Friends

Downed endless cups of tea all day, and talked and talked and talked.  Lovely.  The kids have also been catching up with old friends.  I'd write more, but it's all been too much fun and I'm worn out. 

I (heart) Linton

We got in late last night after dinner with friends, preceded by breakfast/coffee/lunch/tea/drop-in-for-a-chat/fancy-meeting-you-on-the-High-Street etc with numerous other friends.

We're looking forward to more of the same today, and I may or may not report back later.

Gotta love Linton.

Linton News

We made a trip to the Grove this morning.  It's a swish hotel with a golf course in Watford.  It also has a rather pretty garden which has sculptures arranged in it at the moment, and we enjoyed wandering round them.  The Man was quite excited to spot the England coach outside the hotel - the one that drives the football [soccer] team around, that is, not the one that trains them.

And this afternoon - to Linton!  Hooray!  The friends we are staying with have moved to a bigger house with a bigger garden [yard] since we last saw them, and we've been variously admiring their new space, pedalling go-carts round the lawn, hypnotizing their chickens and enjoying their home-grown fruit and veg and, of course, their company.

Linton doesn't seem to have changed too much in the last twelve months, but we'll take a closer look tomorrow.

Windswept

We spent a jolly afternoon at Granny and Grandad's house in Reading.  The Man's brother and sister-in-law were also along for the fun.  It was good to see everyone.

And meanwhile, back in the States... 

For the last few days we've been anxiously tracking the progress of Hurricane Irene, which was apparently heading right towards our US house.  Yikes!  And after we'd just missed an earthquake last week, too. 

Well, of course, in the end the hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm.  And by the time it reached our area it seems to have been much depleted in force.  At any rate, the friend who is looking after our house reports that, though there was a lot of rain and a power outage at one point, all seems to be well.  We are much relieved.  It'll be interesting to find out how our car has fared, last seen parked under a tree near Newark Airport...

New York in general seems to have been spared the anticipated worst, but nevertheless this storm really has wreaked havoc and claimed lives.  We've been lucky this time.  The power of Nature should never be underestimated.

Family day out in Oxford

Today we visited my brother and his family in Oxford.  It took us longer to get there than planned in our newly-rented car - even with four lanes supposedly keeping the traffic flowing, we still ended up parked on the M25 for a while.

Lunch at my brother's, then some of us set out for the ice-rink.  I felt hesitant at first back on ice after a six-month break, but eventually found my skating feet.  The Girl whizzed round, and her cousin (who also takes lessons) seemed very comfortable too.  Even my brother - the last person I'd expect to meet on a rink - got around quite respectably.

The Man and his son, meanwhile, were touring the Ashmolean Museum, checking out the statues of Greek gods - one of the Boy's big interests at the moment.  They also looked in at our old college, which, like pretty much everything else in the city, hasn't noticeably changed since we moved away from Oxford in 2000.

We all got together again back at my brother's house, for tea, talk and card games, and (courtesy of my twin seven-year-old nieces) music, dancing and a fine display of furniture scrambling.  It was a very enjoyable visit.

Wheel meet again

More London again today - this time all four of us.  We were meeting with good friends up from Devon.

We'd decided to meet in the Science Museum.  Wow, that place is popular - teeming with families.  It's a bit quieter on the higher-up floors, so while the Man and Girl went off exploring the Boy got to catch up with his pal, and I got to catch up with mine, and to be honest the exhibits (aeroplanes) were just a nice but rather irrelevant backdrop.  But we also nosed around the Maths and Computers floor (the friend is a Maths teacher) and had a think about teaching methods and the like.

The Man called up an old school friend who's now a Geology professor at Imperial College, just along the road from the museum.   He invited us to lunch in the faculty cafe, where the chips [fries], let me tell you, are plentiful. We hadn't seen him for more than twelve years, so it was good to find out what he's been up to - major stuff like having kids and finding out how the English Channel was created.

After souvenir shopping back at the museum it was time to accompany our Devon friends to Waterloo and bid them farewell.  Then, although the sky looked threatening, the Man, Girl and Boy bought tickets for the London Eye.  Before boarding they got to enjoy a "4-D Experience" - a 3-D movie which ends with a snow scene when they sprinkle you with actual snow and water, apparently (much to the Boy's irritation). I later got to have my own "4-D experience", watching the family go round in the wheel while it bucketed real rain on me.  In fact, by the time they all disembarked I was soaked.


