Vermont

August 31, 2009
We left NJ this morning, heading for Springfield, MA. I got the directions from a website. I had no idea they would take me over the George Washington Bridge and through a part of Manhattan. It was not fun. There were far too many cars piloted by aggressive drivers. I am sure that they have to be that way in order to survive out there, but it was highly stressful for me. At one point, Bill thought he'd gone the wrong way and there were no signs on the road telling us where we were, so we had to ask at the tollbooth. We were on the right road. Phew! It was crazy! I was so glad to be out of that mess. Then once we got beyond Stamford, CT, things eased up and we were out of the urban insanity. Bill told me that Springfield is the second largest city in Massachusetts. I did not know that. In any case, it was a pleasant afternoon. Bill lived here decades ago, but of course it all looked unfamiliar.

September 1, 2009
We're in Vermont!! YIPPEE!! It is beautiful here. Green everywhere. As heather pointed out, the very name of the state means “green mountain” and that is what we're surrounded by. OK, so they aren't exactly mountains by Alaska or even Oregon standards. But they are green, with just a hint of yellow and red starting. Soon the color will explode, I guess.

We stopped at a welcome center that was really nice—we got lots of information and there was some great art to look at—including a textured woven rug and a knitted baby sweater.

We got to White River Junction at midday. Bill lived here in the 70s and he was able to recognize some things. We will stay here until Thursday so he has a chance to explore his old stomping grounds and then we will move along to Burlington on the last leg of our trip. We are about 90 miles away now.

Unfair and Unbalanced

August 28, 2009
I successfully made the sausage and peppers. Left them simmering for 2 ½ hours. They came out great! Now I know the new system.
I have been watching a lot of Fox News. This is new for me. I have not had cable for almost 15 years and even if I had access, it isn't the kind of thing I would normally turn on. But it has been interesting to watch the rhetorical devices they use in order to appear credible. Some of the people I have seen seem like they genuinely believe the stuff they are saying. For some of them, it all seems like a cynical ploy to make a few bucks. Either way, they engage in some pretty shady tactics. One guy in particular seemed like a lunatic. He spent a great deal of time yelling about a bunch of unconnected things, including communists. Are we still harping on that old stuff? Conservatives have been assuring us that the communists are coming for over half a century. They haven't shown up yet. For awhile, we were told to be very afraid of the terrorists, but they seem to be an afterthought now as they run terrified from the Obama administration, which is apparently teeming with communists. If you listen to Fox News for even a few minutes, you will get the impression that any minute now, we will be overrun with commies. It's all in the works right now, according to the conspiracy theorists on TV. At one point the guy had a chalkboard with a bunch of stuff written all over it and he was trying to make some point by writing “OLIGARH” across the top. He asked, “What letter is missing?” He didn't listen when I was yelling at him that he forgot the “C” because he insisted that the missing letter was “Y.” So he had “OLIGARHY.” OK. He probably goes on about immigrants learning English, too. He might want to try that sometime—learning English, that is. I mean, he didn't catch it, his editing team didn't catch it. I'm sure plenty of people in the audience are busy trying to figure out what an “oligarhy” is. Any credibility he had—which was admittedly microscopic—vanished at that little scene. In addition to being unable to spell, he spent a great deal of time in a hysterical diatribe against something that had to do with President Obama. Unfortunately his ability to accurately listen to and comprehend English was as bad as his spelling. He showed a clip of Obama talking about a “civilian intelligence agency.” As he ranted, there was a scroll at the bottom of the screen that talked about the “civilian security force.” Quite a different idea. After he had run that scroll for a few minutes he began to use that language in his rant as well. On a different evening he showed a clip of the diversity specialist at the FCC talking about Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, mentioning the “democratic revolution.” On the transcript they showed on the screen, the word they had instead of “democratic” was “dramatic.” Later, they had “incredible.” By the third time—when I bet many people had stopped paying much attention since it was so repetitive—he put up the correct word. So the basic structure of the show is that the guy starts out calmly and very apologetically talking about the bad news he is forced to pass on to the audience. No one has disputed anything he has said, except for a few minor details, though they have attacked him personally. He does not worry for himself about the forthcoming takeover of the airwaves by the communists, because he will be just fine, thank you. No, it is simply concern about his fellow countrymen that drives him. We should all be very scared. I am a little, but not for the same reasons as this nut. As he talks, he gets more and more agitated until he is almost foaming at the mouth. Then suddenly, he stops the rant and looks sincerely at the camera and says—and this is something they all did, the sane ones and the nuts—that this is not a partisan issue. It is not a Democrat or Republican issue. No, it is something we all must worry about. I find this pretense that they are not partisan interesting. Since people in this country are sick and tired of the divisiveness we've experienced over the past 8 years, that old crap doesn't work anymore, so they pretend to be genuinely concerned about everyone. It was almost humorous to watch guests from the Bush administration talking in serious tones about the dangers of having so much power consolidated in Washington (!) and the threats to personal liberty. Almost humorous, but not quite. I was not sure how they could sit there and say this stuff with a straight face.
I watched a woman attempt to play this game. She had one one person from each side. Before she began the interview I turned to my daughter and told her, 'You watch what will happen now. The woman in the red dress (the Republican, naturally) will be able to speak freely and without interruption. When the Democrat attempts to speak, she will be continually interrupted and not even allowed to finish a sentence.” And that is exactly what happened. I was told that many people on the station are lawyers. This explains their ability to use language in skillful ways that are not exactly honest. A totally different crew was showing clips of a congresswoman talking to her constituents. She mentioned that she'd met Fidel Castro and she found him to be one of the brightest leaders she'd met. When the commentators started talking, they twisted this all kinds of ways—she was a full supporter of Castro, she backed him, she basically agreed with everything he said. Again, this inability to understand English properly is pretty disturbing. Or they are deliberately twisting people's words on a regular basis (ya think?) because they know they can make it seem like people are saying things they are not. Because this happened on several shows at different times of the day, I must conclude that this is a deliberate strategy on their part. How else to whip people into a frenzy of fear? Because make no mistake, this is what they are (still) doing. I wonder how long it can work. How long will the conservatives spread fear far and wide and have people fall for it? They are going on and on about the “health care bill.” Never mind that there is nothing resembling a bill that is about to go to the White House for signature. There is a House bill. Everyone (or so I thought) knows that now the Senate needs to craft a bill, vote on it, and then IF it passes, get together with representatives from the House to hammer out a compromise. We are far from having “a bill.” But accuracy won't get them anywhere so they resort to falsehood and twisting the truth. And the thing that gets me is that they keep talking about what will happen, as though everything will stay the same even if we do get a health care bill passed. But this is short-sighted. One change leads to other changes. You don't make serious changes and expect other things to remain the same. It doesn't work that way. Maybe this is where the fear comes from. Because I do believe that underneath everything, this is what drives this—fear. People are terrified of change. At one point, one of the commentators said that Ted Kennedy's vision had not been fulfilled, so why the accolades? “We have never adopted the things he has wanted to do,” she said. And I so wanted to respond, 'Yeah, and look at where we are today. How's the status quo working for you people?” I guess for the people at Fox, they're working pretty well. They have nice jobs that require them to do very little. Thinking is not required. They can just rant and spout a bunch of nonsense and collect the paycheck. That's nice for them. Too bad for the rest of us.

