No, I mean really how do you do it? These flowers look great and are inspiring us to dress up the front of our house to keep up with the Joneses.
Bling
In addition to the new stairs, the parking structure got these cool glittery discs sometime in the last few days. I’ve seen things like this in various other places, such as at the entrance to the BART station at SFO, very cool.
Stylin’
Lee rockin’ her Fendi, no wait Prada, no they’re Gucci, no wait ophthalmologist, shades on the recently completed staircase.
One week post-procedure and all is well… Now it’s back to the glasses store!
Strawberry Party 2016
A great time as usual. The day was hot, but by the time the party started it was just right, and a couple hours later the fire was welcome. Yay Vermont!
I thought this big German Shepherd was purely decorative, but no, he was actually part of the cleanup crew…
Bye bye Bernie
Another mass shooting, close to home for all of us in America. My sympathy to the widening concentric circles of victims, but that’s not really worth much. A few dollars to a victim assistance campaign, again, nice, but not really gonna change anything.
So what can I do? Sarah Brady showed us that it takes enormous passion, skill, and a whole lot of money to move the needle a little bit, and I haven’t even one percent of her powers.
I do have a one choice I get to make this year, however, and this morning it became crystal clear. Despite his many good positions, Bernie Sanders misses the boat on guns, claiming that his Vermont values don’t let him come out in favor of European-style restrictions on gun ownership.
Today, we’re again faced with the horrifying but undeniable realization that “live and let live” doesn’t cut it any more. Madame President, I hope you can succeed where so many have tried, and reduce the number of mass shootings we must endure in the years ahead. You have my full support.
Tin can tourism
On Saturday afternoon we went a few miles out of town to the KOA campground, which was hosting its annual vintage trailer rally.even though the temperature was not much above 60, the rain held off, and the snack bar served a good sandwich. We had fun last year, and thought it would be worth it to see if it is still fun.
Again this year, 20 or 30 trailers from the ’50s to the ’80s, most available to go inside and look around. All the owners more than willing to talk about every detail of the trailer, the restoration process, and all the fun they have had.
And again this year, I didn’t really get the pictures I wanted to get. My interior shots don’t capture the cleverness of the spaces. The exteriors were often hidden underneath the colorful canvas awnings that define your “front room” in the campground. But, the quality of the photography notwithstanding, I think these little trailers are really charming.
All in all, a fun way to spend a couple of hours…
Hermit thrush
Even though I walk by the courthouse almost every day, I had never seen this nice hermit thrush (at least I think it’s a hermit thrush, the state bird)
sculpture until getting ready for Saturday morning’s bike ride.
We often take off from the courthouse parking lot, so I was riding around in circles while everybody got ready, and there it was!
The trees frosted into the window directly above, which are visible from further away, I also think are really cool… Very subtle, probably even nicer from inside.
Trash Talk
Brattleboro offers a couple of ways to get rid of stuff that won’t fit in the can. One of the most popular is to let your landlord deal with it. And so I, in my capacity as a landlord, found myself in Corey’s truck making a trip to the transfer station…
Supposedly, our new curbside compost program has dramatically reduced landfill usage, which is great. Still, we make a lot of stuff!
Carmel, IN growing
This is about the 5th time I’ve stayed in Carmel over the past few years. The whole area has been under construction. This time, I got to take advantage of a new underpass that let me cross to the other side of the highway much more easily. The Mormon Temple presides not only over some cornfields and a few houses, but also over an impressive and still under-construction development of shops and stores.
The whole shopping area is anchored by a ginormous grocery store, called Market District. Owned by the Giant Eagle chain, it has some of the best features of a Whole Foods, like a sitdown restaurant and absolutely stunning produce section (itself the size of a normal grocery store). It also has some of the best features of a Home Depot, including a footprint the size of a small village, and 25-foot ceilings. It’s hard to know whether such a store makes sense, but if bigger is better, this is absolutely awesome.
Please Give
Later this month I’ll be joining a bunch of friends and neighbors on the Brattleboro Boys and Girls Club’s annual fundraising bike ride. Please visit my donation page and give anything you can. It’s a great cause, the kids need the help.
Sailor take warning, take 2
The dawn breaks over the award-winning French King Bridge in Erving, MA, as I was en route to the airport.
Stroll Weekend 2016
Our 5th, closing in on the residential longevity record we set for ourselves in Missouri 1993-1998. Everything went off exactly like we remembered it from last year, although that sameness did make us worry a bit about stagnation on the part of the organizers.
Friday night street party was well attended.
The parade seemed to have more cows and fewer floats/bands. We confirmed last year’s observation that the parade is more fun after mimosas.
One congressman in surprisingly cool shoes, a couple of pageant winners (one of whom was seen the day before wearing her sash and pushing a stroller around town, not quite sure what to make of that) and of course evening gown-clad Alfred, seemingly born to be an honorary grand marshal.
Alpacas always a hit.
Hard work for everyone, go home and rest, see you next year!
Tour de Heifer 2016
The forecast called for rain, we should be clear about that. Not good for multiple hours on a bike on dirt roads.
But I’m in training, and I was enticed by the promise of riding buddies Hank and Andy singing “If I Only Had a Brain,” and besides the radar map showed a nice gap between showers. How bad could it be? To be safer, I toned my ambitions down from the 60-miler to the still-respectable 30, but then added a few more by leaving from the house instead of driving. So, a short ride but I still found a way to get extra credit.
In the end it only rained on us part of the time, and the ride really wasn’t miserable at all. Muddy, yes, hilly, yes, and wet, but not awful. I’m going to invest in a front fender.
The scenery was lush and beautiful. I got to ride with Andy the whole way after the rest of our group peeled off early. I got to meet Eddie from Pittsburgh, who dragged his new bride here just do he could ride this course. The hills proved tough for him, but he got through with some encouragement from Coach Hank.
And I even got to be up close and personal with a salamander on one of the rest stops.
Best of all is sitting home now, warm, showered and rehydrated, listening to the hardest rain of the day. Next year I hope I’ll have the oomph to try the 60.
Out with the old
On Tuesday night we joined other downtown residents and business owners at a “farewell to Frankie’s” party. Frankie’s Pizza, located in an odd bit of building scabbed onto a larger block in the Harmony parking lot, was an institution around these parts. It never recovered from Irene flooding and the Brooks House fire, and closed shortly after we moved here.
Various dignitaries were on hand to cheer the impending demolition and celebrate the green space and little performance space that will go up in its place after the money is found. The big digger was a fun prop…
After three days the building is completely gone and the hole neatly filled.
Brattleboro Adventure – the Auckland Edition 