A little nose around the South Bank to finish off the day - the "Museum of 51" in the basement of the Royal Festival Hall celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain (and featured some genuine state-of-the-Ark hands-on exhibits - a dial phone and a manual typewriter); and a fine vegetable garden by the folks that brought us the Eden Project, on top of Queen Elizabeth Hall.  And finally home, legs well-walked for the day.

London calling

The man (or woman) who is tired of Watford...can jump on a train to London. Hooray!

Although the children were perfectly happy to spend another day knocking about their Grandparents' house, the Man and I felt the urge to get out, so off we went.

London is amazing, isn't it - so much to see around every corner.  We walked up and down along the South Bank for a bit, admiring the views.  Then we took a tour of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, where there was a rehearsal going on for a new play called The God of Soho, which is "bursting with dirty language and filthy content."   Mm.  The theatre building itself is a wonder - all hail to Sam Wannamaker who had the vision to recreate it.










We walked another stretch besides the Thames, popped into Southwark Cathedal and the Tate, stopped in for some noodles at Wagamama at the South Bank, then crossed the river and took a stroll around some other rather well-known buildings, in Westminster.

I love visiting London. I lived in central London for a while, twenty-odd years ago, in a tiny rented room which actually was a closet (seriously, it was). The whole city was much dirtier then (too much traffic), and shabbier all round. Fascinating still, of course - I used to walk for miles and miles just for the sake of it - but since the introduction of congestion charges and with some interesting building and sensitive remodelling going on it's a more pleasant place to be now - in the tourist areas at any rate.

Learning the ropes

A visit from my cousin this morning, so that was fun, and then the Man's parents arrived for lunch and stayed for the afternoon, so that was fun too.  To get the kids out for a bit, my dad and I walked them round to the local leisure centre where they had a ninety-minute lesson on a fantastic 50' climbing wall.  For them, that was the most fun of all.

I'm hoping it was quite tiring for them too, so that perhaps they'll get to sleep closer to a proper time tonight.  I know I was exhausted just sitting watching them - but since I'd only managed three hours sleep last night that wasn't too surprising.  Ugh, I can't tell you how much I hate jetlag...

Stitchers in time

The kids love staying with Grandma and Grandpa.  There's stuff they like to do here.  Today the Boy got to walk to the library, chatting to his Grandpa about Pokemon all the way there and all the way back (and it's not a very short walk - thank you Grandpa!).  The Girl got to rearrange Grandma's dolls-house and make new clothes for the dolls (by which I mean, she instructed Grandma on what kind of clothes to make - thank you Grandma!).  Both kids also got to eat chips [home-fries]and strawberries with sugar, and OD-ed on CBBC [kids' TV].

The Man hopped on a train to Cambridge mid-afternoon to meet up with some former colleagues.  I wandered into Watford with a vague idea of shopping.  I ended up spending too much time in John Lewis marvelling at the vast choice of duvet covers (how's that for a sad admission?).

Tonight I went along to my Mum's quilting group.  They've been quilting together since 1984. I've been to the odd meeting now and then, attended their quilt shows and so on, but it's been a while since I saw most of them.  Illness has taken a few of their number over the years, but otherwise they don't seem to have changed at all, even the oldest who will soon be turning 90.  Creativity and friendship have age-defying powers.

Arrivals

The journey to the airport could have gone more smoothly (if there'd been less traffic, fewer accidents and better directions by Google maps), yet we arrived in good time to park the car in Newark and catch our flight.  The latter was unremarkable - time for a bit of TV-watching and not quite enough sleep, and before we knew it we were at Heathrow.

We're now happily camped at my parents' house in Watford.  The kids have enjoyed the heady freedom of making a trip to the corner shop by themselves to stock up on sweets - something they can't do so easily in our spread-out American suburb.  We've pretty much taken it easy all day.  The Boy is already conked out on the sofa in front of the telly, soon to be hauled up to bed, and I won't be long after him. 

Must fly

Our bags are packed (see right), the house is in safe hands.  Just some last minute this-and-that and we'll be on the road, then in the air, then in Britain.  Somehow, even after years of travelling, I never can get my head around that. 

See (some of) you soon!

