Sunrise

The Sun peeked over the horizon
The old cowboy was home.

Letter I found to others

I actually neglected my daily post.
Posting late,
This one in the queue...meg

My message to Fred Baser..Thanks again! Hello Fred Baser! I am a disabled RN  Who lives in Monkton,Vermont on our old farm. I have wanted to reach out to representatives about voting pro Scott Milne when the time comes. I have been very disappointed with Peter Shumlin. My salary at my state nurse job low, then frozen. Our health insurance premiums up 18%. I am now on SSDI and fixed pensions. Our farm taxes over $6k a year with income sensitivity. Shumlin effectively closed Yankee, let Canadians buy our gas  electric companies, keep the original names, then give away private property for a fracking gas . When Shumlin was in legislative role, he said up to towns to control school taxes. Then he tacks on a few cents as governor. Please help us who fight for property rights, lower taxes and have no insider status. I was also disappointed the gas people's land acquisition representatives were pushy towards elders and vulnerable adult landowners in Monkton,Vermont. The Governor's inattention to such threats by Canadian businesses is inexcusable. Thanks for your time and public service. Mary. my blog has more about property rights. Monkton nearly tried to sell my property for being 9 months late paying $8k taxes. Http://traveloguefortheuniverse.blogspot.com

The Dancer

The Dancer

In my dreams I am a dancer,
Graceful, strong and lithe.

In reality a MonSter dwells,
Inside my finite life.

Vermont Gears Up to Help Nepal Rebuild - myChamplainValley.com

Vermont Gears Up to Help Nepal Rebuild - myChamplainValley.com

Time Out

Been thinking about this movie I did of 

Songbirds 

And the Sea

Songbirds were for Mom.
The Sea was Hampton Beach without people.
It was Levon's gig where he hurt his back.
He was the most disappointed, no doubt.

Nothing Left

We had nothing, Bird,
There's nothing left.

random images

Friday Night Musik

From YouTube...

Allen Toussaint
Love for Levon
Life is a Carnival


It inspired this marker painting.
(& Zentangle Lesson 4)

Kick In for Guy Clark

Kickstarter Campaign for Guy Clark movie

Great Musician,

Join the campaign!

Weird I was just thinking about him,

Seeing Mariel Hemingway wrote a book about her family,

Guy Clark's "Hemingway's whiskey" came to my mind.

<>

Stellar music from YouTube Ocean

Tommy Update

Tommy is mending,

Getting Back to his old self,

He keeps watch over his faux weasel toy.

Beth Hart has a new album coming...

From YouTube

Preview....

bethhart.com

History

History

Comes in all forms,
Written, recorded, verbally relayed.
Some memories faded, gray,
Some clear and All are different
(Than someone else's recollection.)
These memories,
Some are mine,
Others are projections of stories I heard.

Music for Saturday

Link from YouTube

Alexis P Suter 

Friday Night Musik

Friday Night Musik

This week's selection was easy once I got a tweet from The Iridium, a NYC club.

So as I caught some rays in a sunny window,

I previewed the music of

Jarekus Singleton

He and his band are Great Bluesmen,

You have to get his music!

(No question, from my first listen,

I heard Stevie Ray Vaughn's influence.

And yet, something very new)

Jarekus Singleton link from YouTube

A link to his bio and info: the Iridium website:

http://theiridium.com/events/3655/jarekus-singleton-25/

Abraham Lincoln 150 years later

Abraham Lincoln

It was quiet on Tuesday this week,

A sad anniversary,

I heard yesterday about the anniversary,
A day late.
Here I was posting reruns of my Lincoln post
No question, Abraham Lincoln was

Larger Than Life.

An old post I did:

Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln II

[*if there was a fictional or theoretically possible alternative path for Mr. Lincoln,

would it go something like this?]

Abe woke up in the hotel room, air cool and to his liking, with a freshness that

cleaned his mind.

Ah, for a moment, his sleep so delightfully deep, free from the awake world.

Waking can be stressful, and dreaming he felt a lightness, a rebirth so to speak.

