Where’s Walden?
See if you can find me in this “entr’action” photo (by Caroline Tuchscherer from Montréal) from the weekend karate training camp (gasshuku) at Green Mountain Dojo in Stowe, Vermont, run by longtime friends of my heart and J’s, Tom and Toni Flynn.
After the training, Monday morning I was entrusted with the keys to the official Green Mountain vehicle, drove one hour north to the Northeast Kingdom, and finally met our Karen, her splendid husband Allan, and their 47 milk cows! (Plus two dogs, two neighbors, and more than a dozen chickens.) A cow licked my hand, I held warm newly-laid eggs in said hand, and most of all I got to lay eyes on (and arms around) one of my best blogfriends and her good man. New friends of my lonely heart.
As a bonus, I learned what a three-titter is! (Spud, so sorry I missed you by a couple of hours.)
The most striking thing about Vermont per se is its luminous sky. It’s almost always full of dramatic, puffy white clouds, and the day seems lit not by the sun but by the silvery, icy light of these clouds, which makes the green land and blue sky look hyperreal.
it’s not the sun but
the icy-white clouds that light
luminous Vermont
I’ll post more pix as they come to light.
Ambiance 
Spud said,
August 9, 2011 at 6:32 am
Hi Annie, sorry I missed ya. You made Karen’s day. She needed that. Thanks.
Randy said,
August 9, 2011 at 7:33 am
How great that you two finally met! Can’t wait to see pix of the home farm, now that Karen & Allan have been back there for a while. Isn’t the area achingly beautiful and serene?
We missed seeing Spud, too, when we went. Perhaps another time.
Give my best to Allan, Karen!
(Are you still thinking of passing through CA on your way to Australia in September, Annie?)
amba12 said,
August 9, 2011 at 8:41 am
Alas, I planned J’s memorial celebration for September 19, which prevents going to Australia. But it won’t prevent my coming to California in the near future. Gotta complete the triangle!
karen said,
August 9, 2011 at 8:50 am
Randy, as soon as amba left the yard, i turned to Allan and said: i can’t believe we didn’t take pictures!!!! I don’t even own a camera- and didn’t see one w/amba, but-honestly: i never even thought of it. I think we were just so caught up in the tiny amt of time we had that we wrung every second out of it. She is exactly everything i knew she would be: beautiful.
It’s the best day i’ve had in so long and my heart is full. It’s the second gift of a friend from our blogpod that i have met and someday ice& his family will visit, too. Everyone is welcome!!!
amba12 said,
August 9, 2011 at 9:00 am
Ice, someone close to you would go nuts over the cows. They are beautiful.
I also wish we had just a picture or two, but the pictures in my mind are maybe the more indelible for not having taken any. (I have a digital camera, but I left it home because the display is broken: it still takes pictures, but you can’t see what you’re shooting; you have to point it in the right direction, guess and hope.)
pathmv said,
August 9, 2011 at 10:20 am
Karen, you’re not alone! When I met Annie and Jacques last year, we completely forgot to take pictures, too. It’s the excitement of it all, I guess.
Icepick said,
August 9, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Ice, someone close to you would go nuts over the cows. They are beautiful.
????
(Sorry, but my mind is shot these days. I find I have trouble remembering just about everything. Too much stress, too much chasing baby, too much eveerything.)
I have a digital camera, but I left it home because the display is broken: it still takes pictures, but you can’t see what you’re shooting; you have to point it in the right direction, guess and hope.
You might get some interesting pictures that way. I’m finding some of my most interesting are the ones that involve some screw up or another. One of the good things about the digital cameras is that you don’t have to be careful with each shot – just take a bunch and hope for the best.
I also wish we had just a picture or two, but the pictures in my mind are maybe the more indelible for not having taken any.
Hemingway:
Icepick said,
August 9, 2011 at 1:19 pm
The story is very short, for those who want to read it.
amba12 said,
August 9, 2011 at 1:41 pm
About the cows: in the previous comment, Karen invited you to her house. Cat would probably adore the 47 dairy cows.
Icepick said,
August 9, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Sorry, I missed that part somehow. I am missing much these days. I need rest, mayhaps….
amba12 said,
August 9, 2011 at 1:55 pm
Chasing the baby sounds good: it means she’s running. Exhausting; but good.
Icepick said,
August 9, 2011 at 4:10 pm
I think what I need is about a week in a sensory-deprivation tank.
And Karen, I’d love to see your place, at least when it wasn’t covered in snow. FLorida boys don’t do well with frozen water, unless it’s in a drink.
Icepick said,
August 9, 2011 at 4:36 pm
I think what I need is about a week in a sensory-deprivation tank.
So naturally I’m online pumping more information into my (incereasingly worthless) brain. What I need is to LOCKED into a sensory deprivation tank for about a week. Grrr….
amba12 said,
August 9, 2011 at 4:43 pm
:)
Icepick said,
August 9, 2011 at 5:30 pm
And for the record, today showed that the stock markets (amongst others) are retarded. There is no rational explanation for the actions today.
karen said,
August 10, 2011 at 11:29 am
I think that’s because the powers that be never tell the whole truth, ice. And expect us– the masses(some of us considered ~unwashed~(heh- most likely conservatives playing tea party))- to believe their lies and swallow them whole.
Of course- i’m partisan:0).