Wednesday, October 12, 2011

A LONG ABSENCE

I'm not even sure how long it has been since my last post. A fair amount of progress has been made inside the house. The books have been unpacked, sorted and those I want to keep have been shelved. The others have either found their way to the rubbish or to our little library for their fundraiser book sale in November. Some of the pictures and mirrors have been hung but many more are languishing in the cellar. Problem is .....a serious lack of wall space. All issues to be addressed on a cold and blustery day, soon to be the norm here in south western Vermont.

Back at the end of August Hurricane Irene unleashed her wrath upon a good portion of Vermont and western Massachusetts. We prepared for high winds by taking in all the ourdoor furniture and putting the plants in the garage. It turned out that the winds were minimal but the bucketiing rains on top of an already saturated soil caused massive flooding. Brooks turned into rivers and rivers into torrents. Bridges and roadswere washed away, houses were washed away, cars, propane tanks and any and everything else including massive trees and boulders were washed downstream and into farm fieds and meadows. Some downtowns were destroyed and the cleanup continues.

We went off to Bailey Island , Maine for a week just after Labor Day. We rented a small cottage right on Mackerel Cove and spent the week reading, knitting (me) and eating lobster right out of the water. The lobster boats left pretty early each morning and returned in dribs and drabs throughout the day. Fun to watch the activities. The weather was fair for the most part although a tad on the chilly side some days. Worth a repeat!

We drove home via 101 through NH and picked up Rte 9 in Bratt. The road had just opened to through traffic to Bennington and we had the chance to witness some of the devastation first hand.

Here at home life goes on. We are anxious to get the rest of the grading and seeding done before the window of opportunity closes.