Remembering To Forget

 I have lived in the Connecticut River Valley for most of my life. With the exception of  a 15 year period spent constantly moving around the Boston area, it was my hope to return to more familiar lands. 

After my parents passed away, I decided to remain, because I made so many friends, and my livlihood as an artist and musician was rooted along the very same roads I had my first experiences on. Many of the clubs from those days had closed, but new ones always popped up as a replacement, so I gradually learned to gradually forget the old ones. There were a couple of small watering holes that had live music - one was in Holyoke and the other in Florence. At the former, I would co-run an open mic event and play the Blues all night (often drowning my sorrows in whiskey) until 2AM. 

It was a good place for me to be when I was feeling bad.

 The latter was a nearby brewery where I would often play original songs at an acoustic open mic event. It was there that I would soon meet a vocalist who would eventually become more than just a singing partner.

 I started feeling better

I slowly started to forget the sad times, and began enjoying my life again. My life was now very different. I had new adult responsibilities, as there were two children I helped to look after. Something that would have been a non-starter in my former relationship was now a task I was willing and able to handle (and even enjoy) in this one. 

The Covid shutdown forced many people to look inward, and for some there is sadness, anger and frustration. For me, there is a touch of sadness that my parents are no longer around to see what my life looks like now. Somehow, I think they would understand, as I have created lots of wonderful musical memories, and traveled to share such wonders in the Northeast Kingdom Where these stories began.

 And so I embrace the good times, and new opportunities that are on the road ahead of me.

. 

 

I'm Just a Vagabond Blogger

    For the past several Summers, I plan a trip up to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont to serve as an artist retreat. First, I started exploring Greensboro, and for a few years, stayed at The Highland Lodge.

Another time, I was in Danville (a roadside Americana motel, called Injun Joe's Motor Court, overlooking Joe's Pond) and Westmore (The historic Willoughvale Inn (overlooking picturesque Lake Willoughby) and another time in White River Junction (the historic Hotel Coolidge). 

Two years ago, I went to Lake Winnepesaukee, to relive some childhood memories. But those were memories mixed with sadness. I kept visiting all of these places alone.

 

 I always wished I could travel to visit these wonderful places with a companion who could see it through my previous experiences, and enjoy it for its simple, serene pleasures.

Lucky Me!

Last year I returned to the Highland Lodge, to stay at the Stegner Cottage, and hike Barr Hill (where Stegner's ashes were scattered).

                                                  

This year, many places have already filled up in the Northeast Kingdom. No longer a secret, this is now a destination for people who want to get away from it all. As a consequence, tourists have come and filled most of the vacancies for that narrow three month period of Summer. So I decided to look for other nearby places to discover and become inspired by.

Areas to the East of Lake Willoughby are even more remote, and I found a charming region surrounding a small town called Brighton - once the only stop on a railroad that went from Montreal to Portland, Maine. 

The station is still there, and some downtown buildings that seem too large for such a tiny town. The big attraction out here is the outdoors. Burke Mountain boasts skiing and mountain biking, snowmobile trails are everywhere, and numerous lakes, ponds, rivers and forests provide all kinds of activities. I've seen Moose, Bear, Bald Eagles and Osprey aplenty. The focal point of Brighton is a summer village called Island Pond.

Being a musician, it is enlightening to discover that renowned musician, singer and bandleader Rudy Vallee was born in Island Pond, and the house where he was raised remains. I recall some research I did about the Hotel Coolidge, and that revealed a movie filmed in town starring Lillian Gish (from a similar period of time as well).

So interesting to find the history that goes back 100 years, where entertainers seemed to co-define an area otherwise filled with loggers, hunters and railroad workers.  

Shots Fired!

People are against a lot of things these days: The Earth is flat, we've never been on the Moon, the Election was a fraud, the COVID thing is a hoax, the Vaccine has a microchip, etc. etc. etc. If any of those things happen to be your opinion? We probably won't see eye to eye on very much, and it might be best to limit any conversation to things like Guitars, Hiking... and Wallace Stegner.

Since this is my page, I can let the public know about some opinions I have regarding the Pandemic, COVID-19, and the vaccine (which I receieved the first shot of just other day, and feel fine right now).

I have a close associate who got sick with COVID last Fall, and I had to get tested. Fortunately, my results were negative, and the tracing ultimately left me out of being at risk, but not after some anxious moments. I've heard people downplay getting sick with it, and equating it to just having a mild case of the Flu. 

One thing I have seen from the experience of seeing my parents having had various cases of Influenza over the years, was they never came back to being as strong as before they got sick. Also, they became less resistant to getting sick in the future, the recovery time took longer, and more serious infections were common. Eventually, my mom passed away from COPD and my father became seriously frail after a bad case of the Flu hit his nursing home, leaving him confined to a wheelchair. 

He passed away just as COVID started hitting our country last year. A year later, and we still haven't buried his ashes. 

When SARS caused a brief scare about 17 years ago, I developed a serious upper respiratory infection, resulting in a severe sinus condition that required a regimen of strong antibiotics, which I never want to experience ever again. In the years since, I haven't been sick too many times, but when it has, much like my folks, I didn't feel quite as strong as before. I don't consider myself to be an active person, but I do enough to stay relatively fit. I've put on 10 pounds like many other people in the past year, and hope to work that off this Summer when things start to open up even more around here, and the weather continues to improve. 

But the thing I want to stress, is I don't want to get sick with ANY kind of flu, which is why I got the other Flu shot when it was available last year, so I could limit even more chances of getting sick. I have friends who lost friends to COVID and family members to it as well, and I know their opinion is that the threat is very real. 

Their pain is not a hoax.

In the social media world, posting about getting the vaccine invites all kinds of negative opinions. Running from mild paranoia, to toxic cynicism, to conspiracy theory craziness. None of it is contructive to me, and is downright hurtful, because if my parents had gotten more flu shots, noticed when they were sick, and did more to take care of themselves when they were sick, they might still be around for each other, and their loving families who now painfully miss them. So I'm going to try and take care of myself, so I can be around for the people I love, and this is part of that process. 

Anybody else has a problem with me doing that, can keep it to themselves... unless they want to start their own blog of course. 

Namaste.