Party pieces

Every August our neighbour a couple of doors down holds a pig-roast, and everyone on our street (or who has previously lived on our street, or has a friend or relative who lives on our street) is invited.  It's quite an event.

Last year's caricaturist was there again tonight, and this time two members of our family stepped up to be sketched for posterity.  There was also another animal show, and a magical reappearance by a remarkable illusionist (we happened to end up sitting just to the side of him up on the stage - and we still couldn't see how he did his tricks).

It was a great party, and a nice chance to catch up with neighbours and former neighbours over plate-loads of food.  We're now going to finish off our packing, serenaded by live music wafting through our open windows this balmy night.

Storming success

 We all drove over to collect the Girl from camp this evening.  It sounds like she had a great time there, what with lake swimming and archery practice and pranking the boys by stringing up their sneakers...  When we asked she replied without hesitation that she'd like to go there again.  A spot of bad weather didn't seem to have been much of a problem at all. 

And anyway it just so happened that the really, really bad weather didn't hit until approximately one minute after we started driving away from the campsite.  Thunder crashed! Lightning flashed!  Hail bounced and clattered on the car bonnet.  A solid curtain of rain obscured the road ahead.  Hm, what fun - especially when we came across half a fallen tree blocking the road, forcing us to turn back, try a different route, drive around in circles for an hour... 

The rain did ease up eventually, of course, and we did find our way home.  The Girl will just have time to unpack now before having to re-pack ready for the big journey we'll all be making on Sunday.

Fair description

There's just one thing slightly worse than public speaking at 7:30 in the morning, and that's having blood drawn at 7:30 in the morning.  Still - tick - that's one more thing crossed off the To Do list.

This afternoon the Boy and I celebrated our first anniversary of visiting the Altamont Fair by...visiting the Altamont Fair!  And very splendid it was.  We took one of the Boy's friends along, and the pair of them had a great time on all the houses of fun, the roller coaster etc etc.  They'd have been happy enough with just that for a day out, but I insisted on dragging them through a few exhibits: "Listen guys!  It's a flippin' agricultural show! We're not leaving 'til you've looked at some chickens!"

They were nice chickens, though they came second best to the lovely rabbits.  I spotted a couple of seriously tiny ponies, and some drop-dead gorgeous cows.  There were some slightly bizarre exhibits, too.  In the "Salute to Agriculture" barn there was an inexplicable miniature funfair for baby chicks.  And there was a "Circus Museum" which has been shown at Altamont for years and years and is frankly rather creepy.

I got to see the frisby dogs (yay!) but missed the Robinson Racing Pigs (shame!).  The Boy and I weren't sure we really approved of the Canadian performing bear act.  The giant tortoise was cool...

Oh, but I'd have had such a lot of great photos to share with you, if only I'd had a camera with me.

Waffles for breakfast

Breakfast at 7:30am, then it was my turn to perform, on the theme of Fair Trade, for the local community group I visited a couple of weeks ago.  The audience wasn't huge, so it should have been a piece of cake. Instead, alas, it was a bit of a waffle. 

I really need to get to grips with public speaking.  It's still my least favourite part of this advocacy lark.  Writing, fine.  Contacting people, no problem.  Organising events - love it!  But having to stand up and talk while people look at me just seems to turn my brain to mush and scrambles all my well-thought-out words.

Having said that, the audience was kind. They gave me a commemorative mug and thanked me very much - and I think they meant it.  For although I may not be the most inspiring of speakers, at least I'm always a crowd-pleaser in one respect: I hand out free chocolate.

All part of the service

I had to take the car in for a major service today.  I took it to the dealership, which is out in the middle of nowhere. There were no courtesy cars available, so I was trapped there for three and half hours.

No problem, I'd come prepared with notebooks to scribble in and projects to work on.  I'd even thought to pack some lunch, so no hunger pangs and sudden mood swings for me.  I arrived in the rain, but the weather cleared up and I took a bit of a stroll around in the sunshine.  All in all, the time passed quickly and the experience was quite painless...

...until, of course, the bit at the end when I had to pay the - how much??! - bill.  Blimey, car ownership - it's almost as expensive as owning teeth.

Raining, pouring

The Man had to get up and shut the windows before daybreak - the noise of the pounding rain had woken us up. 

