Because I Know You Were Wondering, Part I

I'm writing this, sitting on the floor of my apartment, on a rug I bought just before I moved in last year. I'm back home.

First, the lack of New York City photographs in my last entry turned out to be something of a premonition for the trip, since I didn't actually make it to the City. As I was warned, travel to pretty much anwhere from where I was in Vermont is really very inconvenient. The best plan I came up with entailed driving something like two hours to Rutland, then taking a five hour train ride that cost only a little less than a plane ticket from Milwaukee. Not worth it, really. I might have tried such an option a few years ago, but if I tried it this time I know I would be rushed, exhausted, and most likely would not have had very much fun. But I really don't feel all that bad about it. The week I had in Vermont was so off-the-charts surprising and fun I hardly thought about it. Which reminds me, do I have to apologize to anyone still for not showing up when I said I might? If so, email me, please. You can yell at me as loudly as you wish.

My sister and I drove all day last Saturday, and stopped off for a family reunion thing in Western New York. I can't remember the name of the town in which it was held, but it's where my uncle has land. This is where the reunion is always held. My sister and I got fairly unclear directions to this place from the Internet, then read them wrong. That made our trip an hour longer than it should have been. But once we were there, I found it really wonderful to meet a lot of family members I hadn't seen in probably ten years, to catch up, to have them be really interested in all the weird, meandering things I've been involved with over the past decade. But then, I'm always a sucker for anyone who seems to be even vaguely interested in anything I have to say, so we got along really great.

Also while there, I met a really great dog named Sidney. She's my cousin's boyfriend's dog, a stray he (or they?) took in and nursed back to health. I can't remember the last time I was mesmerized by the stare of a canine.

The next day (which would have been Sunday?) it was off to Vermont. The drive took like eight hours or something (there's that convenience factor once again!). We got in to the place our parents were staying around 9:30 p.m., which didn't seem to be all that big of a deal, until the sun set and we realized we could see basically nothing without our car's high beams on.

Monday I met up with Jessamyn, and we did stuff. Specifically, we went to Montpelier, and did a couple of ordinary things like go to the Post Office and the DMV, which I always find sort of fascinating (I'm a weird tourist, but I'm also a cheap date). I also met her friend Jim, who hadn't eaten all day and was looking for somewhere to have lunch. We stopped by a bookstore, where I go a cheapo copy of Jim Moody's Garden State, which I love (but can't believe am stilll reading). Then we went back to Jessamyn's place (I have photos I took there, but my camera's recharging; these images will be Part II of the Because I Know You Were Wondering series). Shortly thereafter Peter showed up, and we played Scrabble, drank beer, and ate dinner.

Now, in this space I'd love to itemize everything that was discussed that day. It would probably be a good idea, for the sake of posterity or whatever. But the list would be so huge, and would contain such disparate points that completing it would be just short of impossible, and understanding it would probably be even more difficult. So instead, let me do this. At one point we discussed the Anarchist Italian stone cutters in Barre, VT (as well as the colors that differentiated them from the Communists); at another point I learned that there are sixty two-letter words acceptable in Scrabble. I think, if you can somehow fill in the gap between those two items, you might get an idea of what we were talking about. If you do, could you let me know what it is, exactly?