At The Jersey Shore

August 27, 2009
So on Monday I watched how the sausage and peppers are made. The secret is in the slow cooking. I have made them myself on many occasions, but they never tasted quite like Aunt Marie's. I took about 15 or 20 minutes to cook mine, she took about 2 ½ hours. Now I know. And boy did it all taste good!!


On Tuesday we gathered some stuff and headed for the house down at the shore. I have not been there since the 1970s. Bill had never been there, and of course Heather had not been born yet the last time I was there.

We took Babe, the little white fluffball dog, with us. She would've missed Marie terribly if she'd been left at the house. She had a tendency to get carsick, so I covered my lap with a big towel and had a pile of napkins with me just in case. She made it almost to the house when she threw up. No harm done, except that poor Babe was a bit jittery for the rest of the day as she got used to a new environment. Bill and I took her out for many long walks in the couple of days we were there. She was fine after awhile.

Everything was so built up. When I was last there, the house was new and there were not as many houses there. Now there are lagoons and houses everywhere. But it was nice to be there again.

On Wednesday we went to Long Beach Island and the Barnegat Light. We walked along the boardwalk and enjoyed the view. Bill took lots of photos. Marie and Babe sat under the gazebo and Babe happily accepted a bunch of attention from the kids that walked by.

Later we went and got some amazingly excellent New Jersey pizza. The crust was just right—nice and floppy. And Bill and I split a sub. That was just right, too. It was a real Italian sub, not the sort of pseudo-Italian ones I've been eating for the past decades :-)
On Thursday we went home and again Babe almost made it before she got sick.


Poor little puppy—her day got even worse after that as she got a bath, which she hates. Then she got a blow dry, but not her head—she puts her foot down about that! Tomorrow I will try my hand at sausage and peppers.

Anniversary in New Jersey

August 22, 2009
We're in New Jersey! I have not been here in 12 years and before that it was 10. I spent lots of time here as a kid because most of my mother's side of the family lived here. We're staying with my Aunt Marie—she looks just the same! She still lives in the same house that I used to visit and stay in when I would hang around with my cousin. So much of the surrounding area looks completely different, as you would expect, but then some familiar thing jumps out and I find myself saying, “Oh yeah, I remember that.” Anyway, it is kind of strange to be in this house where some things look different and some things are the same.

