Hi! And Can I Share a Paragraph?

If anybody's still out there, and I am not sure why you would be, here I am again to say hello and to share a paragraph. Not one of mine, you may be grateful to hear. I picked up Edith Wharton's famous book, The Age of Innocence at a library sale a year or so ago and just got around to it the other day. I read this passage last night before bed and it got me wondering where in our house we might have room for a little shrine to Edith Wharton.

It is a description of the elderly doyenne of 1870's New York society: Mrs. Manson Mingott:

The immense accretion of flesh which had descended on her in middle life like a flood of lava on a doomed city had changed her from a plump active little woman with a neatly-turned foot and ankle into something as vast and august as a natural phenomenon. She had accepted this submergence as philosophically as all her other trials, and now, in extreme old age, was rewarded by presenting to her mirror an almost unwrinkled expanse of firm pink and white flesh, in the center of which the traces of a small face survived as if awaiting excavation. A flight of smooth double chins led down to the dizzy depths of a still-snowy bosom veiled in snowy muslins that were held in place by a miniature portrait of the late Mr. Mingott; and around and below, wave after wave of black silk surged away over the edges of a capacious armchair, with two tiny white hands poised like gulls on the surface of the billows.

I wish I could do that.

Shack, Again

Shackleton asked me to get him some cereal the other day (I think at nearly 11 he's getting a little old to be treating me as the waitress around here - note to self). Anyway, as per my instinct to serve him food on demand, I asked where the cereal might be found.

Shack: "It's in the Lazy Betty."

Me: "You mean, "'Lazy Susan.'"

Shack: "Susan, Betty, whatever. They're all lazy."

February Is Better Than January

At least today. We had some fresh snow - just a dusting to cover the ice and the icy snow, and then some sun. Winter's perfect combination. The sun is different now, gathering a little strength. I dragged Shackleton out to the hill behind the farm house for a little flexible flying. Here's the most epic run yet - all the way from the back of the barn to the bottom of the field where the stream runs!



In other (utterly unrelated) news, I rented "The Haunting" from Netflix a week or two ago and sat down to watch it last night. I remembered seeing it as a teenager, and it made an impression. As I was racking my brain at my Netflix queue one day it popped back into my mind. No wonder I remembered it. It was directed by Robert Wise from a story by Shirley Jackson (none of this would have registered on me at 16). As the opening credits rolled I caught one that noted "Claire Bloom's Wardrobe by Mary Quant."

What a promising start, I thought. It is a fun movie - despite the frantic performance by Julie Harris, but she had a hard part to play - all coming apart at the seams and frustrated spinster and all.

Claire looked really cool in a black turtle neck, gold necklace, pegged pants and heels:





The creepy statue was a weak point. It looked like papier mache. The scary house was otherwise pretty effective - at least as photographed by Wise.

You can see why I tagged this post as "nothing really." Thanks for stopping by, though.

Not Dead Yet...

In case you were wondering. Still upright and breathing if not blogging or reading blogs much. There's that pesky big project still dogging me! I wanted to stop in today just to wiggle my toes at anybody who dared (or chanced) in here to lift the sheet. It's not pretty but no putrefaction yet...

For the kind souls who held up their hands as potential book critics, I am revising away. Since it will cost about $50 for each copy of the manuscript I'm only going to print a few and maybe try to circulate them to more than one reader.

January is doing its thing around here. Today's banner is not, alas, a recent picture. We have had a few blue sky days but nothing as good as this lately. Lots of freezing rain and up and down temperatures that have turned all the snow that got compacted in driveways and parking lots into smooth ice... More treacherous as one ages.

Here's one little Shackletonism that I have been meaning to record. (A reward, I hope, for those who got this far). We were driving to the town dump when Adele's new release, "Set Fire to the Rain" came on the radio. You know I'm a fan, so I turned it up. Shack shouted from the back.

"You couldn't set fire to the rain unless it had some gas or something in it! And do you know how many people you would kill if you did set fire to the rain? Including yourself? Do you know how much property damage you would cause?"

(Well, it was funny at the time).

A few days earlier the song from the new Twilight movie came on - the chorus is "I Will Love You for A Thousand Years" (That might be the title too. Whatever). Anyway, Shack shouted out after a time or two through the chorus.

"A thousand years and that's it. Then we are through. It's a thousand years and not one minute more!"

Shackleton Speaks Again

Watching TV en famille. The same ad seems to appear at each break: "America runs on Dunkin'!"

