During

Here’s me, casting a long shadow toward a building that isn’t there anymore. The project will be done in just a few months.

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Before

Known to travel writers as a town with its back to the river, Brattleboro is finally embarking on a project to build a riverside park and walkway. This building will come down with a couple of others, and we’ll get a nice park space and a short walking trail. Construction started this week and is supposed to be finished in just a few months.

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Top secret

Sometimes the Reformer gives new meaning to the ‘classified’ ads. A couple weeks ago I puzzled over “good quality with 4 chairs, $60.” Are you paying for the quality or the chairs? And if good quality can really be had so cheaply, shouldn’t I buy some and take it to work?

Now it’s this one. Maybe it’s really social commentary… If all the stray longhaired males, regardless of species, ended up at the Humane Society, would the world finally be safe from Lynyrd Skynyrd cover bands?

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St. Patrick’s Day

We had a very nice corned beef and cabbage supper at nearby St. Michaels Church on Saturday. Not quite as visually interesting as sugar on snow but still a fine thing.

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Look sharp

That is the incredibly shiny toe of my shoe, as seen on the floor of an AmTrak train. I’m en route home from a work trip to Washington DC, and I tried the Vermonter train, which goes from St. Albans, VT to Washington once a day. I can walk to the station in Brattleboro, which is very cool. It’s a slow train, lots of stops, but very nice, very relaxing. And, best of all is that I get to visit the shoeshine stand in Union Station, where a very old-school group of guys does a great job making everybody shine. Because it’s a 10-hour trip, I’m not sure how often i’ll actually travel this way, but it was a good experiment.

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Last night, I and a bunch of other John Carters were guests of Walt Disney at an advance screening of the greatest film ever. I got the greatest T-shirt ever.

UPDATE 3/26/12

Almost the greatest film ever. Disaster, debacle, epic fail, flop. Other people are using   a variety of words to talk about the film, but none of them are good. Oh well, Andrew Stanton, I guess it’s easier to create laughs and tears with an animated garbage can or fish or cowboy than from real people. I hope you had as much fun with the movie as you said you did in the pre-release interviews. But I have to wonder… with all the smart people, all the focus groups, all the science… didn’t you know? What were you and your studio bosses thinking? Couldn’t you have released an R-rated Director’s Cut, or strangled Taylor Kitsch’s stupid John Wayne impersonation, or something??? Couldn’t you have made Dejah Thoris a little bit sexy, instead of just skimpily attired??? Couldn’t you at least have gotten Shatner, instead of a barnful of puffed-up Shatner wannabes?

Next time, call me, ok? I can help.

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I love a man in corduroy

Last night we went to NECCA’s annual Circus Spectacular fundraiser at the Latchis. We splurged on VIP tickets, which bought us a nice cocktail reception across the street at the Brattleboro Museum.

We ran into our contractor and his wife, and a couple of people L has met in her German Wheel class. Other performers and volunteers kept things interesting, as shown above. These two stole the show at The Flying Nut in December, keeping up a running commentary and proving that clowns don’t have to be scary, just snarky.

When we marched from the reception to the show, circus parade style, stopping traffic, and I was escorted by these two lovelies AND by the girl that brung me, let’s just say that a few other graybeards were thinking that maybe they too should invest in a chick magnet corduroy sport jacket.

The show itself was great, a hodge-podge of circus acts showing off the wide range of talent of the school’s instructors and students. The twin sister founders Elsie and Serenity did a great pairs trapeze act, L’s German Wheel teacher Zeb did a really neat duo act, and all sorts of other acts high and low kept things moving from start to finish. The clowns were funny, too, but for me the highlight of the show was the mime, who did three numbers, all really different, and all wonderful.

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Construction update

Lots of progress in the last couple of weeks (as you can see when you compare this view). The cork flooring is down, the cabinets are installed, the shower pan is in. Many of the windows are trimmed out, and a lot of the electrical work is done.

We’ve chosen our track lighting, and the template for the countertop was measured out. Lots of stuff left to do, but we can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel.

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Ice talons

We finally had some snow this past week, but it warmed up the very next day, and so we got a lot of melting and a lot of pretty icicles. These scary-looking talons formed on branches, which slowly bent under the weight, but the water kept dripping, and the icicles curved around. 

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Consumed by art

We missed Gallery Walk this past Friday, as I was still recovering from a couple weeks of work travel. But we did manage to get to The Works yesterday morning, just in time to see “Bertha” the art installation being dismantled.

Bertha was a special brand of art that comes from the happy collision of a free spirit, an arc welder, and a supportive community that values each one of us for who we are. As Voltaire, or at least one of his biographers, would have said, “I certainly don’t want that in my parlor, but I’ll defend the NEA’s budget to the death.”

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New Age Beverages

On the one hand, Brattleboro is full of hippies and free spirits. On the other hand, it’s a small town in rural New England, where lots of people are still struggling to find their way now that most of the agricultural and manufacturing jobs are gone.

That same dichotomy exists in the grocery stores. The Co-op is a great place to shop, and it’s full of the kinds of unusual, organic and local foods you’d expect to find. The place is chock-full of shaggy-bearded volunteers, earnestly arranging the kombucha and seitan and tempeh. But, it’s also pretty expensive, and so for regular groceries we go to a regular store. There, we are relieved to see that the “wild” and “crazy” brands like Snapple and Arizona and Red Bull are cordoned off under the vaguely threatening heading of New Age Beverages.

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The Primer Directive

With Pandora set to Pink Martini, and a chilled bottle waiting, we boogied through getting a coat of primer on the kitchen. And on ourselves.

Painting ceilings is tough… Life at the keyboard doesn’t prepare all the right muscles.

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