Reliving days gone by in Vermont

Monday was a good day for taking a break from driving. It began sunny but chilly in Rutland when we woke up but warmed up nicely for our trip down memory lane.

We spent much of the morning just relaxing in the hotel room although I did pop over to the nearby Hannaford grocery store for milk and fruit for breakfast -- the hotels are offering very little these days, which was fine with us.

l-r, front: Lena, Barb and Susie;
rear: Nancy, Judy, Betty, Sandy and Loreen

Our first most important goal for the day, indeed for this trip to Vermont was to meet up with several of Susie's former co-workers for lunch at the Rutland Country Club. (Oh, and for the record I had the ham club on rye toast and it was very good.)

For more than two hours I sat at the end of the table enjoying not just the wonderful stories but also the genuine warmth and care they all have for each other: Lena, Judy, Barb, Sandy, Nancy, Loreen, and Betty -- may you all have safe travels through life!

After a round of hugs and goodbyes we piled back into the car and drove to the Subaru dealer. I stopped there in the morning to ask if they could repair a burned out headlight and they said sure if we could come back about three. The dealership was close to the hotel so Susie just walked back to the room while I waited for the car. Twenty minutes later I was driving out with a brand-new bulb.

Later in the afternoon we had a different sort of rendezvous. 

When we were at the Facey's Sunday evening we learned that Dan Foley had died suddenly at his home in South Carolina in 2017 and was buried next to his first wife Lorilee in Evergreen Cemetery in Rutland. Dan and Lorilee had been part of the old wine group and were very special people. Unfortunately, no one seemed to know the exact location of the grave. 

After a couple of phone calls I reached a woman who worked at the cemetery office and Susie and I drove to meet her just as she getting ready to go home for the day. She had a map of the cemetery but unfortunately none of the sections were marked so we had to wait for the sexton to drop by to actually help locate the grave on the map. 

We paid our respects then left the cemetery and drove back into town and headed east on Route 4. 

A brief stop at Stratton Cemetery where I first discovered my obsession with funeral sculpture and then on to Red Clover Inn in Mendon. From there we turned back towards town but turned off onto Meadow Lake Drive past the old homestead in Chittenden and then on up the mountain to Mountain Top Inn. Back down the mountain we made our way back to the hotel and relaxed a bit before dinner. 

Since this was a Monday many places were closed but we found a wonderful place to sit outside and enjoy a glass of Fess Parker chardonnay while we had a scrumptious dinner at the Southside Steakhouse.

coming down from Mountain Top Inn

Two goodbyes and one hello

I suppose a change in our mode of transportation was inevitable, that it was only a matter of time before we readjusted our lifestyles: now that Susan closed up shop our lives became infinitely more flexible in terms of who needed the car when.

So, a week ago last Friday I put the motor scooter on cragislist and within the hour it sold. In the rain no less.

And then last Friday we traded in our "ice blue" Mini Cooper for a "twilight blue" Subaru Outback. I suppose we're more normal now, driving a car that actually allows us to carry things in the back, with four doors no less. We were looking for a reliable all-wheel-drive vehicle and so we now have one. And the myriad of sinkholes and potholes that pass for streets in Providence don't have quite the spine-jarring impact on our bodies that seemed to be the hallmark of driving a Mini. But the car was fun. . .