Sunlight in Vermont

Here is the boy enjoying one of my favorite spots in the world - a swimming hole in Vermont known as Paradise...

A few minutes later, he was naked and up to his knees in freezing cold water for the Ceremonial Throwing of Rocks Into the River. I won't post those...well, maybe just one, but not today!

This is the classic 'what should I post for Robin's summer stock thing? What is Summer to me? Lying on my back in the grass, staring at the sky, that's what it is...' Turn head to right, frame and shoot.

I liked this, it almost made me feel like a real photographer again, so I decided to take it a step further...

And I really like this one! There's a couple more of them, but I think this is my favorite. Now, on to the words...

We left at the beginning of a torrential downpour...the Volvo did it's ususal worst, sliding all over the road in a manner very unlike a Subaru. And get this! There is a light on the dashboard that lights up to tell me that I'm hydroplaning! Yeah! It distracts me from the very thing that it's warning me to pay attention to! Who's genius engineering idea was this? Whatever. I had a Seattle moment an hour or so into the ride - there's this bridge, an open, arched design that the highway takes you under, and it looks like those bridges outside Olympia, where we got on the highway out there, except those were larger, and had Mt. Rainier towering above them to the right...and what occured to me was how aware I was that I was NOT in Seattle (even with all the rain!). I often forget where in the world I am if I space out while driving, and here was a prime moment to panic - but for the lack of that giant white looming Buddha mountain off to the right, that imposing presence, watching. Maybe waiting. Nope. I was nowhere near Seattle...

Eventually, we made it through to clearer skies, small boy asleep in the back most of the way, my spirits lifting with every sunny mile. Aah... My cell phone cut out. Yaay... Spent the week blissing out on Positive Pie pizza, Coffee Corner breakfasts, creemees, and Paradise. Laying in the grass. I even got to go to a show! My friend's husband wanted to go see the New York Dolls, and asked her if she could get tickets to the show at Higher Ground - she's the music director at the community radio staton WGDR ( http://www.wgdr.org/ ), so she got two tickets, backstage passes, and the possibility of an interview and/or a station ID from some of the band members. Too bad she sent her husband and me! He knew how to work the incredibly technically advanced recording device, but got very drunk very quickly, and I was not prepared to interview the New York Dolls solo, while making an ass of myself fiddling with a device beyond my range of knowledge.

So, oh well. I was disappointed - but the show was GREAT! I LOVED IT! What showmanship! What style! What a cute bass player! Great new venue, too, Higher Ground. I mean, it's been there for years, but they got a new building which is cool - I think there were two shows happening that night, the old place had only the one stage. Good for them.

So yeah. It was a good 'vacation', though I don't feel particularly rested or anything. It was wonderful to be in Vermont, and dig the vibe in Montpelier, and bring the boy to see his dad, and get to the swimming hole and say hey to friends, and eat great food, and do some fun shopping. But I think, that maybe next year, what I REALLY need, is to take myself away. To go be alone for a few days. Maybe go to a spa...or something.

I'm home, now, and back to all the stuff I just threw my hands up at and left a week ago - dishes, yucky stuff in the fridge, the staining of the furniture! Sigh. And BF is home again, but he's hangin' out with that woman, so I don't really want to be around that. Could always use the help, though...Men. What crap.

Well, guess it's time to tell my boss I'm home, and get my be-hind back to work! Sure could use a paycheck...

Well, it certainly has been a crazy week! The Strawberry Festival was awesome, we had a great time - but I was so busy spending every dollar in my wallet on the boy (o.k., I spent some on me, too!), I didn't snap ONE SINGLE SHOT! Bollocks. There were gorgeous sailboats on the river, kids playing, bands, all sorts of festival stuff going on, and everything..! Oh well. We're headed out of town for the next however many (7-10?) days, and there will be plenty more opportunities to snap off a few... Back to my crazy week.

