Green Mountain Blog

What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been- Volume 45

Greetings and Longish time no see:

“Where does the term Dop Kit come from?” …………………………Randy Wasserstrom (1976) and Feel Unetic (Redux 2023)

“I need someone to warm my buns” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………The Naven

“WD 40 is not Lube” ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Mitch Tayse

“Better, Same or Worse” ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Dr. Strange

“I LOVE THIS WEEK”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Bunty Station

A Buddhist approaches a hotdog vendor and says: “Make me one with everything.”

Well, it has been a really long two weeks since we last went Bloggish….week One was devoted to 5 year-old recovery and week two to The Bunty Invasion…it is now recovery time again.

Sloane left us after our week together a week ago Sunday and then we slept…aside from all the adventures we had, we managed to have the annual family traffic stop in Albany. We are no longer eve surprised to see flashing lights and sirens for every family vacation. Tess says that Sloane does not even blink an eye any more when the armed man comes to the door.

Flood recovery had proceeded nicely until we had another dump week before last- and another one this week. The first PTSD occurred while we are having a sandwich outside Java Baba and once again food ourselves in a water park as the newly constructed parking lot began to wash away Redux.

Aside from that, we tide to return to biz-as usual with a few hikes, a shop till you drop day in Rutland and a trip to the reopened gym at Okemo. We had a drive by with the Royal Hairdresser as she came over to dinner for The Queens monthly haircut and Papi snuck one in also. Got thru a soggy mountain Music on the Green, in which it poured until show time and stopped at that exact moment and the sun came out…..mountains! Finally got our new fridge delivered by a non- English speaking crew with no tools or materials to install- left after two hours muttering “no mas” after not being able to get the device leveled- so had to rant and rave at home depot to send a crew with English and tools-which came four days later and they did it in four minutes…this is appliance shopping in the mountains.

Spent the Friday-Saturday prepping for the British (Bunty) Invasion…..with ever more shopping, massive house de-fogging, yard primping and trips to the Cavendish town wide yard sale…..and then the rains came yet again reducing Ludlow to a lake.

We made it home safely, barely, and then Sunday dawned nice….and the boys started landing. In the past, they used to arrive in a scattered pattern for days Sunday through Wednesday, but everyone came on Sunday-so we had a party of nine for the week. The “I love this week” mantra was coined within an hour of arrival land maintained as the theme all week. Our 45^th year band celebration was an incomparable array of male bonding activities, all watched over and directed spectacularly by The Queen Hostess. Daily hikes, afternoon lunches on the porch, late candlelight dinners for a dozen were de riguer. The amount of beer, bourbon and sundry enlighteners consumed was staggering for l guys and the amount of belly whopping laughter irreplaceable.

It is impossible to describe just how unusual it is for this many people to spend a solid week in one house and get along so well…..everyone pitches in, everyone fights to pay for everything…and everyone r to ward off the predictable chaos.

Did I mention the music? Starting Monday, it went on for six days with impromptu jams, two practices with our additional Vermont crew, Music on the Green on Thursday and culminating with the 25^th annual Tie- Dye festival on Saturday at The Empress of GE’s palatial estate. Our core six were joined by our longstanding local Vermont friends on percussion, slide guitar, the magic of Fiddler Bob and our good pals Cheryl and Mike….. and a parade of other music sibs as they joined in for special numbers. Thursday night the Band was tight as skinny-jeans, and we garnered an amazing $375 in tips which donated to the local flood relief efforts here. Saturdays set was all loosey-goosey with in a mud strewn property that had us all thinking Woodstock revisited.

It was week of Adventures and Misadventures too many to count for these pages, but will let the pictures tty to tell the story. Most of the boys shuffled off to real life on Sunday with Mitch and Steve staying overnight until this morning. Though nice to have our house back, we will really miss all the guys and Rachel and Chris who came along and were super roadies.

I think Lucy will sleep for the next three days.

I am attaching nice array of photos, and also sharing link blow for those who want the full Monty.

Have a crazy three days ahead and then off to our mid-summer Ohio visit for ten days and some g-daughter mana. Be back to you all on the flip side.

Love is in the air, Stu

Bunty in Vermont full google Photo album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/3kYc6kDVfm9m1HVQ8

NanaPapi Camp in the Greens 2023

My good people:

No quotes, no stories and not much to say. It has been an incredible week. Had g-daughter #2- Sloane- here at The Mount for the week. I flew back to Ohio on Monday and flew her back on Tuesday. Tess flew out to Albany Saturday night; we all spent the night in hotel and then they flew back on Sunday……..with a six hour wait in DC …with an almost 5 year old.

