Sunset Bliss

I've been working hard all summer but it is all worth it for storybook moments like this. Start at the bottom and work your way up for a taste of Lake Champlain at her finest.

People say you will get he "duck itch" if you swim in her murky algae-coated waters but it is a risk I will gladly take, daily if need be. Quack.

Coastal Aftershocks

I've been back in VT for almost 4 days now and I am still a bit discombobulated.

The day I left SF it was stormy and as I drove my PT Cruiser (yes, laugh if you must, old ladies deserve bright blue old ladee rental cars) back to the airport, a large chunk of me wanted to turn around and drive back, up the 101 North to my little rainy city by the bay.

I barely made it home through the snowstorm that was pummeling the East Coast all day Wednesday. The plane tossed us around like jumping beans and I closed my eyes so Heidi Klum was not the last image I saw before certain death.

When we landed in VT it was dark, snowy and freezing. I could barely get a ride home from the airport and everything was dead and impassable. My car was buried beneath 4 feet of snow and I could barely get my suitcase in the front door. Could I really have been outside wearing a t-shirt and sniffing bright purple flowers 8 hours earlier??

Since I couldn't stick around, I left a silent, morose piece of me back in SF, and hopefully he is having a grand old time in my absence. I am sure the town will be dry of liquor in no time.

I'll be thinking of you SF and Marcel and imagining all your calamities! Until we meet again or until I discover a way to be bi-coastal! Au revoir!

Hello Spring

“In the spring, at the end of the day,
you should smell like dirt."
Margaret Atwood

“April is the cruelest month,
breeding lilacs out of the dead land,
mixing memory and desire,
stirring dull roots with spring rain.”
T.S. Eliot

“Every year, back comes Spring, with nasty little birds yapping their fool heads off and the ground all mucked up with plants.”
Dorothy Parker

“It's spring fever.... You don't quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”
Mark Twain

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes,
and the grass grows by itself”
Zen Proverb

Supermarket Reunion

It is all fine and good when you have 45 minutes to do a shop before yoga but sometimes the best laid plans...well, let's just say I missed yoga but it was worth it!

I was rushing through the vegetable section yesterday trying to decide what to cook on the side of the steaks when I ran into Bert who works backstage at the Flynn. We got to talking and one thing led to another and we were reminiscing about the Flynn and what not.

Then I saw Kelly out of the corner of my eye. The very same Kelly who used to work at the Flynn and also had lunch at my house earlier in the day! So I called over Kelly and we had a mini-Flynn reunion in the vegetable aisle. Bert suggested greens on the side and Kelly suggested fresh mozzarella and tomatoes ( I got both). Mmmm...

Then a pretty smiling girl walked up to me and said, "I know you."

"No autographs," said I. Yuck, yuck.

"You used to know me as Jen Cole," said the still smiling girl whose face all of a sudden clicked into focus. It WAS Jen Cole, my best friend in 8th grade whom I have not seen in, let me count - crikey - almost 20 years!?

Jen and I used to write lots of poems. In fact, we even started a poem book which the other literate girls in our class helped us fill up. I think I may have dedicated one of my poems to either Peter Cetera or Ralph Macchio (I was all about the Karate Kid, in fact, we sang a good rendition of "The Glory of Love" at a party last weekend, I was touched!).

Jen and I also wrote each other epic notes - 10 pages long. What did we talk about? What did we have to say? God only knows. We were young, bored, creative and there was NO INTERNET!!!!!

Being a teenager in Vermont in the 80s sort of sucked. There was no alternative culture and without the internet, you had no way of knowing it even existed. It was like living in a desolate but pretty cultural vacuum. We couldn't hang out much because we lived in different towns and were too young to drive. So we wrote long notes, talked on the phone a lot and shared all our hopes and dreams.

We also went horseback riding at Jen's house, usually we rode bareback. Her horse had a white star on her face and a sweet temperament. I remember one rainy day when we were meandering through the forest and my horse slipped and we slid down a wet hill - with me still attached to her. We both had the wind knocked out of us but were only slightly scratched.

Riding horses bareback was thrilling and terrifying at the same time. When galloping through a field at crazy speeds, sometimes I would pause to wonder what might happen if my horse stepped in a rabbit hole, sending me sprawling high in the air. After riding we would balance lazily on the backs of our sweaty horses and bask in the sunlight. A girl's life, such bliss.

I still always note the Cole's house when I pass by it on my way to Johnson (as anyone who has ever driven there with me can attest to). Down the hill is her grandparent's house and across the street, her family's farm. Further down the road, their family friend's farm. It is truly beautiful countryside.

So after 20 plus years, what do poetry/horseback riding friends talk about? We will find out as we are doing lunch. This is one of the reasons I moved back to Vermont, to run into people I know at the supermarket and to find my old friends from high school.

Now I just have to make sure not to lose my friends in California. A trip out there in June may be just the thing to ensure it! I bought my ticket, California, here I come! OH BOY!

4 Sunsets, Oh Boy

Ever since Spring HIT Vermont with the force of a semi-truck, inhabitants have been shedding clothes and spending every spare moment of their time out of doors - and I am one of them.

