Friday, December 25, 2009

A Continuing Subject for the Artist - More Frosty Sugar Shacks by Edward Huse

A Wintry scene, this is one of several in a recent series revisiting a favorite working farm in Springfield, Vermont, as painted by Edward Huse, one or two of the acrylic paintings is available, and prints are available as well, or just screen shot the image from here for free - Merry Christmas!



Una escena nocturna, tipica del atardecér en un cualquier buen dia invernal de Vermont, pintado por el artista en acrylico sobre tabla de madera - un ejemplar de varios semejantes por Edward Huse. Hay en venta, un ejemplar, y sobra decír que hay un sinfín de impressiones disponibles como tarjetas o posters através de su cuenta redbubble.com, o zazzle.com, igual se le puede pedir una copia del tallér del artista en directo.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

New Ice, beautiful but treacherous



It looks nice, it's nice ice to be sure, but only for looking, especially when the late evening atmosphere is shaped by a large snow storm somewhere down South, letting the Sun produce so rich violets and purples. The new ice is a smart reminder that Springfield Vermont is on the verge of Ice Fishing Season!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Fancy News! First Snow of the Season for Springfield, Vermont!

Last night the Snows of Winter finally began to fall, and a poetic fall it was - being the first, and coming so late in the Season (giving citizens the chance to tie up loose garden ends and neaten-up a last bit) the snow had a clean and mud-free theater in which to parade, dance and finally come to rest, on the gingerbread porches and manicured lawns of Springfield, Vermont, City of Lights and Jewel of the Upper Valley.




It was a picture-perfect image of a crisp, late Fall, New England-ish evening last night, for sure …



… and this morning it was just as beautiful, although more brilliantly by far

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Rumors of "home for prison overflow sex offenders" in downtown Springfield Vermont turn out to be greatly exagerated.



No one of the people crying out about a possible "home for prison overflow sex offenders" came forward with any facts, so Bongo sent out a fact finding mission that returns with more concrete information - from principals at the Turning Point (adjoining the busy work site that will house the facility that has everyone up in arms), here in Springfield Vermont, Official Home of the Simpsons and Jewel of the Upper Valley, and the news is far more mundane than the rumor suggest. It seems to transpire that what is happening here is the result of a generous donation by an older citizen who has left the area for the swampy weather down South, she has given the Turning Point a building to use for their work with people who are reclaiming their lives, nothing more.
The building itself has been expertly taken apart into several components, and a fine foundation has been poured for it, the only casualty seems to be the sacrifice of the mature pines that sadly had to be removed to make room for this new work that is simply the very same Turning Point that has been a discrete and quiet neighbor for some time now.
Bongo says to put back your pitchforks and turn down the heat under that vat of steaming tar folks, whoever you are with those rumors.
All is well in Springfield, Vermont.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Fancy News - Stick Season

Stick Season is upon the land, and with it, the seasonal appearance of Stick Stalkers - first cousins to the Leaf Peepers who have only just left, leaving in their wake a chaos that defies description, and taking with them numerous photographs, drawings, water colors, and even samples, some pressed between sheets of waxed paper and lost in the back of Vista Cruisers, some not.



Ahh, Stick Season in Springfield, Vermont, when the Stick Stalkers come to stop and stare at sticks in all their glory, in that short window of time that is theirs - after the giddiness and frivolity of the great mayhem of the Leafy Time, between then and before the advent of the snows of Winter - Stick Season.

The New Bridge in Springfield Vermont is Zipping Right Along - Fancy News!

A welcome development, progress on the new work for one very important bridge crossing in Springfield, Vermont.







Soon all of the activity will be over, the casual driver will forget from day to day that there was so much hard work put into executing this welcome re-building, but the pictures and the actual worksmanship remain to tell their story to the inquiring mind.

Last of the Fall Colors in Springfield Vermont

If one were to look for a fool-proof font of Fall foliage, one would soon find the Ornamental Pear Tree. There are several in Springfield, Vermont, and each one produces a marvelous show of color every Autumn.

When the Sugar Maples are already turning bright and vivid, the Pear continues a robust green, and when the other deciduous trees have pretty much made the transition into Stick Season, the Pear Tree continues to display a full head of silver dollar sized shields in tones varying from green to yellow to sharpest crimson.

Even today, when there is no other remaining dried out leaf on a tree (unless it has been appropriated and incorporated into a crafty dwelling for some insect), the Pear Tree can be seen here or there that continues to shine red and gold in a clear late-Autumn day in Springfield, Vermont, City of Lights, Jewel of the Upper Valley.

