Category: Green Mountain Blog

Old Friends:

“From the moment we cease trying to swim upstream and begin to flow with the current, something changes within us” ………………………………………………. Arthur Sokoloff

“It’s never too late to take a moment to just look”………………………………………………………………………………………………Sharon Salzburg

“Over white cotton cloth spread out in the sun…billowing clouds” …………………………..Koyoroku

“The more we change, the more we remain the same” …………………………………… Who knows

We arrived …but just barely….so still in the nexus of a zillion things to do……. thus, a short welcome BLOG……listening to Ferlin’ rant from a 2001 Bunty show on “Ten to One” ……. how weird is it to hear your own rants live on the computer…? Only in America…. here with our short lived legend of a bass player Richard, singing the Seeds and Stems Again blues”.

But, I’m already digressing….leaving was less tumultuous than usual, notwithstanding my car reverting to it’s demon state of flashing random lights accompanied by instant loss of transmission power…….just days before flight…that led to last minute, last breath of my expiring extended warranty trip to the hated dealer….which pinned us down to the last minute before it was fixed (we’ll see about that-  last year it took 3 months) before we left Thursday….and as a result,  enjoyed a three hour enforced thunder storm break and wound up  having to pack the car top carrier at  nine at night completing the “it’s always something experience”………but by early Thursday, undeterred, we headed north, then East….a drop dead gorgeous travel day, that left the flatlands behind after a half day, and led us into the proverbial wilderness…..

Unusually for us, we drove tight thru, powered by a massive lunch pail in each car, and then a quick Diner stop at the Greeks’ in Troy, before turning north thru the pines…with our new beloved Consumer Cellular service working every step of the way through the valleys and the mounts….no shit…and then at our house for the first cell service ever….no BIG shit!!

The yard was a mess, we could not find anything. Reclamation gets harder with senior moments…. but on balance, all good, maybe even more than good. Leaving the grand-progeny behind no small task…and the last supper with Tess and kids on Monday had me crying an ocean as little Parkie and Sloanie exhorted me for one more hug Papi from their respective car seats just before driving off into the sunset…a piece of my heart leaving with them…as it was with my new band mates and my old friends of winter re-connection…not to mention the 3 minutes away Chinese food……. but then…. but then…. but then….

Lucy and The Queen are both clearly in unchained heaven, Saffron is busy with a treasure trove of meece hunting in the basement, the house is in good shape, the yard is conquered for now after two day of whacking, pruning, push mowing, mowing and chain cutting-and though I do wonder if maybe we are becoming too long-toothed for this………………… that gets assuaged by the visit welcome-home visits from the long-lost Trailer –Masseuse and  the persistent Dumpmaster who feels in his bones (like rain brought arthritis)  that it is to go to flirt with TQ, then by having Lucy’s little friend, Ivy, show back up, then a lovely post exhausting sunset dinner at DJ’s in Ludlow, and the sight of The (full) Pond once again bursting forth from the shooting fountain.

In between workloads, we managed a short trek to the wonderful Kelly’s Snack-shack in Wallingford for burgers, A+ hand –cut fries and …you bet…. Best Creamees anywhere (we should ask Lucy how good the fries and Creamees were)…..and of course the first dirt road walk amidst the grand verdant Greens.

See you for more Ramblin’……. both afoot and to you-each Sunday …or thereabouts….

Happy summer………yours in Heart……Papi

My Fellow Travelers:

“To know you do not know is the best. To pretend to know when you do not know is a disease” …Lao-Tzu

“Blind man running thru the light of the night, With an answer in his hand.
Come on down to the river of sight, And you can really understand” ………………………Neil Young

“Happy Trails to you…. until we meet again” ……………………………………………Dale Evans

We have reached the fork in the road…and should probably take it…. Stick Season is upon us……the days are darker and shorter the nights filled with the lonesome sound of cold coyote…..last leaves flutter to the ground as diamonds and rust….It is the season of the witch…….

Despite the frailties of leaving, it has been a varied and good week here in our hometown, where The Queen presides over the Mountain Court.

Vermont music has been reimagined this year and the Monday Night Rambles became A Groove when the varied and talented gathered of an evening to make the music of the folk……I will miss Belmont jammers and the often tri-mandolin frenzy….

 I may have negated to fully mention, in the last missive, that we went to see the legendary Bruce Cockburn last week at the splendid Paramount Theater in Rut-land…dare I say that the power of imagination and spirit live wildly in the age-bent Canadian icon…..and that who knew has so many rabid-and still breathing- fans…….of an age…touch of grey …or a bit more…..and along with that discovered the House of Tokyo..…an improbably genuine Japanese eatery on Merchants Row for the last 30 years….how observant we sometimes are?

Amongst my fare thee wells this week, will be the sad parting with my semi-permanent loaner car.……which I have had for over two months this summer/fall……which the legions of Jeepaholics have tried to diagnose and correct to determine the source of its alien-derived misery….the little dealer in on The Mount, has asked for one more chance to find the multiple ghost issues….so I will probably trade them back tomorrow…or I may just take the beloved loaner on a Heartland jag……call it a fair trade ….perhaps I can visit my ghost once  in a while?

We will certainly mis our step-dog, li’l Ivy, who now shows up every morning at 7 am to knock and see if Lucy can come out and play….and then spend her time half in and half out of the house…. alert to any possible appearance of the wicked beast, Saffron, who might show up and terrorize her any minute….

