Moving to Vermont, Leaving Neenah, WI

On January 6th, 2009, the moving van will pull out of our Neenah, WI driveway and carry our household goods to Chester, VT. We will drive on ahead and stop in Cleveland, Ohio, to see family before the final day's drive to Chester. Here are my thoughts on leaving Neenah:

Goodbye Neenah
(After Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown)

In the quaint town
There was a main street
And a well-stocked library
And a vibrant YMCA
And a lovely white colonial house
And friendly neighbors
And a tall-steepled church
And a two-mile walk around the Point
With a lighthouse, fishermen and harbour
Filled with sailboats

In the quaint town
There were friendly people
And church bells ringing every day
And friends to join for coffee, drinks or dinner
And people walking dogs on leashes
And weekly garbage pick-ups
And Bob and Dave at the Post Office

In the quaint town
There were shops and eateries
And Sheri to cut our hair
And Jody to do our nails
And Kelly to check our bank balance
And Cy to cook our curries
And Mitch to pour our brandy
And RC to teach us Italian cooking
And Kyle and Debby to welcome us
And Mike, Dennis and Trish
To make us look our best
Julie to brew our coffee and
Find cool stuff to buy and sell
And Kathy and Linda to frame
And supply our art
So much local talent to leave behind.

Goodbye main street
Goodbye white colonial
Goodbye friends
Goodbye restaurants and bars
Goodbye good haircuts and pedicures
Goodbye church family
Goodbye sailboats on the lake
Goodbye dogs barking at 6 am.
Goodbye 5 am street cleaners and snowplows
Goodbye backyard birds and gardens
Goodbye perfect little town.

Goodbye, from Late Middle English Godbwye/God.B.W.ye, from the Middle English phrase "God be with ye," meaning "God Be With You," is a traditional parting phrase in the English language.

Returning for November Check-up

On November 12th I drove up to Rockingham from the Hartford airport to check on the work that had been done to the house and surroundings. The sun set behind me in a golden glow as I drove in the driveway, expectant. I knew the larger septic system was in and the new garage door had been put on the tractor side of the garage. The white garage door looked just right. I then looked toward the house. What an eyesore! The septic system clean-out stack stuck up out of the ground a good ten inches! Ugly! Who wants to look out over a green field and think "septic system"? After meeting with the contractor, I can now say that it will be covered over with soil and seeded with grass seed.

Inside the house, everything looked and smelled clean. No bats, dead mice or huge spiders lurking in dark corners or the bathtub. Within the hour, I had the wood stove warming the living room with yellow and orange flames. The house dried out and felt cozy.

Before long it was dark, and I settled in for the night to read and relax. There was enough food in the cupboard to provide dinner and breakfast. The white wine from summer was still decent and drinkable even though it had been left in the fridge for 6 weeks.

During the weekend I worked on organizing the garage to make room for our impending move. Everything is ready for January. We will need a storage unit for the extra furniture from the Wisconsin house, but some will fit into the various rooms without creating a cluttered feeling.

Someday our WI house will sell and we can build up on the hill. We are thinking of a barn structure that can house worship, parties, art shows etc. below and an apartment above for guests and offices. We dream on about posts and beams, windows and porches. It is fun to look ahead.....

Final Days of Summer in Vermont

Fall approached, the nights cooled off and Ian and I finished our projects. We put away our summer toys for the season--the John Deere tractor, the fire pit and the antique booth. Workmen will come in now and finish the jobs that require experts: installing a new septic system, roofing the garage, mudding the bedroom and felling the giant white pines. We are already missing the quiet mornings and nighttime crickets.
We look forward to seeing the changes when we return in a few months! Meanwhile, various men and trucks will be coming and going. The pictures show the finished mulch pile and the lovely red wood shed filled with the first cord of wood for the winter.

Busy August in Vermont

This month has been full of guests and projects.
Family and friends have all helped me update the antique booth with new arrangements of furniture and "smalls." The antique keys from England labeled "Secret Keys" sold like hotcakes! Katherine had cleverly packaged them in little bags, cute labels and ribbons. The September Martha Stewart magazine has the same kind of key in the same kind of baggie. Perhaps the maven had shopped our booth here in Chester, Vermont, on her way to Maine.