The war was over.

Again and again, would every day left in his life start this way?

His shoulder pinched and he winced as a drop of blood came to the surface.

Another reminder of a miracle, that night, at the Ford Theater.

That night Elizabeth their waitress was bringing drinks and tripped over Abe's feet as the gun was raised

and the trigger was pulled. Abe fell forward and the bullet intended for his head glanced off his shoulder, ripping and tearing flesh and bone.

There had been some time elapse now and healing was marginally successful.

He reminded Mary of that often as she griped at his incapacitation.

He was alive, they were alive, and finally in Vermont as Mary had planned.

Their presidential suite at the Equinox was stunning, comfortable and worth settling into.

He may very well die here. Abe agreed to several speaking engagements in exchange

for permanent residency at the hotel. He and Mary left Illinois and Washington DC

for Vermont to escape all the rat races, the assassins, the political animals.

He sipped the local spring water and nudged Mary.

"It is time to vote."

She smiled and slowly mobilized.

December 18,1880.

Women had gained the right to vote.

Abe was 71, Mary 62.

They were feeling their age, but they proudly walked to the town hall

to vote in this historic election.

And yet there is a story perhaps farther fetched and still possible...

as Abe grew accustomed to local politics in Vermont, he started to notice

that while each voter was free to speak up, very few voters actually did speak up

and some did not vote at all.

As he wanted to level the playing field, he practised with

representing local people in their local town political fights.

Could you imagine how hard that was for local elected officials?

pretend monkton chronicles headlines Christmas 1880

Abe Lincoln is up against you...how dare he...he is representing that uppity town citizen

who used to be quiet...

Abe Lincoln came to the town meeting again last night...says that is not how

they do in Illinois..well maybe we should show him what we do to flatlanders...

Abe Lincoln thinks his wife should vote, well nah nah...

Abe Lincoln believe town meeting antiquated in 1880....

So he thinks if he won the Civil War he can tell us how to run a town meeting?

OK, it did not happen,

Abe was assassinated and never made it to Vermont.

Abe's only child to live to adulthood, a son, lived in Manchester and built a mansion, Hildene.

Now all of Abe Lincoln's descendants are gone.

What if events had turned ever so slightly?

Just speculating on another way it might have happened,

Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Great great grandfather died fighting at Shiloh for the Illinois regiment.

Mom would've remembered.

Some videos from YouTube

Get to Springfield if you can,

The celebrations have begun.

The 150th anniversary of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln

Travelogue for the Universe: revenue blues

Re Run of a poem I wrote in 2011
Just as relevant today.

Travelogue for the Universe: revenue blues: revenue blues some call it taxes, some cannot pay, some call it revenue, to hide what they say, some want to shirk them, others pay thei...

Zentangle Lesson 4

Zentangle Lesson 4

A little farther into the Zentangle

A great exercise...

Travelogue for the Universe: Bishop Hill, Illnois A National Historic Landmark ...

Travelogue for the Universe: Bishop Hill, Illnois A National Historic Landmark ...: A good video link about Bishop Hill, Illinois home of some of our ancestors who settled in the Utopian prairie village.

(Above is a reprinting of a post I did awhile ago.)

Below, a recent sketch I did,
Imagining the Swedish settlers
Walking into the Sun
To their new home.

Walking from Chicago to their new home
Bishop Hill, Illinois

Blues Excellence

Blues Excellence

The Blues 

Main St. Edwardsville, Illinois
The Blue Note
Painted by My Mom, Betsy Gerdt
Then a small town
20 miles east of St. Louis.

Bear with me, I have to start at the beginning...

As we reconnected with the music of Levon Helm,

We wondered "What are these Midnight Rambles?"

                         

Well the best way at the time was to get the DVD's

Of the rambles at LevonHelm.com

These are a great view of Levon's recording studio living room.

They were masterfully created and worth adding to your collection.

They also introduced us to some very talented musicians,

Good people

With an adoration of Levon

And People

And Music.

I particularly enjoyed the concert by

Alexis P Suter and her band.