Made a three-day trip to Baltimore this week…. reliving past glories and staying at the very cool Hotel Indigo…. a top floor room with a view of the city and the monuments…and sampling the cuisines of Ethiopia and Afghanistan….who knew there were so many colors in the world…. not here in the Brave Little State where everyone pretty much looks like Bernie……did I mention it hit 87 degrees while I was there?……clearly living in the wrong place……

My two biggest recent pet peeves are Ballots and Tolls…. took me three weeks to get nan absentee ballot…. and then have only day to get it is a in order to count…do you feel like your vote is wanted?……who comes up with this shit, these barrier-rules……. feeling totally voter-repressed….  Is it possible that the wee-weenie- controllers of Ohio don’t really want to have my vote count on Abortion Rights and Pot legalization……… Hmmm?……….and then……. try traveling anywhere these days without an “easy pass” ……. Just try paying your toll on line….do you have to demonstrate an under 80 IQ to work for the state in these capacities…let me pay…please let me pay…I really want to pay…..ok, full disclosure:  I also just happen to want to pay so that the dealer dos not get the dreaded “pay my toll” billing…….and find out I took the beloved step-child out of state…..

Speaking of farewells……pr…et…. tty…. exhausting process……. I second that emotion…make it stop……

And it just one week, we had ongoing issues with Comcast Cable, Amazon and Verizon……. say……. Representative……. Representative…. Representative………what language exactly are hey speaking?……phones, cars and packages…all feel the pain of mountain life…………………………. can I get a signal?……….

Goin’ down to Ol, Ol Woodstock…..feel the cool night breeze…..made the trek yesterday down the mountains……to the bend of the mighty Hudson….back, back to Big Pink….and to the Midnight ramble…..though Levon is gone, it is now the Helm Family Ramble…….th players were mostly new from our heyday in the 90s, except for daughter Amy and the great horn guys who have been coming up from the city for 50 years of Alan Toussaint charts…but art and beauty are still in the air……100 privileged members of our Tribe gathered in the acoustically perfect candle-lit barn seeming to move back and forth in time…and re-visit the Angels of Saugerties…..to rejoice in  the music of The Band, in the holy-land from whence it came ….it amounts to a few hours of rapture and togetherness…….spent the day trolling diners and challenging any possible notions of low carb….how good is it to find a full page of  dinner specials at the classic Greek-run diner…tucked inside the 12 page menu…and server with soup, salad, sides and dessert for about 15 bucks…….and then to Levon’s again….oh my; he has a namesake grandson …..a teen angst belter with Joe Cocker like moves…and when he and his mom duet on Ophelia, with young Levon on grandpas kit…..Ophelia, please darken my door…..did I mention the uber-hip 60s revival of Saugerties and the lighthouse?… it a thing after a forest walk…who knew there were lighthouses on the Mighty Hudson……

Well Hallo-Weenie has come and gone, as you can see from the little-dervish pictures of all the heirs….and thus……………………it is really time to go….but, then it is  also time to come….endings beget beginnings….and that is where we are….

Stay warm and in touch…see you somewhere on the other side….

Papi Stuber

Bonjour:

“Bad pennies don’t tell you their motivation, until they wear a hole in your britches” …James Lee Burke

“A traveler. Let my name be thus known, This autumnal shower …………………………Basho

“The days re growing shorter, the nights are getting colder. Got to get myself back home, put my head back on your shoulder” ……………. Jesse Winchester

Oh my, my…..been a frolicking two week  and last week got away from me living I your five –year-old manna…..had a last blast of warmth this week, but won’t see 55 again for the duration….12 days and counting till takeoff……71 years  of American Dreams…… the world is a stinker these days…too much hate….but I am pressing on with hope and Elam in spite of…..

So back to the beginning….weekend before last we gathered via invitation from The Mountain Activist and The Retired Czar of the Postal Service for a Sunday date on a fine fall afternoon….made our annual trek up to Redding, and the flood ravaged-now reopened , and most unusual Hall foundation, for the Warhol extravaganza and a slightly less compelling Susan Rothenburg (are those really all vaginas?) exhibits…all in meticulously restored 200 year-old barn/ galleries…..after which we drifted back to Ludlow to the Hometown Hotel for the areas classic family style, farm to table feast in a private dining room…what is not to like?

That day saw the return after a week or so absence of Lucy’s Pitty suitor, Ivy……who has been wandering into the house at times but is deathly afraid of the fearsome Saffron, who reared up at her once like the Queen of Sheba…. Ivy typically drifts down twice a day (escaping the clutches of Dennis the Menace and Proud but Silent Mary, up the hill), to kick on our door and request Lucy’s company…. should we just take her back with us on the QT?

Monday, we strode out bright and early for the required yearly pilgrimage to the Champlain islands…where Cozy-Cottage Alan (whom we have now visited for 20 years running)….put us in the Big-Ass family deluxe cottage right on the Big Lake…with three bedrooms and FIVE couches…gas woodstove and very large TV….enough for the whole miscpachah……I managed  to nap on each of the couches over our three days….along with rollin’ and driftin around the deserted Islands…finding the brilliance of autumn colors we have missed this year near home….the whole thing is  a homely wanderlust for us….with our annual stops at The Apple Man and the Happy Bird, and dreamy hikes at all the ghost-town like state parks…we don’t even go out to eat when there any more…lazy and hangin’ at the very non-tropical islands…it’s not Jamaica, after all…..