Monday found me at the doc's for a boob exam; he wants another mamo of lefty before he lets me off the hook and puts me on a yearly schedule instead of every three months...then off to the Dispute Resolution Center where we spent 3 HOURS hashing out an agreement to leave each other in peace and just get our work done for the upcoming season. I don't think it'll hold up, but we'll have to wait and see. Tuesday, I ACTUALLY got some staining done, but only one coat, and only a couple of pieces. The loft project is certainly taking more time and energy than I had originally thought, but I will prevail! The boy WILL have a new bedroom before he starts kindergarten in the Fall - painted, furnished, and decorated! Now if only it will stop raining so I can get outside...

Wednesday was freaky drama day! The faraway dude's EX-WIFE called me (how'd she get the number?) to find out whether or not he had broken up with me because they were going to try and work things out and get remarried! He denies this, of course, but I did my best to listen to her, and offer her advice without divulging any personal info about myself or the man in question. I understand her hopes and fears, so I wanted to be helpful and friendly to her, but he is an old friend, and I didn't want to betray him in any way! It was an interesting conversation, to say the least...but I think she gained some clarity, and that's all I can hope for. Kind of changes my level of commitment to 'waiting' for him, not that I was, but I don't think I should consider him as...serious about me as I previously had! Ah, well. So it goes...

After a pleasant Thursday, that passed completely uneventfully for me, due to the aforementioned incessant rain, came super-busy Friday! The boy graduated from pre-k today! Yaay! The ceremony was really fun, and kinda silly, so of course we enjoyed it, thank you!

Tomorrow, we have a birthday party to attend, after which, we are OUTTA HERE! I can't wait to head up North and let all my cares melt away for a bit..! Looking forward to the boy getting to see his dad, as well. Super-tired after my oddball week, and lots of stuff to do to get ready to go to VT! *YAAA-aaa-wwwwnnnnn!* O.k., sleep deprivation is demanding I sleep RIGHT NOW, and I will do my best to keep up with the blogging while I'm away - have a great week!

Why am I up at this hour?

Well, I had a guest 'drop in' at 1am...to be fair, I knew he was coming, but I should have gone to bed after he left! I didn't, so, now I'm here.

What's up with me? Still on vacation, but the weather has NOT been cooperating with my need to be outdoors to stain my son's furniture - REALLY frustrating, I'm running out of time to complete this project! Rain is good, yes (I work on a farm), but we need some sunshine too! Finally finished planting all the things 'we' (read: the boy) decided to plant this year, yay! So now, in addition to my pretty annuals and the strawberries, we have; lima beans, pumpkins, multi-colored peppers, carrots, peaches, apricots, a plum, and some wisteria. We hope, anyway. By way of explaination, let me just say that the boy is enamored of fruit pits for some reason, and saved all the peach, apricot and plum pits he ate his way to over the year so he could try to grow them. I told him they most likely won't produce fruit, but he didn't care - said it was worth a shot anyway!

He is such a doll, and he's been so loving lately I don't know what's got into him. Apparantly I'm the 'best mommy in the whole wide world' which, of course, I knew! But that's not it. Maybe it's just that I'm laid-off right now, and we're spending WAY more time together than we usually do, and he is happy to have me around. Either way, I've got no problems cuddling up with my getting bigger every day boy, as I know from what my friends tell me, I ought to suck it up now, because it doesn't last! Let it be known ten years from now, when he's a right punk trying to get me to lend him the car, that there was a time when he made me laugh every day, and broke my heart with his sweetness and light! I never thought I could love another human being so very much...

One of my guys came over to visit tonight, FINALLY, but as you can see from the opening paragraph, he came and went...pun intended. Also got a message from the one who is far away, just letting me know he's still out there, but very busy, and missing me. The newest one, the one who came out of the woodwork, had me on the phone for 10 HOURS the other night!!! What, I ask you, can two people find to talk about for 10 HOURS?! I was there, and I don't even know! Weird.