In between we had a total adventure, which the pictures tell better than I can. Circus Schmirkus, Kids wonderland, parks and pizzas, hikes on the trail, swimming in Pond, concerts and Creamees, endless hide n seek…..needless to say we are into recovery mode for the week. I don’t believe we ate anything all week that was not carbs or pure sugar…but we kept her hopping.

Hope to have more of our g-daughter brood next year for NanaPapi Camp ‘24.

I have attached some pix for the week here- but have also created a Google photos album that you can access with the below link if you really want to feel the experience…..and have much caffeine around.

One week to annual Bunty-Music week in the Greens….so the game is afoot.

Will try to be more entertaining next week after a few hours of sleep…….

Papi

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5qMJKmwSiVSybDvAA

After THE Flood………………………………………..

Gurgle, Gurgle, Gurgle:

“Down by the water; Down by the old main drag” …………………………………………………………………………… The Decmberists

“ HISTORIC and CATASTROPHIC”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Vermont Seven Days weekly

It’s a Hard…. It’s a Hard…It’s a Hard…………” ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. Bob Dylan

See the sky about to rain. Broken clouds of rain. Locomotive pull the train. Music flowing through my brain………………….

Well, you know, I’m not going to try and fully capture the Great Flood, because, Hell, it’s been all over the NY Times and NPR and even Fox News (so even ardent climate deniers are going to have to ponder this one, along with the Canadian smoke-fest and the 92 degree ocean water in Florida……do we have a theme yet, or are we just really bad and getting our spiritual due)….you have all heard the trauma and seen the pictures. Suffice it to say…..Wow…who’d have thought our little stream would look like a class four whitewater raft rapids….but it did….we survived…we are well….there is a lot of helping going on and community spirit is abundant……

Now, onto the news of the weird……

When we left off last week, we had played hooky from Tim fest on Saturday and gone fishin’ more or less. So- dutifully headed over Sunday noon for day two only to find out a day late , dollar short…apparently it was only a two day except in Tim’s mind months ago and on the yenta land of Facebook…..so it was just us and the hungover stray travelers from hither and yon….which turned out to be the best group of impromptu musicians I have ever played with…sat in a circle for two hour playing feminist revolt songs (did I mention they were almost all women and all played in all-women bands from whence they came?)…..one of those moments you come across in blue moon for no apparent reason that are reassuring…..and in this case, clearly the calm before the storm…..

So, Monday it was driving rain for 24 hours, on top of an already dangerously high water table…wham, bam, thank you mam…. best new: state EMS were heroes this time and not a single person passed from the destruction….

When the dust settled on Tuesday and it the sun also rose, we set out to survey and offer help, eventually trekking down the just cleared road to Rutland to shop…..and encountered the Bizarro world that is mountain living, where Rutland seemed totally untouched, whilst villages around us had floated away….BIZ as usual….did manage to survive the throngs at the only Home Depot within a day’s ride to shop for a new fridge of all things…as TQ has divined ours is finally on the brink and that my pinpoint hammer shots will soon no longer restart the beast …such a worrier……after we decided on a fridge and went back to buy it, we came and decided to measure and found we can now not get it past our pantry opening sine we have our new counter tops, so it will have to come in thru the back 40 and up rickety steps…..which we have decided we will surprise the delivery men with and make their day with an exciting challenge to interrupt their boredom……..

Have I mentioned THE POND……WOW…it doth overflow……?

On way home from Rutland, my pent up emery required exhausting, so had TQ drop me 2 miles from home to jog back, which proved illuminating as Rt. 103 had fallen into the river in several places….and had me tiptoeing for fear of joining it…I mean it just fell in six foot wide sections….holy buckets……got home in time to find the Walrus Dumpmaster courting TQ and very disappointed at my jogging appearance up the trail…another lost opportunity….

Since he only place we could get to and had anything to offer was Rutland, made it down three straight days….Thursday was massive grocery shop, the depot, drug store and the Mart…….all on post chiropractic appointment…..at which I discover that in the general prevailing chaos I had left with no money, no wallet, NADA….so brazenly borrowed a hundred bucks cash money from the doc and dared myself to get everything on the lists or$100 or finagle credit…amazingly, got it all with my 100 and came back with mad money…and became one of those people, for first time ever, to feed cash into self-checkout machines….I always wondered who did that and felt a bit judgmental about it…..but no, I be them……

After two days of dry, was able to get Lucy and me out for dirt road walk to our usual go to nearby, and met The Raker, a 75 year old ZZ top wannabe gent who was out raking dirt up and down road in front of his house…..and who I mistakenly nodded to and aske of his health…..staggered away 45 minutes later having heard the entire family history and the chronology of many wins and losses in his battles with the evil empire ..and he raked the whole time…..