Made day long drive back thru several of the mid-state mountain gaps on way home and worked on putting our proverbial house in order for the arrival of the post nuclear family on Thursday….TQ stayed home to fanatically clean, whilst I buzzed down the i-91 corridor to The Hartford, the pickup Tess, Sloanie and  great niece, Lena, Lena, Bo-Beena at the Big (for us) airport….made a stop to dawdle with Dr. Seuss  and lunch at the surprisingly hip Springfield , Mass and then bore a mostly cold and wet four days with jaunts to the Sparkle Barn, charming Woodstock shop (T and L only), hunting for late-season Creamees, multiple meal negotiations, mounds of wet leaves to jump in, Ramuntos, the Vermont Country Store, Ramuntos,  and a quaint trunk or treat event in Rutland..…either we kept Sloanie very busy or she kept us hopping-in-place…not sure which one….the birthday fairy (she just turned FIVE) visited daily (initially leaving her gifts for wake-up time- bur adjusting to only while we were out eventually- after Sloane  demonstrated her intent to be up at 6 am daily to greet the fairy) and NanaPapi also produced  brand new pair of flashing, noise-making roller skates that portend many calamities to come…..shuttled them back down to Albany on Monday, with Diner stop and finding a park to minimally rid the energy…though might have found one of the worlds’ great playgrounds with every kind of climbing apparatus, super-sized swinging devices and a zip line……all of it attracting the young and youngish adults as well as the kiddo…the post-airport drive home was VERY quiet….and led to  significant lie-downs once arrived….could say a lot more, but every picture tells a story, story….

Have I mentioned I got my ghost-symptom car back for the fourth time……after dealer had it four weeks and consulted with the striking Detroit experts..…pronounced cured….again….and next day all the error lights came back on and created the usual associated multiple problems…..scheduled to try again this week and get my Ferlin-dedicated loaner, but having my doubts and thinking maybe I can live with the flashing lights and related chaos…or need to visit the big boys in the Heartland….…trying to decide how to respond to the Jeep survey on my dealer experience,…they’ve TRIED….

No sooner had they all left, then I bore back down the mountains to Albany for a quick two-nighter in lovely Baltimore (85 degrees) for my re-invigorated Casey efforts at changing the world..…back in the  saddle again…..very bad at retirement…..stayed at the very chic Hotel Indigo in the wonderful Mt. Vernon area, with nations of diversity and associated restaurants, and had a god daylong meeting with an age group ranging from 22 to early 70s (guess who), and including our own  rainbow……dinner at a grand Ethiopian joint with my great nephew and budding sports magnate, Matthew…and then at the legendary afghan Helmand’s, owned by the self- lf proclaimed Brother of Karzai….it’s not Vermont anymore, Dorothy….am I really re-he re-entering the consulting world?

Got back late Friday and spent Saturday doing ready-to-bolt chores and then a dinner party (really, like in the movies) hosted by The Mad Scientist and the Self Proclaimed Trophy Wife…and featuring eight pieces of silverware at each setting……all under the protection of the biggest Harvest –Moon is recent memory…. signaling it’s time to leave?

Nuked our planned trip to Maine for this week…enough is enough……and now in the arrangin’, fixin’, plannin’ mode…walk a mile in our shoes, if you please….25 miles to go now…it’s late, it’s late…. gotta go, before the snow…

Enjoy the Autumn dwindle wherever you are….and make good hay…

Estuardo

Happy Indigenous Columbi Weekend:

“Endless is my vow under the azure sky-boundless Autumn” ……………………………………………………… Soen Roshi

“You’ll lose it if you talk about it” …………………………………………………………………………………Ernest Hemingway

“I’m not perfect, but I’m enough” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Carl Rogers

All the schmooze that’s fit to print…………….

Back on the Train- together with Phish (look it up) we got back to some form of para-normal at first of week, no guest, no events, almost 80 degrees (ok, maybe not normal) and leaves starting to have a bit of pop and shimmer……got to gym, where again only person in ghost building……it’s the right time of the night…. TQ into The Mystic, as she gets on the Cider Daze train…and disappears for 12 hours at a time…still no lunch to be found in post-flooded Ludlow

COVID Winning here………Folk Club cancelled this week since everyone who went last week has The Plaque.…digging my masks out of the moth balls….no mas….no mas…

Alternative Music – sine no Monday folk club gathering……. I reluctantly aged to have The Old Vet Doc Who Can’t Hear come over and run through tunes for the Cider Daze set…hard to keep the beat when you can’t hear anything…. foghorn required……with giant flash cards for Braille- form lyrics

Trekking to Find Sister Jane- who made her annual visit this week, after years of lobbying to come for Cider week….trip to Manchester invoked every possible detour and roadblock and 30 MPH leaf-peepers at 8 in the am (don’t they sleep)…highlight was recently flood-reopened scenic Route 131 over to live and let die land, which is down to on lane in 4-5 places….and in one mile-long section has one lane because for there is only one lane!…..the other lane fell into the river and is yet to be found…..managed to only be 10 minute late (though she was 25 minutes early) and did the leisurely overland route through The Mounts home…with stop at folksy grinder place in lovely Puerto Nuevo…and lunch on the ground at the town Green…..followed by the requisite late season Creamee stop (only a B grade- but no complaints from Lucy)

Mountain High Culture Returns– in the form of the Manhattan Shorts film festival (if within  50 miles of a showing site, go see it –a must for film fans)….the annual selection the ten best 10-15 minute films in the world….at our tiny town library with a max of 30 people…which is astoundingly one of only 500 sites worldwide to show the Fest…….all during the same week…top pick for me was the one with a flower store owner with a bull-goose level stutter trying to communicate with Siri for directions…A++++….since Jane had been up for a long time, we only went to first half and left at intermission (Papi went solo for part two the next night)…we l all wore masks and got the dirty looks only potential  plaque bearers can get

Medicine in Rural Vermont– went down to Springfield Hospital –blink and miss it- for a routine scan…was out in 20 minutes ,start to finish….it’s like the gym….my own private hospital……though left my daily planer there, and made two poor employees search every part of the hospital for me when I got home and convulsed…then hunted down a tiny cheap 2024 planner at dollar store……changed all the dates to be 2023 accurate for last three months of year…and put in all my commitments…..then promptly found the missing planner in my car….thinking to blame scan radioactivity……you feel me?