With the exception of a Friday drive to Barre, I have been getting around town on my trusty stead, my Pee Wee Herman knock-off red bicycle. She needed some air in her tires after many long winter months of misuse - I sort of know how she feels - but now she is ready to go.

Between rehearsals, blogger meet-ups, freelancing, vlogging and social engagements, there has not been as much outdoor time as I would like. But I take a moment here and there to soak in the sunshine and the delicious smell of spring.

And as luck would have it, I got to watch the sunset FOUR times this weekend! HELL YEAH! Last night was the best one at Adam and Sara's house on the lake with grilled meat and a lawn that lead right out to the water. Wow, sign me up. And welcome back spring, please never leave us ever, ever again...

April's Winter Weekend

These days, if it isn't snowing, it is raining and if it is neither raining nor snowing, it is dismal and gray. Is this April? Right now in California, the yards are blooming with flowers and color, the air is fragrant and breezy, the sky is blue and the sun is beating down...sigh, I need a vacation (preferably one which involves non-snow-covered deck chairs).


Still, since I am not allowed out of town until June, there are some good times to be had in this chilly, gray, slush-coated land. Sadly, most of the goings on I am not allowed to mention.

Suffice to say, they involve glamorous costumes, lots of flesh, sequins, fringe, flashbacks to the 30s, juggling, singing, dancing, and sassy theater all coated with an air of bohemian je n'est sais quoi....say no more! No really, shut up Eva (no small task mind you...)!

On a less secretive note, I got to see Lyric's awesome production of Guys and Dolls Friday night with Fancy Dancy and ate at American Flatbread TWICE (hot fudge brownie sundae, pinot noir, fresh mozzarella/basil/tomato pizza...mmm).

Plus, both my mom and sister and friend Travis ALL had b'days this weekend! Happy birthday guys! Glug, glug. And what did I get my 73 year old mom? A purple bathing suit from American Apparel which she then returned for another suit, that just cracks me up somehow. Sounds like an SNL skit.

Oh, and there was that charming 3-way IM Friday between Travis in California and Parisa in NYC - so naughty! Days ago, Travis was jogging in the hills of San Rafael. No fair!

When I projected at the Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, I would marvel at its delicious climate which was never too hot and never too chilly but JUST RIGHT - all year round. San Rafael is perfectly placed inland with warm breezes, hot summer nights, farmers markets, indie films, a quaint downtown and the feeling of La La Land. No wonder Sean Penn lives there. Sigh...

Now if only the Vermont weather would realize that IT IS APRIL and it is time to cheer up, just a little bit, please! Weather like this makes me want to curl up with a good book and not leave the house all day, slowly work my way through my movie collection starting with the tropical Romancing the Stone...sigh...

Breath of Trees, Grass and Flowers

[water]

If the
drip - drip - drip
falling from the leaves -
summer
spring time
fall as heavy
wears the ground away from the roots-
turns the hardest smooth
and tortures people to insanity...

Then proof is had
things as soft as lips
(and touching skins)
wear out, leave marks and distress.

Either way, the suns of silent operation,
the moons sweet light reflection silence
the breath of trees, grass and flowers...

-attack first for immediate compensation
-war is affliction.
-casual.

- steven hazen williams from anti-kirchenlied
About Anti-kirchenlied (A steal at $4):

The collection travels through Vermont’s rivers, mountainsides, sheds, country houses and backyards while taking detours through confused bedrooms, late nights in the dark and daydreams of musical perfection. Williams’ playful approach to language blends casual observation, imagination, and field-reporting into dense chunks of wistful whimsy – a window into the poet’s impressions of what is, what couldshouldbe(but isn’t) and what will most likely happen, given the way things usually work out.

Anti-kirchenlied will leave you appreciating the people who yell outside your house and steal records out of your car while reminding you how much you can get out of waking up before sunrise to take a long drive on the interstate for work. It’s a collection that provokes laughter and resignation, makes you think a little bit more about the kinds of things you think, and in the end encourages you to trade in all of your experiences for comfort and trust.

Steve Williams is a rock and roll poet with a heart of gold. Anti-kirchenlied is his best book yet.

Hackie is Stuck in Vermont

Finally, another installment of my new vlog, Stuck in Vermont. Two weekends ago I spent a morning chatting with local author, cab driver, comedian and philosopher Jernigan Pontiac.

In addition to being highly entertained by his droll humor and getting a great tour of the area from a cab's-eye-view, I had an excellent time talking to Jernigan about life, art and people. It is not often that you find such a genuine, interesting, thoughtful soul and even rarer still when you get to have an on-camera chat with them.

It killed me to whittle my hour of footage down to 4 minutes (literally, it killed me, I am still in mourning) but at long last, here is the final bite-sized product, Stuck in Vermont, Episode 2, The Hackie.

I may have to follow this vlog up with Jernigan's tour of the area not to mention more Jernigan gems about writing and life and massive amounts of silliness. Seriously, this guy needs his own TV show. So beware another Hackie Episode 2.1 or some such thing.

The most awesome music is by C-Funk also known as Adam Cooper Wood and Chris Cheney. Remember to read the bi-weekly Hackie column in Seven Days and to buy the Hackie books here! Spread the word folks, a little dose of Hackie each day keeps the winter doldrums at bay!