Our friends Paul and Julie collapsed an old shed, and Ian began a new wood shed for the three cords of wood we have ordered for the new woodstove. He was able to use much of the shed's aged wood for the support beams. Now it's time to stack the wood!

I also enjoyed a wonderful Nature Journaling course in nearby Grafton at the Nature Center. Along with 10 local teachers and two Nature Center Directors, I worked on creating nature journal entries, studied beaver habitats and dipped aquatic creatures (tadpoles, water striders, beetles, salamanders and leeches) out of a local pond. Lots of ideas here to use here for my fall language arts classes. Nature journals link science, art and writing so beautifully! This summer has been quite a sabbatical.

August 1, 2008 Gutting a Bedroom

Ian, Katherine and I knocked out the walls and ceiling of an upstairs bedroom so that we could insulate it and raise the ceiling a bit. Katherine uncovered at least five recognizable mouse skeletons, and we thought of the times we had picked away at owl pellets to find creatures.
The piles of mouse droppings were overwhelming and smelly. Ian uncovered three whole corn cobs, picked clean by squirrels in their attic nests. We had hoped for golden coins or treasure maps tucked away between the rafters, but no such treasures surfaced. Next week: new framing, insulation and finally dry wall. The bedroom will be transformed!

Back in Vermont --July 22

Taking a trip to Ohio earlier in July, I attended a lecture on a topic dear to my heart: children and nature. Based on the book Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, the powerpoint lecture emphasized all the areas time spent in nature nurtures: emotions, physical well being, spirituality, intelligence and self confidence. What could be more fun--all for free? Within the next few days, we took my five-year-old nephew Andrew to the Holden Arboretum to the "Wild Child" sections. He explored the pond area, falling in, and then we found the fort building area. We went right to work!

Back in Vermont on July 19th, I got busy with the antique booth and the lawn (fields?). The grass and gardens had run wild and the birds had left for fuller feeders. I am still trying to woo them back. After three days, the goldfinches have returned along with a few chickadees. When I saw a chipmunk jump up onto the round feeder, I knew why that seed had disappeared so fast. I wonder if birds are afraid of chipmunks? The hummies are back, too, and I will fill up their glass feeder tomorrow with the 1-4 sugar water. Meanwhile, they have enjoyed the red and pink bee balm nectar.
I looked forward to my date with the big John Deere tractor on Friday afternoon. The weather was hot but dry. I pulled out my numbered directions and reviewed them carefully after strapping on the seat belt. Where was the throttle, and what did that little diagram of a rectangle mean? I checked the handy direction booklet rolled up in its canister behind the seat. I figured it out and mowed for two hours. I have yet to figure out the most efficient way to mow this large area. I seemed to go around a lot of curves and unnecessary loop de loops. Once I relaxed and realized that I would not tip over, I began to smile. Fun. The fields look good, flat and green with some areas of desert. I call them EBG: Everything But Grass. Next time, I will put on the earphones to protect my ears and get my can of soda all set up in the cup holder. I did have my hat and sunglasses on. The weather had been dry, so the dust and dirt flew everywhere. Friday was the first of several two-shower days.

Little Red House and Gardens

The back of the house faces south with a grassy terrace, stonewall and porch. Ian and our sister- in-law Julie are sitting on the terrace ready for lunch. Near the old brick path, our old dog Barney is enjoying the back porch. Clematis climbs around the bedroom window. The pathway leading to another door is actually the "front" entry to the house just off the driveway that leads in from Gaskill Road.

Garden Tours in Vermont

Above is a pool with a wonderful garden nearby. Imagine floating on your back and looking into this garden!




On Sunday, June 29th, I toured four home gardens around the Westminster area.It was a fundraiser for their Westminster Cares program which ministers to the elderly in the area. My favorite garden was the series of gardens around Gordon Hayward's house. My mother had given me one of his books a few years ago when I moved into the Vermont House. When I asked Gordon how long he had been working on his gardens, he said 25 years. That gave me great hope! Mine are on their way and he is an inspiration. Here is Gordon signing books with visitors. No, I am not in the picture!