It continued to chuck it down all day.  Flood warnings were announced on the radio.  The weather in Western Massachussetts has been just as bad, possibly even worse than here, so my thoughts keep drifting to the poor Girl at her lakeside camp.  I can imagine her with all those other girls, squished in and damply steaming in their tiny cabin.  Not the best start to the week - though at least the weather is set to clear in a day or two. 

Oh, but I don't even want to think about all the mud she'll be bringing home with her on Friday.

Sleepaway

The Girl is having quite a full and active summer this year, one way and another.  Her biggest adventure started today, when we delivered her across the state border to begin a week at a sleepaway camp in the Berkshires.

The camp is a collection of cabins beside a lake, very pretty even on a cloudy day.  Although this afternoon it was a bit chilly to imagine wanting to swim in the lake, I'm sure there'll be plenty of warmer opportunities over the next few days.

One of the Girl's friends is at the same camp, otherwise she's there with about 70 kids from all over that she's never met before.  We helped lug her suitcase up into the little hut she'll be sharing with seven other girls.  We met her camp counsellor, a friendly young Russian woman.  We watched her check in and make her activity choices (crafts, canoeing, archery).  And then we said our goodbyes and drove away.

It's one more small step for a Girl, into a bigger world.

Very cool!

We had business in Altamont this morning, submitting the kids' craft exhibits for the 4-H pavilion at the upcoming Altamont Fair.  It was a lengthier process than I'd reckoned on, as each child there was grilled by the judges, in detail, on how they'd made their crafts, what new skills they'd learnt etc etc - like they were defending a PhD thesis (or so I imagine). A far cry from the casual drop-and-run system of the Linton Garden Show.

Anyway.  At the Boy's request we then moved on to the Home Front Cafe. We hadn't been there for a long time.  They have introduced an exciting new feature in their ice-cream parlour:  "Below Zero".  Is it a chilled dessert, or is it a science show?  Why, it's both!  Some creamy gloop is squirted into a metal bowl, then right before your very eyes it is frozen into ice-cream with the dramatic addition of liquid nitrogen!  Cool in every sense of the word, and well worth $3 a bowlful.

The coolness continued this evening, with a little home tie-dyeing in the backyard.  The t-shirts are now resting (or stewing or whatever dyed things do) in plastic bags over night.  We're looking forward to the big reveal in the morning.

Out for a snog

S.N.O.G. - stands for Social Networking Off the Grid.  A couple of friends of mine are hoping to get a casual social group going which will meet monthly at bars here and there.

A few of us made it tonight to Wolff's Biergarten in Albany.  The last time I was there was for the USA-England match during the World Cup, when I came away partially deaf.  It wasn't quite that loud tonight, but not far off.  And there's nothing more relaxing, is there, than a night out shouting small talk? 

After an hour and a half trying to chat - at full volume - with the woman sitting across the table from me, only to have her keep turning to her neighbour to ask "What did she say?", I decided to call it a night.  So did the others.  They walked me to my car, and conversing in quietness was delightful.  But that's when I realised that it wasn't just the loud music that had been the problem during the earlier conversation.  The woman I'd been shouting to still couldn't understand me - on account of my funny British accent.

Sidewalk saga

The Boy had an appointment with the orthodontist this morning.  I sat in and watched the intricate tinkering with teeny brace fastenings, wires and springs and was very much impressed with the dentist's craftsmanship.  Apparently the wire-work is doing what it should and progress is good.

The Girl was invited to a friend's house near the library in the afternoon, and we cycled there together.  It was the perfect day for it, sunny and warm but not humid - nice to be out on a pair of wheels. 

Cyclists probably aren't supposed to ride on the sidewalk, but the main road is intimidating, and since almost no-one uses the sidewalk for walking anyway I reckon it's fair game.  I ended up having to bank on being the only sidewalk user today when I realised my handbag (purse) with my purse (pocketbook) in it had fallen off the back of the bike somewhere on my journey.  I did eventually pick it up again half a mile back along the route - completely untouched, as of course not a single person had passed by and found it.

Back to school season (ok, not quite)

It seems ridiculous, in early August, to feel that the summer is on the turn.  But the intense heat and humidity does seem to be easing off (hooray!).  The pool (in spite of its cosy new solar cover) is a degree or three cooler than it has been.  And the nights are drawing in - if we're not smart about it of an evening, the Man and I are starting to find that we're setting off for an after-dinner stroll around the block in the pitch dark.