Been working on keeping carbs down, but TQ shows up with the weekly bread from Siri (not that one) which is this dense mélange of fine earthen flours…… And I instinctively drift into Carbland….bring me more, bring me more…..

Friday, we had to go to Dartmouth for a scan…and spent hours trying to figure out how we could get there around myriads of washouts …even WAYS was off and not keeping up…..managed to find a route through the Greens and arrived at med complex that is probably larger than Vatican City…..what a joint…kind of looks like the Mall of the Americas….the drive up was illuminating…..man oh man…..the destruction water can make…capped off a 16 hour fast with a trip to the Vietnamese sandwich shop for Banh-Mi haven……..

Yesterday we joined the Miller clan and spent much of the day looking for opps to be do-gooders……did not find may in all our Mount H. stops, but heard a lot of tales of woes and watched mountain men openly cry…..but found our groove down in the utterly devastated Ludlow, where stores floated away and the streets are surrounded by 30 foot piles of dirt and gravel in every discretion……got to fill up sandbags for hours at the fire dept. (did you ever wonder from whence sandbags came? And then cleared out the town trailer park of mounds of debris……volunteers everywhere…….great bonhomie…and got free barbeque lurch from food truck for our labors…

Came home and passed out to get up and do it again, Amen…..but looking like another bad rain day today so everyone is prepping worst if we get more than the barely receding waters can handle…so far, so good……doing my anti-rain dance……

Say a prayer for Owen Meany-and love to ya’ll,

Stu

White Line Fever in Da Greens

Como Estas????

“Boredom can be interesting”………………………………………………………………Narayan

“It has taken me all my life to understand that it is not necessary to understand everything”………Rene Coty

“Oops……Wrong cookie” ……………………………………………………………Fortune Cookie writer

Sittin’ downtown in a railway station……………………………………where are Brewer and Shipley when you need them……………………well, it’s been an all-out adventurous week on The Mount at La Chez Queene………….Resettled after the whirlwind down to the city and survived the latest Covid treat…….spent a few days proactively isolating and missed Monday music……Plaque still suck……decided we were sickish enuff to warrant trip down the hill to little pathetic Ludlow Chinese, which is solidly mediocre and almost twice as expensive as its counterpart near the Heartland home….have I bitched enough yet about the cost of living in Greens………..

By Tuesday, we had a string of negative test days- so headed Uptown or Downton (depending on your band width) to Belmont, or Mt. Holly, (depending on your band width) for 14 minutes of thunder and lightning (think Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman) …. which is the longest endeavor in parade’s recent history….. TQ of course was the Grande Dame, tho the Association float was somewhat pathetic, in a cute sort of way………. dashed home after that to welcome the World’s Most Beloved School Marm and The Erstwhile Russian Spy for long overdue cookout and catch up…where we had delightful time and learned that our own Peter (the Great?) has a longstanding used rube glove collection…the possibilities are endless…..

By Wednesday, it a time to get out, so Miss Lucy and I went hunting for several dirt road walks in the late day hazy sunshine, where it had now gone from weeks of Canadian-cloud chilly rainy 60 to a hot and humid (no AC in site) almost 90…..Feeling more or less invincible now, headed into town on Thursday for a shop-a thon, Root-land style…which , by all accounts, is somewhat limited, and definitely not Madison Avenue…but came back with bags and bags….spent at least 25 minutes trying to fill tiny glass jars with bulk spice from giant glass jars at the local Co-op (assignment from TQ)…me and the Birkenstocks……and the patchouli…..and the hemp shopping bags……free parking in Downton though for Co-op-ing……..

Thursday night we traversed hill and dale (not the Gene Autry kind) to the quaint Phelps Barn at the championship level quaint Grafton inn (oldest in Vermont) for burger ‘n beer night, which was $10 before The Plaque and is now $20…but they added a fish option….met up with old friend Beverly, my long lost benefactress of a 1000 lunches at Java-Baba…along with her whole miscpachah….had a great time after years of separation….and trying to rekindle now- tho she now works a bit far away for me to go for free lunches…….

Friday dawned very hot and after a brief foray into my world of work, we threw the kayaks in the back of the jeep and drove to Nineveh for first paddle of the year….not a soul on the lake, which is mountain water deep, clear as a bell (go, Johnny, go) and no motors…..tried paddling our separate ways to avoid Lucy hysteria about separating the pack….but even that too much….as she barreled form one vessel to the other…finally just taking the panic- plunge….and doing her Lucy Weissmuller thing…..traversing the entire lake with little legs pumping, snout just above water and snorting/ yelling the whole way…….got home just as the thunder skies erupted….after quick stops in Belmont to raid the community room and library….job well done

You can get it if you really want it……. but you must try…try and try…try and try…you’ll succeed at last……

