Some more reasons to love it here

I think it's time for a few more enumerated reasons. I stuck Sofia, our Vermont cat, as reason number 17, I think. I'm losing count, really. Here are a few more reasons I'm loving living in Vermont.

18) The Vermont Legislature overriding our Governor's veto and making Gay Marriage Legal in our state!! Unbelievable! In my lifetime, in my newly adopted state. Wow! Though marriage, heterosexual or homosexual, has never been a passionate issue for me, I am still so proud and grateful for all the sung and unsung heroes who committed to this cause, a seeming lost cause if ever there were one, and saw it through to a victorious end. How wonderful. Richard and I are seriously thinking of making our 1999 commitment ceremony officially legal. Whoooo-hah!

19) North Road - the drive down North Road, a major dirt thoroughfare between Bradford and the Newbury area, offers such satisfying and smile inducing views of the New Hampshire mountains, canopies of sugar maples, rolling farm land, deer and other wildlife, the changing seasons, that it's become a symbolic reminder of why Richard and I are here. It's poetry in motion, even when the mud season craters in the road rattle and jangle your car to kingdom come. The road's effect is both mysterious and marvelous, an instant grounding, a pause for reflection and thought, a reach back in time, a friend.

20) A vital above 65 population. I feel so stimulated and inspired by the rich, rich vein of curious, invigorating, essential, colorful, wise, delightful, and expansive "older" population here. I find it difficult to find any term that does them justice, for any descriptive such as "elderly" "retired" "mature" has a negative connotation that I find offensive. I'll have to conjure up another to better embody the people I have the privilege to know. Many of those I've met are subscribers or board members of Northern Stage, a LORT theatre in White River Junction I've had the benefit of being a part of both as audience and cast member; many are former teachers and professors at Dartmouth, many others are simply interested in the vitality of their community or of continuing learning and living life to its fullest. I welcome their engaging conversations, the passing on of another time, the worth of their experience.

21) Our kitchen - The kitchen has always been the heart of any house I've lived in and this has to rank among the best. Warmed most often by the fire of a wood stove, this is also our cats favorite room to roost, to beg, to eat, to watch bird action outside, to play. There's a great creative energy in this place beginning with our combined creative energies coming up with the design in the first place, to the carrying out of the design by the gifted Mazzarella's, father and son, framer and finisher, to the wood from our pines and cherries configured in the construction, to the dinners prepared here, the classes and auditions worked on, the ideas bounced around, the "passionate discussions" (a euphemism if ever there was one) had, the energy coming in from the outside and carried through to other parts of the house, the writing and correspondence concocted, the books read, the meals eaten, the sits by the fire in contemplation in rockers or easy chairs, the visitors welcomed, the playing of games, the views to the outside in all seasons, the cozy embrace of its walls, its assurance, its smile givings. A swell place.

22) The chickens - I can't help it, I give, they've won. Having the chickens back from down the road, hanging around, looking sideways, accompanying us every which way, is fun. Richard's coop is coming along nicely and I'm helping out more. There should be great progress today, the day being spectacular, and by the end of the week, the other 25 will have new digs to expand into, and soon after that a finely fenced expanse to cavort. Richard is also building a tractor fence to take them to different parts of the property and keep them protected throughout.

That's it for now. I'm going outside, it's too nice to ignore.