Local Flavor: End of Summer Craziness
It's the end of August! How'd we get here so fast? Lots has been going on, as usual, and also everything has sped up as the end of summer break approaches.
On Wednesday the whole family went up and saw Wilco in Shelburne, VT. It rained for just long enough to get us all damp and then this rainbow opened-up above us. It was a good show and the first "big concert" for the kids.
I was super-pleased to see Mr. Nels Cline pull out the Gretsch Sho-Bro I sold him almost two years ago. I had my suspicions it was the Dobro heard on their new album recordings (they just sound a certain way) but this was a nice confirmation of it. I love those guitars! Before I shipped it down to him I rebound it and snuck a pickup inside... it's great seeing guitars out in the world, by the way! When I'm skimming through feeds and I see some of "my children" out there making music, it gives a good feeling of satisfaction.
Our little 4-man unit (Todd, Rob, Mike, and I) had a couple of "backyard" gigs, recently -- here we are with Congressman Peter Welch and host Kyle Kershner. These are like the most "Vermont" gigs ever, by the way -- on the grass and under a tent!
Meanwhile, we finally got a "new" car to replace "old blue." For us this is always a large event because we usually pay cash for our vehicles and while I'm surrounded by instrument gold all day long, this is not the sort of business you go into if you're expecting to buy a Tesla fresh off the lot.
It's an '08 XC70 in a medium-brown metallic paint. We've already put about 800 miles on it since last Friday, driving down to CT to visit family and then around the state up here. We got it from our friends at Packard of VT, as usual -- and while I would've liked to move to an EV for our second vehicle, I'm not going to complain about an XC... we've had a lot of them and they continue to be creature comfort cars with tons of room to haul gear. Now "old silver" is going to be my "work" car with the seats down for hauling materials and packages and whatnot.
We took a drive up in the hollow on Friday evening and how about these clouds?
...or this doe with her fawn hiding behind her?
The week before we took a quick walk over at Texas Falls.
"Take a picture of my shoes!" said Elsa, "and don't forget the mushroom!"
I found some early leaf-turns and set them on this mossy log. Bonnie came by after and thought it was a kid-made miracle and snapped her own photos. Task completed. I win? Being a kid is good as far as I'm concerned.
This is a polarized-lens photo of ice forming at Echo up in Burlington. We went for the myhtological beasts exhibit (fun!) and left with... this!
Meanwhile, down in drought-ridden, parched-earth Connecticut, two faux-chipmunks prayed for rain and got the deluge on Monday.
My Mom's orchids also finally bloomed!
...and my brother-in-law Matt also proved that fatherhood is a bit of an affliction as far as belt-gear is concerned.
Next week we're going to the ocean right before school starts for the kids and I can't wait. I need the sea at least once a year. It's like my ancient, retained, fish DNA calls me to return and get lost in it. Lake Champlain is nice but that briny, crab-rich, sea-air, tumble of experience is necessary for my brain now and then.
For those waiting on instruments: I'm sorry, it's been stupidly-nuts all summer.
Yesterday was a good example -- folks here all day long from before opening and right until 7 PM. I got to re-nut and setup a great Rickenbacker 12 (separate from the one here on consignment), do setups on a variety of other instruments, and completely overhaul a '70s Japanese hollowbody electric into an "ostrich" guitar. It got a fresh wiring harness, revitalization for its Bigsby-style whammy, and setup with CCCCCC tuning -- in three octaves. To plug that in with a bunch of reverb and hit big chords while yanking on the whammy was delicious.
Alright! Back to work. Folks arrive in half an hour! Stay tuned for a ton of new gear on the blog. I just haven't had time to do the writeups.
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