in the horrors of my childhood friend and mentors, Bob’s nursing home captivity. After a year of trying , got them to take him to look at a possible assisted living home placement in the Bronx, which he rejected before we even arrived…there is no future in being a do-gooder.

Given all the erecting and digging and stone cleaning, not a lot of time for recreating in the mountains this week, but my music club did our annual performance on the town Green music series in the midst of thunderstorms and Stu and Lucy wandered around checking out the rapidly expanding fall colors…global warming/schmobal warming- so what if the leaves start to change at the end of July. We finished the week with the last major show of the season at the Weston Playhouse –an intense presentation of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons….I think it is safe to say Miller had some issues with his pop…which obviously led him into the waiting arms of Marilyn Monroe…..maybe she also was  able to, say, dig ponds, fix tractors or assemble workout machines?

Well, Jenn just came in covered with mud and smelling of pond waste…so I better go out there and advise. Till we meet again,

Stu- Bear

 

 

Greetings Earth- mates:

“And at the end of the day, your feet should be dirty, your hair messy, and your eyes sparkling”    Shanti

We made it back to the mountains after our harrowing ten day adventure in the flatlands. Got back to cool weather (under 50 our first night), no earth movers, no rodents and full communication access to the world….this is all for the good. The Inn at Scum Pond had its own set of overgrown hassles…the delight of living in two places.

Getting back had its own set of adventures with a dead battery at a gas stop, voluminous wee-wee stops (Jenn refuses to adhere to the “It Can Wait” signs)……and a visit with the state police along route 86 in central NY state (turned out to be a forgiving sort of guy and rather than citing us for almost 90 in a 65 zone, he cited us for dirty license plate….really!)

So got back mid-day Monday…it has been short week – so this will be short blog……

Bob, the pond guy showed up Monday afternoon to start draining the bugger (see pix) and tossed his pump into the morass, where it basically emptied the pond overnight. Mr. Bob was supposed to then start around (around is the operative word) Wednesday on the dredging and beautifying….but as of today, we are still waiting for him to show up (have I mentioned contractor time zone in Vermont?). Jenn is taking this with aplomb; Stu is  out with his shotgun looking for Bob (and maybe get a few squirrels for amusement along the way). So now we have to estimate how long we have to live with a drained pond and lots of insects, while the frogs are off at the local Holiday Inn.

Burger and Beer night in Vermont…is a frequent occurrence. Ten bucks gets you’re a craft beer ( whatever that means) and local grass fed- Yoga burger. This week we went down to Londonderry and up Magic Mountain to the Red Slate Lodge for the ritual. Five stars on the food, minus six stars on the service. .

We hit the ski resort at Okemo for the their free concerts on Friday night, where it turned dark by 7:30 and was down into the 40s when we left in our shorts and tee-shirts….but got to see all the usual suspects there and Lucy made the rounds of dog sniffing at least seven times.

Had overnight BnB guests last night who had the eerie qualities of being doppelgangers for my late in-laws, Helen and Zaner..…checking on me I presume…

And…as of the fifth of August… the leaves are starting to change…

Since I spent two of the last six days in the vapid heat of inner Baltimore (good Turkish food, Orioles win, streets steaming at 8 in the morning) it was indeed a short week…so will leave it at that and go stare at the empty pond, the half built exercise machine monstrosity and the tractor that won’t start…..plus track down my lost credit card…an eventful day in the mountains if there ever was one.

Peace out…..

 

Man of the Greens

Greetings fellow travelers:

“What a long strange trip it’s been”   Jerry Garcia

What were we thinking? We went back to the heartland in mid-August which usually may be the absolute worst tome of the year in the Midwest. and…it did not fail to measure up to that standard; in fact it far, far surpassed it. I know you don’t really want to read an “Ohio Blog”- so I’ll keep it short and illustrate with photos.

THE GOOD- we got to see our kids and our friends. Stu got to catch up with work in Toledo. All the usual familiar places abounded. We got to to have some relief driven medical appointments- back adjustments, earl unplugging, dental cleaning)…and we got to play the annual Pelatonia benefit show with the Bunty boys, which was great despite several rounds of pouring rain, equipment issues, and a relatively small (but very enthusiastic) crowd. Marcus and Jeff came out and we whipped the property into shape, and Lucy got to see all her best friends…Jackson, Zoe, Rosie and Big Lucy.

THE BAD- It was fucking HOT!!!!!!We don’t have AC. the house had been closed up for three months. The yard was a cornucopia of weeds and bushes. It was fucking HOT!!!! We have no internet, cable or much phone service at the house right now. The dam gym had its pool area closed the whole time for its annual “spruce up” (what a crock of spruce).

