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April's
Musings
Friday, May 27, 2005
A day trip to Southern Vermont brought me through the back roads
of our green mountain state. The day was misty, in a Scottish
sort of way, which means, everything was visible but filtered
through light rain or mist. The countryside and New England
towns were so pretty. Verdant and green, rolling hills and thriving
farm land, spring flowers cascading out of small fenced gardens.
Dozens of antique shops and old book stores on Route 7, Inns
and B&Bs in small Vermont Towns. A Canada Goose crossed the
road with her goslings, two young deer spotted in a field, we
passed a swampy area near the road and atop the trees was a
heronry of—of course—great blue herons. Climbing
from a ditch, a soggy brown ground hog showed himself. All of
this nature watching added to the day. I tucked it inside myself
to bring out and think about later.
These are the things I remember and cling too, these are my
inspirations. Vermont is certainly a beautiful state. Understated
right? We spent the day (we were a caravan of four cars) at
the Orvis stone and wooden headquarters; it resembles a vast
lodge, overlooking the nearby mountains. In true Orvis tradition,
people can bring their dogs to work and train and run them outside.
Met some great people in the trade, so nice to converse with
others with the same obsessions–color, look, quality,
presentation, flair, and fun. You cannot imagine how seriously
people talk about their customers—we really do want to
know them. To add some depth to the day, Chris did some male
shopping, loading up on the Orvis Buzz-Off collection, in preparation
for Memorial Day up north in the buggy woods! It reminds we
of our "Worry-Free" Linens—no mess anymore—actually
when I come to think of it, the "Worry-Free" Linens
are also great for the cottage, where I don’t like to
wash anything that doesn't fall in the lake on its own.
 
We passed by some cool spots on returning: many woodworking
shops with beautiful outdoor gazebos, chairs benches and wooden
swings. Everything laid out on lawns to tempt me. It seems that
all thoughts are being lured to summer living and the outdoors.
We stopped in Middlebury, home of Middlebury College, for dinner.
The River (Otter Creek) was rushing—two fly fishermen were
standing in heavy mist, casting and making a beautiful silhouette
of themselves.
 It
was nearing nightfall and the sky was moving to pink. Middlebury
is a charming town. We passed our customer's shop "Blue
Moon" and peered in her window. She was featuring blue
and ivory and white—a skirt and crochet sweater on one
wall, blueberry pottery in the window and The Florence Blue
linens underneath. They were closed so Chris and I ran across
the street to a fun little restaurant overlooking the swollen
Creek and dined on fine wine and lamb.
One of the customers passed by my nose (call me nosey) with
a fabulous completely aged leather back pack. It looked like
it had a thousand journeys embedded in it, lots of stories within.
I like the idea of a bag, or a piece of clothing being full
of stories, of travels or events. It was authentically old,
but looked like a great model for a "new vintage"
version.
When I shot my scrapbooking DVD in Ogden, I used a travel worn
jean jacket as a scrapbooking page. With stitched-on maps and
crocheted coins, souvenir violets and quotes, it reflected the
memories of a European journey. I really like this idea, and
wonder where to take it. It is morning now, the soggy sun has
just come out and as it wrings itself out and promises some
patches of yellow warmth I look out my window at a yard full
of forget-me-nots and bleeding hearts, pansies and apple blossoms,
I tell myself that I am in Scotland where rain is a soft mist
and a lover's kiss.
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