Ignoring several if invite-obligations, we took off Saturday for a drive up majestic Route 100 with plans to traverse the gap over to Middlebury…but got waylaid in lil’ Hancock for lunch on the veranda of the old hotel and then a hop skip and jump over to Texas Falls where we spent hours hiking, gazing, contemplating and ultimately jumping in a tide pool of sorts….made our way over the gap late in day then on down to Rutland where we made first foray into checking out the now legal empire…ok, it’s not San Diego, but cute…and then made it a twofer day with Indian food for diner from the tiny grocery store (better than you might think)…finishing up at TQ’s Palace- the Home Depot….where we stocked up on our massive store of planting apparati…………..and fell asleep trying to find a helper-type to advise us (good luck with that)….and now the time has come………

Getting ready for big month ahead with Sloanie visit in a week, The Band for a week after that and mid-summer Ohio return a week after that…good day sunshine……

Go out an cavort, Make it count, Be the ball…..Love, ya’ll……

Papi (Was a Rolling Stone)

Lookin’ for Some Sunshine in the Greens

Gootin Dag:

“Many men fish all their lives without realizing it is not the fish they are after” ……………………………Michael Baughman

“Value judgments are destructive to our proper business, which is curiosity and awareness” ……….John Cage

“If you gotta go now…. go now….go now”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Moody Blues

Well, the Arcadian Driftwood SmokeFest refuses to submit, with index of air quality bordering on shit, and a low cloud cover most of the time. Could be worse; people are wearing HazMat suit in the city……but enough…..we need really big wall on the Canuck border. Forget the Mexicans, this is the real r…an I know just the man we can elect to get it done………

Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine….th sun shine in……..

Been a whirl of a week near Star lake…………………our hometowns……

Last Sunday went from smog gloom to blue sky glory in late afternoon, and went to Vermont style birthday party on the former Empress of GE’s deck, overlooking he splendor of the Greens. Daughter Andrea’s 40^th had bunch of no-shows –so it was mostly family style, which for them means around 35 people who live in the compound…and our plus two….despite being grumpy with TQ about not really wanting to be social, enjoyed the multiple generations and got a months’ worth of hugs (after wondering aloud if I was actually huggable these days).

That was the end of sun for a while, as the rains came, the clouds drooped, the streams came a rushin’ and THE POND filled tot it’s magnificent brink.

Midweek we went down to Rutland to the nice Table 24 (which shockingly had closed for good the night before) for an event celebrating Vermont’s constitutionalizing of Reproductive Rights….we now invite women from anywhere to come here and be served without barriers or repercussions…which is quite amazing in our time (Pence and Desantis were invited to come but sent regrets)…….and was pushed through by our republican governor…..though he might not be a Republican anywhere else………….after all we have two parties in our statehouse currently…Democrats and Progressives….but still, I digress,….the event was moving and the celebratory quilt put together by many hands, quite impressive……I managed to not insult anybody for the entire evening….mostly by keeping food or drink in my mouth at all times….did I mention that the crowd was filled with lily-white, blue haired, extreme fit people wearing Birkenstocks?….Duh…..I have now dubbed this, after one of the quilt squares, the no-sex quilt gathering……

After the event, we snuck over to Ramuntos for some slices before heading p the mount, and were shocked to see multitudes of other vegan-tofu types from the event sneaking in, looking for little pepperoni topped jewels…. kind of reminded me childhood Yom Kippur at the Schul, and we’d mosey over to the coffee shop and keep heads down (allegedly fasting), but when I’d sneak a peek, there were 50 such families all hiding with their schmeaedr bagels………

Thursday we visited the Weston Playhouse for the first time since pre- Covid……more lily white, fit blue hairs…..no Birkenstocks……and caught a preview show ($20 ticket- fourth row center- who knew?) for The Buddy Holly story, which was beyond spectacular, and possibly life changing…the stars totally aligned that night for the cast of mostly young star wannabes, and they put on the performance of their lives…..SHOCKUNG….maybe the best live theater I’ve ever seen…maybe I was also accidentally impaired…a lot of maybes

Capped the week with a weekend in The apple- specifically Westchester County (if that counts) to get with all of my olde cousins for first time since Covid….I say older because for 20 years I had been the patriarch of our family…till I searched out three sets of cousins ten years ago, whom I now gladly defer to and assume the mantle of the baby cousin……gotta love that…….Italian for 12 at Tuckahoe…spent night in Riverdale…..then Saturday in lovely Nyack with a beach front luncheon and night at the local Doubletree….sadly, my cousin Joel wound up going to hospital just as we arrived, which was real bummer, but got to see the rest plus my nephew Mitch, as well, who drove across the river……ROOTS in CAHOOTS…..very moving…..

