Letter from Vermont

Chalk it up to living on “Green Mountain Time.”  Two years have passed since our last post.  Whoops.  This is the occasion when my mother would say, “Life interrupted.”  For us, it has interrupted in several big, exciting, transformative ways since our last letter from Vermont.

But in that last post, I did allude to my favorite Frank Bunting story, which still puts a little smile on my face.  It seems Frank was a bit of an amateur actor in addition to his many other interests – a true Renaissance man.  One evening, Frank and our mutual friend Allon were dressed in full theatrical garb as medieval knights, driving along our beloved US Route 7 to the theater in Middlebury to take part in a show.  Well, US 7 is a fine Vermont road kept by “VTrans” in very good shape, and it is easy to let the car get away from you in certain places.  They were pulled over for going a bit too fast.  The officer approached the driver’s window, took one look inside at these two Knights of the Green Mountains, and became so overcome with laughter that he just waved them along without a word as he returned to his cruiser.  I can just imagine the innocent look on Frank’s face peeking out from under the visor of his suit of armor.

So what made me think to come back and compose a new letter from Vermont?  Well, yesterday was primary election day in Vermont, and the Democratic field in the governor’s contest was a crowded one, with five A-list contenders vying to succeed Middlebury’s own (Republican) Governor James Douglas as he retires after four terms.  The Democratic primary (the current Republican lieutenant governor was running without opposition for the Republican nomination) was a very close election, with the top two finishers within 200 votes of one another and the third place finisher within 700 of the winner.

And I was reminded of that sunny summer day when all five of them walked past my house.  Twice.  How did that happen?  Some other time (not such a long time this time) perhaps.