THE UGLY- well, it was really ugly. We arrived to find the construction of Sawmill Parkway in full bloom; like we came the worst week and the worst day of the year. We could not get to our house and had to wait while the road builders extraordinaire carved out a way for us to get through the cornfield just to get home after 12 hours driving. We then had ten days of having our yard and driveway torn up and massive earth movers outside our door every day from 7 to 6 p.m. Every getting in and out was an adventure…the noise… the dust…the destruction. Soon  we will be the proud owners of a roundabout outside our kitchen window.

And that was only on the outside. On the inside, we walked in to our 100 plus degree shut up house to find the thrilling signs and smells of total squirrel invasion. Fuckin’ Heat…Fucking Squirrels. …everywhere we looked was squirrel poop and pee, picture frames broken, books chewed up and the band of critters having a party inside the walls and attic. Needless to say, we decided we did not want to share our space with them and spent ten days trying to get them out and keep them out. Apparently the squirrel who has lived in our attic on and off the last few years, and whom we tolerated, went and got married and had children while we were gone and found themselves a nice home in the country. Triple UGGHHH…

Ok- I’m bitched out. Pictures tell the story of the road and the music. We’re now safely back in Vermont where it was 55 degree last night, no unwanted animals living with us and no earth movers… and starting the excavation of our beloved POND today…the frogs are a jumpin’.

Back to the mountain story next week.

From the burnt out Midwestern expat,  Stu/Da/Cuz

“What we have to be is what we are”    Thomas Merton

Greetings Earthlings:

It’s been an interesting week in the mountains and beyond. Stu went off to the Big Easy for most of the week in search of the perfect beignet, and found steamy hot and humid instead. Upside- no one goes to NOLA in July. Last trip for this project after three years on the ground, so hit some of my more memorable dining haunts…in ascending order of decadence and debauchery: Mister Ed’s Famous Seafood, LUKE and Emeril’s NOLA…had to get home before I exploded. One thing I realized being in NOLA’s melting pot- how much I miss black people in the lily white environs of Vermont; It’s like –what is wrong with this picture?

Got home late Thursday to be greeted by overnight Airbnb visitors. Not something I recommend after a grinding all day  trip back to the mountains, but interesting NJ folks. Dave turned out to be quite the musicologist and guitar player, so once I recovered made some tunes and talked music connections deep into the night. Also got back in time to see my guitar playing buddy, Steve the Fish Monger, play on the town green with his Beatles band. Small, but mighty crowd loved the “Fabs”, and we hit a sunset from Mars on the way home…as usual in the highlands.

Did you catch the DEMS strut their stuff this week. Can we just have four more years of the Muslim, please? First picture attached is actually a copy of an editorial from the conservative Rutland Herald. You should read it and then plan to move to Canada soon. You can also catch Max the Prodigal, emulating the Dead Again, at end of photo attachments.

Being gone most of the week and getting home only to get ready to leave for two weeks in the heartland, should have kept us plenty busy, but instead we have had a jam packed life in the mountains social calendar. Did a cool drive and walk up in the hills around Shrewsbury last Sunday before I left. One of the beauties of Vermont life is that you can pull your car over on almost any dirt road and it turns into a great hike…who put all these stone walls here? and where does that pure late afternoon light come from? why does Lucy love everyone? and how much more bedding will we accumulate this year?

Had to spend part of a day Friday at our new hang -out garage  next to the airport (really, an airport!) and the hidden Jewish Cemetery (really, the Jews!) . It’s like going into time warp…Community Volkswagen, circa 1978, but without the wafting smells. And, then….. we have settled on our POND guy , and the beast may be tamed in August…I am formally hanging up my strainer…..

So, during the epic Garden Tour last week, we met some locals form Germany, who have led quite the unusual life of international politics and intrigue. They invited us to a pot luck dinner last night in their octagon shaped mountain retreat (from Berlin!) and we had dinner with our local prevailing group of ersatz Communists and cold war spies……Germans, Poles and Russian wannabes….the Borscht was great, the view magnificent and it felt a  bit like being in a John LeCarre novel. Tonight we visit for dinner with our left wing Boston –Cape /Cod friends who periodically show up at their mountain home. Quite the hodgepodge of white Euro- American cultures in these parts, and lots of interesting insights on the mind of The Donald.

Well, I’d like to stay and chat, but got to go see if we can figure out the last of the pulley system on the sleeping barn monster and figure out how to get out of Dodge…Will be off next week while in  the motherland (no one really wants a blog from central Ohio, do they?)- so more down the line.

Be well. Don’t Boo…Vote!

Ferlin’