On a Mission from God- put the band back together for Cider Daze—an assembling of six of the finest pre and post octogenarian area musicians for a one off garage band practice……despite Master Jeb consistently introducing us as “Stu and Crew” or “Stu and Friends”, we have now crowned ourselves the Cider Daze Pick-Up (though in a weak moment I had a notion to lobby for us to be “Stu the Shrew and the Wildmen”……this is unbelievably a real name from a 1965 incarnation…..)…like riding a bike (with training wheels) –on to the grove in minutes..…easily entertained, easily prepared…..easily tired out……

Papi and Sister Jane go to Rutland– having lost sight of The Queen for days now, Sister and I spent a lovely 80 degree Thursday afternoon exploring the finer elements of Rutland-life…..Ramuntos (of course), The Mart, Grocery and my new favorite Friday afternoon activity: picking up prepared Italian food at Paisanos, in the back of a beer store…..where I have tamed and befriended the grumpy lady Paisano…who now goes over the planned menu with me and gives me free bread……transport, heat and serve….Did I mention the mountain view when you walk out of the grocery……not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy…. Arrived back in Belmont just I time to get our free Creamees from the General Store in its first public event since closing last year…. OMG…Creamees returning to town…Creamees returning to town

The DAZE-after a week of worry, obsession and little sleep….TQ’s nightmare scenario arrived with a full day of pouring rain on Saturday…she was at The Green pounding the pavement and architecting The Cow Plop at 3 am…..and soaked to the gills when I arrived at noon…astoundingly, The Green was still packed with wet and stubborn Jerseyite leave peepers…..we set up shop in the library to play our set acoustically….and piped it out the Green via speaker…attracting a consistent flow of people coming to get dry…..the rain stopped for a few hours in the afternoon….and the collective Queen and Co. spirits refused to be dampened…..somehow creating lemonade out of cowshit……..

Dinner on the Ground– directly from the Cider downpour, we headed  over to The OddFellows to volunteer serve at the  annual Benefit Supper for the Fire Department….where we were the youngest  people of the crew (that is saying something) and served over 100 family style roast pork dinners to the wet and the hungry……I Iearned a few new things at the dinner: kids only want red desserts, Dennis the former Sate Rep and two-handed Coffee Purveyor never runs out of things to say, even very conservative rural old-timey Vermonters despise The Donald and you gotta watch for the guy who sits at four different tables and eats all-you-can-est dinner at each one…..the post serving dinner with the crew is a very mountain experience that should be filmed foe the Shorts festival….

So, TQ is off to the Daze again today……brandishing her sword at the head of the troops……sister Jane is sleeping off the carbs……and we will join later…….sun is out but it’s peaking at 50 degrees…we have maybe seen the last of 60 for October….…I remain-one joke over the line Sweet Jesus……

Love ya like a rock,

Ferlin’

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Good day:

“Sometimes, simply by sitting, the soul collects wisdom” …………………………………………………………………………………………………. Zen Proverb

“I would drive to West of Fargo just to see you once again” ……………………………………………………………………………………………. Ferlin’ Norris

“No seed ever sees the flower” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Ram Dass

Well it’s been a strange mix of a week here on The Mount. Fall surrounds us with cool days and chilly nights, the leaves are tumbling, though not filled with color and the leaf-peepers are abounding. We continued our barrage for Jenn’s six decades of birthday experiences with The Queen following up the last extravaganza at the Homestyle Hotel with a lovely dinner at the home of music friends the Capeists (not Papists), then a romantic dinner for two in the five seats only per night- Downtown Grocery in Ludlow, a top five Vermont chic eatery, where the menu in Sanskrit is only scribbled on the board, the price of one entree is more than a meal for two at most places we frequent and the hostess/front of the house keeper/sommelier brought out five bottles for tasting so TQ could decide for  having one glass of wine….and then proceeded to taste each one first to make sure they are still vintage-worthy….and then did this at  every table…how trashed is she by nights end?

Thursday night’s dinner got cancelled due to most recent Covid scare but Friday we went to an impromptu family comforts gathering (more later) and just got back from a delightful weekend getaway to our newest fave place- Troy, NY, where we stayed on the banks of the mighty Hudson next to row houses from the 1600s and wandered the streets of this wonderfully rejuvenated old industrial city that is the home of the very real Uncle Sam!  Wandered into a great Thai lunch, a cozy Eye-talian bistro dinner and a way off the path breakfast from Manna at a 4 by 4 neighborhood joint (Mumu’s) serving Mediterranean breakfast waffles- really!!!!. Who knew the culture mecca of Troy? All of this surrounded a concert at the Carnegie lite Troy Music Hall featuring the Weight Band reincarnating the sounds of THE Band to perfection. Stopped on way home to prepare for two sets of overnight guests for the beginning of our fall infusion, and picking up carloads of mums for the TQ Jones along the way.

After our guests leave this week we resume our barrage with a trip to the Adirondacks and weekend visits from childhood friends-and the beat goes on……all good for us…in a time of plenty.

