Vermont Vignettes

I can't help it. Driving around town(s) I just keep noticing things that are uniquely Vermont, at least in my life experience. Here's a sampling:

1. Finding a Nursing Home. I'm trying to find a nursing home in a town I've only driven through once. I can't remember the name of the nursing home but the vague instructions I've been given are, "Drive north on 110 and it's right as you enter town." As I enter town on 110 North I do not see a nursing home anywhere. So, knowing how things work around here, I stop at the local country store where information about every person in town can be found. I mention that I'm looking for a nursing home. Storekeeper: Oh, you must be looking for Riverside. Me: Yeah, that must be it. Storekeeper: You goin' to visit someone? Me: Vivian Kill. She hasn't been here long. Storekeeper: Oh, yeah, I know the Kills. Isn't her mother Mary? They used to live in Tunbridge, right? That old yellow house? Me: I don't know her mother, I'm just here to visit Vivian. Storekeeper: Right, right. Well, you see that sign down the road? Go past that sign about three houses and it's right there on the left. You can pull right in. Me: Thanks a lot. Do you sell any magazines? Storekeeper: Magazines? No, I have the newspaper and Vermont Life but who has time to read magazines? They just sit on the shelf and get all dusty. There's a library over there (waves at window). Me: Across the street? Storekeeper: Yeah, you see that brick building? Me: That one? Storekeeper: No, that's not a brick building. That one, over there. Me: Isn't that the town hall? Storekeeper: Yeah, it's the town hall and the library. I think it's even open. Me: Of course. Well, thanks. Storekeeper: No problem. You have a nice visit now.
2. Getting directions. Everyone knows that following directions around here is based on your ability to read landmarks. Here's an example (and I quote directly): "Go up the road to the new bridge. Don't go over the bridge but take the little road right before it. Follow that road up to the big red barn. Turn right and then go a ways up to the big pine tree. Turn left. Our house is at the end of the road next to the cemetery." Perhaps, like me, you're thinking, "No one could ever possibly find this place using those directions." However, I kid you not, as I drove up the road sure enough, there was the new bridge. And the big red barn? Huge! And the big pine tree? Only pine tree in the area. I was able to find the house with no problem. Pretty amazing, right?
3. Picture Perfect. I didn't have my camera with me, but today I saw just the ideal Vermont scene. A bumpy country road surrounded by gorgeous hills covered in bright orange, russet reds, yellows, greens and browns. To my right ran a bubbly river and directly ahead of me was a big old red barn, paint peeling with a silver silo beside it and framed all around with the beautiful colors of fall and a few picturesque cows on the hillside. It really was lovely. Too bad I don't paint!
4. Typically Casual. I was walking down the road this morning (for fitness) and this car pulled over to the right and parked. Out got a woman, gray hair flying, mud-stained T-shirt and jeans, in her bare feet. She walked across the road and into her house directly beside me. I marveled at how cool it is to leave your house and drive somewhere in your bare feet with not a care in the world. We're not in Boston anymore!
   

The Gourmet

I enjoy making good food, especially with produce that comes from our garden. So last week I worked for a while making a grilled eggplant Parmesan. The eggplants came from the garden and I made the tomato sauce with fruits from the, well, you know. Fresh mozza and basil to top it off, it was delicious. Of course most of the fun in cooking is hearing and seeing the reactions of the people you've cooked for. So anticipating positive reviews I asked my children how they liked the dinner. This is what A told me; "Mommy, about your dinner. I think it tastes like....dirt." Not quite the review I was hoping for. Oh well, I thought it was delicious!

Good Reads

I like the concept of this website, an especially good way to track books you want to read. Goodreads allows me to publish my reviews to my blog so let's try this out:
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
The cover describes it as Steel Magnolias set in Manhattan which seemed about right to me. There's some swearing which I never appreciate and I felt that the characters were introduced so randomly and haphazardly that I had a hard time remembering which story went with which character for a while. Towards the end I predicted what was going to happen but still found it very moving. For me the last few chapters redeemed the book.


View all my reviews.

Brotherly Love

Since I'm not actually a boy myself, I've often wondered about the relationship between brothers. They play, they fight, they playfight, they work together, they lock each other out of their rooms. Last weekend when we were running a 1.5 mile "fun" run I swear my boys were the only kids ever who could fight and run at the same time. W would careen into A who would get all mad and try to kick W (resulting in loss of shoe) and on and on it would go. I'm trying to push a stroller, run, and create peace between the boys all at the same time, not an easy task. I was ready to run for the hills, forget about the finish line! But then this morning I witnessed just the cutest, most heart-melting incident. I should preface it by saying that whenever A has a bad dream he crawls into W's bed. Most of the time they're best buddies. And A is "sooooooooo bored" while W is in school. So back to this morning. W and I were waiting for the bus when we hear, "Mommy, W, wait!" A is running across the lawn in his rainboots and raincoat. He wanted to wait for the bus with us. So we waited a minute or two and as the bus pulled up, A just threw his little 4-year-old arms around W, giving him the biggest hug and then saying, "Have a great day at school, W." It was just so sweet. It gives me hope that they may make it to adulthood without killing each other after all. Hopefully with few scars, too!

Star Wars

We are big Star Wars fans around here. Especially Lego Star Wars. The boys are convinced that they are getting the Lego Death Star for Christmas. It comes with every single Star Wars character they could ever imagine plus about 4000 pieces of Lego. Knowing how these things go, mom and dad will spend countless hours scrutinizing teeny tiny pictures in the wordless construction manual to build the Death Star. Then the Death Star will be played with for exactly 2 hours after which it will be completely dismantled and its pieces reassigned (or reimagined) as vehicles, ships, robots, etc. Not to mention the future foot pain that comes from stepping on all the little pieces that will be scattered all over my house. Oh, and did I mention that it only costs $400! Yikes! Anyway, here are a few of our favorite Star Wars characters brought to life by WAAM! May the Force be With You.

A Bee Story

Poor Princess! Yesterday was a traumatic day for her. She went out with Daddy to the garden where he was picking tomatoes and she was picking sunflower seeds. Unfortunately a bumblebee was also interested in the sunflowers. It stung poor M on her little fingers, twice on two fingers, twice on another finger on her other hand. Her immediate reaction was to put her hurt fingers in her mouth but when she did that the bee went with it! So now M's screaming with a bee on her tongue stinging inside her mouth and around her lips and Daddy's yelling for help and it was all very awful. We brought her inside and administered Benedryl, Motrin and lots of Band-Aids and kisses and hugs. Poor little thing. And the saddest part was that she had to miss her very first day of preschool the next morning because she was feverish and tired. Hopefully that will be our last encounter with bees.