Confessions of a Grandma

Our community calendar's December page captures the month perfectly.  Thank goodness for red barns. I received this gift from one of my poetry writing friends and I am just in love with it. It is a journal made from parts of a rescued old book.  Isn't this an inspired gift for writers and nature lovers?  Not to mention book lovers? A peak inside:

I went to the Mills Riverside Park for my walk today. I parked the car and went across the covered bridge. It is a lovely area. The sky was brilliant. The trail was covered with leaves.  I love the smell of autumn.  Damp leaves and apples. We had heavy winds and rain the day before, but there were still pops of bright color. Mount Mansfield looked kind of bare, though. I can't believe how green the grass is still. No alligators here: I have taken this walk a number of times.  A couple of times with Mike, but usually just on my own.  Did I always wish that he was with me on those walks? Yes, I really did.  Today was no different...except that it was. I did go out for supper with my friend Ginnie.  I am grateful for my friends.

Mike has not said much about his feet bothering him lately, but I suspect that they have been painful for him. It's something about they way he clumps down the stairs, trying to put most of his weight on the bannister.  He forgets that I can hear him.  I am not unsympathetic though.  I said that I would mow the lawn today.  It had to be done. Then I realized something.  We did get a new lawn tractor last summer and I had never used it.  Even though it is a John Deere like the last one, it is very different.  The old one had a shift lever and the brake was on the right side.  The new one has an accelerator on the right side and then another pedal that is somehow supposed to be used for reverse.  Mike gave me a quick lesson. I really did not try to master reverse--just kept going forward.  I had a hard time adjusting to the accelerator.  My right foot definitely remembers that it did the braking.  It was kind o...

Not everything is beautiful about spring following a long winter.  There can be quite a lot of trash along the road. Isn't it wonderful that there are some who are so incredibly neat that they cannot keep their hamburger wrappers in the car for as long as it would take to get to a trash receptacle?  And what about the guy who tosses his two beer bottles out the window on the way home from work each and every week night?  I bet his family is really fooled and don't notice the alcohol on his breath at all. Today is Vermont's official Green Up Day.  There are lots of folks out picking up trash along the roads.  It's a great effort.  Too bad they have to do it year after year. Thanks to all who care.

As soon as I walked out my front door I noticed that all the tickling of the dirt has started to pay off. The astible popped right up over night.             There are definitely good signs that spring is here.   Buds are popping out on the trees. Neighbors are getting out their mowers. It was clear enough to see all the way to the Adirondack Mountains across Lake Champlain.     Daffodils are showing their exuberant yellow faces.    Forsythia is blooming and the pussy willows have gone by. A magnolia in bloom!     A magnolia in bloom in Jericho, Vermont.  What more proof of global warming does one need??   Marsh marigolds by the brook. It wouldn't be spring without dandelions  or violets in Vermont lawns. And mine is not the only garden under preparation: What a beautiful day for a walk.

My grand children live in a small Vermont town.  The buildings along the main street were mostly built in the  early 1800’s.       Colonial and Victorian influences are evident.  It is a pretty little village. The fountain where my grand son is standing has a boy with a boot during warmer weather.  We have had some cold days and some snow, but this day was quite balmy—almost 50. Anybody know what these architectural styles are?  There are marble quarries nearby so one sees a lot of that in the area. Of course, the very best part of that little town: and  

The trees are mostly bare as I write this and we are expecting lots of wind from Frankenstorm Sandy over the next few days so I suspect they will be completely bare by the time I get around to posting this. however, there are a few individual trees around that are in full regalia.  There were three maple trees next to the Vermont Meat and Seafood Market where I shopped yesterday.  The were all a brilliant orangey red.  When I parked my car outside the store, I noticed that there were two Japanese tourists taking pictures.  She had a fancy (meaning very high-tech looking) camera and he had a movie camera.   She was slowly walking around one of the trees, snapping away all the while.  He as sitting on the ground tossing up handfuls of leaves and filming as the fluttered back down.  They were still there when I came out of the store, still clicking and filming. Sometimes it is really a good thing to have a reminder.  The awesome beauty is r...

May is over.  That is hard to believe.  Who ever it was that pointed out that this time of life is long days and short years hit the nail on the head. On today's news, I learned that May was record breaking warm for Vermont.  I have to say I did not really notice.  Also, I learned that the number of people using food stamps has gone up 400%.  That did not surprise me since I do the grocery shopping.  Still, I find it incredibly sad that so many cannot afford the basic necessities--food, shelter, adequate health care.  Our country used to be better than this, I think. I won't even talk about the dream of future generations (like my grand children) being able to finish a college education, let alone find a job that that education would prepare them to take on. If there is anything at all to that "attraction theory" stuff, we best get on using it more altruistically.  That is my opinion. So, on a more cheery note--I have been fol...

I related the story of the bomb of a birthday greeting.  In my travels back from Florida, I guess I missed this little item of Vermont news, though.  My sister told me about it. Early in April, there was a story she caught on the news about a man who had just climbed into his bed when he heard a ruckus outside his window.  Bears were investigating his bird feeders.  He went out to scare the bears away and rescue the bird feeders.  He chased away the bears while himself being bare (because that is how he goes to bed).  Since my sister had just heard the end of this evening news story, she did not realize that the naked man in question was the Governor of our fair state. You know,  there are things I miss about Florida, but the nightly news is definitely not one of those things.  It seems like there is always a gang murder, an abduction, a child abuse case, or a racial incident in the news in Florida. It is kind of refreshing to have the ...

A moose has been known to visit this swamp... but not today. When I walk by myself I go pretty fast and I get a good amount of exercise.  When I walk with Mike, I go much more slowly, but I do see a whole lot more.   I walked with him and saw a beautiful purple trillium, but of course I did not have the camera with me.  I could not find it again when I went out with camera in hand.   Would you guess that this hill is a covered landfill?  The white pipe (If you scan really hard) is a vent.  There are many of them scattered over the area. I am quite certain that fairies live here, but I did not see them today either.  A red squirrel was on guard duty and he told me to move along. This area is now town recreation land, but it was once all part of a large working farm.  It's kind of funny that part of the land became the town landfill for a while because there are areas that were obviously a family based dumping area.  This...

It's early spring in Vermont and that means woodland wild flowers are in bloom. These bluets don't look very blue here. Pushing up through the forest mulch. Spring beauty Trout lily Yellow violet Hepatica with sharp=lobed leaves and fuzzy stems Now these flowers are very pretty, but i have no clue as to what they might be.  I've looked in two different wildflower books so far, but I have not been able to identify them.  Any body know? They were along the road, not in the woods.  They could be escapees from some one's flower bed.