Back home to more rain and dankness on the edge of town, on this strange long, maybe holiday weekend…………

Minimally exposed to Covid in city- so monitoring, but so far, so good….is there an end to this nonsense?

I hope you all only freedom and joy.

Hasta Luego, Stu

Greenings and Un-Greenings

Bonjour:

“Sun rising over the mountain path- scent of plums” …………………………………………………………………………….Basho

“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning” ………………………………………………………………………………Meister Eckhart

“C’est la vie say the old folks- it goes to show you never can tell” …………………………………………………………Chuck Berry

Been a travelin’ man over the seas…. I remember the night…. Second straight week on the resuscitation of road warrior-ness and between that and raindrops falling on my head…. both tired and a bit mute……so don’t got much this week….

The Canadian Smoke Fest has continued to leave us without much sun along with the start of the who-would-live-around- there Hurricane season, has brought us transference type rain, rain, train…… forecast does not show a rain free day for next to weeks- though we all know the forecasters are basically using a crystal ballad on a dart board….

Father’s day came and went- lots of texts- no children, no grandees……. S…. L…. O…. W……. where are the kids that I used to sport with?……TQ made breakfast and dinner…and watched raindrops in between….

Music has been hot on Monday nights with our wandering leader and resident Gypsy back from world travels….and regular attendance from the grumpy guitarist and the mad mandolinist…plus our resident rain- woman (think Dustin Hoffman) ……..keep going sluggish on Monday nights and the having Mr. Hyde take over, and being one to leave and have to lock the place down…..building towards Bunty band week in early august, when the boys descend from around the globe…..

I seemed to have missed the retirement (maybe even semi-retirement) memo and am back on the horse with five projects of one sort or another…good work…but, make it stop, mama, make it stop…..

This week’s edition had me back on the shores of Gitchee-Goomey, by way of Chicago…determined not to repeat the last 9 hour trip……so I took the six- seater just down the road from here- to Boston- and then on to Chicago-then on to Dan Ryan expressway Hell out to Michiana…work went really well….have new disciples…..travel was indescribable…..first had to call about six- seater for every couple of hours for last 24 prior –to make sure it goes-then go to waiting room that is smaller than my living room, wait while they woke up the local TSA and call him to come in, weigh both my bag and me, wind up the propeller and shout the safety rules……turned out to be really nice day and flight was really pretty ending with a Magnifico view of Boston harbor…..made new Bestie on board –Deadhead, entrepreneurial Strangelove type on board-and we might be friends forever…we did exchange blood oaths- but, hey….Vermont is like that…..

In Boston , I had to make a frantic run to help out a 90 year old couple form the 6-seater with a 45 minute layover to depart for Blue-Hair world, and who were being fucked by the airline bureaucrats and not given back their carry –on bag as it was missing a tag, that the renegade living room TSA had neglected to put on back in la-la land…folks were in tears…so Papi made a mad sprint to the baggage claim, found their bag, reentered through another TSA , traced them to their departure gate and handed them their bag before the gate folk closed the aircraft door in their face…which would have led to postal Papi…got round of applause at the gate and emotional goodbye for my new grandparents…

The trip home broke the previous record and took 10 hours –with an extraordinary 3 hours in and around crazed Friday rush hour to Chi-town to get to the Midway, de-riguer flight delay, and the TQ driving four hours’ round trip to pick me at the live free or die terminal -home at 3 am (but no big deal, I was still on central time) ……

Tried to get in a much needed walk yesterday- and got as far as Java Baba for lunch……before the skies opened again – sat outside under an awning and ate……. watching deluge for over an hour…. the rain shooting off the roof in such massive arcs we thought were at a water park….no walk …nap…. did get in dry moment at Saturday Dump drop where the DM asked for TQ’s hand for the 40^th time…. whilst maintaining his best Poncho villa (check the photo) ….DM and TQ sitting in a tree…….

I got no more- happy to be home for a while….plant me a garden, eat a little peaches, get me a home….story for paucity of pix today…..road, rain and accidental deletion conspire to leave not much….though SEE POND in glory….and Papi with each of the bigger grandees…

Off next weekend to The Apple to see all the cousins for first time since pre-Covid- pretty excited….’till then….it’s only me…and you….and a dog named Boo……

Ferlin’

There and Back Again

Ola los Padres:

“Father, Father- there’s too many of us crying” ……………………………………………………………………………………………..Marvin Gaye

“Being a dad is when you realize you can actually like people who puke in your car multiple times” ………………Zen

“Fatherhood is great because you can ruin someone from scratch” ………………………………………………………………. Jon Stewart

