Andrea Doughtie, Rural Painter

September 1, 2007

Driving in Vermont

Filed under: Life in Vermont — miasmagladness @ 5:31 am

We’ve had grandchildren here all week and I haven’t spent five minutes painting. So instead, here’s a snapshot of what it’s like on the road around here. It’s wonderful to be away from all the traffic in Houston. Sometimes I can drive half an hour into town and not see a single vehicle behind me the whole way. However–I allow a little extra time for obstacles. The roads are so hilly and curvy that it’s difficult to get around anything in front of you.

bikes-in-the-road.jpg

These bikers aren’t really a problem but often there will be a group riding right across the whole lane and it seems to take them forever to realize they should get over. Biking up here seems way too hard. The hills are so steep and the expressions on the bikers’ faces look grim to me.

horse-and-wagon.jpg

Here’s a horse and wagon–a more frequent sight than you’d think. For a while there was another horse and wagon that kept going back and forth all the time and really slowed traffic around the village. We never found out why he was here for just a few days.

tractor.jpg

Tractors are also a common sight. Drivers of slow vehicles are usually very thoughtful and pull over periodically to let cars around.

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This one is my favorite. There’s a dairy farm just down the road from us. From time to time the family herds the cows to another pasture on the other side of the road or back to the barn. I’m always so tickled when I have to wait for them because it seems to me the essence of living in Vermont.

August 27, 2007

Great New Book

Filed under: Life in Vermont — miasmagladness @ 6:32 am

From time to time I’m going to post something besides paintings– a bit about living in Vermont.

A terrific writer, Catherine Tudish, lives in Strafford. Her new novel, “American Cream” has just been published by Scribner and I urge everyone to rush out and buy it. Ed and I had read an earlier version in manuscript but we were just as glued to the page the second time around. I don’t know when I’ve read a novel that made me care as much about the characters. The prose is beautiful and insightful, the story compelling. Trust me. Catherine’s collection of short stories, “Tenney’s Landing” is also a delight with some connections with characters and places between the two books.

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