The Local

 Yes, yet another pandemic-related post, and yet I've still never got around to setting up a pandemic label (I really should, obviously). Things are tough all over during the Great Isolation, and that includes Vermont. For months now we've, week to week, done a much better job in confronting the pandemic because, well, we've actually confronted the pandemic. While I have on occasion trolled Governor Scott on Twitter pretty consistently, I will also be the first to admit that he's done a great job. That said, local businesses have definitely taken a pounding. While I've certainly been guilty of relying upon Amazon deliveries to keep me out of the stores, I've also tried to show some love to local businesses, or at least local restaurants. It began over the summer with a decision to get takeout from Al's Famous Frys on the way home from the Food Shelf on Thursday night. Eventually I added a Sunday morning breakfast at the Dutch Mill (initially with my friend Kevin and Marcelle, but since the latest lockdown which includes only members of one household as a solo venture) and then catching the 1:00 games at Smitty's. It's not much, but I've been going every week and they seem appreciative.

Ah, breakfast at the Dutch Mill, featuring the appropriately named Kitchen Sink. Normally I'd be taking the opportunity to talk politics with Kevin and Marcelle - or movies with my son - but now it's just me, so I bring a book to read. My December reading is all Dickens all the time, including Les Standiford's The Man Who Invented Christmas which provides the backstory on Dickens writing A Christmas Carol. I've since moved on to his Christmas Stories, having already read The Chimes and am just moving in to The Crickets on the Hearth. I'm hoping to end with A Christmas Carol as we reach the holiday itself.