Catch up and Quick Update

Here’s an installment I wrote a week ago while in New York to celebrate my mom’s 80th Birthday:


“July 22nd. Good morning. Eyes open at 4:30 am, out of bed at 5; still got my Vermont mojo going though I’m in NYC for a few days, staying at an absent friend’s place. I have news from the northern front, though, from Richard. Accompanied by the insistent and haranguing honking of Schmul below them, the Canadian Geese took flight from our rise yesterday, but instead of landing in the water across the road, they kept rising ever higher and disappeared over the tall pines and firs on the other side of the pond. Gone. My heart sunk at the news.

“But they came back after a couple hours,” Richard added after an appropriate storyteller’s pause.

‘Oh.’ I let out a sigh of relief. The inevitable has been put off for one more day. It’s so bittersweet witnessing the cycles of nature like this. It’s like autumn beginning early. They may be gone by the time I get back up there on Sunday. I’d get out of there too if I were them, what with the constant badgering our geese give them. Sometimes the two families dwell beside one another in blissful détente, grazing idly. The other day, for instance, it was beautiful seeing them standing beside one another, calm and impervious, as the sky opened up with a crashing downpour. They were very “no big deal, we’ll be alright; we’re geese, we’re in this together.” But then, as if an inner “Now wait a minute!” wakes up in our bunch, they begin jabbering, going after the Canadians with a threatening charge, necks extended, bills snapping. Xenophobia, alive and well. When Richard and I speculated about what Schmul must’ve been feeling as he honked at the Canadians flying overhead, we went over various options -“He’s cheering him on!” or ‘I think he feels bad that he can’t fly” - but Richard finally landed on the most probable choice: “And stay out!!!” That’s Schmul’s very own version of “Take Back Vermont!” or “We the Geese!” like the “We the People. The revolution is coming come November!” Tea Party, anti-Obama, anti-government guy who emblazons his rhetoric across his white packaged hay bales right by the on ramp to the interstate. (This “guy” purportedly got mad at one of his cows a few years back and punched it between the eyes, breaking his arm in the process. Also his relative owns the run-down barn that heralds the biggest “Take Back Vermont” sign in our neck of the woods. His name is Appleton and his wife, 30 years his junior, is still making babies with him. She home schools her kids, but also runs for the school board so she can dictate policy there. Hmmm??)"

It’s August 1st, a fantastic day, blue, sunny, a touch of autumn in the air (45 degrees yesterday morning! I can’t believe it!) The Canadian’s have been gone for almost a week now and we miss them. I don’t know if that goes for Schmul, probably not, and he has calmed down considerably since the Canadian’s departure, as has our entire flock, but still, the Canada geese lent a certain class, an easy detached grace to all of their comings and goings. I liked seeing them around. Until next year then, I wish you well on your travels.

Speaking of travels, we trekked 2 hours to the northwest part of the state yesterday, up and down sharply serpentining roads, until we landed at the exquisite grounds of Jeff and Paul, a hydrologist and horticulturist, who throw an annual shindig, combination dinner/salon/party amid teeming flowers and trees and plants, vegetables and fruit, greenhouses galore, and ever flowing wine. Quite wonderful. A gorgeous day. Loads of laughter, great conversation, new friendships forged. Ever fascinating to hear the variety of stories surrounding the subject: "so what brought YOU to Vermont?" Thank you, thank you, thank you!