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Cast of Characters

Mid-January, Rain - January 13, 2012
Almost Midwinter - December 14, 2011
Saturday, Noonish, Sunny - November 05, 2011
October, White - October 31, 2011
October, 2011 - October 04, 2011


July 11, 2004

10:04 a.m.

Evening in Vermont

I try to verbalize the differences between driving through Vermont and driving through Maine. It's landscape but it's also a feeling. Maine makes me feel like I'm lying in a hammock, under a shady bough, drifting off into a soul-reviving nap. Vermont is... a little more, "Here's the beauty; take a picture, buy some cheese, and come back soon." I feel encouraged to return to Vermont; I feel compelled to stay in Maine.

We are staying in a very old dorm at the Green Mountain College in Poultney, VT. There aren't many musicians here tonight; I think two other rooms in this hallway are in use besides our two. The smallish campus is gorgeous. The stairways inside are slate, and if it weren't for the data ports in the rooms, you'd never know you were in the 21st Century. The twin mattresses are spectacularly cheesy; we've put them all on the floor so they'll be more or less flat. Of the four stalls in the co-ed bathroom, one has no door; one doesn't latch; one seat looks scary. There is a shower room with no gender designation and three stalls. My guess is, this is a girls' dorm. Didn't see any stand-up toilets.

We arrived separately, I first by about 45 minutes. I had time to orient myself, take a gander at the rooms, and cadge some of the volunteer pot luck that was happening on site. The festival officially opens tomorrow morning. Finally my bandmates arrived, and we got ourselves squared away in the rooms and took some equipment down to the main stage, where we'll play an hour set tomorrow afternoon.

Most of the vendors at this event have to do with solar or wind power systems. There are also a number of food vendors, a merch tent where we'll leave CDs for the whole weekend and hope to God we sell some, and a field at the back of the site into which a large circle has been mowed. At the entrance is a homemade sign: "Theatre in the Field. Now Playing: Wiley and the Hairy Man." At one edge of the circle is a set of sorts, created from branches, frondy reeds and other natural things. We read in the program that every year the Solarfest puts on a play by a local children's author. Imagine my delight to learn that we'll be able to see it tomorrow after our set. Theatre in the Field. What an excellent concept.

After all that we walked into the little town of Poultney and found a depot restaurant for some decaf, coconut cream pie and and a meeting about the set list. The weather today was perfect, and should hold through the weekend. We couldn't ask for better circumstances, really, unless the mattresses were new.

I brought my little made-in-China clock with the cricket sounds. This dorm is QUIET. I have to clear my throat a lot at night these days, for some allergy-related reason, and because there's nothing to deaden the sound in here it's appallingly loud. I think there's someone adjacent to this room, so I hope I don't startle them. Also my door closes so snugly that I have to just about hitch an elephant to the doorknob to get it to open. That'll be fun around 4:30 when I get up to pee.

Well, the sooner to bed the better. We'll go to the diner tomorrow for breakfast. Hooray!

********

It was a challenge, but I did manage to get more or less six hours of sleep, in pieces. The mattresses on the floor are kind of like sleeping... on the floor, except with springs. I had to go out to my car finally and get the little egg crate that lives in my trunk for such occasions. That was a lot better. I wonder how Carol and Chris fared.

So I was sitting here typing after my early shower, and the door is a little ajar for ventilation and also because it makes so much noise to open and close. I suddenly saw from the corner of my eye that it was swinging open, and I thought maybe Chris had gotten up and was coming in. I looked up and this strange guy with gray hair, a handlebar mustache and wearing only a towel goes, "Oh! I'm sorry, I thought this was the showers! None of these doors are marked! It's very confusing!" He was all mad and embarrassed, and thank goodness I was in a GOOD mood, because I just thought it was funny. I told him where the showers are, and was glad I'd gotten up before anyone else. I'd rather have this guy walk into my room while I'm sitting here fully clothed and typing, than into the shower room when I have less composure. (It turns out there are quite a few people, performers and volunteers, in this dorm right now.)

I have no idea how students live here and get any sleep at all. The floors and doors creak, the toilets and showers can be heard throughout the hallways, and of course there's no place near a mirror to plug in a hair dryer, least of all in the bathroom. We joked that, because we're on the main stage, we must be in the VIP dorm, and pity the poor singer songwriters who had to stay in the plebe quarters.

I took a few self portraits this morning in the light from my big window. I think I captured that early morning tiredness, laced with hopeful anticipation, pretty well. I�ll put one up later.

Our plan this morning is to get the CDs to the merch tent as early as possible and then go for breakfast. It being a quarter to nine already, I'd say it's time to knock up some bandmates. A nap might be in order around noontime.

********

Sunday morning, not awake yet

I dreamed there was no place for me at my wedding.

The room was huge � long, white-clothed tables from end to end and side to side. The guests were coming in. Everyone had a place card, and I couldn�t find mine. There was the �bride�s family� table, the �groom�s family� table. I wasn�t among them. When I realized I was the bride, wearing the white satin and expected to be part of the ceremony, I went all through the room looking for my name. There was a woman with a clipboard or something who had arranged the whole thing, and I kept demanding to know of her why she hadn�t included me. She gave me no good answer. The groom was not someone I seemed to know well. Sort of a princely guy � tall and straight, well bred � in fact the whole thing was like a Lady Di affair, it was that important � and he still wanted to marry me even if it was on another day. But I didn�t want him. Someone had left me out of my own wedding, and I wasn�t going to do it all again.

The next day I was maybe at my mom�s and trying to use the ironing board. The board cover came off, in two layers, and I was peeved but mom said I�d put it on sideways or something. Then there were two irons instead of one, the board�s legs were all warped, and I just couldn�t seem to put everything away although there seemed to be plenty of room in the closet.

Thinking about this after waking, I imagined that I�ll turn into a lonely middle-aged spinster woman. Then I wondered how long it will be before I wake up and realize that that day has already arrived.

Seems like that some days, anyway.

********

I gave in to Rose�s suggestion of an early-ish bike ride, so she�ll be here in half an hour. Must get some carbs & protein into my body.

Sciatica�s back with a vengeance, incidentally.


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