But, there has been another side to this week and to the last month. One of our oldest and dearest friends, Penny, decided four weeks ago to quit medically fighting the ovarian cancer of 12 years. She has done the most courageous things-; eschewing traditional treatments for wild diets, herbs, trips to Mexican clinics and done well for a decade, before it returned a few years ago. After a round of chemo and a remission, it came back, and she decided enough was enough-taking advantage of Vermont’s constitutionally provided Act 39- which allows for death with dignity via self-medication. For the last three weeks we have surrounded Penny, and the family, from up close, gone through a mountain of goodbyes’, self-realizations, remembrances and resolutions. To be honest, I have never experienced anything like it- the courage, resolve, the level of self-responsibility, the outpourings of love to someone who has been the most beloved teacher in the history of this town, teaching four generations of elementary students with zest, extraordinary dedication and constant aplomb. Jenn I have had the enormous privilege of being part of the inner circle up to this past Tuesday when we said a tentative goodbye; Penny decided that Wednesday was time for her to leave. To say that this has affected and permeated the psyches of almost everyone in this community, is an understatement. It is a new experience to imagine how one should pass from this world and what the options are and what we should have the individual right to do at that decision time- being able to be surrounded by expressions of love, on your own terms and at a time of your own choosing. There is a lot to say about this, but I’ll leave it as a profound experience that is worth learning more about. We are left with a gaping hole of grief, but nothing was left unspoken. We love you, Penny!

                                                                                                                                                 

Penny Coldwell 1952- 2023

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

…and the rest of the photos from the week that was:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Dear Yentas:

“Autumn is the hardest season. The leaves are all falling, and they’re falling like they’re falling in love with the ground.” ………………………………………………Andrea Gibson.

“Everything comes with stuff” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………You Know Who

“What you talking?” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Mr. Kim

Well- it’s been an interesting week here in our hometown…THE POND is going away, the leaves are dropping, Green is less Green, and the nights are getting coder…. this is also The Queen’s BIG-ASS birthday week…. the start of birthday month……well, she is TQ, after all….

Started conspicuously with the planned two nights’ girl’s getaway with the BFF to THE Islands washed out due to Covid washing ashore in the BFF household.…which had even greater implications (foreshadowing here) ……

The nuked escape really hampered my master sneak attack birthday plans…. but made a bunch of excuses to disappear for major dinner making extravaganza shop on Tuesday afternoon…. then more sneak attack to hide all the goods at the fridge/cupboards in the Mt. Holly community center……and hope TQ did not get and urge to inspect her kingdom this week….

So the rest was just herding cats for major surprise birthday dinner on Friday…which involved last minute cancellations, additions, second thoughts, new emigres joining……and a host of cursing up a storm at the home office (read, closet)…..made it through with a nightly dusk walk on the dirt road panoramas with the little beast…and creatively hiding from various recruiting to go to Indiana counties trying to find me and convince me to come do some change work…..cant take any more 14 hour trips to get there…

So…(back to foreshadow) the BFF tested negative all week and again Friday morning, which enabled the erstwhile Former Empress of GE to lure TQ away with lies and deceit in midafternoon…..and allowed Papi to retrieve the goods, fend off 2 or 3 more blah, blah, blahs from the troubled party attendees…..and get home to clean and prepare in earnest…while having to deal with the last cancellation- who showed up in person and in distress to drop off her promised desert and beg off…amazingly she did this while I was holding a meat cleaver…well good riddance, I say…finders keepers- losers weepers…..and the carrot cake was really good as a door prize….at five pm the lades arrived , dropped off anonymously so as not to have any cars ins sight to give the shock value away…..all was good, notwithstanding having wacked off a tiny tip of my finger with the angry cleaver while cooking , setting the table, and making cocktails as they all arrived…they immediately all  had two of the special lemonades we picked up from the Bronx crew last week…and were pretty stuporific hiding in the living room and giggling , when The Empress and TQ waltzed in at 5:15 to a wailing surprise….TQ seemed genuinely shocked to see The Southie from up the hill, Mt. Holly’s most prominent Mother Figure and The Self-Anointed Trophy wife (that was all that was left after the quitters)…so all good, except they were already both looped from the afternoon distraction activities and The Empress immediately spilled the beans that she had made a quick trip up the hill to avoid coming home too early, and insure the surprise would be intact….…and ran in to The other Southie half who asked how the party was-immediately blowing the surprise…f….n’ Southies….

Of course, TQ was confused and still surprised, amazingly…so then I continued to force feed the gals buckets of the lemonade and set about making and servings the four course extravaganza……getting  them sufficiently  tipsy to have them all thinking I war he best partner ever…works every time….all in all a major success…..and BONUS…..as arranged, precisely at 5:45 almost all the kids, grandkids, extended family and dearest friends  all zoomed in simultaneously to sing Jenn a happy, happy…it was a moment….

