Updates and Summer in Vermont
It’s been a long while since I posted here, and even longer since I offered an update on what is going on in my life.
My life is full right now. David and I renovated our front porch earlier this summer, along with both our bathrooms. We feel like we are done with our renovations now, though David is gardening and landscaping, which is what he loves best.
I’m a volunteer communications coordinator for the Northeast Kingdom Quakers, our beloved community here in Barton. I also volunteer for the Amish Descendant Scholarship Fund (ADSF). We just created a new website that went live the other day. We wrote our first blog post in many years that gives an update of the changes happening at ADSF. I hope you click on over to learn more. And please help us spread the word! I’ve enjoyed working with a dynamic and creative young woman named Eythana Miller to create the website, create systems for scholarship and mentorship applications, consider applications, communications and outreach, and a whole lot of other things.
David and I have also been taking part in rallies. There have been quite a few masked arrests of immigrants in our state, and rallies have been quite successful in freeing them, one by one. First there was Mohsen Mahdawi. Then Rümeysa Özturk. And most recently, Nacho and Heidi. We have shown up twice for a woman named Wuendy who is being called in to the ICE office monthly. The first time 100 of us showed up. Then 200 of us. Monday is her next appointment, and we will show up again, hopefully this time with 300 of us. These are the success stories, though not all are victorious in winning their freedom. Eight dairy farm workers were detained in April, and most of them have not been released to my knowledge.
Summer in Vermont is glorious, especially lakeside. We’ve been going around the bend to the beach on Crystal Lake nearly every day, especially during the recent spell of heat and humidity. When we first started swimming in early June, the water was a chilly 60 degrees. It is now in the seventies, which makes it a lot easier to get into. I can swim for more than an hour without getting hypothermia.
Diamonds dancing on the water
Even in the peak of summer, I realize that winter is coming and I remember what our brutal winter up here in the far Northeast was like. Long months of gray days, one snowfall after another, frigid temperatures, few hours of daylight, and even fewer of sunshine. Winter blues set in for me, as early as the beginning of January. It knocked me out for the count, and kept on punching. David seemed to do okay. He had a job that kept him busy, while I spent most of my days afraid of going outside for fear of falling on ice or getting stuck somewhere without cell service if I drove anywhere. All of this led to me feeling homebound. I did take a vacation to Pennsylvania and Virginia for two weeks in March to see their spring blooms before coming back here to more snow and cold. Two days after I got home, I got sick for two weeks. I was sick for 7 weeks out of the winter, which only made it more brutal.
So I’m enjoying these lakeside summer days as a reward for surviving the winter. I don’t know whether this coming winter will be as brutal as the last one, but I will enjoy the pleasurable summer for as long as I can.
The featured photo is of a cloud formation after a summer storm. It looks like a spaceship, doesn’t it?
That’s my update for today. I’ll be back with more stories of the formerly Amish who have sought a college/university education and are thriving in their chosen lives. These stories lift me up, and I hope they will lift you up too.
Thanks for stopping by. I welcome your comments, and I hope to see you back here soon.
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Much enjoyed this post, thank you!
When people asked me how long I’ve lived in the North East Kingdom I say “twenty-five winters.” That’s how the Anglo-Saxons used to measure age. And after living though yea many winters here, I understand why. Our first winter, the snow was so high you had to walk through five feet on either side to get to the front door. At the end of the winter our neighbors were saying “We had a lotta snow. But it coulda been colder …” And I said to Bridget “Next year they’ll say ‘It was a bit cold, but we coulda had more snow,” and sure enough we had days on end that were colder than 20 below zero (Fahrenheit!) but not that much snow ….
Thank you, Tomás. It’s good to see you here. Either way, winters are rough here in the NEK. And this past winter we had a lot of snow AND a lot of cold.
I’ve lived in Vermont for 28 winters, only they weren’t consecutive. But northern Vermont is harsher than Chittenden County, and as I get older, I get colder. It all adds up to being too much for me. You are one of the hearty souls who takes it in stride.
Thanks for the update, Saloma. Enjoy the summer days while they are here.
Good to see you here, Bruce. Yes, while they are here. Then what? Is my question.
Hi Saloma, it’s been awhile since I read your blog so it’s lovely to “catch up”. Last I knew, you and David were in Ohio. What brought you back to Vermont and especially the coldest most northern part, if you don’t mind me asking?
I moved to Maine the end of 2020 to be nearer family, especially my sister. Winter here in the Kennebec Valley region is just winter. I’m on the border of the mid-coast region. Sometimes we escape the heavier storms and otherwise, not. I am enjoying summer as much as possible while sharing the concerns of what’s currently happening. Blessings to you and David!
Hello Lori, good to see you. We moved here because the northern lakes region is David’s soul place. He spent his childhood summers on Lake Rangeley in Maine. But he never had to contend with the winters this far north. We are also 2 hours away from our older son.
Good luck with your new habitat!
Saloma, So good to read our post and know where you are. I lived in “The Kingdom” in St. Johnsbury and then Danville for may years and know so well the climate.,Winters here in Virginia are nothing in comparison, and still after almost 50 years cannot adjust to the wicked summers here. I remember picking up my kids at Jose’s Pond after swimming lessons and they were turning blue from the cold water. I do miss that.
Joan, I never knew you lived in Vermont. Yes, St. Johnsbury is SOUTH of us, up and over the highest point on I-91. Likely Crystal Lake is even colder than Joe’s Pond. But so refreshing on hot and humid days.
Summers in Virgina are brutal, for sure. But air conditioning helps. We don’t have that here, at least not the electrical kind. The lake is our air conditioning. Lakes are few and far between in Virginia, which makes the heat harder to bear.
Thanks for stopping by, Joan. Always good to see you!