I don’t know whether this is a blessing or a curse, but we are rather cut off from the outside world up here in Vermont. We have to go out of our way to get access to the internet, and consequently are having a hard time keeping up with what’s going on in the rest of the world. If all goes as planned this will be posted from the Ludlow Public Library, assuming their wireless is working.
Since I don’t know what’s going on out there, all I’m going to do is post some pictures, so if you’re looking for biting political commentary, look elsewhere for awhile. I’ll be back in full rant mode in a couple of weeks.
This is a view from the road that passes the Calvin Coolidge Homestead in Plymouth, VT. I took this while I was riding my bicycle to the Long Trail Brewery in Bridgewater Corners, where I met my spouse and our guests. Every year I wonder if this will be the year that the 15% grade from Route 100 to this point will prove to much for me. I’m proud to report that I made it once again, despite the horrible condition of the road surface, which adds immeasurably to the difficulty, not to mention agony, of the ascent. From this point it’s all downhill to the brewery.
We go to the brewery for the free wireless, beer, and food in that order. Unfortunately, this year they decided to make you jump through hoops to connect to the net. We never managed to connect my wife’s computer. The place offers a number of amenities. For instance, while we were relaxing at the outdoor tables, the kids in our party could spend their time wading in the river nearby.
Now for something completely different. My son and his girlfriend just returned from Uganda. She was there for about six weeks interning with a UN Food program. He was there visiting her, for the last two weeks of her stay. He brought this back for my wife. It’s about 4 feet by 3, and I’ve christened it Obama’s Birth Certificate. I don’t know what the legend in Swahili means, and now that I’m actually here at the library, I’ve been unable to access a Swahili translator.
Needless to say they are proud of Obama in Africa. My son’s girlfriend says that when the Ugandans see someone who they recognize as an American they greet them with “Obama, Obama!”
Yesterday we went to Jamaica State Park, where there is a nice flat hiking trail that runs along an abandoned railroad bed, which itself runs alongside a river. When we got there we saw these folks, conducting an archaeological dig next to the ladies room.
Turns out the state is about to install a new septic system, and both federal and state law required an archaeological survey before construction could be done. This survey struck gold, in the form of a treasure trove of Native American artifacts, as the very friendly archeologist explained to us. Here’s an arrowhead that I believe he said was about 3,000 years old.
He told us that nowadays they do not clean the artifacts, because they can now try to find DNA in blood traces on them to determine what, if anything, they were used to kill.
We noticed a number of striking looking fungi along the path.
Finally, some views of the river.