I got the travelin’ man blues, got the travelin’ man blues…..oh dear sweet mama….I got the travelin’ man blues…….Agreed to take on a project on the shores of Gitchee-Goomey (Lake Michigan) this winter, which seemed innocuous enough when in the heartland…..but now am cavorting to get to New Buffalo, Michigan and Michigan City, Indiana….collectively and affectionately called Michiana (Really)…….which is accessed from here by planes, trains and automobile……takes about a fortnight each way, and includes getting in and out of Chicago during rush hour to get to Midway…..and it always is pouring rain…….and there are 50, 000 sixteen wheelers pushing you off the road……and every flight is delayed…and full…and then it is another 2.5 hour drive back to the mountains…and when the morning sun comes shining in, I get up and do it again, amen, get it up again………

Not that I’m complaining…at least not totally….…. but this does fly in the face of mountain –life, though I have gained a special relationship with a Michiana trans person……and I have, apparently, totally infatuated them…because I live in Vermont with Bernie…. bonus……

Plus, every time I go away…. I come back to find TQ had modified more yard with some configuration of trees, mulch, cardboard and plant-like things…….

Where are the men that I used to sport with………Trying, under pressure from the Monarchy, to make new friends, but every guy I have asked to go for a walk with me…. has said no…apparently, they don’t walk, they don’t eat, they don’t drink…….so I surround myself either with books or with mountain gals mostly…. which this week led me to sit in a room with The Queen and her Court stuffing envelopes for two hours…….…whilst suffering from over-adoration for being the only partner-type who came and stuffed for his semi- betrothed………the food was good, though….

Friday, we took off in search of an evening meal- choice for which have become slim without majordomo drive…….wound up at the Victorian inn at Wallingford, which has a wonderful bistro menu, that is better in print than on the table delivery….were about to leave , when we were summoned by the arrival of our potential new Besties…..the Mad Scientist and his Self-Proclaimed Trophy Wife…so wound up sitting through their 57 course dinner of one of everything on the menu, while we sipped our waters, and had an hour of stimulating discussion about varicose veins and the Kato diet…but, hey…a night out is a night out.

The weather has been mostly gloomy since the F’in Canuck woody cloud came and went, but did not stop us from a day out in the rain yesterday to pursue the live free or die lifestyle and load up on tax free goods…….TQ requires a steady supply of high-end bourbon, which is thirty cents on the dollar across the border…so we drove around the big river in circles to find a walk for Lucy-Lu between rain drops…and contemplated the wild difference the river makes

Happy day to all Papis…be well, stay in touch, do some work.

Ferlin’

Smoke on the Water

Bonasera, Bonasera:

“Courage is the mastery over fear-not the absence of fear”…………………………………………..Fortune Cookie

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”……………The Queen (and Chinese Proverb)

“And you don’t believe- we’re on the eve of destruction….”…………………………………………Barry McGuire

Ba-da-da-da………Ba-da-da-da………..Ba-da-da-da-da (sound it out, please). After that intro, the traditional Chicken Wire Messenger Service bit (I shit you not…did this job for a year…there are living witnesses who can attest- Feel?

Sound out the beginning …and then:

Your son is dead, Got shot in the head, By a red, Boy how he bled…..Da-Da-da-Da-Da

Ok- so it’s been a long day-left early this morning, drove from The Mount to Manchester, NH to live free or catch a flight……rode the magic Southwest bus to Chi-town, shuttled to rental car, spent an insane 1.5 hours getting out of Ms. Windy (though in a new Jeep with 200 miles on it- me be first) and then another hour drive to Lake Michigan….so I ain’t got much, but did not want to shirk.

Basic highlight of Week 3 in the Greens:

Smokin’…we hit AQI of around 90, which is a bit much for the Progs, but quaint compared to 400 plus in the Apple and Philly- was even worse in the Heartland…nevertheless a lot of snifflin’ and hackin’………N-95 anyone?

Made out first visit to the beloved east- for Sunday Chinese last week- oy, the crispy Peking Duck with pine nuts…how does one spend $60 on Chinese for two? Only in Vermont….

Folk club Monday night featured the return of all the missing and wounded Grievous Angels-and was occasion joyueuse- My friend Cheryl showed up for the hoedown and had wrote a song for me called “The Finisher” ……interpret as you like….

Got off kilter this week, slaving at my computer in my renewed effort at being working stiff, whilst TQ planted and planted and planted…and bought more to pant…made a late day trip down to the Okemo gym one afternoon-…only to find a moderately full house- need to semi-retire again to have my own private am gym building….

Am I retied ? semi- retired….poll question…..

After a year of hassling for the autobody grump to replace my damaged fender molding…..he did….but had to listen to 30 straight uninterrupted minutes of grump-speak whilst he did it…not sure who won….