So- despite multiple mountain traumas along the way….a success!!!!….and now onto the six decades of birthday experiences  which were to begin Saturday….but put back by an emerging tractor crisis…which the b’day gal pulled b’day privilege and insisted be fixed so she could mow our barely overgrown yard before anyone saw it…..so found a belt in town and had to convince the local mower guy to come over on a Saturday morning so he and I cod get this ridiculous belt on without taking off the deck…..and TQ could thus joyously mow her domain…in time for Feel et Maux to arrive for an overnight on their way to Maine…

After more lemonades, we had a loopy dust- walk up the hill and then on to dinner at the fabulous and juts post flood reopened Homestyle Hotel in Ludlow….for an onslaught of fart to table small plate culinary delights…which F&M very graciously treated us to for the birthday..…arrived home pleasantly sated and ready for our leftover desserts from the party to find the aforementioned carrot cake mysteriously missing from the kitchen table where we had foolishly left it…and tracked some crumbs to behind the couch in living room where our little furry housemate has dragged it off the table, chewed through giant sealed plastic bag, and aluminum foil covering to inhale most of the cake…luckily we still had the mound of birthday cupcakes…and Lucy again proved her immunity to getting sick despite her atrocious bouts of scandalous sneak eating…

Put the friends on the road early this morning after our famous country breakfast (highlighted by the garbage bag full of bagels they brought us for made in real-deal Jersey) ……so trying to catch up before the next onslaught of this week’s continuation of b’day activities –which include three dinners and a concert overnight…. but that is all for next week’s Bloggish……….

Gonna have some soup, soak the dawgs and get ready for dinner #1…….so be well, enjoy the falling leaves, sat in touch……

Tired Papi

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Comrades and Comradesses:

“The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning” ………………………………………………………Erich Fromm

“This morning it rained, this afternoon it is sunny. How is that not like the mind?” ………………Michael Kewley

“There ain’t much to being ballplayer…. if you’re a ballplayer” ………………………………………………Honus Wagner

“Leave the gun, take the cannoli” ……………………………………………………………………………………………Pete Clemenza

I’m late, I’m late…for a very important date……. been a week plus…. didn’t make it off the bus……keep it short, keep it lean…. wonder what the hell it means……

Workin’ on the chain gang……so gonna work at being brief about the highlights of the week……sorry for the missed Sunday blues……

Blues in the Greens- Labor day weekend tradition; sitting in a mountain greenery on a cool, fall sun drenched day at the birthplace/homestead of Silent Cal- Vermont’s lone Presidente……and the sound wafts over the Birkenstock shodsters…not really blues, but ii works……. Bonus- get to hear the stylings of Grandson of Woody, Son of Arlo…you know…. you know

Life is cabaret- but not like the one that happens each year on Sunday eve of the Labor Day holiday, when every blue hair in ton (TQ excepted) piles into the beloved all-purpose library to hear our own mysterious local smoky jazz duo …on string bass and Lady Sings the Blues vocals…. the town yentas serve wine and desert…….and Joel Grey lurks in the shadows…

Is it Summer yet?…………….after a very cool and rainy few months, we hit the 90s four days running last week…and everybody jumped into their very full Ponds……and we actually used the barn found air conditioner we had resurrected and spent hours stripping part and getting to work….and never used……and it was cooooooollllll………and so hot, we actually got out on the kayaks (snuck out without Lucy) twice this week…..

Mine bubby Gekumien….in the dream….and left me with the directive to make latkes…which I did…such a Mensch…see the pictures and drool….

In our quest for perfect heath……The Queen keeps us on the pure man’s diet……tho we reached a new pinnacle this week when I was instructed that we had to buy Grass-Fed butter ($9 /pound) ……and the previously sanctioned organic butter ($7.00/pound) no longer made the grade……apparently on same shit list as veal…. imagine me and you…. I do….

Lucy has a suitor……albeit non- hetero……the wild dog that belongs to the wild man up the wild hill……Ivy…. now arrives every morning at 8:30 promptly to knock at the door ask if Lucy can come out and play….so she can chase her and maul her for a half hour before our girl comes in with scraped knees and tears……and then cries to go back out 20 minutes later…lucky we are not the strange typed that humanize our pest…. and she/they are a pit mix from outer space

In the cool of the evening, when everything is feeling kind of groovy……the girl and I have taken to dusk walks with the bugs, the coons and the magical light of the dirt road fields, babbling brooks and bales of hay…one take over the line….

Italian food village style…since finding anywhere to eat within an days’ ride is now a treasure hunt, we took the short route around the horn, and went down to see Mama Tamara on Friday night…in lil’ Wallingford…where we ate cuisine born of lust between Sicily and Philadelphia……it ain’t great, but it’s fun…..and we sit outside at the table  drag out from inside, with Lucy-Lu and watch the world go by up and down Route 7…and then….we get to go see Mr. Kelly at the foremost Creamees stand in our area…best maple, best people, best price…..mosquitoes no charge….they give Lucy her own bowl of vanilla creamee, but she turns her nose up and waits for me to share my maple…who does she take after?

And…finally….where are the men that I used to sport with…edition 457…..well, last weekend they were in Higgnaum Connecticut, where we gathered with six of my Bronx childhood posse (and better halves)for the first time since Covid…I really think the pictures speak for themselves…..there was a lot of laughing and a little crying…but we’re all still upright after between 60 and 65 years of friendship…and the sausage and peppers, Marone…..more wine, Paulie, more wine……I become Stuie again for few days…and the world is still a good place…..and there is lots of promise of all that is yet to come…and Tony and Uncle June are still alive and there in the flesh…..long live the original Hawks…..

And post-finally, this Friday is the one and only’ s 60^th….so drop her a line or a buzz…. or a Zen thought…she is one of a kind…….

Go forth and multiply good things….and stay in touch,

Stuie

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Hola Y Feliz Domingo:

“And then, my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.” …………………………………………………………………………………………………. William Wordsworth

“As surely as there is a voyage away, there is a journey home” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Jack Kornfield

“Wrinkles only go where the smiles have been” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Jimmy Buffett (RIP)

Thinking about the seasons change, the end of something, the beginning of another…all tied up in some colored leaves and shortened days…. been a week of reflection and mulling……as the mighty Greens begin to mute into permeation’s and shades…. what have we got?

