Crowd shots - Springfield, Vermont assembles for a parade.

Crowd shots - Springfield, Vermont assembles for a parade.




http://youtu.be/Ix7lszWeT4Y

Video of the 2011 SHS Alumni Day Parade in Springfield Vermont

here it is, the video of the 2011 SHS Alumni Day Parade in Springfield Vermont, fifteen minutes of America digitized for you.

Aqui esta el video prometido, del gran desfile.

the link

New video shot and edited by Springfield Vermont artist and videographer Edward Huse

A new video shot and edited by Springfield Vermont artist and videographer Edward Huse was released yesterday by vine.bravebirds.org - the third chapter in what is turning out to be an interesting series of cooking show episodes, entitled "Cooking with Real Vegans", featuring interesting executions of recipes in a very Vermont setting, and starring very interesting Vermonters (et alios).
See Episode 3, "Ribollita", at youtube.com/EdwardHuse, along with a couple other video postcards of Springfield, Vermont, Jewel of the Upper Valley and Official Home of the Simpsons.

Fancy News - Springfield Vermont tests Fire Department's new "dry hydrant" system, on the beautiful Downtown Riverfront of Springfield, Vermont.

Everything is popping in Springfield, Vermont. Today traffic was backed up in historic proportions, due to all the progress - heavy machines are producing changes beneath the pavement surrounding the Movie Theater as it approaches it's Grand Opening date, and Springfield's other finest, the Springfield Fire Department, was busy testing the new addition to the fire suppression system, a dry hydrant, serving Downtown and the developments at 100 River Street.

Springfield's Fire Chief, Russ Thompson, was on hand to give a brief explanation of the dry hydrant component of our fair town's fire suppression system, as recorded for you here -


Visit www.springfieldvtfire.org for more information.

This should definitively put to rest the rumors - rumors that erupted "like mushrooms in the far meadow after a moon-lit night" after the Black River was diverted one day late last Summer (supposedly to relocate the lost riverwalk access to the legendary long lost cheese caverns of Springfield, Vermont, where a particularly fine Cheddar was said to be produced long ago, long before the trade was outsourced) - rumors to the effect that a "siphoning wash" was necessary to clear the subterranean passages of the still operable cheese caverns, and so allow the secretly resurrected cheese makers guild to resume their historic duties, which all know to be to produce the best Cheddar, along with a marvelous Stilton, and a surprisingly naughty Parmesiano for grating.

Beer tastings in Springfield Vermont, at Joe's Wines and Spirits

What is more productive and wholesome than a forty five minute trip through a beer tasting on a bright but blustery Spring day in Springfield, Vermont? Joe and the other folks at Joe's Wine & Spirits host such an informative event at least once or twice a month, even when it isn't snowing - one always walks away fortified with new information, and at least one new beer to try, (McNeil's was today's favorite, hmm). With over one hundred breweries, who says there's no fun in Vermont?



The Northshire Brewery offering, Equinox Pilsner, was a pale and truly flowery splash of freshness at the start, followed by that large plain open area encountered in delicate beers, closing with a contrast that did nothing to erase the opening encounter with Violets.



There was a mid-grade amber offering as well, a Brown Lager from Trapp Brewery in Stowe, Vermont - beautiful to regard with it's dark auburn light, but deceptively light in flavor and with almost no bight to reveal an alcohol content, and with almost no effervescence to speak of. It was a pleasant and refreshing beverage to be sure, but would easily pass as a wheat-based health drink to uproarious effect.

The winner among the gathered observers was the Black Belgian Stout, Growlers, with hearty mein and beefy toast and a friendly 7.5% content.

A good time was had by all. Contact Joe's Wine & Spirits directly for upcoming events.

Peter Shumlin speaks to voters in Springfield Vermont.

Vermont's Democratic candidate for the office of Governor, Peter Shumlin, joined by Steve Howard, Alice Nitka and Peter Welch and many others, met today with citizens of Springfield, Vermont, at what turned out to be a perfect, crisp Fall day on the grassy verge of Comptu Cascade Park. The backdrop included the silent factories, quietly brooding among ever more naked old trees, almost floating, lost in the bright late afternoon glare (like the ghosts of jobs offshored long ago), sitting there empty on the opposite shore of the now wild and raging Black River.

This close to the election day, Peter Shumlin took the time to mention the bald depravity of some parties in sending jobs offshore for decades, all the while claiming to create jobs.

And Mr. Shumlin touched on another fundamental point for voters to consider on the Second of November, that something as basic and important and traditional as the direct vote, the Direct Vote, that the direct vote is under assault, and that it is very important not to enable bad behavior by other parties who would eliminate, eliminate, the direct vote. That, dear reader, would be a tragic marker in the decline and passing of the Middle Class.

Please exercise your right to vote.

Springfield Vermont in Mid-Winter

It's a chilly but pretty time of year in Springfield, Vermont.

New Playground for the Union Street School in Springfield, Vermont! - Fancy News!