Friday, November 20, 2009

How funny it is to travel and "go native"

Apparently it was a first venture into the Wilderness for this liberal arts major, who went native as soon as she had a chance to change her shoes.



Ahhh, tourists - it's always "tourist season" in Springfield, Vermont!

(You Can Support the Research and Developement of Humane Touristic Resources Management by purchasing this image as a 4"x6" sized print or as a boxed set of notecards - follow the link to artoperative.com, thanks)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Redheads along the Connecticut near Springfield, Vermont

This is perfect fur coat weather for those of us who sport our own all year long. Near Springfield, Vermont, there are many farms that are post card perfect to view, even while aimlessly motoring along in a large open car, under the legal speed limit of course, and very carefully considering the chipmonks, and with amazing restraint considering the 5.8 liters teasing to be set free - who says that there's no fun in Vermont?!


Sunday, November 15, 2009

Taking time to admire the color

Yes, there is much afoot in Springfield, Vermont, but one must take a moment to enjoy the small stuff, here then for you a couple or three or four fotos of local color ...





Friday, October 30, 2009

Restoration Successfully Completed, the Paddock Street Bridge Re-opened to Great Fanfare - Fancy News.


Our very own Steel Truss Bridge, a rare parallelogram example at that, originally built by the Boston Bridge Works Company in the heady airs of 1929, has been smartly refurbished and now sports a fine glossy coat of black paint and a spanking-new road surface complete with reflective lines in a kind of "safety orange-y yellow", in the opinion of Bongo, who knows about these things.

"Any Color As Long As It Is Black!"

Contrary to the nay sayers, Springfield, Vermont's Paddock Street Bridge is a beauty and pays for itself everytime it presents it's crisp angles as a background to the changing seasons in the surrounding wood, reminding us of a time not too far away when trains roamed.


Springfield, Vermont, Official Home of the Simpsons, is proud of this industrial artifact, which has become a National Historic Landmark - another Jewel in the Crown of the Upper Valley.




Hey, wait a minute ... !

Monday, October 26, 2009

BOO! Hallowe'en Hits the Precision Valley - Springfield Vermont is Haunted!

Goblins are out for sure, summoned by the goulish lights of Pumpkins hollowed out and carved to send a message of fright and terror!


Vaya Miedo! Ha llegado una fiesta de gran terror!!! Hallowe'en en New England es lo mas espantoso posible!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Fancy News - Fancy Trees!

Autumn, even the Springfield, Vermont, Recycling Center, a fine place to visit any day, is especially resplendent in the warm light cast through the stand of Maples ruddy with Autumn's special blush.


And what a day it was today, the lush moist atmosphere was intoxicating the last days of full arborial color explosions (it rained all day), interesting to be sure, but, while waiting on a small task at the recycling center, one observed citizen after citizen exclaiming pleased surprise and great relief to hear from the very obliging attendent the fine and fancy news that henceforth the Recycle Center will finally accept a wider range of plastics, from every numbered type including 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 - and yes - even 7!

The attendant was happy to recite the Good News over and over, luxuriating in the repetition of the passage that included comments to the effect that "And we don't sort it here anymore either, it goes to the vendor just like this!" As ever, all plastics brought for recycling must be rinsed and have no tops on, but this change is applauded loudly (in a Vermontlische way) by all. One citizen was clearly heard to exclaim "Hurray! No more sorting plastics and throwing away half of them anyway!! Yay!"

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Success in the hunt for the perfect small sprig of Winterberry.


The Winterberry makes it's appearance, and with it, memories of Winters Past come back to say hello.


We went to one of our favorite farms the other day, to Beth's to see the new flock of chooks, on Greely Road here in Springfield, Vermont, famous for beautiful eggs with the most vibrant and colorful yokes around.

Bongo also insisted on a new chicken drawing for the blackboard outside.



Happier chickens would be hard to find, and the day was glorious to boot, but what a pleasure to have a short conversation with a neighbor we hadn't met yet.


Bongo was most interested in the fruited branch ported about most tenderly by the newly met neighbor, and when asked, she identified it's place in her personal mythology, and it's gathering up as being part of the suite of things one did in the Late Fall when she and her sister were girls here abouts, long ago, in the Vermont we all seek to find on a walk in the woods in October.



Her father called this the Winter Berry. It is one of the things that the birds feed on if they winter over, a point of connection with nature and magic, and mighty delicious looking in the eyes of Bongo.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Bongo does Spain - Vaya Fancy News!

