We inherited a walk-in cooler when we moved in, something I was really excited about. Unfortunately, it was not really a practical notion, and we soon decided it had to go, along with the range hood and grease trap and other commercial kitchen remnants.

Thanks to Gail at the Brattleboro Arts Initiative (soon to be renamed Latchis Arts), we made contact with the owners of the Flat Street Brew Pub and Tap Room, who were flooded out by Tropical Storm Irene. They are reconstructing now, and they needed a new walk-in! So, presto, problem solved.

Even better, they had a set of old doors, mounted on sliding tracks, that will perfectly fit the bedroom doorway opening that Griffin has designed for us. Woo-hoo!! We’ll even have the Irene watermark to remind us of what we narrowly missed.

Last Thursday evening I attended the inaugural meeting of the Southern Vermont Scrabble Club. I’ve always been something of a words guy, and when I read Word Freak a while back I found a renewed interest in Scrabble, which I hadn’t really played much in the last many years.

The club is being organized by another Brattleboro newcomer, who posted an announcement on iBrattleboro.com. Altogether, we had ten players. I won one and lost one. Managing the scoring, the clock, etc., proved surprisingly difficult for me, and I made some terrible plays. Hopefully once I get a little more comfortable with the mechanics of the whole thing my vocabulary will reemerge.

We had our meeting at the Millennium Pizzeria on Canal St., and I’m sorry to say our reception there was unfriendly and we will not be going back. Of all the foods to eat while playing Scrabble, greasy pizza might not be ideal anyway.

Today we ventured far afield… a dozen or more miles north to Putney and Westminster West. It’s the 33rd annual Putney Crafts Tour (http://putneycrafts.com/). Our good friends BAD-Co came up from Connecticut, and we really enjoyed tromping around on this nice, albeit chilly and muddy, fall day. Much to be thankful for. We bought some artisanal sheep’s milk cheese from Vermont Shepherd Cheeses, and had hot soup in Westminster West’s UCC Church. We were especially intrigued by the ceramics of Ken Pick and Edel Byrne’s stained glass.

Now that we’re home and warming our toes on the radiant floor, I re-read the article in the paper about the crafts tour, which features an interview with participating glassworker Caitlin Burch. I quote directly from the Reformer:

As she was pondering what to do with her degree in social thought and political economy, her Dad suggested she try glass blowing.

Quite a sentiment from the Dad who had probably paid for a good bit of that degree, but it seems to have worked out just fine.