I return to Vermont in mid-June for a warm season of working on house/land. It's a trip that's begun feeling imminent, and has had me thinking about expanses of countryside carpeted in green, green grass and wildflowers, spectular north country summer days, all that. During which I received the following email from a friend in Montpelier, capital city (read 'overgrown small town') of that same state:
"Just hosted poker at my house -- made me miss you! I hope we'll have some games this summer. I won about $2.65. Yeehaw!
"I have probably found about that much in change as I hike up the hill at [the ski area she works at] to earn delicious corn snow turns on the way back down. It's fun to treasure-hunt under the lifts and elsewehere. I've found lots of spare change -- [a friend] found a baggie-full yesterday! -- as well as skiboot buckles, tons of miscellaneous hardware, pole baskets, a pot pipe, a Cadillac emblem, etc. We are still hoping for a suitcase full of money, but no luck so far. (We did hear a tale of a friend of a friend who once found a big wad of bills totalling around $800.00. Probably an urban myth.)
"It's also always fun to see what human treasures show up -- spring skiers are a particular bunch and you never know who you'll run into. Last night I re-connected with someone I hadn't seen in about 9 years, one of the rare folks who actually knew my ex-husband. We have a lot of other friends and acquaintances in common, too, so we had a fun conversation while we drank beers, ate chips, and watched the sun set from our perch at the top of the mountain. Also, I forget if I told you that I ran into a woman I used to play flute quartets with... about 7 years ago and hadn't seen since -- she's been living at [the ski area] for 2 years, right across from the patrol room! Been through a divorce and is currently dealing with breast cancer, in the most oh, well, way -- 'Yeah, I'll be bald next time you see me....'
"Spring is springing, enough so that people give me very quizzical looks if not a completely hard time when I say I'm still skiing. Nobody, not even Vermonters, believes that there's still snow anywhere. Which is weird, because all they have to do is look at the mountains to see that they're still white. Anyway, down in the valleys there are daffodils galore and the grass on the statehouse lawn seemed to turn green overnight."
It will be good to be back in that part of the world for a while.
The view from the front lawn:
[For further postcards from Vermont, see entries of December 5 and December 9, 2003.]
Madrid, te quiero.
rws 1:41 PM [+]