About a half inch of packed ice covered Vermont's Route 7A between Arlington and Bennington on Monday morning after a tricky storm last weekend began with snow and ended with rain. A half-hour commute to work stretched into roughly fifty minutes, not bad considering. I still do not understand winter road conditions in New England, … Continue reading Now, if I can just…figure out…how to…work this…thing.
Handsome Chef Boyfriend
First Day Jitters
Yesterday dawned clear and sunny and very cold in central Vermont, my last time to wake up in the loft, HCB at my side. We had the big work of packing and moving ahead of us, still time for a final cup of coffee before we pushed up our sleeves. The winter storm that is … Continue reading First Day Jitters
Pleasantly Neurotic
One thing I've learned from hanging around with shrink friends through the years: everybody behaves neurotically sometimes--nobody is exempt. Getting a diagnosis as clinically neurotic in some way depends on where your behavior lies along a continuum--are you neurotic all the time, or are you a once-in-a-while, casual neurotic? I have self-diagnosed Obsessive Compulsive Disorder--not … Continue reading Pleasantly Neurotic
Lit Up Like a Christmas Tree
It is an expression Handsome Chef Boyfriend uses when he trudges up the back steps to my place and throws open the door for a visit, chiding me for waste. The loft is beautiful, full of volume and warmth with its cheerful yellow walls we painted when I moved in. It was a soft spot … Continue reading Lit Up Like a Christmas Tree
Resolve
I’ve worn out this plucky little word as both noun and verb for about a week. The nor’easter that moved into New England on Tuesday stalled out right over my neighborhood, evidently right on top of my house. The snow came stealthily at times and brazenly at others, mostly in silence. It was wet and … Continue reading Resolve
Mise En Place
Today I had a huge, long list of stuff I planned to do. Some was work related, some was house related (actually most was house related), and there was the usual catching up on correspondence. Handsome Chef Boyfriend's mandate to me as he was leaving this morning: go out and pick up sticks. (Manly Vermonter … Continue reading Mise En Place
Rolling Back The Clock
Ever played that game where you imagine you could go back in time to some watershed moment in your life and make a choice that would instigate a dramtically different outcome? I do it all the time. Lately the theme has been work related for pretty transparent reasons. If I found myself poised on the … Continue reading Rolling Back The Clock
New World Order. Again.
I shot a couple of photos today on a brief outing through Shaftsbury to retrieve a particular young 'un from a day-long outdoor adventure. It is cool in Vermont and there is indiscriminate rain; a short time down the road the rain will be snow. Fall's vibrant colors abound, although the peak of the season … Continue reading New World Order. Again.
Afternoon at Bedlam: the Ministry of Encouragement
More than a decade ago I stood in the book aisle of a big box department store in Knoxville, Tennessee, fingering a papberback with a full color closeup of a border collie on its cover. I was having a bad day--a series of bad days, really, that grew into bad weeks and months and difficult years. That … Continue reading Afternoon at Bedlam: the Ministry of Encouragement
Farmstand Outing, Big Questions
I had some loose change rattling around in my pocket this afternoon and precious little else. My fiscal landscape changed dramatically a couple of weeks ago--not by way of a little hiccup, but a big, loud, stinky belch. (It did not even have the decency to cover its gaping mouth.) I realized my cupboard was … Continue reading Farmstand Outing, Big Questions
Sycamore Stories 