Apple tree very pretty and the apple flower is sweet….TQ had gone over the Appleseed edge…and is now on to rutabaga or some such shit…..

Had out first visitors of the season for drinks and gab ( I did not make that up) from the Southie deniers- that is they are generic Southies to us, but apparently not in the Boston taxonomy of caste or class….sorry ‘bout that J&L- still it was quite the gab, as always, on a lovely indoor porch nite…in da wicker, wicker…..

Yesterday we schlepped up to Lebanon for a free music festival, which was quite nice except for bouts of rain spitting- lovely parkland over the eldest section of the majestic Connecticut river- see the 1700’s stones-music good, people nice, setting tranquil…but the highlight was Wicked Awesome BBQ stop on way home…

And the beat goes on…more next week…gotta see a man about a horse….

Hello, I love you, c/an you tell me your name…..Ferlin’

Settlin’ Into the Greens

Obladee-Oblada Friends:

“Having no destination, I am never lost” ……………………………………………………………………………IKKYU

“You have to come to the shore. There are no instructions” ………………………………………………. Denise Levertov

“It is good to know the truth, but it is better to speak of palm trees” ……………………………………Arab Proverb

Well- it’s been a long week and a short distance…35 and blustery to 93 in the shade overnight- and back down to a high of 50…. mountain winds prevail…daily…. but things are settling down on The Mount….

After our first day of indentured servitude on Saturday last, we set out Sunday for our first wander…which took us around the central part of state for the open studio tour. Started in nearby Bridgewater Commons at several studios in an old mill building overlooking one of the state’s magnificent speed traps…and became quickly drawn in by one artist who is a 911 survivor and needed to tell her story, which was intense and lengthy….and led to her work in which she depicts every person killed on 911 in miniature head form…..which sits right next to bizarre paintings of civil war reenactors (see photo #1)….. that, we more or less blew off the studio tour and headed for the woods…splendid day led us eventually to the hamlet of South Royalton, where after years of trying, we finally scored lunchables from the legendary Worthy Burger…giant burgers, a massive pile of hand cut fries…and then a ride to the nearby Creamees joint to top it off…..about tripled my carb intake of the previous month….basically been on an all salad diet ever since.

Monday was machine readying day around the domicile, with every gas powered battleax coming to life without trouble- this has got to be be too good to be true…. nevertheless, the property is swept and groomed … Tuesday resulted in our finally getting Jens car back after 8 days…worth the wait…. a projected 2K plus repair bill in the heartland, reduced to a $500 bargain here…. got to love the mechanic in the meadow and his outdoors repairdom….

Cars good…phone bad…still living with only the erratic WIFI calling due to the latest screw up from the greed infested anthills that call themselves communications companies…. don’t you love communicating with them…. on the hunt for a solution, but living with minimal phone access until we leave the house…make a lot of calls in the car in few places that have cell signals between mountain ranges…ok, maybe a bit more complicated life here in some ways…like phones. mail and finding a place to get takeout without driving 45 minutes…. our three closest options have closed since we left last Fall……Sal’s, Harrys and the Belmont Store…and Door Dash is not driving up the mountain anytime soon…ergo, the salad diet…

The Queen has rediscovered her Court, and disappears for hours at a stretch to cavort with the local Yenta royalty..…in between playing Jenn-EE- Appleseed with latest property improvements..…so TQ connects while p and Lucy walk…finding new dirt road opps every other day or so…..Thursday sucked it in , made a huge list and spent five hours doing town things…..kind of like going in on the wagon in 1840s Montana…..experienced many goods and services, all a success with the exception of the cell phone morons…..Friday looked like a good enough day to take on the much worn deck and its need for good lovin’…so TQ scraped in the am while Papi provide the virtual cure…then we scraped together…then we stained…in a blitz to bat the threatening skies as the therm hit 90 plus….this led to an immediate strip down and first Pond plunge…me and da turtle…

With dubious weather predicted now for next we, we took off yesterday for a southeast Greens tour down the route 30 corridor to Dorset, Shaftsbury, Arlington, Bennington—snuck across the line to Hoosick NY, where we got local store lunch and ate in a drizzle, then discovering actually still in Vermont, so able to ditch the Yankee caps…nice walk at Shaftsbury Lake State Park and on to famous Bennington battlefield, which is neither in Bennington, nor in Vermont, but it is pretty cool…dem’ Ethan Allen boys was fierce…hard to imagine we hated the British that much…but this is indeed hallowed ground….finished the southern part of the loop in historic Salem NY, where we encountered an extraordinary portrait of American Prom decadence going on outside the ancient courthouse…..then circled home with one more dirt road walk in late afternoon sunshine at Middletown Springs….