We have met the dog, Babe, and commenced with the fussing and spoiling. We plan to go down to the house at the shore, which I have not been to in over 30 years, and Bill wants to get his truck looked at. For now, I am just enjoying being here and catching up with my aunt!

August 23, 2009
Today is our 29th anniversary. I never would have guessed that I would be spending it in New Jersey! Life takes us in interesting directions sometimes. It doesn't really matter where I spend the day, though, as long as I'm with Bill. Our marriage has been the thing that I am the most grateful for in my life.


Aunt Marie took us to see the spot where my Nana's house used to be. After she died, a developer bought the houses and property and is building some new McMansions. You would never know what it used to look like. That makes it easier somehow, because there are no traces of what it used to be and I have my memories. Then we went to the cemetery where we saw her vault, as well as that of my grandfather and uncle. We went back to the house for awhile and then Aunt Marie took us out to lunch at a place called Panera Bakery. It was really good. I'd seen the signs on the highways, but had never heard of the place before that. I had some broccoli-cheddar soup and a turkey sandwich. Yum! Tomorrow, she is going to show me how she makes her sausage and peppers. Tuesday, we go down to the shore house.

Almost

August 21, 2009
Interesting day. Good thing we got the wipers replaced on the truck. We were driving across Pennsylvania and entered a fog area—lots of hills and valleys around. The sky was dark. Before long, it was like night. It was only 10 in the morning, but the sky looked like it was nine at night. The rain started. Then it poured. It was coming down in sheets! We were on this narrow bit of road with two lanes and a very small shoulder area. Bill was getting extremely nervous because he could not see—a minor detail when one is driving! We knew that pulling over would not be safe, so he kept his eyes glued to the lights on the truck in front of him and kept us moving forward, trying to ignore all of the people passing us on the left. It didn't last long, but it was a stressful few minutes! He had those new wipers going as fast as they would go and it still wasn't fast enough. Still, if we'd had the old wipers they would've been flung from the truck and into a valley or something.
We got to our destination and were sorely disappointed. We knew there would be bad weather, so we were looking for a motel room that was along interstate 80.


The night before—in Streetsboro—we watched as more tornado warnings were issued. One was for the county we were in. I had to look at the phone book to find out what county we were in, and sure enough, the funnel cloud or whatever it was passed about 10 miles to the south of us. So we wanted some shelter. We searched and searched with our atlas in hand, but could not find anyplace that would take a reservation. Finally we found a Red Roof Inn in Danville, PA that had a room available, so we booked that. It was a somewhat longer drive than we'd been making in a day and we were somewhat nervous about this because of the clanging and clunking noises the truck is making (Bill did some research and thinks it's the U-joint). Anyway, there seemed to be little choice, so we reached Danville, found the motel and proceeded to check in. The room itself was nice enough—clean and comfortable. But the free coffeehouse style whole bean coffee that they trumpeted all over their website was unavailable because the machine was broken. There was no internet connection available. I was in desperate need of coffee. So after bringing our stuff in and laying down for awhile, Bill asked the woman at the desk where the nearest grocery store was. It was right down the road a couple of miles, she said, so we got into the clanging truck and headed that way. It was there.

I love walking around new grocery stores. You can tell a lot about where you are by observing what kind of food they sell and do not sell. I find it fascinating. On this day, my mind was pretty foggy, though, so I kind of stood there feeling overwhelmed as I tried to figure out what to buy for supper. By this time I had found the coffee and purchased a 20 ounce cup. It wasn't great, but it was good enough, and I was grateful. So while I waited for that to kick in, I kind of wandered around looking at stuff.

Then I spotted the pizza in the hot food case. It looked almost like New Jersey pizza, which seemed reasonable, since I was almost in New Jersey! I had been looking forward to NJ pizza for a long time. There's something about it that's different from west coast pizza. Anyway, I looked up at the sign and saw that they sold whole pies. I knew what I wanted for dinner. So Bill ordered some and we went outside to drink our coffee while we waited. Bill decided he didn't like it, so he gave me most of his 20 ounce cup, too. I was feeling much better. We went back to the room and I tried the pizza. It was almost NJ pizza. The crust was a tad too thick, but it tasted wonderful! And we even have some left over for breakfast tomorrow!