So with the spirit of autumn in my heart, I took the Girl shopping for school supplies today.  This is a task I usually leave until the day before back-to-school day, when there is hardly anything left on the shelves to choose from, and I have to drag round three or more stores in order to scrape together all the required notebooks and binders, pencils and highlighters.  Today we were well ahead of the game, and completed our purchases in a remarkably brief one-stop swoop. 

There!  That's another satisfying tick on the To Do list!

To do list

I have a three page To Do list.  Home & Family.  Five Rivers.  Fair Trade.  Sometimes the sections overlap.  I'm trying to get as much done as possible by the weekend after next.

I've been slowly chugging through the list today, feeling a little thrill of satisfaction with every tick in the margin of my notebook.  The problem is, many of the To Dos involve emailing people, so of course when the people reply I find myself getting caught up in a whole series of emails, going off at a tangent, and requiring additional To Dos to be added to the original list... 

Everything is more-or-less important, though some things are more pressing than others.  The Home & Family page has the most items with added exclamation marks to denote urgency, e.g:

! Car service 
! Blood test [even though I've been putting it off for, oh, about three years]
! Tidy the house [see Blood test]

So tell me, what's on your To Do list?  And what's been on there for more than a year?

I confess

I occasionally shop at Wal-Mart. 

There, I've admitted it.  The "buy less, buy local, buy Fair Trade" advocate sometimes shops with "the enemy" - the Big Box behemoth, the destroyer of communities, the resource-waster, the exploiter of employees and squeezer of suppliers. I contort myself with justifications for doing it, but the fact is, sometimes it's just so damn convenient.

But maybe I don't need to feel quite so guilty.  I've just finished reading Force of Nature by Edward Humes.  Subtitle: The unlikely story of Wal-Mart's Green revolution, how it could transform business and save the world.

Well, there's a bold claim if ever you heard one.  But there might be something in it.  As the author reveals - in an even-handed, pulling no punches narrative that details at length the mega-retailer's history of crimes against environment and workforce - Wal-Mart actually is transforming itself into a global leader in sustainability.  Not because it's the "good" thing to do - that's just a fortunate by-product.  It's because Wal-Mart's executives have recognised that being sustainable is the profitable thing to do.  And they are convincing their 100,000 suppliers, and their competitors, that sustainability should be their goal too.

The book is well written, easy to read.  The story is fascinating, and the possibilities outlined towards the end of the book are potentially revolutionary.  It doesn't let Wal-Mart off the hook - it still represents a fundamentally unsustainable model.  But since the giant is not going anywhere soon, it's exciting to learn that it's now using its massive clout to inspire real, positive change in US, and global, trade. 

There you go - something positive to think about as Britain burns and the stockmarket crashes...

Mist opportunity

For once unable to blame the children for dragging their feet (because they weren't there), it still took us half the day to get out of the house, but we spent the afternoon well. 

The weather looked a bit dodgy, but we chanced a trip to the Catskills for a bit of a hike.  Though the Girl and her camping companions weren't far from us in the North and South Lake State Campground, we knew they had their own plans for the afternoon, so we just got on by ourselves.

We took the Mary's Glen trail.  It was a rugged route and reasonably hard-going in the muggy conditions, but satisfying at the top to break out of the forest when after about a hour we reached the open space of North Point.  On a clearer day the views from the 3000 foot summit must be pretty fine.  We had to content ourselves with looking at the mist-shrouded hills beyond our own.

The weather finally broke as we neared the end of our descent - the forest canopy saved us from getting wet, but we heard the thunder.  The rain drove the camping party home too - as I'd feared, they'd had plenty of it yesterday, too, and though they were due to spend another night under canvas they decided to give that up as a bad job.  The Boy is also home with us, after spending the whole day at his buddy's house.

Home Alone two

We are without the Girl - she is camping in the Catskills this weekend with friends.  If the weather there is anything like the weather here (driving rain) I should think she'll be bathing in mud by now.

The rest of us headed down to the Farmers' Market this morning for our usual refreshments, and to stock up on supplies and catch up with friends.  We bought lunch - curried summer rolls - from our favourite Vietnamese stall, My Linh, and it was exceptionally delicious.

