So I took that drive I was talking about, the one that takes me from
home to Washington/Tysons Corner, to Harrisburg and up 81 to Binghamton
and from there over to Albany and then on the old Rte. 7, then 9 to
Bennington and Wilmington and up on 100 to the "mountain top". I must
say, it was a nice drive. That country around Harrisburg is so beautiful
it takes your breath away. It is horse country with low rolling hills
and pastures with straight white fences and small woods and spic and
span barns, and spring is in full swing and all is green and fresh and
crisp. And once you get into the mountains north of Frackville (!) it is
almost like driving in the norther foothills in Switzerland. Ive used
up all the 'ands' there are, but there is so much to tell, having those
pictures still floating in front of my eyes. Around Albany, in order to
avoid all toll booths, you get into a small-town/urban hassle,
especially if you try to get through there around five in the evening
when the laboring masses are trying to get home. Else, there were dense
traffic situations on 95 and the again from Harrisburg to I78 that takes
you east through NJ to Somerville and then Newark. It felt like all
traffic turned off from I81 to I 78 to head for the NYC area and I81
over the mountains is almost deserted - now, before the vacation traffic
starts.
Anyway, I overcame all sleep attacks along the road. Before reaching Binghamton I turned off into a rest station and moved the back of my seat to almost horizontal and shut my eyes. But almost immediately my bladder protested and I had to get 'out of bed' and over to the welcome building and while I was out there I noticed the view - Switzerland again - and the peace and quiet (no traffic) and the sun shining down on the mountain ridge on the horizon and farms and green fields in front and an occasional car looking like solitary ant cruising at comfortable speed along a country road across the valley, and, of course, all of that blew all sleepiness away. I stood and watched the scene for a while, breathed the fresh air and then got back behind the wheel, grabbed some Lindt kugels for instant energy and drove on. I got into Bennington with daylight still out there and stopped at Price Chopper for some immediately needed vittles, like milk and bread, banana and strawberries. I was home by 9:30 , after a relaxing trip of some 13 hours.
I had talked to Chip along the way and he had gone over to the house and started the water heater, flushed out the hot water system and the toilet traps and left the lights on for me downstairs. All I had to do when I got in was turn the lights on upstairs, find my pj's and go to bed. It felt good. I slept ten hours.
The new canoe seats don't fit. I brooded over that all day yesterday and finally came up with a reason, but this is getting somewhat technical now and I won't trouble you with it. They just simply don't fit. I have now an alternate plan and once I get down to Greenfield and into Home Depot I'll see if they got the materials I need to realize this new plan.
Another thing that went amiss is one of the two chargers which I carry around on-the-go for phone and iPad. The one for the iPad went astray and the one for the phone must work for both but while it does fine for the phone it is a bit very week for the iPad. During last night, it managed to charge the battery from 26% to 69%, and the iPad is now still suckling, because while I am using it it consumes almost as much power as the charger delivers and the battery gets practically nothing.The phone is downstairs suckling from the car battery.
The other thing that happened is that I did not record the pass word for my wi-fi here on the mountain and so I can't get on the web with the 'Pad (it is the new one, so it can't remember having ever been in VT before). I am using the Mac for this e-mail. That one remembered.
Yesterday for breakfast I had the obligatory raw bitts, and then cleaned a little bit around the house. Before I left last fall, I sprayed HomeDefense and laid out mouse poison. There was one pack of mouse bait that I found empty and another that disappeared, probably the mice taking it home to show to the family. We need a cat in the house! I found one mouse under the golf cart and Chip said he had found none all through winter. The HomeDefense worked harder! There were whole mountains of Japanese ladybugs on the window sills and along the sliding door and the vacuum cleaner crackled for joy as it sucked up the load. Then I went to Brattleboro and on to the Walmart in NH. Life is expensive here! A small jug of 1% milk is over two dollars, a loaf of bread (Artisan, multi-grain, 1/2 lb) goes for over three dollars and bottle of Paisano has advanced to 15 dollars. The latter is OK, still, because that is for 4 liters, which makes it equivalent to $2.81 for a standard 3/4 liter bottle. And it IS good wine. It won 'best in show' at the Boston wine exhibition some fifteen years ago ;-)
There are two things I need to mention: while life on the mountaintop is truly a life in peace, down in town things look different. First of all, you see all that green and pink and purple hair in all kinds of styles from short to long and from slicked to spiked, worn by people who will do anything to either look like individuals or project some kind of a rebellious image. The second thing is that the people you come across in the stores don't like us flat-landers. They really don't. They park their shopping cars in the middle of the isle and have a chat with some acquaintance and they absolutely refuse to let you through. They look straight at you and don't make a move to make room. this rudeness is just a little bit worse than in Sneads Ferry, except that here it is the local population that does not tolerate their guests, and there it is the crowd of intruders that comes for a week that is resenting all those locals that get in their way of having fun. Goldsboro is better by far. We are just honest working folk trying to make it through another day together. Ahem. Perhaps I should make a double check here: perhaps it is I who can't bear crowds. It is absolutely wonderful up here, above it all.
And so the first day came to an end. This Saturday morning started slowly and by the time I had some food on the table to break the long fast I got me a veritable 'brelinner'. I bet you never heard that one before. I am resolved to have only one meal today, and that was it. I had two eggs, sunny side up, and two flat iron steaks, pan grilled in salt and pepper and olive oil and a table spoon or so of sesame seed oil. And as a side I had me a bit of multi-grain bread with a hard crust and a bowl of hearts of Romaine lettuce dressed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar with a touch of salt and a bit more pepper.