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

A productive, useful and fun seminar in Vermont.
I attended this class with 14 other adults at the Southern Vermont Arts Center. We listened to short lectures, watched demonstrations and then tried our hand at drawing our hands, perspectives, profiles of classmates and a final self portrait. Based on Dr. Betty Edwards' book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, the seminar was taught by the author's son Brian Bomeisler. "The skill of drawing is largely about relationships." We learned to work on the right side of the brain and get around the critic haranguing us from the left side.
Here are some good quotes about drawing:
Paul Klee noted that "a line is a dot that went
for a walk." More creators and more collectors need to be taken
on that walk. Edgar Degas noted, "Drawing is a species of
writing: it reveals, better than does painting, an artist's
true personality." A student who sees progress in drawing gains
the greatest self-esteem. For that reason alone artists ought
to be drawing like crazy. When Michelangelo died, a note for
one of his assistants was found on the studio floor: "Draw,
Antonio, draw. Draw and do not waste time."

PS: "Do not fail to draw something every day, for no matter how
little, it will do you a world of good." (Cennino Cennini) "You
can never do too much drawing." (Tintoretto) "There is nothing
so delightful as drawing." (Vincent Van Gogh) "You never
graduate from drawing." (John Sloan)

Finished Rooms

The painting helps the rooms seem bigger. I used Kansas Grain, a Benjamin Moore color. The bedroom looked a bit bare, but restful.

More Stripping

Stripping the bedroom walls revealed old wallboard, not today's usual sheetrock.
The scars, lines and gaps between moldings and wall don’t show in the photos, but they are there. This is an old house, 1849, so I have to let that new house appearance go. It reminds me of going to the plastic surgeon as an over 50 year old and hearing about all the options available to fix up an older face: lifts, tucks, injections and creams. If I started with the eyelids, I know I would then want to work on the sagging jaw line. It would never stop. Gravity would always win. I am no longer 29. I bought the creams and makeup to fill the cracks and cover the lines just like a good Benjamin Moore pearl luster paint. So like accepting my aging face, I will just accept that this is an old house, charming and etched with character. Low lighting and distance help.

June 22, 2008

Befores and Afters: Stripping and Painting 150 Year Old Rooms

June 12, 2008 Antique Dealer?

Setting up the Antique Booth at Stonehouse Antiques in Chester

Ian and I drove the Pensky truck over to the antique center and unloaded a few items to begin our antique sales. I had always wanted to open an antique booth. It seemed a good way to unload our extra furniture along with providing a place to put it. Within the first day, pillows and a footstool sold. Now, we want the big stuff to sell to help pay the hefty $200/month rent. After a week, we are nearly halfway there!

June 11, 2008 A Date with John Deere

A date with John Deere. The tractor came on a huge truck early Wednesday morning. Ian could not have been more thrilled with his new toy. George, the salesman and our tractor tutor spent time with each of us explaining the engine and the operation. We’ll wait until winter to learn about snowplowing. I’ll leave that up to Ian.
All went well until later in the day when Ian was mowing the upper meadow. I returned from town to find Ian nowhere in sight, but the large green John Deere was up the hill, tethered to a tree, nose pointing into the pond. Boards were wedged under the back tires. I found Ian sitting on the front porch with a glass of water in hand. “Oh, my gosh, what happened?” I asked. He replied, “I can’t get it out; the tires just spin. Will you get on and try backing it out while I stand in front and put a wedge under the front?”
I had visions of running over my husband, killing him or maiming him for life and having to play nursemaid for our retirement years. Would I go to trial? This was way too much responsibility. My heart was pounding and my hands shaking. I prayed out loud, “Jesus, help us solve this problem. Help!” I strapped on the seat belt, gritted my teeth and started the engine. I gently pressed the reverse pedal. The tires spun. Nothing else moved. It did not slide forward into Ian. I got off and said I would try the neighbor men, the ones who had towed me up the hill. It would be another neighborhood bonding experience—flatlanders from Wisconsin bailed out by the locals.
I got inside and the phone was dead. This was not going well. I grabbed my cell phone and the phone numbers and headed out to hike up the hill where I could get a signal. As I passed the hillside, I heard the tractor engine. Oh, no, he won’t give up! As I looked up, I was surprised to see Ian backing up the tractor. “What did you do?” I yelled. “It wasn’t in four wheel drive!” he yelled. Dare I say it was an answer to prayer? We celebrated the rest of the day!

