A few photos

Sebastian Lewis
Namaskar at Chittenden Reservoir On my biking route

July 15, 2005

Alpine Lake, near Saratoga, NY




A fiery sunset in Florence, Vermont

Another glorious summer day here in Vermont. Big puffy clouds and hot sunshine, I swear I can hear the corn grow. Will and I rode our bikes up the road to the neighbor farmer's garden stand out by the mailbox. I picked up a jar of Blackberry preserves and one of Blueberry preserves. Such incredible abundance surrounds me. I went out early this morning to find my daughter, Jill in the garden tying up the beans. Young Joseph planted and nurtured those beans. He has been away for a few days and will be delighted to find small beans coming along when he returns later today.
Had a call from my two friends, Pat and Sheila aboard Miss Daisy. Sheila reported they were in Washington State. I admire their fluidity in exploring this great Country. It is always fun to hear of their adventures as fultimers.
I am going to devote some space in this post for photos. I hope you enjoy them.

July 14, 2005

Such fun being able to upload photos now. This is me and Bearfoot parked in Florence, Vermont at my daughter's home. We have been here over two weeks now and plan to spend another week. I have it made. Wireless internet (yes, I finally am through their firewall) and cable tv right in the MH. I have added photos to some of the older posts so you might want to look at them.

Today, it was again very hot here but I had to move Bearfoot up to a Brandon, VT campground to dump the holding tanks and pick up some propane gas. I had plenty of volunteers wishing to ride along. I was fortunate to have my two teenage grandson's, Patrick and Will plus their two friends, Brittany and Joey. The return trip was a bit hairy since I came upon the roadside mowing machine right in the middle of the steepest part of the hill coming into this hollow. I had to come to a full stop since he was halfway in my lane. But Bearfoot did it with some strain but certainly doable. It was a good lesson for me since I have not had the opportunity to take Bearfoot on any steep roads. My brother-in-law, Emory, gave me some helpful hints regarding the transmission on my vehicle and it really paid off today. We arrived home and drove Bearfoot up on a couple of stout pieces of wood on the side that had been sinking to China. Now we are level - sigh! Shortly after getting set up, a big old T-storm came through cooling things off a bit. Sebastian and I took a nap during the storm.

Big crowd for dinner again tonight. That is the way with big families. Ended up with s'mores in the backyard over an open fire while we batted "skeeters". Those buggers are here in force. Reminds me of the old days in NC where we referred to them as the State Bird.

This weekend we will celebrate my grandson Will's 15th birthday. My youngest daughter, Theresa and her husband, Alex plus grandson Colin will be here and I hope to go kayaking on the Chittenden Reservoir again. They are going to be dropping Colin off at Conservation Camp in Bomoseen, VT. CC is a week-long camp that teaches youngsters about Vermont, the natural world, ecology as well as gun safety. There are opportunities for fishing, canoeing, swimming and camping skills as well.

My daughter Jill and I took the afternoon yesterday to go to lunch and then toured on down to JK Adams woodworking factory in Dorset, VT. It was fun to be out alone with Jill who is a busy, hardworking Mom. She cooks huge meals just about everynight for this family as well as all the housekeeping and gardening that goes with a home here in rural Vermont.

More later--

July 10, 2005, Florence, VT

Photo of Bearfoot at Lake Robertson, VA in May.

Wow! It seems forever since I have been able to post here. I have encountered all kinds of problems with online availability. I was using a very slow dial-up modem for short periods of time in this busy household. Then my grandson got their cable dial up running and I was able to use my wireless high speed but only for a short time. It wouldn't let me on again after that and it wasn't until just a short time ago I was told that the very same grandson had installed a firewall on the system. No wonder I couldn't get on. Now I am on dial-up again until he gives me the codes to over ride the firewall. Computers!! Or is it grandsons? It is always busy here, teens coming and going plus two little ones. I am still riding my bike 12 miles every other day. I feel much better when I am actively engaged in a vigorous type of exercise. Tomorrow I have an appt to have my broken tooth fixed in Castleton, VT where I lived a long while ago. My appt is in the afternoon so since the kayak is still loaded on the car, I plan to go over early and launch on Lake Bomoseen for a couple of hours. Lake Bomoseen is actually the largest lake in Vermont totally within the bounds of the State. There are others but most of them are on borders with other states. As I recall it is about 12 miles long and a mile wide at the widest point. It is a bit busy on weekends with motorboat traffic but during the week, it isn't too bad. Used to be good fishing there esp for large mouth bass.

I still haven't managed to get back to Chittenden Reservoir to spy on the nesting loon's but I will toward the end of this week. The farmer across the road here puts out fresh veggies, jams, relishes, pickles and eggs in a cooler each day by the road side with a tupper ware container for the money. Today we picked up some fresh beets with lovely greens attached. I picked up a dozen eggs, all different colors, for the different chickens that chase each other around the garden. Totally wonderful! Also a lot of fun choosing which color egg I want to cook.

All the hurricane hype on the media always reminds me of the years I spent in NC on the Neuse River estuary of Broad Creek in Oriental and Whortonville. There were 6 bad storms during the time I was there. The storms were one of the reasons I moved to VA in 2001. I found the storm season to be too stressful. I feel for the folks who are being hit repeatedly again this year. We went through that weather pattern too.

Got to start thinking about moving Bearfoot soon to empty the holding tanks. Will keep you all posted.