They blew me away.

Every musician,

No holding back,

Full, forceful, gentle, kind.

Loving, Sadness, Living, suffering, 

Powerful, Honest, and Vulnerable.

The Blues

Blues Excellence

So I recently received a notice that Alexis P Suter has been

Nominated for the Prestigious Koko Taylor award

So well deserved.

All musicians must make their own way to Memphis.

I want to share my feelings that musicians make the world a better place

So please...

Please help Alexis get to Memphis May 7th, 2015

Send donations now to support Stellar Blues Music

The Alexis P Suter Band

Hipbone Records

Alexis put a paypal link at 
http://www.hipbonerecords.com/


Click the Hipbone Records Shop page. Thank you so much for your help!!

Their mailing address is:

Hipbone Records

PO Box 310158

Brooklyn, NY 11231

Here is a YouTube that begins to tell Alexis' Story

About Koko Taylor,

May She Rest in Peace

Great Woman Blues Singer.

Information

From her record label.

http://www.alligator.com/artists/Koko-Taylor/

Notes: this is the 3rd edition this morning.
Somehow the .jpg of the top hat
Kept fighting with me,
Finally emailed myself a copy
And the rest is magic.

Support these talen musicians.
Thank you.  Meg

Music Link for Saturday's, for "Always" By Ms. Alberta Hunter

What led me back to Ms. Alberta Hunter
Was a sketch I did about a woman making a late age comeback.
Ms. Hunter did that, naturally.
Link from YouTube.

Dress Rehearsal

Friday Night Musik

From YouTube
Black Country Communion
Live over Europe...
Happy Friday!

They'll Take Your Land for #fracking gas transmission fields

I checked the calendar,

Not April fools,

No, it must be real,

Canadians want your land,

What are you going to do about it?

http://wamc.org/post/vermont-gas-initiates-eminent-domain-proceedings

Carnival

Carnival

In between #Zentangle lessons,

It's good to try some images,

Glimpses,

Places,

Situations,

Determination,

Color,

Contrast,

And

Incorporating

The Zentangle lessons,

Reflecting current

And

Past events.

Tommy POD #7

Tommy 

POD #7

(Monday, yesterday, was Post op day #7)

He is gradually becoming more himself.

He had 8 teeth pulled last Monday.

So glad we did it and are thankful for the veterinarian supports.

Gaz, nG, proposed Addison County,Vermont #fracking Update

An email came  through about the proposed pipeline.
It held a copy of a letter to the editor by a neighbor.
It says a lot.


Update to the Update..

I posted a letter here and then was notified that the wrong letter went out.
As an updated letter appears, I will post it.

Meg

YouTube link The Mountain

Great song.

Written by and performed with

Steve Earle

Del McCory et al... 

This link on YouTube...Great photos to show a glimpse.

Happy Easter 2015 alt. Happy #Easter2015

Hippety, Hoppitty, Easter's on its way.

That's all I could think of.

Wait...

Here comes Mr. Cottontail, Hopping down the bunny trail...

Spring should be here by now.

It was spring like Friday,

Then yesterday, a crashing cold front.

Turned my mood introspective.

Easter is not about the weather,

Or bunnies.

It's not about the candy

Even though it helps...

It is about the Golden Rule, truly a universal value.

It's about resurrection,

Rebirth,

Renew,

Spring,

Where Love is everywhere.

A letter I found to myself

I found a letter to myself,

or I suppose to anyone who might stumble onto it.

It is dated in the future,

how strange I did that.

guess I did it that way so I could cool off.

Oh I am cool, alright.

here it is,

more perhaps to follow...

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

To Whom it May Concern,

Regarding Property Taxes on a 48+10 acre property with homestead

located in Monkton, Vermont, 

where family settlers relocated to

over a hundred years ago.

In 2009, the Town of Monkton attempted to sell a tax lien on our property.

This would have made someone else own our property.

Our property taxes were less than one year late

In the greatest depression we have suffered.

We ended up having to pay 12 thousand dollars that year plus ads, legal costs and penalties and interest. