Lunch, Filmmaking, Re-Bop Records, and the Supreme Court

Our friend David has made his way up to VT to work on several projects, one being a documentary film about a local Vermonter Diana Winn. The more we learn about her story, the more we want to hear. Diana is a musician/songwriter who started the Re-Bop record label, where she brings together talented songwriters, musicians and child and adult vocalists to create songs for the “award winning” recordings. Another claim to fame is that she has been a part of a Supreme Court case, “Wyeth v. Levine,” that could have a major impact on the lives of millions of Americans.

Moonlight in Vermont

Sam Cooke’s Moonlight in Vermont – mp3

EXTRA, EXTRA! Sagittarians and Saris!

December not only brought us a lot snow here in the North East Kingdom, but it also brought us two fabulous events that we were fortunate to attend. Our great new friend Chris (Yogi Mukti) invited us to his annual Sagittarius party in Montpelier, and we were happy to accept because “we like to party” and, hey, I (Jon) am part Sag myself! The email invite stated that it would be a tropical themed party and to dress for warm temps which sounded entertainingly ironic for this time of year in VT. So, after picking up Brooke from work, we ventured to the outskirts of Montpelier. When we arrived, as promised, there were subtropical temperatures in Mukti’s home along with people decked out in bathing suits and tropical wears.

FEVER, FEVER, FUN!

The temperatures are cooling, and we have tried to imagine what it will be like when these great outdoors become less friendly and less like an addition to our cabin. See, we have no bathroom or plumbing (our running water has frozen) and we are used to going “#1” amongst the trees and “#2” up the path in the outhouse or at the house. So far, we have still been able to find comfort in the chilled air, but we are anticipating the changes.

Return to Philly!

It’s not just a place where the Liberty Bell resides, where Rocky ran up a whole lot of stairs, or where you can get soft pretzels fresh from the oven at 1 in the morning. It is also a place where gray concrete meets colorful community gardens and car fumes meet parades of many themes. Philadelphia is a place where we come home to see some of the most beautiful familiar faces and places in our world!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

It’s a Happening

The great thing about where we are living is that, as rural as it seems, there are many fun and interesting events and activities to keep us entertained. Forget TV when you can take a trip over to Glover to catch a Bread and Puppet performance. Glover, VT also hosts an annual type of carnival that includes a handful of hand-built and human powered amusement rides. We decided to check out the carnival this year, so we headed out with a few farm visitors to Glover for the evening. We arrived when the carnival had turned into a wild festival.

Lettuce Bee Farm

It has been over a month since we arrived at Lettuce Bee Farm in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Through www.organicvolunteers.com, Lettuce Bee was the only farm we had secured a date to come volunteer before we had left Philadelphia in April. We signed up to volunteer 2 weeks with the possibility of extending it another week or so, and here we are 3 weeks later planning to stay the rest of the growing season and straight through a very snowy Vermont winter! Did I mention we have been staying in a little rustic cabin in the woods?

Glacier National Park

After some debating whether or not to head east from Missoula, we decided to head north to check out Glacier National Park. We made the trek, excited to see some beautiful nature and to finally camp for the first time (and I don’t mean “car camp”).

The Blue Ridge Rascals Theme Song

Here is a video that our great friend David Parvey shot for the Blue Ridge Rascals. We had the privileged of meeting the Rascals while we visited David in Virginia. We also were able to see them perform live on their radio show at WPAQ…. This video features the late great Jerry Tackett on lead vocals. Rest in peace Jerry.