And now it’s time to get it up and start all over again…Amen…. start it all again…. Amen

Poll question…. if you get held up on the road by official police cars doing traffic control in a private rent-a-cop capacity-can they tell you what to do legally and police you if you don’t? You would not believe ow long that debate went on……

Though I’m guessing there might be some more important questions to answer…. but …until then

Ferlin’

THEY’RE BAAAAAAACCK!!!!!!!!!!

Long Due Greetings mes amis:

“We sit together the mountain and me, Until only the mountain remains” …………………………………………………………Li Po

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

“Honeysuckle vines cling to a fence along the land, fragrance makes the summer wind so sweet

On a distant hillside, eagle sings a song. Songbird on a fencepost, sings a melody” ………………………………Dolly Parton

Little Darlin’…it’s been along a long and lonely winter…. Little darlin’, it seems like years since its’ been here…………………good Sunday my fine friends, family and semi-acquaintances……………. we have returned to The Mount intact to full pond, few mice, overgrown garden and shrubberies…and sweet mountain May…just in time for the start of the short, but mighty Vermont summer…………good to be back in the dirt and Schmutz…. maybe I’ll be there to take your hand, maybe I’ll be there to share the land….

So…. still in the semi-chaos mode……so maybe short one this week? …. we shall see, nu?……..,

Leaving the Heartland pretty smooth though very bittersweet after regular weekend sleepovers with g-daughter #2 all winter log………Nana, Papi, Sloanie……Sloanie, Nana, Papi…. big adjustment to leave our girl behind…along with our other three GRAND- daughters………But need to see a man about a horse………………….Limped back across the southern tier of NY State with Jenn’s car creaking and croaking……. directly to the classic mountain repair shop. Where it has been resting for almost a week now……it will get fixed once our erstwhile mechanic-shaman finds it out on the back 40 with two dozen other cars since there is no room for a vehicle inside his garage…ever….so hit The Mount running with one car to share…….

After weeks of no carbs…immediately sought out a fix at Ramuntos for the cheese special (Two and a coke)..and back home to a throwback 35 degree first night…a bit of a shocker having left the 80 Ohio early summer behind….of course, we have no phone service ….again…..having had out lil’ cell tower deactivated and dealing with exigencies of WIFI calling in the mountains…..in the same realm of ground hog day style events…..our usual bright eyed plumber man-child did not show to open the house-but sent the Plumber Grinch…. a mighty supporter of The Donald and disliker of Flatlanders, to get us open, and leave us with the usual residual non-working pipe………

Our first morning cold and wet to find The Queen making an ill planned trip to Bennington for a dermatology checkup…. first morning back…. CHAOS…. four hour RT journey leaving at 7 am……. Only to arrive thee….and find she had already switched the appointment to July …precisely to avoid this…………………………… would anyone like to go for a ride in the country???…. Welcome back…. TQ……

After three days of nonstop working -like –dogs…..got out on a nice late Friday afternoon for 1^st hike at Elfin Lake and a check in on the Jewish Pig Farmer (JPF), before hitting the major disappointment of finding our beloved Sal’s of Wallingford the permanently closed…..BUT….have now found Mama Tamara et Famiglia…a small Eye-talian takeout joint on Main St….that offers the unlikely combination of off- the- boat Sicilian fare with the cuisine of Philadelphia…..not great, but nice people , big menu, good price and ambitious concept….not Sal’s….but a dent on the despair scale…….

Saturday was our first massive property cleanup day, which went well, all things considered……POND is going to need the kayak and strainer touch……. but got the water pump going, cleaned it up and treated it….and it be FULL…. first machines up and running and outbuildings spiffed up…headed us over to a deluxe MEAT extravaganza at the JPF……meal consisting of seventeen meat offerings and…. Cole slaw……served up in a maelstrom as they sizzled off the Ninja smoker grill…. JPF and The Empress of Death still divorcing, but now engaging in regular confusing companionship…so it was a reunion of sorts………

And THE Belmont Store is newly owned and set to be remodeled/reopen in coming months after being shuttered last fall….taken over by local paparazzi who have A Vision…..The Dumpmaster Yenta stopped by on his four wheeler (no license for car driving for many years courtesy of state police) to fill us in on the store skinny…..”they are not as rich as they seem”…and to explain the demise of the previous petulant and unfriendly owner being based on having insult one member of the local Jewish Cabal……and thus being shunned out of biz by the entire Yid community….which I had always though amounted to a sum of three humans….but who knew?…….

Excited to say….and ecstatic to say, we have planned a time for Sloanie to come out for week in July…so we can all avoid jonesing paralysis…….

Off today for some wandering with the statewide Open Studio tour………. she how many ceramic mushrooms we can find…. Good for you? Good for me…….

Bonsai boys and Girls., till then….

Papi