Lois Guest Blog

As Maryellen mentioned, our niece Lois came to visit last week. This morning I received an email from her with the following guest blog entry. Take it away Lois:

Things to do in Vermont when you're eleven months old:

Curtis' Barbecue
...in Putney, Vermont. Mom and dad broke their vegan fast to eat fresh hot
meat. They didn't share with me but I didn't care. There was plenty of
other good stuff to distract my young mind. I met Curtis, and his pet pig,
and while my folks ate at the picnic table I sat on a toy John Deere and
rolled around while watching big kids, and big dogs, romp on the lawn
beneath the basketball hoop. I didn't even get a chance to check out the
swing set. I cried hot bitter tears when it was time to leave.

Basketville
...a few miles down the road from Curtis'. After a few minutes of my
continued hot bitter tears mom and dad opted for another break and began
to rethink their driving-intensive plans for their vacation (Peacham to
Shelburne? Peacham to Montreal? Get real! I have four teeth coming in
simultaneously!). Basketville is a horrific tourist trap filled with
wicked cool baskets, including our new basket for laundry which also
accomodates big and tall babies. Don't leave before you spot the wicker
bike and the wicker stegosaurus.

Grocery stores
The food coops up here are amazing. All kinds of new colors and flavors,
beer bottles with photocopied labels, huge bins of crazy grains and
produce, and nice nice people. We had such a great time in the Brattleboro
Coop on our way up that we stopped in on our way home a week later. The
lady in produce not only remembered me, she greeted me by name! Then she
called out to her coworkers "It's Lois, the baby I told you about!" I was
so flattered that I threw up and crapped my pants.

My Uncle Pete
Oh my god I have such a crush on my Uncle Pete. He looks just like my dad,
but different, and oh my god I have such a crush on my Uncle Pete. My
attention span is tiny yet I could watch him drive that tractor all day
long. Oh my god. You should go see my Uncle Pete.

The dog chapel
So we are driving around the countryside, but we're not far from town so
it's not even all that pretty, and mom and dad are obviously struggling to
be patient with each other as we double back and drive in circles, and
then suddenly here we are in dog heaven! Toy
dogs and art dogs and even real dogs. Pete and Maryellen had given me
Sally Goes To The Mountains for Christmas and it's my favorite, but I had
no idea that that world was real. And near St Johnsbury. Go, but don't ask
my mom and dad for directions.

Pirates of the Caribbean
They say Johnny Depp based his character on Keith Richards, and sure, yes,
I can see it. But Keith Richards doesn't have that levity, and I detected
a big dollop of Dudley Moore as Arthur in there too. I treid explaining
that to everyone sitting around us but they were too busy glaring at my
mom and dad and Aunt Maryellen.

River Run
A diner where the bacon is 3D, the pancakes don't need syrup, and
everything on the menu is good. A big girl at the next table was playing
with a plastic horse, and the waitress sat down with us and talked to me
for five minutes while all of the other tables waited. My kind of place.

Blueberries

Eventually, mom and
dad figured out that fresh blueberries made anything, even car seats,
tolerable for their baby girl.