The Actual Last Trip to the Whammy Bar

 Last week I posted on what I feared was going to be our last trip to the Whammy Bar, our Friday night tradition. As it turns out, there was one last trip (we're flying out Wednesday, inshallah) as my great friends Kevin and Kerry came out. 

There have been so many goodbyes, which has been both good and bad for my heart. Kerry asked me what I was most looking forward to, and what I should have said is, "An end to all the goodbyes." The ones with Gary and Ali may kill me.

The Last Whammy Bar Trip?

 As I'm wont to opine, there are things I won't miss about Vermont and things that I will definitely miss about Vermont. In the latter category is out wonderfully odd little community here in Calais (although it will be much worse for Janet, as she's been here longer and is much more deeply embedded in the community). This would include weekend nights at the Whammy Bar, the room in the back of the Maple Corners Store that magically transforms itself into a bar on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. It's a Friday night tradition for us, and that will be tough to leave behind.

My friend Marcelle finally made it out to the Whammy Bar on Saturday, and she absolutely loved it. He she is rocking some Winnipeg merch which Kevin brought back from the Blue Bombers Trip of Excellence.

Kevin, a Whammy Bar veteran, holding forth on life and maybe the CFL but definitely on music.

There was an absolutely killer local bluegrass band. There's an open mic night on Thursdays, and bands on Fridays and Saturdays. Even if we're gone, there's no reason why you can't stop by!!

A Bear - Finally

 I really need to get this down for posterity before I completely forget: a couple weeks ago I finally saw a bear.  I was driving up County Road, probably about a mile from out cabin, when I saw a young bear loping across the road (as bears do). This was the first time in my twenty-six years living in Vermont that I had seen a bear. It's not like I've had much better luck with moose, having seen four total, and none in the last twenty years, but bears had remained utterly elusive. Sadly, I have no pictures of the beastie to post, although it would have probably ended up playing itself out like the end of  Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man. 

Vermont Public Philosophy Week 2026

 It's funny how an event that I initially was tricked/dragooned/misdirected into participating in - the Vermont Public Philosophy Week - has become an annual tradition that I really look forward to. Last Saturday I gave a talk on "'Your Hatred Is Evidence of Our Power': What Thucydides Tells Us About the Decline of America" at the Adamant Community Club. It was a success, although I never admit to much of anything being a success. Still, if you can draw a crowd of ten people to a location hidden down on a dirt road on a beautiful spring day then I guess it's a success. Plus, everyone stayed past the allotted time to continue asking questions and making comments. However, how can you screw up a talk based on Thucydides during these turbulent times in America? All the credit really goes to Tyler Doggett, a philosophy professor from UVM who organizes all of it. It's such a great idea: getting the community together to discuss ideas.

It was an enthusiastic crowd, including one hardy soul who drove in all the way from Burlington for the talk (reminding me of the three people who came in from BTV last year to hear my talk on Pessoa).

The talk combined Thucydides's accounts of the Funeral Oration of Pericles and the Melian Dialogue, viewed through the lens of America today and the great lie of American Exceptionalism. It was a lot of fun to give, and it inspired a lot of good questions.

East Calais Posh

 There are many things about Vermont that I will not miss, but there are other things that I'll miss quite a bit. Some of the smaller, more obscure, things are what I'll miss the most. For example, I'll miss my Saturday morning routine of making the dump to the local dump transit station on Moscow Woods Road in East Calais. I get to check out the local smart set (the dump is also where people running for office often hang out on Saturday morning, because it's the one place where you are guaranteed to see a lot of people). While there, as I've celebrated elsewhere on this blog, I get to deliver dog treats to Willow (now, sadly, on the disabled list with knee surgery) and Misty as they hang out in their truck. Then I head around the corner to visit the East Calais General Store, which is a great store - and Jen, who runs it, is really great and always happy to help out with things. Inevitably, I grab a breakfast sandwich to supercharge for my next stop - the gym in Berlin for my Saturday morning workout (since it's a half-hour drive to Planet Fitness it's OK to wait to grab brekkie at the store). Since the weather has broken (a bit, it snowed on Sunday - and I drove through a whiteout on the way to school yesterday), I sat outside to revel in the nice weather and scenery.

You can't get more posh than a sausage and egg sandwich and a chocolate milk.

