The Wormlips Scrapbook

Yesterday we did some errands, and stopped by my Aunt Sandy’s house to drop off some presents. I hadn’t seen her for years. She doesn’t look any older, while I do.

Back at Maw’s house, Stella had fun in the snow.

Eleni tried to see what it was like to be a dog running in the snow. It’s harder than it looks.

For dinner last night Mom took us to the Greenville Country Club, longtime bastion of the best of blueblood. There, I spotted something that vastly entertained me: a sign that would not have existed there during my youth.

Ever since I was young, being in a place like that makes me misbehave. I can’t help myself.

Eleni and I went into hysterics over something stupid.

Meanwhile, Molly and Mom had a staring contest — the kind to see who would laugh first.

Mom has an almost undefeatable, green-eyed glare that can either paralyze its victims with fear (if you’re one of her children) or disable them with laughter (if you’re not). But this time Molly won, with this move:

Shortly before 10 am today, I snuck outside into the sub-freezing air and cautiously climbed the icy road to the top of the hill in hopes of decent cell reception. I had a telephone appointment scheduled with my psychiatrist, and I wanted privacy. Though the bars on my phone promised clarity, the connection was terrible. The doctor’s voice kept vanishing. “Can you hear me?” I asked. “Or am I cracking up?”

We just got back from Greenville where, while Mom was picking up shrimp at the grocery store, I played a game with my girls as we sat in the car waiting. I called it “Spot the WASP” or “Spot the Preppie.” They’re pretty bad at it. I can recognize old money a mile away, and tried to share my knowledge. “Okay, now watch this person coming toward us. Look carefully. You can see she’s dripping with aristocracy.” It was Mom.

On our way home, we saw Santa stopped at a red light, his red, round belly (like a bowlful of jelly) practically busting the seams of his grey Subaru, his white beard flowing out its windows.

It finally happened. I was on Hogback Mountain shopping for Vermont things. I took my items to the cashier. The cashier asked, “Will you be using your senior discount?”

“No,” I replied firmly, snapping my SIT ID on the counter. “As you can see, I am a student.”

From there we descended three floors into the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum, which was pretty cool. On display are rescued owls and hawks, which at that moment were enjoying their lunch of dead mouse, skinned and frozen to perfection. Here is Molly communing with an ex-barred-owl ["ex" modifying the owl, not its bars], and me with a living but one-eyed saw whet owl.

The museum had a few other items of interest:

Molly and I haven’t been doing too much else. On Friday we had a small gathering of SIT friends for lunch [clockwise around the table are Natalia, Gift, Brandon, Ishmael, Lauren, Jess and Molly]:

Afterward, we drove up the road to see Kipling’s house, and Molly took some photos of a black horse on white snow.

Later we took a tour of the Green Mountain Spinnery and, feeling guilty for having taken their time, ended up spending too much money on hand-painted sock-wool. Nearby, across from the abandoned Santa’s Land, is a building in need of a little repair.

We’ve taken some drives through the countryside of, from left to right, Vermont and New Hampshire:

Here is Molly’s sleeping area. I call the photo Still Life with Bra.

It’s been a little chilly here, and Molly has been whining for some reason. She was invited to go for a hike today, but she declined.

But the so-called Blizzard of 2009 passed us by. Sadly, Katie is snowed in at home in West Virginia so I won’t get to see her in Delaware after all. Meanwhile, Mom is buried under a foot-and-a-half. Not Mom per se, but the ground around her. Here’s Ryan today. Note that the snow behind him is taller than he:

Yesterday I had a lovely day getting my hair dyed and cut, and eating lunch with the few people who remained on campus, and meeting for an hour-plus with Bev, one of my professors who was incredibly helpful to my confused self, and going home and doing homework. And then Dena came by and we were going to parallel study but we yacked instead, and then I did more homework and then I went to bed and slept badly because I kept coughing, woof woof.

I got up early and drove to Cape Cod where my mother, brother, sis-in-law, and various niecelettes and nephewlettes awaited. The baby is absurdly cute and, unlike most people, wasn’t the slightest bit afraid of me.

My major complaint about being here, aside from having to put up with my hideous, stench-ridden brother, is that my sister isn’t here, so I brought her here, even though she stinks bad too:

Here are Ma and Jay.

They have so many boats on the Cape that they leave stray ones out on the street.

And here’s where I’m going to sleep tonight! When I opened the door a big spider emerged.

I don’t feel like writing. There are four kids and four adults around and I’m overstimulated. Finally, here’s a picture I’ve been meaning to put up, which I think Eleni (or was it Molly) sent to me. Can you figure out what it is?