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The Guv’nor

On Friday night, in conjunction with Gallery Walk, our friend and Realtor Dave invited us to a little reception to introduce the new Director of Windham Youth Services. And then, lo and behold, the Governor of Vermont walks up and starts chatting with everybody. Like almost everybody else in Vermont, he got his teeth cleaned in what is now our house.

It’s the first Governor either of us have ever met, and he seems like a genuinely likable guy. He told us – hilariously – about his recent trip to Sundance where he met the Utah’s Governor and his family and various members of the Utah ruling elite… suffice it so say that his observations about the differences between VT and UT match our own.

The picture here includes all the great features of giving someone else your phone to snap a pic. There’s some thumb, and the color was hopelessly messed up because of the bright background and dark foreground, so it’s heavily corrected here.

Neither of us had ever met a real live Governor before… what a thrill! And at the same time, what a simple validation of one benefit we enjoy living here… it’s a small state, which means you’re just that much closer to everyone.

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Morris Dancing

One time, I was out on a Green Dress Run with the Salt Lake HHH. We were cruising through a park, in green dresses, singing and whooping it up. We happened upon the SCA dudes going at it with their swords and armor, and both groups saluted each other. A lot of communication happened in those ten anonymous seconds… basically, we all said “You guys are nuts, and what you do is silly… but you know what? we’re nuts too, and what we do is probably even sillier.”

Subcultures are wonderful, and Brattleboro seems to understand that more than most places. And so, today, we have the 37th Marlboro Morris Ale, a convocation of several hundred Morris dancers. From gawky teens to persons well up in the white hair stage of life, hundreds of dancers converged on our area today to jump around in the heat in their funny jingle-bell costumes and play their archaic instruments.

It’s silly… and we’re so glad for that.

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Wine tasting at Windham Wines

Another nice interlude in store for us. Tonight it’s Austrian whites and rosés. It’s been rainy but the sun came out in the nick of time.

It was the smallest crowd we’ve seen there, but we had a nice time. The show was put on by Winthrop of Artisanal Cellars, and he did a nice job telling us about Austria and the Austrian wine industry. Lots of small producers, and apparently their wines have more in common with Northern Italy than with Germany.

We tasted seven altogether:

  • 2011 Mittelbach Rose – perfectly good, but unremarkable
  • 2009 Strauss Welschresling – racy, crisp acidity. Only a few bottles in VT. Lee liked this one best, so we bought a couple.
  • 2011 Hillinger First Hill White – a blend, springy, peas, asparagus.
  • 2011 Anton Bauer Gruner Veltliner – the “summer sipper” and a fine value
  • 2011 Tegernseerhof Gruner Veltliner T26 – lots of story with the terraced vineyards and the special soil, but in the end it just tasted like wine to us
  • 2011 Tegernseerhof Riesling Terrassen – nice perfumey nose, but didn’t translate to the flavor so much
  • 2009 Meinklang Pinot Gris Graupert – long story about unpruned vines, made for a wonderful grapey perfume. John liked this a lot, although it was a bit pricier than the others.

Somehow we managed to get the case discount… go figure.

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June Bride

Tonight we saw June Bride at the Sandglass Theater in Putney. It was the poignant and personal one-woman show about a traditional Jewish lesbian wedding, interspersed with juggling numbers.

Normally, her first laugh line goes something like “This is the story of a traditional Jewish lesbian wedding (pause). How many of you have been to one?” Surprised by the large number of people who raised their hands, the performer / author rolled her eyes and said, “Oh…. right. Vermont.”

Good story, good juggling, good fun.

And, practically sold out. We had to squeeze in and sit on cushions on the steps! Things sell out around here!

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Super moon

The giant full moon over the cemetery on S. Main St. The streetlights gave that cool green tone to the gravestones.

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Where the Sidewalk Ends

This shot is taken just a block from home as the crow flies… our house is right behind Lee. At some point there was a sidewalk, but now just some remnants. We had a streetcar in B-boro at one time too.

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Eyebombing in Copenhagen

The keystone over a ground-level window on Beregade St. seemed a surprising place to find an eyebomb… but it works, don’t you think? We’ve seen these funny googly eyes before, but it was great to know that people everywhere are doing this!

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How could this have happened?

I’ve gone jogging in the places I’ve visited for 30 years now. Trails, beaches, streets, mountains, scary neighborhoods and beautiful ones. Normally I don’t fall down in traffic, however.

Could be that I’m getting old and fat, but I think it was a combination of other, external factors…

The cobblestone streets must’ve jumped out at me,

the wind gusted up for sure, 

the architecture drew my attention, 

and of course I had to make sure I paid attention to the scenery…

We’ll never know exactly how I found myself staring at the curb, but even if we could find out, I wouldn’t tell, because what happens in Copenhagen, forbliver i Kobnhavn.

Limping just a little, tomorrow I return to B-boro after a productive 2-day meeting and no fewer than eight different preparations of herring. Which is at least enough, actually.

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