Scratching the Surface

August 20, 2009
We have avoided Cleveland and are in Streetsboro, Ohio. Seems like a nice enough town. But I say this based on one short drive down a road, a stop at the grocery store and a dash into a motel room. The latter is nicer than what we had last night. Of course, yesterday afternoon when I walked into the lobby and saw the desk people behind the plexi-glass windows, I knew I was in a different world than the U.P. I don't know whether it was bulletproof or not, but I assume it was. And the toilet was on pretty soft flooring. You could feel it sinking. Someone sometime will have an unpleasant surprise. Anyway, we had a good drive here. We discovered some excellent signage just into Ohio directing us to the Rt 80/Rt 90/ Ohio Turnpike. We stopped to get new windshield wipers because we did hit a rainstorm and the driver's side wiper started coming off.
Last night we watched the news and there was a story about a 12-year-old who shot and killed a 24-year-old woman. He is being tried as an adult. This is certainly tragic and indicative of some serious personal AND cultural problems. But the station did a poll asking people whether there should be more regulation around how people store their guns. The result was that 80% said no more regulation was needed/wanted. They talked to the victim's father who felt that the death penalty would be a better result for this child than the possibility of life imprisonment. I understand his position and I cannot even begin to understand his pain. But how exactly will any of this help solve the larger problem? His daughter is dead. She will be dead no matter what happens. And because we refuse, as a society, to deal with the real problem, in the future someone else's daughter will be dead too. Does this kid have serious issues that need to be addressed? Absolutely. But we live in a society where guns are everywhere and violence is entertainment. There's enough evidence to show that these things matter. Who knows what particular dysfunction was afoot in his family. In spite of the lip service we like to give aboyt "family values," this society does a great deal to undermine family relationships, not support them. I don't know the details, but clearly this boy had troubles in his life, probably at many levels. But do we want to take any small part of the responsibility? Nope. People just keep going on about rights. And they keep hoping that they can take care of the problem at the surface. This is the case here, with the economy, and in so many other ways. Imprison a child and pretend that you're actually done something useful. Then when it happens again, be surprised at how bad these kids today are. The economy is crumbling. No kidding—it was bound to happen. It's not sustainable as currently constructed. But what kind of serious discussion is going on about the foundational issues that led us to this point? The voices must be few and far between, because I am not hearing them. This is so typical of this culture. People run around like their hair is on fire trying to take care of things after the fact. You can't make big changes—which is what is needed when you are dealing with things from an emergency perspective. The emergency has to be dealt with, of course, but the root of the problem must be dealt with as well. Going back to our old economic habits—if that is possible—will not get at the real problem. Throwing this young boy in jail after trying him as an adult will not solve the problem. It's hard to deal with these big problems, but what is the cost of doing nothing? It will be pretty high.

Places

August 19, 2009
We're in Flint, Michigan. Might as well be another planet. We started off in the peace and beauty of the U.P. and ended up here. The bridge was a trip this morning. It seemed huge. According to a postcard I saw, including the approaches, the bridge is 5 miles long. It's an attractive structure. They were working on it, so we were in the inside lane, and there was equipment between us and the view sometimes, but it was still a nice sight. Then it was a few more hours of nice scenery until we gradually ran into more traffic and eventually, 4 lanes of it. By the time we drove by Saginaw, we knew we were back in what people tend to call “civilization.” I think we were going by the outskirts of Saginaw—at least I hope so, because it seemed to be pretty industrial. There was a weird smell in the air. Thirty miles later, Flint. Bill's stress level kept rising as the traffic got thicker. I don't blame him. There's a reason I hate driving.
This seems like urban with some grit added in. Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Fargo were urban. The first two were pleasant enough. They seemed like nice places, even if they were large and too busy for my taste. I wouldn't want to live there. I didn't much care for Fargo, but it was still not quite like this. I could visit the Twin Cities again. I hope to never be here after tomorrow. Of course, tomorrow I will be just outside of Cleveland, so I am not sure how much of an improvement that will be. I am sure that there are people who adore Cleveland. I have only been there once. I have what is probably an ignorant and stereotypical idea about Cleveland not being very inviting. And since I will just be passing through, tomorrow will not do anything to enlighten me, I suppose. I have been thinking today that Burlington will be interesting. We read that it is the smallest town to be the largest city in a state. The population is about 35,000 people, I think—maybe a few thousand more—so it's about the size of Klamath Falls. But it's close to places like Boston and Montreal, and seems to have some really progressive thinkers. I know from experience that you can't go by what you see on the web. There were things in Klamath Falls that looked really good until I got there and saw the reality, which was nothing like what was advertised. So I am either a chump or a hopeless optimist or something, because even after my experience in Klamath Falls, I am really starting to see possibilities for our time in Vermont. I am hoping that some of this stuff really is happening and really is there for me to be involved in. The Quaker Earthcare organization is based there. The Quakers seem like they're active and involved. There's a whole bunch of stuff. So I am starting to feel hopeful about what we will discover. And the city is small enough to be comfortable and not so small that we will be isolated. Larger cities are close by in case the opportunity to do projects or some other kind of work comes up. And it would be nice to see Quebec again. Bill and I went there for a weekend once (when we lived in NH) but that was about 25 years ago. Anyway, those are my rambling thoughts about places for today.
Tomorrow, Cleveland.