Bongo loved Granada. Andalucia is a taste of the Arab lands beyond the Levante, without leaving a more conventional environment, and with delightful hills just like in Springfield, Vermont. The Pension San Joaquin, housed in an old home behind thick walls and tall ancient doors hung with bronze hands that allow the caller to announce his or her presence by striking their delicately purchased bronze apples, located on Calle Mano de Hierro, was our base camp in Granada, just a few blocks from where Isabel and Ferdinand rest, and a short walk from La Puerta de Elvira. The rooms were emminently adequate, priced nicely, they came with exotic balconies and silly european fittings, the interior patios were fun to encounter, and the owners were always on hand to help with advice or directions.

In Granada, some of the hilly stairstepped streets shelter treats from fairy tales.


The same streets offer impromptu venues for enterprising musicians and their fans of all ages, Granada loves the guitar after all.



Back in Valencia once again, Bongo was stunned by the wonderful work of the restorers in revitalizing the exquisite Art Nouveau central market building, the Mercat Central, nestled in beside La Lonja (the 15th century Silk Exchange), sittin in about the same place where buyers and sellers have met since Roman times.
Bongo was also stunned by the variety and beauty of the offerings presented by the many shopkeepers who have held spots here for many years, sometimes passing them from parent to child, provisioning generations of Valencianos and curious tourists - but he preferred to meander about the vegetable aisles, for obvious reasons.

Wandering then further up into the Gothic Quarter, to hunt for the Plaça del Negret and the perfect café con leche or caña, depending on just how long the hunt took, Bongo got sidetracked, and just outside of the Plaza Redonda he came upon a trendily outfitted wedding party lolling about in front of the church of Santa Caterina.

In Valencia, when one has the luxury of time, upon coming across a wedding in progress, one always waits on the wedding party in order to enjoy the free fireworks that always welcome the new couple as they leave the church for the first time, yes Gladys, in Spain they set off real life, heavy-duty, black powder firecrackers, great ropes of them, a vast and stormy concatenation of explosions that wake the pagan gods and amuse children and goats, who then explode themselves in shrieks of delight.

The hats were a parade in themselves, and the lady dressed a la Manola was hypnotic even in the loud sunshine of a late-summer day. Indeed, all were smart enough to watch for the while it might take before the fuse was lit, but our little table called us to come and sit under the orange trees and beside the curling water of the Negrete´s quiet fountain, and we moved on without waiting to see the young men dancing in the black smoke of the firecrackers.




It´s not exactly Springfield, Vermont, but Bongo Loves it!









Sunday, September 27, 2009

Valencia by the Sea - Bongo does Spain

Fancy news indeed - from the thirteenth floor overlooking the Mediterranean Bongo takes in a salty air that reminds him of the days of seaborne traders, marauders, pirates and other adventurers who found places like Cullera and Calpe along the coast South of Valencia to be ideal harbors of convenience and of easy defence, not to mention comfortable for those who chose to stay. Spain was once the breadbasket of the Roman Empire, and Valencia was once the bread basket of Spain, the rich agricultural lands that are cultivated right up to the beach and right up to the most modern parts of town are testiment to that fact. It isn´t Springfield Vermont of course, it is a vacation after all, but Bongo feels almost at home here, except for the huge and distant vistas cross the cresty late Summer Seas, except for the charming lasses buzzing about on Vespas, except for the late night glasses of Virgen Malaga at after'hours flamenco bars.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Summer is a good time for mudders! Fancy News!

There is something to be said for the fun of driving around like mad in a late-twentieth century internal combustion vehicle that has been modified to produce the most fun from motive force derived from the burning of fossil fuels and otherwise at the expense of the environment.

You really have to stop and think about it, is it any worse than building and using two or three new scrubber-less coal fired electric generating plants? That may be a difficult question to answer, but if one asks if driving this thing around like a bat out of hell is more fun then building and using two or three new scrubber-less coal fired electric generating plants, then the answer comes a bit more easily - this mean little mudder is way more fun.


Yes, here in Springfield, Vermont, City of Lights and Official Home of the Simpsons, here in this charmed locale that is the fairest jewel of the Upper Valley, here it is still possible to have fun with internal combustion.


But please, mind the Moose and spare the Chipmunks!

Friday, August 28, 2009

Mermaid gets itchy feet - Fancy News!