The effort Saturday morning to assemble the New Playground at the Union Street School was a rousing success! Children for many years to come can thank the group of friends and neighbors who came together under the guidence of Jayne, Playground Chair, to perform the modern version of the time-honored "barn-raising" style cooperative event.


The playground itself is nicely situated - not only is the newly finished work splendid in aspect, but the location comes with a fine view of the forested hills on the other side of the Black River and up toward North Springfield, a green carpet of dark Verde Antique velvet only rarely broken with a patch of orchard or mown field.



The hill, upon whose flank nestles the school itself, where the moose still lives, and where it could be that still Indian warriors lurk behind the bigger trees, rises behind the school and playground, nicely wooded, providing a cascade of cool and refreshing forest-lische air all afternoon.



The actual playground furniture is a clever assembly of even more clever prefabricated plastic parts, plastics that one would hope are designed with properties dedicated to allowing the Product to survive the harsh climate and vigorous use to which it will be subjected on a regular basis, and of course formulated to withstand modern solar radiation levels (since the gradually changing "new atmosphere" no longer protects in quite the same way as it formerly did). The fittings employed to anchor elements together and to the Earth, look like they are of steel with a galvanized finish, of stout dimensions and easily handled.
The whole play array is set in a cushion of mulch about one foot deep, that rests upon a bed of crushed stone of differing grades that will keep rain water from pooling, letting it drain off to the grassy hill and wood that separates this play area from the row of 1880's vintage Victorian Village Farmhouses that stud busy Union Street, overlooking the valley that cradles Springfield, Vermont, Official Home of the Simpsons.
(also send in your own photos if you like, make a note about how you would like the credit line or attribution to appear).

Truck Creams Freshly Erected Light Post, Frankenstein Bleating Continues Unabated - Fancy News

This morning a trailer truck driver misjudged distances and took an ill-fated turn 'round a prominent downtown corner with a crisp and dramatic movement. The incident was witnessed by one citizen who happened to be standing right there on the sidewalk, innocently smoking a tobacco cigarette and watching the morning parade of automobiles and pedestrians - she volunteered that she happened to be watching the truck approach, and as a person not unfamiliar with the management of a moving tractor trailer rig she continued to watch with amazement growing into horror as she realized that the physics of speed and direction were going to lead to a bad result, and as her eyes bugged at the unfolding scenario the impact occured, producing an incredible physical shock and loud noise that made her start to the point that she completely lost track of her refreshing pause and found completely interrupted her morning wa.


The driver and his rig had neatly clipped one of the recycled 1970's era light poles that fill the main intersection in the center of Springfield, Vermont, City of Lights and Official Home of the Simpsons, and flipped it, sending it's base flying smartly several feet towards the Comptu Falls, missing the witness and the corner storefront window by about eleven degrees of arc, and causing the upper lamp to come to rest on the roof of the unfortunately misdirected trailer.


How it is that such an accident hasn't happened before or more often, and how it is that on this occasion the damage was confined to just one light post among the gathering of different utility poles on each of the four corners, is a question that will challenge great minds for years and years to come, but the fact is that no one was injured (beyond the wicked start suffered by the witness and the embarrassment suffered by Alex, the driver), and not one of the fine modern traffic lights was damaged.


Most significantly, the odious and mindlessly repetetive bleating of the taunting audio "alert", (designed to confuse/entrap the blind and drive mad the local office workers and nearby residents), didn't miss a single mindless beat, beat, beat.


When asked, the driver offered, with a truely charming Canadian accent redolent of the North Woods of Further Canuckia, that he had been driving rigs for about a year now. He also offered that he felt shock, consternation and dismay to think that the town of Springfield, Vermont, City of Lights and Official Home of the Simpsons, had posted woefully inadequate signage that attempted to apprise drivers of road conditions in town, signage thoroughly ambiguous in it's directions to truck drivers and confusing to anyone not familiar with the thinking behind it, and he felt he should have never been led to such a close intersection.



Perhaps it is just as well that the unfortunate driver didn't have to also struggle through the horrid little flyer inflicted on the citizens announcing a meeting to explain the traffic changes, handed out last week at the last minute by the local Chamber of Commerce (who said "dead wood and old logs"?), a flyer that appeared to have been composed as an afterthought, and which certainly was printed and distributed without even the most basic cursory editing (this flyer was too unprofessionally produced to bear a second read, or to even preserve at all, and it is not reproduced here out of respect for literate people everywhere).

Asparagus is in season in Springfield, Vermont - Fancy News!

Springfield, Vermont, welcomes the Asparagus harvest at Eastman's Farm, in nearby Weathersfield Bow, Vermont!
Delicious? Oh yes, and worth the wait for a year or two while the experts at Eastman's Farm, in Weathersfield Bow allow the asparagus beds to rest and recuperate and have a chance to live out a full cycle during the beautiful Vermont growing seasons. Delicious? Yes. And going fast, better get to your favorite farm soon and buy a few bunches while they last.