Now I want to go to town and find me a charger for the iPad. Am I sure I can find that at the new Family Dollar in Wilmington? Definitely, I will find some Lysol wipes there, and perhaps one of those dish cleaner sponges with a handle like I got for birthday. Here, I still have the Scotch sponges with one side scrubber and I already miss the other kind after only one week of using it down south.
And now I wish you all a wonderful weekend, and thanks for holding still so long, listening to my long tale without interrupting me once.
Lovingly, your Isa
Anyway, I overcame all sleep attacks along the road. Before reaching Binghamton I turned off into a rest station and moved the back of my seat to almost horizontal and shut my eyes. But almost immediately my bladder protested and I had to get 'out of bed' and over to the welcome building and while I was out there I noticed the view - Switzerland again - and the peace and quiet (no traffic) and the sun shining down on the mountain ridge on the horizon and farms and green fields in front and an occasional car looking like solitary ant cruising at comfortable speed along a country road across the valley, and, of course, all of that blew all sleepiness away. I stood and watched the scene for a while, breathed the fresh air and then got back behind the wheel, grabbed some Lindt kugels for instant energy and drove on. I got into Bennington with daylight still out there and stopped at Price Chopper for some immediately needed vittles, like milk and bread, banana and strawberries. I was home by 9:30 , after a relaxing trip of some 13 hours.
I had talked to Chip along the way and he had gone over to the house and started the water heater, flushed out the hot water system and the toilet traps and left the lights on for me downstairs. All I had to do when I got in was turn the lights on upstairs, find my pj's and go to bed. It felt good. I slept ten hours.
The new canoe seats don't fit. I brooded over that all day yesterday and finally came up with a reason, but this is getting somewhat technical now and I won't trouble you with it. They just simply don't fit. I have now an alternate plan and once I get down to Greenfield and into Home Depot I'll see if they got the materials I need to realize this new plan.
Another thing that went amiss is one of the two chargers which I carry around on-the-go for phone and iPad. The one for the iPad went astray and the one for the phone must work for both but while it does fine for the phone it is a bit very week for the iPad. During last night, it managed to charge the battery from 26% to 69%, and the iPad is now still suckling, because while I am using it it consumes almost as much power as the charger delivers and the battery gets practically nothing.The phone is downstairs suckling from the car battery.
The other thing that happened is that I did not record the pass word for my wi-fi here on the mountain and so I can't get on the web with the 'Pad (it is the new one, so it can't remember having ever been in VT before). I am using the Mac for this e-mail. That one remembered.
Yesterday for breakfast I had the obligatory raw bitts, and then cleaned a little bit around the house. Before I left last fall, I sprayed HomeDefense and laid out mouse poison. There was one pack of mouse bait that I found empty and another that disappeared, probably the mice taking it home to show to the family. We need a cat in the house! I found one mouse under the golf cart and Chip said he had found none all through winter. The HomeDefense worked harder! There were whole mountains of Japanese ladybugs on the window sills and along the sliding door and the vacuum cleaner crackled for joy as it sucked up the load. Then I went to Brattleboro and on to the Walmart in NH. Life is expensive here! A small jug of 1% milk is over two dollars, a loaf of bread (Artisan, multi-grain, 1/2 lb) goes for over three dollars and bottle of Paisano has advanced to 15 dollars. The latter is OK, still, because that is for 4 liters, which makes it equivalent to $2.81 for a standard 3/4 liter bottle. And it IS good wine. It won 'best in show' at the Boston wine exhibition some fifteen years ago ;-)
There are two things I need to mention: while life on the mountaintop is truly a life in peace, down in town things look different. First of all, you see all that green and pink and purple hair in all kinds of styles from short to long and from slicked to spiked, worn by people who will do anything to either look like individuals or project some kind of a rebellious image. The second thing is that the people you come across in the stores don't like us flat-landers. They really don't. They park their shopping cars in the middle of the isle and have a chat with some acquaintance and they absolutely refuse to let you through. They look straight at you and don't make a move to make room. this rudeness is just a little bit worse than in Sneads Ferry, except that here it is the local population that does not tolerate their guests, and there it is the crowd of intruders that comes for a week that is resenting all those locals that get in their way of having fun. Goldsboro is better by far. We are just honest working folk trying to make it through another day together. Ahem. Perhaps I should make a double check here: perhaps it is I who can't bear crowds. It is absolutely wonderful up here, above it all.
And so the first day came to an end. This Saturday morning started slowly and by the time I had some food on the table to break the long fast I got me a veritable 'brelinner'. I bet you never heard that one before. I am resolved to have only one meal today, and that was it. I had two eggs, sunny side up, and two flat iron steaks, pan grilled in salt and pepper and olive oil and a table spoon or so of sesame seed oil. And as a side I had me a bit of multi-grain bread with a hard crust and a bowl of hearts of Romaine lettuce dressed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar with a touch of salt and a bit more pepper.
Now I want to go to town and find me a charger for the iPad. Am I sure I can find that at the new Family Dollar in Wilmington? Definitely, I will find some Lysol wipes there, and perhaps one of those dish cleaner sponges with a handle like I got for birthday. Here, I still have the Scotch sponges with one side scrubber and I already miss the other kind after only one week of using it down south.
And now I wish you all a wonderful weekend, and thanks for holding still so long, listening to my long tale without interrupting me once.
Lovingly, your Isa
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