Shack: "Poor Duncan."

Bwah ha ha.



*Warning*

A few of you regular stoppers-in (OK, there are only a few people who fit that category so if you're reading this you're probably in my crosshairs.) I have been scribbling away for a few years (yes, years) on a book - a story book. I have thought from the beginning that my book was what they call "YA" in the book trade (young adult) but I think as I polish it up that it's more like, LHB (literate human beings - probably older than six). Probably this means it is also MP (marketplace poison) but I am trying to make it good in hopes that I won't be the only person ever to read it. I know that could still happen,and, statistically, at least, is likely to happen. But I am pressing forward and that means I may be looking to you brilliant, faithful few in the weeks ahead - after the holidays I promise - to advise me about it. That is, not to beat around the bush, to read some or all of it and tell me what you think. I know this is a delicate thing I won't twist any arms, but I am telling you now so you can think about it. You don't have to say anything now. But consider yourselves warned. In the meantime, a blessing on all your heads.

Jay Peak To Expand With “Vermont Volcano Experience”

Jay, Vt. – The nation’s northernmost ski area announced today that it will add a unique-in-the-world man-made volcano as part of the next phase of the resort’s development.

“The indoor water park is done, the skating rink is done, one new hotel is done and the conference center and other new hotel are almost done,” said Jay Peak spokesman Ozzy Mandius. “The golf course has been expanded to its full 18 holes and the new clubhouse and parking garage have been operational for well over a year. We’ve got condos, condos and more condos and a bridal chapel. We looked around and thought – what next?”

Mandius noted that volcano tourism has been up-trending world-wide. “Our market studies show there is an excellent opportunity for Jay Peak to expand its four-season business by drilling through the peak on the State Side of the mountain. To be clear,” he added, “we aren’t talking about going right through the main peak, where the tram is located. We recognize that is an iconic spot and it will remain undisturbed in keeping with our commitment to keep Jay true to its roots.”

The resort, which is located in Jay, Vermont (population 326) has been the beneficiary of the EB5 visa program which allows foreign investors, in exchange for a minimum investment of $500,000 in a “rural or high unemployment area,” permanent resident status for themselves, their spouses and their children under 21. The popular cash-for-green-cards program has made the recent rapid expansion at Jay possible, and with investor interest remaining strong Mandis says the resort should have no problem capitalizing “The VVE”.

“Most people don’t realize that it’s actually only 19 miles down to the asthenosphere: that’s the tough liquid part of the outer mantle of the earth’s core, we don’t have to get all the way to the core, thank goodness, to give our guests the only the volcano experience available in the eastern seaboard!” Mandius said.

One purpose of the EB 5 program is to provide employment in depressed areas. And while Mandius acknowledged that there are few Vermonters have the skills that will be necessary to complete the technical aspects of the volcano project, there will be many opportunities for "hewers of wood and drawers of water," as it were.  Mandius said he expects the spillover effects to be transformative of the backward corner of the state where the resort has been located for more than fifty years.

“Another huge benefit of this particular project,” he added, “is the thermal energy we are going to realize from the volcano once it is operational. In the second phase, we will be using this clean, green energy to add radiant heat to 142 acres of parking lot.”

Permits for the project are already in place, Kane said, and drilling is set to begin in April.

“After we get the volcano on-line we can start talking again about the monorails,” he added, referring to the recently-shelved plans to link Jay directly with Boston, Montreal and Burlington. “We ran into more resistance on the rights-of-way issues than we expected.”

Acknowledging that there have been some “haters” suggesting that all this construction may not be sustainable long term, Kane said, “We have carefully structured our business model to assure that these facilities will not eventually fall to wrack and ruin. What’s more, we believe firmly in the principle of, ‘if you build it, they will come’ – especially if you provide a free monorail to bring them to the thing you have built.”






Here's a straight story.
Mammoth Expansion Under Way At Jay Peak Resort - Project Economy News Story - WPTZ Plattsburgh

Another Top Tip

I have been away in my own private Idaho. Plus working. Yawn.

Sorry.

As partial recompense for for ignoring you and then boring you here's some music by a great group with a great name: Alabama Shakes. They have a genuinely brilliant genuinely American girl singer who looks like someone who sat next to you in history class (named, alas, Brittany). Still, you'll love it - oh the guitars. Try "Hold On" for starters. More great stuff follows.