The Cabin That Dripped Ice

 In honor of the 1971 Hammer film, The House That Dripped Blood, we are proud to present: The Cabin That Dripped Ice. [No one will be admitted during the terrifying ice decapitation scene!] As I've mentioned previously, during the last couple winters Vermont has seemingly remembered that it's Vermont. And, again, as I mentioned previously, I will not miss the Vermont winter.

Janet proposing that we really should do something about the ice hanging from the cabin.

Janet finally snapping and heroically freeing us from the demonic ice that was trying to entomb the entire cabin.

Very Vermonty

 

Yes, because, well, #YankeeHellhole (it's 63 and sunny in Catania right now). I think I'm posting this for two reasons, both related to the fact that our Unofficial Book Club is meeting this morning at the Maple Corners Community Center. First off, it's telling that no one in the group sent around an email proposing that we postpone the meeting because of the dangerous cold (it's Vermont, after all, and Vermonters are a generally rugged crew). Secondly, we always meet at 10:30 on Sunday morning, and at no point has anyone suggested that we not meet on Sunday mornings (Vermont is, statistically, the last religious state in the union - by a fair margin - so this is completely understandable). 

Democracy

 Last night Janet and I attended our Representative Becca Balint's town hall in Montpelier. Vermont is one of those odd little states which, because of a small population, only has one Representative (but two Senators). I liked Balint before the town hall, and now I like her a lot more. It's hard to feel particularly optimistic in this age of autocracy, but hearing her ideas and witnessing her fire gave me more hope. She's certainly not Doctor Pangloss, but she shared a realistically, fairly optimistic view of how things can get better. She talked about the need to win in 2026 and win big, a true national referendum against this authoritarian nightmare, but also the need then to go beyond simply peeling back Trump's policies, but to be much more progressive; she said, and she's definitely correct, that the system before Trump's destructive policies was hardly a fair one, and we have to move beyond it. Personally, I think that if the Democrats don't recapture their New Deal/Great Society roots I don't know if they can win, and, well, it's sort of difficult for me to see what purpose they even serve as a party if they continue this utterly corporate path.

It was a packed house, and I almost felt like I did after 9/11 or when I received my first COVID shot, in that just being in a crowd with other people made me feel a lot better. Several times I became pretty emotional, which is not particularly surprising, I guess, but it hit me how I'm going to miss this little brave group of lunatics.

Groan - an Endless Series

 I was just telling my friend Sally that I increasingly define myself by my Lasts. And while I will miss some of my Lasts, such as the Last Time I Teach Crime and Punishment or my Last Breakfast at the TASTee Grill - and while I have more bittersweet feelings about others, such as My Last Class or My Last Car - there are others that I will not miss at all, such as my Last Vermont Winter.

Another winter and another winter day and another winter storm. The storm lasted for a day and a half, and followed hard on the heels of some bitterly cold days.

I'm guessing around a foot and a half of snow fell. Because it was still awfully cold it meant that the snow was light, which made it easier to shovel away and also decreased the chance for a power outage.

I will miss our Last Cabin.

Bliss Pond in Deep Winter

 I don't know why I take so many pictures of Bliss Pond, beyond the fact that I drive by it on my latest favored shortcut almost every day - and, well, it's beautiful. I snapped this one the other day as I was driving back from the gym on a wretchedly cold day. We're also in the middle of a massive winter storm, which is pounding half the country, so this seemed appropriate. 

I think I like this one because it features both the deep freeze but also, if you squint, maybe warmer and sunnier days ahead. Today is also the day of Janet's citizenship hearing in Sicily, so we might, potentially, theoretically, get some very positive news today - or we might get some terribly deflating news today - or we might just have to wait out more winter days to hear anything. So, yes, I guess this picture works.

And Again

 Groan. There are many things I will miss about Vermont, but the winter is not one of them. Seriously. The prediction for our latest winters storm has us getting buried under 10-17 inches of snow (although it will be a tad warmer, currently it's -12 here in Calais with a wind chill of -27). This has left me with substantial logistical planning for my classes on Monday. Initially the forecast had Burlington "only" getting seven inches of snow, which made a night at Casa Kevin's a logical option for Sunday night (and he, like a great friend, is always welcoming). However, the forecast has shifted, and now BTV is predicted for 8-13 inches, so there are no good options. By comparison, it will be sunny and in the mid-60s in Catania.