June 7, 2008 Cheese Seminar in Ashfield, MA

Cheesemaking in Ashfield, MA
It was fun to return to Ashfield, a perfect small New England town set back in time. Back in 1976, Ian and I had led an Episcopal Vacation Bible School in the Congregational church.
This day was spent with 38 men and women from all over the country and all walks of life—an ob-gyn, a lawyer, hobby farmers with their own goat herds, mother-daughter duos, cooks, and the curious, like me. We made mozzarella, a farmhouse cheddar, and other soft cheeses. The classroom was set in an addition to the large, sprawling Victorian house set on the main street. The New England Cheesemaking Company has grown since Barbara Kingsolver mentioned it in her book, Animal, Vegetable and Miracle. That’s what started my journey into cheesemaking and eating local. I am not a hard-core localvore, but I love Farmers Markets.

June 4, 2008 Arrival

It’s Wednesday night and I head up the hill to the house. The trailer behind the Honda Element is loaded with teak garden furniture and a large flat limestone rock from Wisconsin. Yes, bringing a rock to Vermont is like bringing coals to Newcastle, but this one is large and flat and will accommodate the fire pit on the front terrace.
I stepped on the gas to go up the hill and came to a halt as the tires spun into the sandy surface. I was stuck. Ten and a half hours of trouble free driving, and here I was, 500 yards from the house, stymied!
I pulled the emergency brake on, turned on the flashers and locked the doors with Barney the yellow lab oblivious, quietly lying in the back. Thank the Lord that Shannon was home down at the base of the hill. She called her husband and left a cell phone message, and then she called up the road to Dan who has a large truck and the know-how to get me out of this predicament. Dan tried a few tricks, but to no avail. We were ready to off-load the furniture and try again when Shannon’s husband Pete came up the hill. He thought to tow the Element with chains and Dan’s big truck. It worked and my car and trailer traveled into my drive, right in front of the garage. I thanked everyone and headed inside to get settled and call Ian to tell him I had arrived safely. It was now 9:30 and dark, but clear and starry.
I unloaded a few things, including the dog, had a drink and then collapsed into bed ready to sleep and greet the next morning.
Thursday and Friday were spent cleaning up the house, visiting Stone House antiques to set up a booth, and gardening. The gardens had stayed clear of weeds thanks to May’s mulching time over Mother’s Day weekend. The new plants had survived and grown some. Lupins were in bloom and oriental poppies were ready to burst open. Is that why we call them poppies?

May in Vermont

Saturday, May 10th

I had tea in bed and then hit the gardens. Much had been delivered the night before. As I weeded the beds I heard a bird overhead and looked up to see who was trilling behind me. It was a Rose Breasted Grosbeak. His bright red/orange breastplate shown as he flew from the garage roof to the maples. He continued to serenade me. The mulch looked good around the house. I then rewarded myself with a trip into town to buy border and planter plants from my favorite nursery on Rt. 11. I came home, planted and watered the new annuals--impatients, petunias, and a variety of border plants.
It was not until later as I took my bath, that I realized ticks were a problem. One had latched onto my shin. He was dug in. I climbed out of the tub, put on my reading glasses, and found a match. I lit it and touched the head to his body to try to get him to back out. No luck. I grabbed a pair of tweezers, focused on where to pull and yanked him out. Ouch. I think I got his head out. I squeezed the area and it bled. He had blood in his gut, too, so I knew he had feasted. I poured antibiotic fluid on the site and put some ointment on it. Will I get Lymes Disease? I will certainly call my GP!

May in Vermont

May in Vermont