The Harvest Moons- blazing over the shadowy mountain tops….3….2……1…………………

The 80/40 Rule- eighty and hot during the day, 40 and chilly breeze at night

Barn Centers- filled with drying leaves, canned summer crops, exercise rooms, kids play areas, solitude breaks……………………………… rays of light

Breakfast Sandwiches- an art form deluxe from tiny roadside joins and stores……of local eggs, snappy Vermont cheddar and crisp bacon…eaten in the misty mornin’ light……. hot off the grill……morning dew-ish

Cider Donuts- dense rings of mountain flavor…. hot from the fryer…. powdered or not…. half dozen treats……6…5…4…3…2….1……all gone

Greens Car Repair- drive for an hour, leave it three weeks for the first available man with a computer……all good…. take it home……lights flashing, bells belling on dashboard…..stat all over again, amen…start it all again

Yenta-ism- rarefied art form practiced in mountain hamlets by the local Queen and her Courts…if ya gotta know, ya gotta go (to see the Y’s)

The Dump- the preternatural hub of village life, where The Dumpmaster and Sneaky Peter preside over all the unfolding events of importance…. see and be seen…. Shop at the Dump Mall…ah… the smell of fresh garbage of a Saturday morning

Music on the Green- gathering of a summer evening……. local sounds of homegrown talent…feel the connections…support the band…. good or bad……summer waning…cooler music nights with early darkness…. huddle around the tiny band-stand ……….and the band plays on…the band plays on

Indian food- from the service station, from the tiny grocery, from the convenience mart…coolin’ curry in the colored leaves…picnic table joy, bring the plates

Libraries that sing- all night access via the hidden key that everyone uses…………… quiet stained glass window nook of a cool sunny day, the crack where the light gets in……Sunday night jazz cabarets…. film fests…. ALL- IN-ONE

Mountain Dogs……ones that you cannot look at when you enter…don’t look at her…. don’t look at her….and ones that show up every morning to knock on the door……” Can Lucy come out na play” ……is it Buckwheat’s’ dog?

Dirt Road hikes- look out of any window, any morning, any evening, any day……a stunning view, a quiet stroll, an overhead color laden canopy……everywhere, every turn an adventure…. off from the tick patrolled trails that come with the gift of Lyme……up, down and sideways…and, around the next bend……………………………….

Mountain Contractors- no job too big, find them lounging at the Dump………yes, I can do that in nine months…. wait …and see

Isolation- can a mountain man live on dirt road, miles from nowhere……with no companion, no car, no job…in Vermont?     Yes…… Yes……. Yes

PONDS- LUV Floods……more, more, more

And, yes, there are stone walls in Vermont….

C’mon people now…. smile on yer brother………. Papi

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Yo and yo:

“You get there by realizing you are already there.” ……………………………………………………………Edward Tolle

“The morning glory lives only an hour-Yet it differs not at heart- From the giant pine which lives a 1000 years…………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Zenrin Kushu

“It’s gonna take lot of love…to change the way things are.………………………………………………..Neil Young

Well, it’s been a short week on The Mount. Wandered around in a daze for a few days after the Heartland return…me look fora cell signal or stream…. TQ in search of some grass to kill…

Left the proverbial dog days of August to come back to our first 42-degree night, and mostly autumn-evocative weather all week…

Go back on the horse with all my work projects…. saw all my virtual clients (platform is the virtual part, not necessarily them) in one week, which pushes my focus for extended empathy (hey- you think you got it bad) …l caught up on my various and sundry projects…with my worldwide streaming capability…assuming it does not adhere to mountain norms and go down once a day…

Most of the week was the perfecto 72 sunny –cloudless sky-zero humidity……. except when the forces of evil again dumped a day of rain on our traumatized mountain towns…get out the rowboat, Ethel…. there is still no grocery or drug store in sight for the near future in Ludlow……but there is a tent….

Got out on a couple of afternoon walks with Lucy-Lu, who was so pleased, she found majordomo special shit to roll in….  for which /TQ meets us at the front door upon return, with her 400-pound fireman’s spray hose….and hoses us both down…Lucy because she stinks, me because I let he…. bad Papi, bad Papi….

Having our usual jonesing for the granddaughter acolytes…. where are the girls that I used to sport with?

I managed a strung-out day of shopping in the modern universe…given I am generally in and out of any store in 10munites……but TQ has a knack for creating lists that amount to treasure hunts (organic mung beans , FCS) that have me on hands and knees around stores, drooling and begging the instacart people to take pity…Wednesday was such a day with not only the usual grocery and Mart stops,….but the dreaded Co-Op…..so got the Birkenstocks and patchouli out of the trunk, put on the rose coloreds, had a small hit and meandered in to figure out how to measure and price mark the items in the Bermuda bulk triangle……then wait about 26 minutes while the robed Yogis figure out how to get the cash register to work- please let me pay….…al of which is so traumatic as to lead me straight to Ernie’s’ Hand Carved around the corner for a low-carb Pastrami an Corn Beef on rye…..life is a balance, no?

