Bonjourno:
“Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing” ……………………………………………………………………Pete Seeger
“There is no poetry where there are no mistakes” ………………………………………………………………………….Joy Harjo
“The aim is to balance the terror of being alive with the wonder of being alive” …………………………Carlos Castaneda
Say it ain’t’ so…Joe…. where was the Papi-San blog last week? Did you mourn? Did you kvetch? Was your day or week thrown off” ……. ah….my fantasies are a life of their own. Truth is we went from a swag up the coast of Maine to the kids visiting…. to our last dance up in the non- tropical Islands…. stayin’ alive…. ooh, ooh, ooh…. stayin’ alive….
I just edited 300 pictures down to around 70- so please accept this as a small gift…. but then again, it is both Autumn in the Majestic Greens as well as having my babies here with us for five days…does it get better?
Spent the early part of week before last gazing at the last of the leaves on the Mount, and taking advantage of a string of 70 plus days to winterize the property…tho tempting to jump in for a brisk dip in the now miraculously almost full POND……where did it come from? Where has it been?
Daughter Tessa, Grand-kin Sloanie-Baloney and my Great (not an adjective, necessarily) Niece, Lena- all arrived at Albany international (yes-it truly is) last Friday. We had four fun filled days with the wonder-children in between four-year-old toddler meltdowns…culminating in our stumbling on to a giant parking lot pig, which Sloanie alternated screaming: “I want to see the pig” with “I hate the pig” …whilst Papi drove around the pig in circles trying to figure out what to do. The weather was magnificent, and we had picnics, and sparkles, and trunk or treating, and bonfire with s’mores and jumping in leaf piles and a trip to the pool, and a walk on the Appalachian Trail with swinging bridge and river rock skimming…and daily visits from the birthday fairy…suffice to say we were all exhausted each evening, and then retired to have Sloanie sleep in the big bed with Nana, Papi and Lucy….and lovingly/sleepingly kicking and pulling Papi- hair much of the night….light sleeper…but had a wonderful visit…
Has anyone watched Ted Lasso? I’m still laughing at 3 am after watching…………………
After last gasp birthday dinner- party for the BIG 4 YO, we headed back down to Albany on Tuesday on another drop dead gorgeous day to put kids on flights, and got back in time to take TQ’s car in for fixin’ after three months of trying to find someone to do it…. you know the drill…supply chain….no employees…blah…blah…blah…. Wednesday we took off for our annual Island jaunt and found to our amazement, that even the northernmost part of Vermont, right up by Canady was almost peak color…. still!…….. maybe the lake effect?….and…it was 76 degrees….and….there were no other souls in sight as we traipsed through multiple state parks, dunes, picnic lunches and hung at our beloved Cozy Cottage right on the the Big C. lake….which is at Grand Isle, Vermont, which we learned is the exact half way point between the Equator and the North Pole….who knew…and where else you gonna get this kind of knowledge?….A Nor’easter blew in overnight Wednesday- so Thursday dawned 30 degrees cooler, but sunny and bright and we toured the isles to see if we could find a road we had not yet been on after 20 years of traipsin’ (not really) and found our favorite chicken farm and apple orchard…scored the legendary smoked chicken pot pie from the Happy Bird Farm….OY………..
After a stop at Hackett’s Orchard for the requisite cider donuts, we headed home Friday, moseying down scenic mountain Route 116 and doing chores along the way…picking up an astoundingly completed car (at a third of the Ohio quoted prices…in a mountain garage that can fit but one car inside and 65 outside on some form of blocks)- and got home to start our inescapable march towards Heartland time, in ten days or so….
Da Lucy and I discovered a pining (for TQ) Dumpmaster Saturday morning, and a new dirt road, and though the leaves are beyond help, it was a gorgeous fall day walk over a small mountaintop…. today I think we go see the sausage mavens down Stratton and take advantage of the extended crazy nice weather for a ramble…………by the shores of gitchee- goomey……
Is Clarence Thomas a real human being?
Are the Cavs for real?
Can The Queen leave The Mount and the cardboard yard massacre?
Keep tuned in for the answers to these and almost ALL questions of merit…or ask your own…or find a bone…. or seedy sown…but not alone…the way is shown….and now I’m goin’……
Till next week,
Estuardo