We have a Strawberry Festival to go to today, and I had better get some shut-eye if I want to keep up with the boy wonder! May be a good opportunity to get some camera-phone shots for next Summer Stock! I'm glad that Robin has given me a reason to kick my butt into gear and get the creative juices flowing, even if it's not the full experience I crave to immerse myself in. It's a start. And while I haven't done any work on my writing lately, blogging has been a good exercise for me. Maybe I'll post an excerpt someday? Maybe...

Hey, wow, look at that!

I just discovered my new Crackberry has both b&w AND sepia settings! Oooooh! As cool as that may be, we all know how I feel about digital imaging masquerading as photography, and anyone who can't tell the difference between the two is welcome to join me in the darkroom one day, and I will be happy to enlighten you...Forgive my snobbery, but I spent a good chunk of change putting myself through art school to earn a degree in the field, just to see it degraded by every hack with a camera-phone! Rant over.

This digital image was taken from the same spot as my previous 'share', just in the opposite direction. It's the field behind BF's soon-to-be ex-house. I've spent many sunny summer days and long lazy nights staring out over the relative peace and quiet of this view from the back porch, and I snapped off a few shots with the camera-phone before I never get to see it again. My fear is that the house, barn and land will be sold to some heartless developer with dollar $ign$ in his eyes, who will split the 10-acres up into mini McMansion plots, effectively removing one of the last standing old-time farmhouses in the area from the landscape. Sigh.


It's not a great shot - hell it's not even a GOOD shot, but it's all I've got this week. I've got a couple of other images I was thinking of using as well, but I can't figure out how to get them into the middle of the post, rather than on top of the one that's already there...




Whoa, I did it! I'm a friggin' genius....Anyway, this is MY yard, with all of our fruit and veggie sprouts lined up on the porch, and the hostas exploding in the background...My little patch of annuals is tucked in amongst the hostas, but it was overcast and rainy, so they look all squished just now. Maybe I can get a shot of them looking all perky and proud next week. One more -


There he is! That's my boy - his Saba's (grandfather's) grandson, driving that tractor! Could he BE any happier? -mama gushes with pride-

That's all for now, will catch up another time. Happy days to all!

Wow. Look at that! I added a picture...crazy. I added it because of Robin's Summer Stock Sunday thing, I want to figure out how to post it. What fun!

Anyway, this is a chair out on the porch of BF's house - he was home for two whole days before getting sent to the Crisis Center to wait for a bed at the local rehab. He can try again in 21 or so days...nice shot, though, I sure am gonna miss that old place!

Well, I wasn't going to do this now, but what the hell, I'm here...The boy is at Grandma's, later than she said she'd take him, too! What fun! had a good friend stop up for the night with her friend, also fun! LOVING being on vacation, having FUN! Laundry and dishes are getting done, floors are getting swept, food is getting cooked...things are getting put away, corners are emptying. We've been to Home Depot. I'm gearing up to stain the boy's new furniture - it looked like I was going to have some help there, for a minute, with the BF home, but it didn't last. He says I should wait the few weeks, I say I can get it done before he gets back!

The guy I had been gushing about seems to have cooled off considerably, I have been relatively too busy to send him much of anything myself, so I don't think a thing of it. I think it will be much better when he is actually here, in the states, so we can get together and say hey...Now what's up the rest of the boys out there? 3 that call, not bad, but I'm still not going out on any dates! There's even another one come out of the woodwork I could work on...Boys. There are those who would say, I should focus on the relative goodness and joy thinking about a fulfilling relationship would give me, and the fulfilling relationship will respond to my thinking about said goodness and joy.

Weeded the garden, thinking about moving the annuals around a bit...The boy is awesome, having a good vacation as well, but I think he should have a little friend or two to play with every now and then...Well, rather than sit here and look forward to getting stuff done around the house, I should go get stuff done around the house! Updates as progress ensues!