In a way as delightful to encounter is the real life version of the honor system, a box and a bunch of bags ready for you to do the right thing here at Eastman's Farm, count fair, make your own change, and enjoy a bit of the past in doing so.
Es ya la temporada de asparagos, y son buenos este año - hace dos años que no hacen cosécha por ser necesario dejar descansar la pradera de asparagos. Igual de interesante es el método de compra y venta, que a la entrada de la granja preferida se verá una mesa con la cosecha del dia, tambien bolsas, y una caja para hacerse uno mismo el cambio de moneda para la compra - no hay guantes, y no hay empleado con el carnét de manipular el producto, pero todo esta aseado (dentro de lo que cabe ser granja), todo ya hecho en bultos a un peso, listos para escoger, usando el antiguo systema de honor.

Catastrophic Failure Strikes the Operations Center at www.springfieldvermont.org!

It is the sad day in Springfield, Vermont, here at the Control Center of www.springfieldvermont.org
The venerable old Mac G4 733 Mhz Digital Audio Tower that has been the primary computer for much of all this blather, seems to have experienced a final, possibly devastating, catastrophic failure of some internal organ or system or other complex tissue. Changing the little 2150 1/2 AA battery had no effect, so that it becomes more likely that the power supply itself, or some other major component, has gone to sleep forever. This is almost to be expected sooner or later in a nine year old Mac, which up until last night has been completely dependable (though more and more jiggy of late) - I wonder, how many winbox units make it this far?
The recent demise of the honored MacGuru, (a fellow former spook proficient in the MacArts) makes one chary of attempting surgery on this one alone, or of taking a chance on another older mac without guidance, so the best thing is to take this to be a sign from the gods that it is time to just plunk down for a new Mac, and be done with it - the shopping has begun at apple.com in earnest and it feels very self-indulgent and excessive in this era of declines in art sales.
In June, and again in August, there are going to be announcements or releases that may make a difference, so it behooves the Mac shopper to wait a few weeks, hmmm.

Update - the new Mac is about to arrive, the online tracking thing indicates that it is on a Fedex truck and nearby, and all is ready for the un-boxing. The new baby is a brand spankin' new Mac Pro, purchased online, welcome to the twentifirst century!


Jolin, se me ha muerto el viejo amigo, el Mac de siempre, un ejemplar del anyo 2000, el llamado G4 733 Mhz Digital Audio PPC, que ha sido Feroz y Valiente.
No quiere despertar!, y, tocando su boton magico da apenas una luz febril - pero sin empezar a despertar y lanzar su sonido de "bong!" Vaya pena, pero ha servido casi diez anyos y ya esto debe ser un mensaje enviado de los dioses, una senyal de que es hora de comprar un mac nuevo por fin. Y por primera vez en tanto tiempo tambien, cuanto lio es ir de compras!
La tienda de apple.com es una tienda de golosinas, es dificil escoger, pero lo mas probable es encontrar una ganga comprando un Mac Pro en la parte de "Refurbished", donde la casa Apple vende de nuevo ordenadores que han sido devueltos por diferentes razones. Los revisan, haciendo lo necesario para componerlos bien incluso con todo lo que se espera de una compra de un articulo o sistema nuevo, y los venden con la misma garantia que dan con ordenadores nuevos. Ó compro un Mac Pro asi, ó compro un iMac nou con "graphics card" 4850 - y prou.

dia 24 de Junio - asi estim, esperando la llegada en cualseból minut del nuevo Mac Pro, un mac-ote formidable, no puedo con la anticipación, debo tomar mas café ...

Fancy News - Pavement Progress in Springfield, Vermont

Above: a view showing the dog-trot in the otherwise unbroken line of the curb, it would be nice to see a tree there, but more likely than not this indent allows a controlled transition - from one travel lane alongside one parallel parking lane, into three clearer options for traffic flow at the trafic light controlled intersection. No se hace asi en Espanyah, pero aqui por fin tenemos reparaciones en las calles, o, por lo menos tenemos indicaciones de la intencion de modificar en alguna manera positiva lo que es un systema de baches, escaleras sin ritmo, y caidas mortales, a que se le da nombre de "calles".
Here we have a portrait of the fine new granite pieces that will soon be nestled in the paving of Springfield, Vermont, Official Home of the Simpsons.

Fire! - fire has gutted several apartments and the old-fashioned movie theater where the world premier was held last year for the Simpsons movie!

To be sure, Springfield, Vermont, besides being the official Home of the Simpsons, has for far longer been know as the home of Vermont's oldest community theater group - the Springfield C ommunity Players.
However, the high visibility of the fire in the cool old building that houses several homes and the movie theater makes it feel like the stage is dark in Springfield. I hope that bad planning and apathy do not finish what the fire almost completed, the razing of one of our few remaining old victorian-era brick commercial structures on what is left of the historic "downtown". In the meantime ...
Why not patronize the Springfield Community Players while the movie theater is closed?
Check them out here - www.springfieldcommunityplayers.org