TW is revving up for the coming of Cider Daze in October and is less and less visible by the day, plus added in the monthly (not that monthly) ya-ya celebration of the woman’s yenta dinner…..so had a few nights of faux-Marriott solitude  around the house to ponder how to find a baseball game on TV without cable, how to maximize carb intake and gleefully wash the dishes and do laundry without supervision- the challenge being to get it done without a trace before someone realizes had done it……though Lucy looks at me with accusing eyes…

From the previous ramblings I’m sure it is apparent that not all that much happened this week, part because we both came home with day care children sickness, partly because we had had enough- no mas- to many fish in the sea……but by Saturday were ready……and wandered up the ongoing post-flood havoc of lovely routes 100 and 12 to the quaint hamlet of Barnard for their annual street dance extravaganza. Stopped at the state park for a walk with our new handy-dandy to get in elder-schmelder pass, then on to town hall parking lot to mingle with post-commune, long- woke set. As soon as the music started, it poured like banshees (is that a thing?), but the swing band Route Five-Jive (think Django meets Bob Wills –but not all that good) played under a tiny tent thru the downpour…and the moon childs danced in the rain, whilst we oldies dozed under the canopy of the fire department (nice engines). Nice ride, nice day out, sun came back out and we warmed for a moment……then ahead to home and back to our sickbeds to resume recovery.

Did I mention that The Dumpmaster and his cronies told TQ that life was meaningless without her when we dropped off our junk? Or that we had my car back for 2 days before errors lights were back on in spite of the miracle 400 bucks battery fix? Well, no matter…sixteen tons and what do you get?

Hasta Luego, baby,

Papi

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Good morning sunshine:

“With no bird singing The mountain is yet still” ………………………………………………………………………………………Zen saying

“What a day fora daydream, What a day for daydreamin’ boy” ……………………………………………………………. John Sebastian

“Decades down the road, can’t let that train be slowed” …………………………………………………………………………. Ferlin’ Norris

Well it’s been quite a few weeks hither and yon……

When we last left our heroes, the last of the Bunty boys were departing for the Heartland and left us with the one car, while the mystery death of my Jeep resided in the Rutland Dealer surgery. It wound up there for three weeks only to find that the 48 error codes and the fact that I had no usable transmission were all related to a bad battery……which somehow the “experts” took three weeks to figure out (It is the mountains, and apparently they only have one guy who is code-reader) ….and…voila…a four hundred dollar Dealer battery…..but……The Beast is  back on the road…but I am way ahead of myself.

We had three days between post-boys-partum and mid-summer Ohio jaunt, so I took the only vehicle, and left The Queen to her garden madness and went off for an overnight to a retreat of the Governor’s Council- up in lovely Randolph. Spent the night in a weird but nice airbnb which I had to traverse 42 road crews and ten miles of outback like dirt road to get to……flood, flood, go away, come back another day…..Randolph, which we always liked and almost bought a house in way back, is still a very quaint and classic Vermont town, but has added several foo-foo joints, and  wound up eating at a Filipino place on the square where I shared the corner with Tuesday night smooth jazz purveyors, with the thumping standup bass to give me a chewing pattern. The theme and vision of the place was amazing- I was so psyched- the execution so-so. The all-day retreat was on a hillside at a state park on a sunny and warm abut very windy day……came home hoarse from yelling out various celebratory ya-yas.

Got back from the alleged respite/overnight and then off next morning to the Heartland. With my recent MRI and bullet dodging of a planned biopsy, were free to take Quin-Lily and Sloanie for three days for NanaPapi Camp, which was rapturous, fun-filled and exhausting with round the clock activities. How many potty jokes can a five-year-old tell? Before that, we celebrated little Parkers’ #2- in which she led us in 26 straight of singing happy birthday. Al the girl pictures are attached, though selective- did not think you wanted to see 246 shots of our granddaughters……but maybe I am overthinking it…………………

Got in a band practice, several dinners with friends, walks with my posse of dog walking pals, a number of sneaky trips to the Y and rainy day trip with the girls to see the Ninja Turtle extravaganza-which we realized halfway thru was more suited for 17 year olds than 5-6 year olds- but, hey, what do we know.

We ate pretty much pizza, burgers and fried chicken for the week, but we don’t care about no stinkin’ carbs ad sugar and fried foods…and still made a number of trips for Heartland faux-Creamees.

Trio back was uneventful except for locking ourselves out of the house just as we were ready to leave and discovering we had not put new front door keys on our chains…plus having left the one possible entry key locked inside plus TQ having insisted on locking every window-to create a veritable fortress….…but turned out in ones of life’s rare surprises, that The Nave had a garage door key stored away. From there it was smooth sailing until we missed the turn in Binghamton whilst yakking away about the Florida Keys, and while we did the three-mile miracle mile detour still missed getting gas and wound up in a dire search before running out. Finally got home, after 12 straight hours, to no internet, phone or TV, and TQ made the brave trip to find a cell signal and call the cable co. morons to get us a signal. But, by midnight we unpacked, connected and exhausted.

The season is changing here in the Greens, and nights are quite chilly and days are no humidity-fall looming-won’t be long.

Having had our g-daughter fix, gotten our winter house in order, and seen our old friends, we are now back for the Fall-haul thru November- TLWATCDR (figure it out). Looking forward to some guests in next few months and couple of reunions, but mostly just calming down after the activities of the month ……And, TQ is out scanning the property and all of Mt. Holly for in search of potential trouble that she an dig her heels into. LLTQ (another one!)

Mostly kid pix this week, so if it’s your thing…. enjoy.

We just got back the upload for our show this year on the Green, so if did not already send it you, below is a link. I’d suggest headphones to get the quality feel but it’s a pretty good feed by the local TV station……and …it’s the 45th Band anniversary….BTW…. when the band gathered in Ohio last week, we did 12 straight Band songs before we even spoke ….to honor the passing of the great Robbie Robertson. Where have all the flowers gone?

https://okemovalley.tv/bunty-station-belmont-green-26

Be kind, be well, take a plunge.

Estuardo

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•