Saturday night – ’tis the season

Today marks the official start of the Christmas season in my mind.. it is the annual Richmond Holiday Market.. The whole town comes out to trade crafts, drink cocoa, take horse wagon rides and sit on Santa’s knee.  For the past 5 years.. it’s been a very sad time for me. The christmas spirit has missed me ever since Sam’s passing.. as you might expect.. I like seeing people happy.. I still love the sites and smells.. but deep inside.. it’s been hard..and sad.

What was interesting today. though.. is that I felt pretty good.. actually pretty happy.. Who knows how the rest of the season will go. .. bit for today I was greatful

 

I really enjoyed walking around the place with Gabe.. seeing all our friends selling their wares.. here’s Lou and Kathy’s toffee and caramel corn.. (very yummy  !)..

 

And Chris and his slate !

 

the hilight of the show to me, thogh, wasa seeign Deb and the girls first official launc of Deb’s ‘Douglas Sweets’ shortbread cookkies. I was SO porud of Deb for the profressional presentation, the vareity and the amount she’d backed. The cookies were a hughe hit.> She sold a ton !!..

Here is Deb. Diane, Jen and Brit

I want to give Deb a special Shoutout for the wonderful theing she did for the Sam Cohn Foundation. Whe made ‘Sm Scones ‘ (like sam stoens 🙂 .. Each bag includes a samstone..  All the profits form the sales go to the Sam Cohn foundation that funds the guitar givaway. the rock camp scholarships, the Camp Abnaki schollarships and the Bolton mountain scholarship.. Thansk to Deb ofr the wonderful tribute.. and thanks to all the folks who bought them !

OK.. getting late and I nede to sleep.. more tomorrow..

nite all. nite sam

-me

 

Thursday afternoon – Long may you run

Neil Young once wrote a song for a favorite car that he had to sell.. It was called ‘Long may your run’… It’s been looping through my head all afternoon…   The reason being.. we had to get rid of our much loved Town and Country van today..  Last week it overheated as Max and Gabe drove back from a family dinner on Nov 20th.. the day we mark Sam’s accident.   The heat had been erratic for about a week… At first I suspected a leaking coolant hose.. but when we got it started again, the sickly sweet smell of glycol in the exhaust got me worried.. A cracked head or block…perhaps ?  We had it towed t to the shop where they did find a couple of leaks and replaced the thermostat.. .. We were happy to have it back.. but later that same day, the heat failed again. I checked and the radiator was only half full again.. We took it back to the shop.. and they confirmed the worst. The car had a cracked head… at 146K miles, it wouldn’t pay for us to fix it.

 

 

So today, after a good cleaning and thorough search of every nook and cranny, we took it to Good News Garage to donate.. The third car we’ve given them. Good News does a wonderful service by repairing cars they get and distributing them to folks in the community who can use them.. The ones they can’t fix, they sell for parts.. We’d always intended to donate this car.. but hoped it would be a year or so down the road.

This car has got to be the most loved, most versitile and most hard driven cars we’ve ever had. It had just the right kind of features.. com7y, powerful 4 wheel drive that could pull a stump, and the most versitile changable seating I’ve ever seen in a car.

 

But…. it had much more than that,, it had many, many memories.. How many times did we carry three sleeping boys to the car, cover them with balnkets and drive off through the pre dawn to grandparents ? How many times did it haul three kids up and down the mountian.. How many times did it haul boats  or intertubes to the river,  or fetch wet smelly kids  and or dogs from the otehr end. How many Long Trail hikers have we ferried up or down to the trail head.. how many friends have we moved ? How many trips to the dump  How many science shows have I unack of that an ? loaded from the very high back ….

Who knows.. who cares.. it’s only a car…

I wish I could feel that way..it would be easier..  but I can’t

 

As we did the final de-ussing of the car, I didn’t know what sort of ritual I needed to perform ? .. should I make up a prayer ?

Sing a song ?

I  gave the car a big kiss, put a samstone in teh glove box.. and locked the door.. It was gone..

Long may you run my freind.. I hope you’re repaired by some able folks at the garage and spend the rest of your life helping out soemone who needs you..

If not that, I hope your parts find their way into other cars and give them those extra miles

(I know…. I know..  but I can’t go there…)

nite all, nite sam

-me

Wednesday night – what everyone else is doing

Do you ever wonder if anyone else is doing exactly what your dong at the same time.. I mean.. it’s a big world out there.. surely. no matter what you’re doing.. someone out there must be doing it  too.. Right /

 

I didn’t worry so much of that tonight as I helped Gabe blow up some more junk food for a school project Gabe ad I d built a new sounds actuated flash last night.. tonight we stuffed fireworks and prodex into little debbie cupcakes and filmed them getting blown to bits..

 

Gabe then built a small pyre out of devil dogs. bugles and cupcakes .. I dumped some solvent on it.. and then we lit it..

Frankly.. they look about as good as new !

someone else.. somewhere  doing the same thing with their evening ? Inquiring minds want to know

 

OK. time for bed.. Night all.. nite sam

-me