The Boy had his buddy over in the afternoon.  Amazingly, we persuaded the pair of them to join us on a quick trip to Five Rivers and a cheery race around the Beaver Tree Trail (or as the exercise-averse buddy described it later, "A ten-year hike!  It was sooo boring.")  The pond is, unfortunately, covered in water chestnut, an invasive species that just seems to get more dominant each year.

Having packed a massive suitcase this evening, the Boy is over-nighting at his buddy's, leaving the Man and me once again in a strangely empty house.  So we're planning another cinema trip.  This could get to be a habit.

Hanging around in Stowe

Captions please!

Pottery lesson

I hadn't seen a Harry Potter movie in a cinema since the first one, and even that wasn't really by intention.  It was the only half-decent thing on offer when the Man and I managed to get away for our first "date night" together, about a year after the Girl was born.  I have to admit, I slept through a lot of it.

Tonight, however, we set out en famille with the sole purpose of watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II.  Despite HP having been the backing track to my life for what seemed like several months a while back, I'd managed to hear most of the last book without actually listening to it (a skill I've honed over the years with radio cricket commentaries), so while I had a vague idea of what was going on, I didn't actually know the ending.  So I was very excited to learn that... 

What's that?  You haven't read/listened to/seen it yet? 

Oh, well then, I won't spoil it for you.

The kids enjoyed it, though they picked holes in the production as only the Potter faithful can.  I'm not quite persuaded that I'll ever read the books, but I am grateful to JK Rowling for creating Professor Snape, played so superbly by Alan Rickman.

Breakfast club

Considering it's still very much the vacation, I had an early start today - up at seven to get to a weekly 7:30am breakfast speaker meeting held by a local charitable group.  The speaker was the president of Friends of Five Rivers, and I was along to support him (also to scope out the group because I'll be addressing them myself in a couple of weeks).

It wasn't a huge turnout, what with it being August and all, but those that came were attentive and, who knows, some may accept the invitation to become members of the Friends.  At least one person had never heard of our group.  Three had never been to Five Rivers at all, despite living locally - but maybe they'll want to visit now. 

As for the rest of the day - the Boy had a friend over and they talked Pokemon together, impenetrably.  The Girl had a good skating lesson.  And tonight I had another session down at the refugee centre, finding out more about mentoring. 

Imagine that

I was sitting at the kitchen table with the Girl today, eating some fruit.  I don't know where the Boy was.  An eery voice came from the pantry:

This is your conscience speaking!  Buy Cape Cod Potato Chips for your children!  It will make you feel very good...

I do generally try to pay attention to my conscience, but now I'm officially middle-aged it seems to be going a bit rogue.

A stay-at-home day today (can you tell?), though we did all get out this evening to hear a friend performing in an open-mic night at a local restaurant.  The musicians all played outside under an awning open to the street, so they filled the little shopping hub of our town with sound.  It was fun.  The youngest performer was only eight years old and did a remarkable job accompanying himself on piano as he sang Imagine. 

No signs of the times

Our camera seems to have made a partial recovery after its dip in the stream yesterday - at least enough to upload the photos we'd already taken.  But alas it wasn't functioning at all as we passed the most modestly named guest accommodation I've ever come across - the Ho-Hum Motel in South Burlington.  Hard by the So-So Cafe and the Nothing-Special diner (ah, if only).

Modesty may be a bit of a Vermont thing, I don't know.  Certainly there are no boastful roadside hoardings promising you the earth with this or that product or fabulous day out.  Though, as it turns out, billboards are banned altogether in Vermont, and have been since 1968.  This is largely down to a state legislator, Ted Riehle, who strongly felt that Vermont's landscape was being despoiled by signage.  So he went against the businessmen and landowners who most profited from billboards and pioneered the landmark change in state law - now much appreciated by Vermonters.  Read more about it here.  And mark, the man was a Republican - a member of a party not so much noted now for valuing the environment above commercial interests (although a longer time ago it was also the party of Theodore Roosevelt who instituted America's National Parks - the jewels in this country's environmental crown).

I loved travelling through scenery free of advertising.  I loved the look of Vermont altogether - the tree-covered mountains, the verdant pasture, the well-kempt houses in every town and village.  Of course there's beauty, natural and man-made, to be found all over this country, but as states go (at least the ones I've visited), Vermont seems particuarly well cared for and looked after.