The Mermaid who has quietly resided on the Black River for some years now is thinking of moving. When asked, she told Bongo that " … I came here years ago, originally just to visit some old friends, nymphs and sprites mainly, who chose to live in Vermont because the landscape is so like Greece used to be, in the good old days before the trees were all felled and the springs vanished. The trip up the Connecticut River was something of a challenge, but delightful, and when I took a left on the Black River and found the Precision Valley, I fell in love right away ... ".
She is contemplating a move to visit with dear friends in sunnier climes, to feast there on the last of the blue crabs and oysters, before they go extinct.
She will miss Springfield, Vermont, Official Home of the Simpsons and Jewel of the Upper Valley, but leaves behind a little of herself.
No nymphs or water sprites were available for comment, but Pan and the local resident population of Mallard ducks had a few things to say, which will be the subject of another posting at another time.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Bongo says: zombie-newspapers, news aggregators and content collectors, Oh My! - Fancy News!

The sleep of Newspapers produces zombie-newspapers.



Bongo and the writers at www.springfieldvermont.org have recently had funny, odd, but ultimately scary run-ins with "news aggregator" and "content collector" types posing as "news organs, periodicals or papers" of different sorts, always armed with a bizarre combination of 1) mindlessly over-the-top praise, and 2) unethical contracts to sign replete with burdensome and unfair clauses.
It has been amazing to see - are these what they call carpet baggers? - predators?
Why aren't they hiring the real Journalists who have lost jobs now that real Newspapers are disappearing? What happens to real Journalism now? Have you really looked at some of the new zombie-newspapers popping up all around like mushrooms?
Why aren't they hiring from the vast rafts of drifting Real Reporters and Journalists clogging the mountain rivers and streams?
Is a collection of content, if it is assembled using less than ethical business practices, and primarily as a vehicle for advertising, really a newspaper at all?
Is a contract that imposes unreasonable burdens on one party, entirely to the benefit of another, is it really an enforceable contract with any value for either party?
Bongo thinks we need to find a new name for the things characterized by unethical business practices that are replacing Real Newspapers!
Comments? Suggestions? Thanks!

Bongo says: zombie-newspapers, news aggregators and content collectors, Oh My! - Fancy News!

Bongo and the writers at www.springfieldvermont.org
have recently had funny, odd, but ultimately scary run-ins with "news aggregator" and "content collector" types posing as "news organs, periodicals or papers" of different sorts, always armed with a bizarre combination of 1) mindlessly over-the-top praise, and 2) unethical contracts to sign replete with burdensome and unfair clauses.
It has been amazing to see - are these what they call carpet baggers? - predators?
Why aren't they hiring the real Journalists who have lost jobs now that real Newspapers are disappearing? What happens to real Journalism now? Have you really looked at the new zombie-newspapers popping up all around like mushrooms?
Why aren't they hiring from the vast rafts of drifting Real Reporters and Journalists clogging the mountain rivers and streams?
Is a collection of content, if it is assembled using less than ethical business practices, and primarily as a vehicle for advertising, really a newspaper at all?
Bongo thinks we need to find a new name for the things that are replacing Real Newspapers!
Comments? Suggestions? Thanks!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Possible Ancient Pagan Temple Revealed by Flooding and Precipitous Erosion in Springfield, Vermont? - Olmec Minimalism or Viking Pragmatism?

[an update, an aside perhaps - to ask if any reader has any idea as to why this post has suddenly begun racking up hits in numbers far, far out of line with the usual traffic? 05APR11]

Flooding often reveals the handiwork of nebulous ancient societies. Such is the case in Springfield, Vermont, Official Home of the Simpsons, where the new New England Monsoon has produced prodigious downpours and flooding that removed centuries of deposits, carrying away burrows, logs, and the occasional squirrels nests, to expose a landscape that has not seen the rise or fall of the sun since well before the advent of Amplified Sound and multi-track recording devices.


Scientific teams including botanists, Lutherans, and archaeologists from both Norway and Minnesota have converged in their pocket-lined numbers on Springfield, Vermont, Home of the Simpsons, after the announcement of the chance find of "significant cultural remains of a rare and hitherto unexpected ancient regional power center that in it's once proud heyday threw up to the skies this great edifice, testament to it's clear skills and fine accomplishments".

Indeed, vast hordes of scientists and scholars can be seen, starting at dawn, sifting about the site after clay tablets, potsherds, collar buttons,bottle caps, and any other traces of what has been variously described as a proto-Viking, proto-Olmec, or proto-Irish transitional culture - some ancient culture familiar certainly with earth-moving machinery, but obviously hobbled by the lack of even the most rudimentary universal public health insurance system, a fact which most scholars believe led to their demise, this perhaps when environmental stresses finally overwhelmed a system, precarious but effective, that balanced unfairly in favor of a tricky elite block.

