TheCapeBlog

by Robert Frost

My sorrow, when she’s here with me,

Thinks these dark days of autumn rain

Are beautiful as days can be;

She loves the bare, the withered tree;

She walks the sodden pasture lane.

Her pleasure will not let me stay.

She talks and I am fain to list:

She’s glad the birds are gone away,

She’s glad her simple worsted grey

Is silver now with clinging mist.

The desolate, deserted trees,

The faded earth, the heavy sky,

The beauties she so truly sees,

She thinks I have no eye for these,

And vexes me for reason why.

Not yesterday I learned to know

The love of bare November days

Before the coming of the snow,

But it were vain to tell her so,

And they are better for her praise.

We have oil and the furnace is back in service. Paid the balance of what we owed. It took a year, but we/I did it.

I never knew that heating oil is dyed red.

Halloween came and went. Our next door neighbors were our only trick or treaters.

After two days of trying, Ron gave up on installing gutter guards. We had a massive, noisy fight about it.

I don’t understand how you can love someone and continue to hurt them when they’ve asked you to stop.

Yesterday the president of Williams College sat at my table at the Log Lunch, but there was no time to talk. I was surprised that the speaker’s table hadn’t reserved a seat for her.

I picked up a prescription at Walmart and got half-price deals on Snickers and leaf bags.

Swept the deck of leaves. The trees around us are almost all bare and we can see the mountains again.

Ron did a transfer station run to recycle five huge bags of paper!

I attended writers group and checked in at Town Hall about our property taxes, which are due on Friday.

Visited the Bike Collective in North Adams. I couldn’t balance on the first bike, so they attached it to a stand. Had difficulty pedaling, right knee hurt. Great people, beyond helpful and kind.

Picked up our produce at Wild Soul River.

Hard to think about anything but the election next week.

The prompt for today’s writing session was “It was an ordinary day until it wasn’t.”

As I recall, everyone else wrote about a day that ends badly: an almost drowning, an almost hunting accident, a son becoming very ill, a terrible accident resulting in multiple surgeries, an abusive father exploding because his daughter spoke her mind.

Ever the contrarian, I wrote about a cousin-by-adoption who won a million dollars on a scratch ticket and the more or less happy dilemmas he must have faced once he recovered from the initial shock.

It occurred to me that we have so many opportunities here for creativity: writing, drawing, songwriting. And that’s just a sample.

Yesterday I picked up Matt’s last check in Pittsfield and explored a couple of roads in New Ashford on the way back. There were people at his shop so I left the check with a gent who’d worked on our driveway.

The inspection by Modern Pest went pretty well, mice in only two spots, the basement and the garage.

Sent Matt photos of the rhodie and the fence.

We enjoyed a couple of hours of open mic at Studio 9. Rained a bit.

Signed us up for a songwriting workshop on November 9.

Tomorrow I need to pick up the final check for the driveway; the only person who can write checks wasn’t in today. Christie came by to inspect the work and took the 3 sets of paperwork plus the final sign-off. They’ve had good response to the newspaper article.

We might be able to go to a pizza lunch at the senior center tomorrow, but it’s going to be a full day. In addition to fetching the check, one of us needs to be here to let the Modern Pest person in.

We were able to retrieve the truck today, though. They took care of the alignment for a reasonable cost and think they can fix the leak in the exhaust system which has bedeviled me for ages.

I dropped a book off at the library and saw a notice that the bloodmobile will be in town next Monday. Signed us up.

I made two big dishes today, a casserole with Impossible Burger, kale, tomatoes, an onion and cheese and a stir fry with celery, bok choy, carrots, onions, garlic and turnips that was also good. My left ankle is complaining a bit as a result.

Day 3 without oil heat and we did fine.

We are doing okay without the furnace. Have three space heaters set up, using them as needed, and along with the mini split they are keeping us pretty comfortable.

I’ve been lazy but did bring in a half-full can of white semi-gloss that is still good and touched up some trim.

We watched the last quarter of the Patriots win over the Jets.

I postponed the oil delivery to Friday.

Did a partial cleanout of the frig.

Sat in on the meeting of the St. John’s discussion group. Good bunch and it sounds like a community that we might like. They announced an election day vigil and I plan to attend some of it.

Sum of the laws of the natural universe, spare us, please.

That makes me a pantheist, evidently.

We ran out of oil yesterday (Friday) and ordered 100 gallons for Monday.

Ron knocked his Greylock mug, full of coffee, off his desk. We tried cleaning the carpet, but it’s still stained.

Attended the Friday Log Lunch and stopped by the Wigwam Summit for maple sugar candy, a replacement for the Greylock mug and a cat towel gift for P&B. Good thing we took the time, they are closing this weekend. Drove one of the back roads to Savoy State Forest, looks like a nice spot to revisit.

Grocery shop on the way back.

Boys came over to practice their biking and scootering.

I spent some time getting paperwork organized for the release of the last two checks for the driveway.

https://www.berkshireeagle.com/news/local/home-modification-loan-program-accessibility-berkshires/article_92371ff4-8fe2-11ef-8d54-8b5f8321198d.html

Ron drove us to Pittsfield. We stopped at A-Frame for breakfast cakes.

There wasn’t a parking space near the BRPC office so Ron dropped me off and proceeded to get lost.

Rather than find a place to pull over he kept driving around. He said he was on “Main Street in front of the Y” but he wasn’t.

Luckily I flagged down a cab to get to the Y but no Ron. I told him multiple times where I was – 292 North Street. I was pacing back and forth in front of the Y, screaming into the phone; it was remarkable that no one reported me to the cops for being a public nuisance.

I finally gave up and settled in at Liberty Pizza on North Street. Ron pulled into the street next to the restaurant. We enjoyed a very nice late lunch – veg pita and French fries.

On the way home, we stopped in Lanesborough to hand off the second, overdue check to Matt along with a breakfast cake for his family: his father was recovering from a fall.

At home, Ron gave half of the other breakfast cake to our neighbors. The boys enjoyed biking and scootering on the driveway.

Yesterday we changed the sheets and Ron did a laundry.

Had to skip writers group today, our leader was ill.

Ron is mowing, front and back.

Went to Stop & Shop for coffee and blueberry muffins, got stuck at the intersection of Cole and North Hoosac on the way home.

Got to see the boys, though. They were in costume to represent their books: cool! Ben was a skeleton to suggest an anatomy book; Bell was wearing a big tie. I think his inspiration was a book about a tie-toting mouse or maybe a cat.

Made soup and salad for lunch: chickpea pumpkin soup with sage and elbow noodles and salad with greens, celery, radish and feta. Ron made scrambled eggs for supper.

Neighbor across the street is allowing us to park in the driveway of his rental house. He came over to introduce himself. We continue to be blown away by the kindness of our neighbors.

I think Geico is going to insure us for homeowners. Filled out an application today, waiting to see if they want to do an inspection. Roofer will be here earlier than expected, November 5, which is good.

More demands from Pittsfield about paying Matt. I am beside myself and hoping it all goes away on Monday.

We drove up to Wigwam Summit but it looks like foliage is past peak.

Stopped for our produce on the way home. Skipped a jazz concert at Williams College. Dislike the venue although I suspect I’d have liked the music.

It took a year and half to get financed, but it’s done now. A kind neighbor is letting us park the Corolla in his driveway until everything sets. The crew even filled in a pothole at the end of the driveway.