“I’d hoped to help Glo put up her last couple cords of firewood, and I did, but throwing firewood is an inexact science ... and towards the end, one of the biggest chunks I threw landed squarely on her foot. She was a good sport about it, & after a couple applications of ice and Arnica cream, undeterred, she led me on a tour of her 20+ acre property. Oh, she knows the ins and outs of her woods. After climbing to elevation to find her premier sugar maples, we headed up a deer path to a rope tied around a tree; one might call it a primitive device but for all intents and purposes, it allowed us to make further progress onto a decidedly formidable ledge ascent. Which was richly rewarded, of course. That’s how it works, in the north country. You almost kill yourself, either figuratively, or nearly literally, to reach god’s country. I can’t say my life has shown me anything different. And it’s ironic, you know. Like a back-handed complement, or a twisted fairy tale in which you identify with the hero of the opposite gender. The over-riding requirement is that you keep loving free thinkers, rebels and so-called failures, who have been left by the way side. No more, no less. Your friends crippled by freak accidents, your addict lovers, your impossibly innocent, nubile associates who have totally gone astray who insist upon reinforcing their bubble, rather than facing reality. Jesus, Mary & Joseph as my devote Catholic grandmother used to say, I love the heck out of all of you!! I’d be just as ignorant, if circumstance had not forced me to stare straight into the hell realm. I know, I know. You’re not ready to hear that. Come with me, instead, into the deep forest of Vermont. Ramble, with me, and see what’s left of free life in the rural outback in Vermont. If Progressives have their way (and I used to be one), they will arrest you for burning a wood fire in your stove. Life in Vermont has changed, and people have gone mad. I can only say, that people I used to admire, are now totally mad. They don’t represent me, or you. They’re buoyed by their own sense of self importance and righteousness. and by an intellectual construct that makes them feel smart. They’re driving us further into the hills and ultimately, out of state. They are deluded, and inflated and should stand down. Now.”