Preliminary studies of fragmentary evidence seem to point to signs that may indeed pinpoint this truncated pyramid as one of the centers of the cult of the little known Olmec deity Bongocoatl, "bringer of refreshing beverages", a deity in part known for the set of only partially understood cultic worship rituals that in part included the "dance of the rhubarb maidens" and the ritual Sacrifice of Summer Squashes (SSS).
It must be noted, that one careless scholar was heard to remark, all to loudly, that the bacchic overtones of the "dance of the rhubarb maidens" had implications for shocking antecedents that could not be overlooked for very long, an observation that immediatly divided the camp into armed factions, each intent on interpreting the "affinities that dare not speak their names" according to their own backers' wishes and directives, thus complicating the ongoing progress in a way that is only discernible from the perspective of a check book.
This over-speaking scholar, when aroused from his reverie and apprised of the situation that had developed as a direct result of his ill-advised pronouncements, rushed to explain that he had been merely "nearly asleep and simply thinking out loud", and that, as such, "nothing so said could possibly be construed as being in any way as 'on the record'". This of course had no effect on anyone at all, as the dog-eared chaos had already moved on to further states.

The other remarkable fact discussed by all, the obvious absence of the signature Beakers, is revealing also of another line of investigation that trails the obsolescence of this fascinating report - in that the obvious parallels between this and the recent structures brought to light in the Orkney dig (please see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6795316.ece), make it clear that much work will need to be done before a definitive statement on the matter can be conclusively formed, much less stated.
One attending expert, Dr. Macrovertigo, University of Heidelberg, SA, gave this statement to the press: "It is too early to say so, but these are certainly extra-ordinary circumstances, times, and developements. This latte needs more sugar if you please."
Bongo had this to say: "Are you gonna eat that?".

Friday, August 7, 2009

802music rocks Springfield Vermont - Fancy News


A new business opened today in downtown Springfield, Vermont, City of Lights and Official Home of the Simpsons! What a crowd was gathered at dusk today by the park on Main Steet for the opening of 802music! Bongo had no idea that there were so many young and youngish people looking for something to do in Springfield!
In a town with a Main Street that is lively enough but which has an appearance that hovers on the edge of moribund, and which has at least one major landmark burned out but stabilized and boarded over, it is nothing less than a pleasure to see a Grand Opening occur, complete with real crowds and loads of bumping energy. This new business, 802music, is special for another most critical reason, it gives the local music-centric youth element in town a sorely needed venue, a multipurpose performance space that obviates the dreary drive out to bigger towns or to Boston or Montreal for a fix of night life (and, quite importantly, saving the bleary-eyed drive home at dawn as well).
Symptomatic of a general revitalizing that is bound to occur here sooner or later, 802music arrives at a wonderful time in the cycle of economic collapse, providing one small incentive to the local youth to stay in town, if not for life, at least for Saturday night. And as far as any general revitalizing momentum goes, this opening party augers well for the positive future that so many hope comes to Springfield, Vermont, sooner than later.
The main operatives at 802music, Acadia Cutschall and David Hinkley, were understandably upbeat, as the party mood was delicious, and the turnout was excellent - many attendees wore colorful outfits and coifs, and the mood was almost "East Village-y". One might expect to observe as well some degree of special atmospherics and beer, but there was none in evidence and no one seemed to notice the absence at all, as a pure and simple fun time was under way powered by sheer adrenalin and the energy from the live stage act.
When asked about their operating premise and plans for the future, Acadia Cutschall and David Hinkley were eager to see themselves and 802music as agents of change in Springfield, Vermont, noting in especial their ability to provide for the ready-made audience that they surely will make their own. Acadia went on to point out that after having been away for a time, she felt she was returning to a subdued Springfield, and she feels that in serving the youth scene in Southern Vermont, 802music can be a real factor in the revitalizing process here.
They were also eager to explain their intention to blend in and partner with other local business. For example they are in talks with recently re-opened Penelope's over the prospect of combining to offer a kicky travelling dinner theater type of combination deal, wherein the prospective guests would be buying a package that offered the dinner itself at Penelope's and the subsequent entertainment across the street in the 802music locale. David and Acadia have done their partnering homework to be sure, as they have an arrangement with CCV and with the River Valley Tech Center that pairs up Recreation and Hospitality interns with 802music, to the benefit of all involved.
Acadia and David also described the 802music offerings as including other things besides musical performances, such as making the space available for lesson space, for shows, parties or for other musical or theatrical events.
802music will no doubt be well-received by the community, and they are prepared to meet any criticism or calamitous occurrence with a diplomatic attitude that is sure to win over any crank who might be inclined to grouse at all the good, clean fun happening it's brains out on weekend evenings.
For further information, contact 802music by calling 800•395•6815, or visit them on the web at URL MySpace/802musicspringfield.
Rock on Springfield!