Sunday, November 29, 2009

Tra La La - Snap Snap Snap


One for the Christmas Card?


Frosty morning in Stowe

Did I mention about my new laptop? I was momentarily neglectful of the last one at Dulles Airport a few weeks ago and it was fatal. Well, the home owner's insurance came through and I have a new one, less good, but new.

One nice feature of the new computer is that I can pop my photo card into a little slot in the side and have all the pictures/videos sucked right in here. This is good because I seem also to have lost the specialized USB cord that I previously used for this task. (People at work say I remind them of Lucille Ball - of the Desi era - because of these kinds of mishaps).

November is famously a zero in this part of the world. Too late for foliage, too soon for snow: the innkeeper's call it, glumly, "stick season."

It has its consolations, though, and here are a few pictures I have taken over the last couple of days and weeks.


Sunrise from next to the milk house


Afternoon on the Jay Peak Golf Course


Does this say "asylum" to you? Cause that's what it was (and still is in one little corner). These days it is officially the Vermont State Office Complex in Waterbury, where I work. It wasn't created to house bureaucrats, but the mad, the poor, the halt and the lame. The bureaucrats have it now and a few of us are fascinated by the history of the place, though people seem not to talk too much about it.

And Something about this little stretch of building just says, "19th Century Mad House" to me.




A view into Quebec - the higher elevations have winter now and we're next.

OK - time to pack up and get ready for the week ahead. Thanks for stopping by.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great pics.

Unfortunately, most of our winter is "stick season" because we seldom get a lot of snow. It gets rather tedious between New Years and the end of March.

Cheers.

Kim Velk said...

R. You can always be counted on to say something nice (about my pictures, not about Missouri winters). Does your wife miss the snow? Strange as it sounds I know I would.

Madame DeFarge said...

Glad you've got a new laptop (even if it isn't a Mac - she sighs). Good pictures and that one is certainly Mad house or a work house.

Nan said...

I love November, as I say probably way too often. I like the opening up of the world when the leaves come off. Your pictures are just beautiful.

I remember Waterbury as a place people went to 'dry out.' My father was in AA (he had quit drinking before I was born) and part of his life work was helping other drinkers. I remember him transporting a lot of them over there. I wonder if the 'mad' and the 'drunks' were in the same place?

I have a New Yorker question. I just bought an issue off the newstand (the food one, no surprise!), and I am thinking about subscribing. The cost was $5.99 and the little coupon inside says I can subscribe for 85¢ an issue. I see there is quite a lot online, but I am not sure I'd really go there much. Most of my online time seems to be involved in reading blogs and book sites. Do you think it is worth subscribing to? Years ago, I loved it. Then I didn't. But this issue was so good. Any advice?

Kim Velk said...

Hey Nan -

I think for years Waterbury was the place that towns all over the state used as the parking place, for lack of a better expression, for any local citizen who presented a behavior issue - or who was poor.

On the New Yorker - as you know I have always loved my subscription, though I seem to have a hard time keeping up with the reading. I agree there was a time when they seemed to think it was their purpose to provoke... I think there's a little less of that now. Some recent features - one on Fitzgerald comes to mind - have been positively academic. As for subscribing, even though there's a lot of material on line (and at least one really good podcast of NYer Fiction) I still like the magazine for bedtime reading. I also try to save them to pass onto a Canadian friend as the postage for delivery to Canada makes it prohibitive. So, my vote is at 85 cents an issue you can't go far wrong. Enjoy the snow.

Nan said...

Thank you for your advice! I'm gonna do it! And I think Concord was the 'parking place' for NH.

nursemyra said...

Wonderful photos. And the children are gorgeous too

Kim Velk said...

Sorry it took me so long to come back around. Nan, I salute you. Let me know whether you think your investment has been repaid.

Nursemyra - Thanks for your kind comment. I had a wee quick look at your blog and see I am moving in rather a slower lane... I appreciate your willingness to tour.