It looks like Zoom is going to get a workout on Monday.

Hell Is Getting Ready to Freeze Over

 I suppose there's not much to be said about these images, other than the usual: #YankeeHellhole

When we first moved up here to Vermont over a quarter century ago these cold snaps were more frequent (and, yes, I know that sounds like a true Vermonter, which I'm not) and you'd have stretches where the temperature never made it up to zero for days on end. I tend to not romanticize the past, especially in regards to Vermont weather.

My friend Kerry asked if I was dreaming of Sicily. I replied that my legs are. While my main problem with my legs is the mysterious muscular/neurological condition that plagues me, I also struggle with arthritis, and increasingly the Vermont winters beat on me.

Frequent Visitor

 As I proposed the other day, once the deer showed up and decided to hang around our yard for several hours I figured that it meant we'd have a return visitor. And, sure enough, as I was reading in the living room I looked out the window and their was our friend, just hanging out. Hopefully this is a good thing, as in she likes the flavor of our trees or the backyard possesses a nice combination of fun and a wind break, and not something bad, like she's lost her crew. Still, it's lovely to look out the window and see nature so close.

I guess we need to create some sort of loyalty program for return visitors. 

Company

 You never can tell who will pop by the cabin for a visit, even on a snowy cold day like today.

The last couple days I noticed the cats running up to the window to take a look in the backyard, and now I guess who had been popping by for a visit. The local beasties, the outside beasties, tend to get into patterns (at least that's true of our occasional guest, the fox) so we may have more daily visits from our friend.

Out and About

 Last Sunday was the last F1 race of the season, and super fan Janet was appropriately saddened. So, I managed to talk her into heading down to the Langdon Street Pub to watch the Vikings game, and partake of many appetizers. While I seriously lament the passing of Smitty's, the bar in Burlington who used to text me on late Sunday mornings to encourage me to come in, letting me know that my seat was waiting for me and that the Vikings were already on that TV (I would waltz in and a switchback and 13 hot wings would magically appear before I had my coat off), Langdon is a pretty fair replacement. An excellent time was had.

And, inexplicably, the Vikings played great, probably because I've sworn them off (as shown by my amazing Hamilton Tiger-Cats sweatshirt).

And So It Begins

 Here's yet another picture of Bliss Pond, which has been featured in too many posts lately. It's one my latest longcut to the cabin. In this case, sadly, it's representative of the arrival of winter. UTKR

I think it's the beached canoe, sitting lonely and neglected, that makes the picture. I will not miss the winter when we're in Sicily.

Fame

 I guess I can go ahead and retire, as my fame will never reach a greater extent than this moment: one of my pictures was celebrated on the Adamant Co-op weekly email.

It was a nice career.

The Drive to Work - Yet Again

 OK, this is the last morning picture of Bliss Pond that I'm going to post, at least until the next one.

I mean, come on, that's beautiful. 

The Drive to Work - Again

 OK, so I know I just posted a picture of Bliss Pond that I snapped on my drive to work the other day, but here's another one. Lately I've been been taking the shortcut (although I suspect it's a couple minutes longer) and bailing off and on to County Road from Bliss Pond Road. This is especially a nice treat in the morning (it's dark by the time I get home on Mondays - and will soon be in the mornings as well, sadly) and it inspires me to drive on to Burlington to grind out my last year.

My friend Jack thinks that may be Champ in the middle, although maybe we need a new name: Blissy?

The Gloaming

 Here's a picture I snapped the other night as Janet and I were heading home. It seems to fit my mood. Yesterday I emailed the administrators at Champlain to let them officially know that I'm retiring after the spring semester. Yes, I've officially entered The Gloaming. This morning my dear friend Cyndi told me that the place wouldn't be the same without me, and I replied that that's the great mythology. Instead, by next fall I'll be a vague memory. However, that's OK, and foolish and counterproductive to think otherwise. As Marcus Aurelius reminded us, "Soon you will have forgotten the world, and the world will have forgotten you."

Here's a shot of Sodom Pond (which is right across the street from the Adamant Coop) in the gloaming. There's a little break in the trees as you wind around Sodom Pond road, and I'd hate to think how many times I've stopped in the middle of the road (one of the advantages is driving around on Vermont's dirt roads) to take a picture, although I don't know if I like any of them as much as I like this one.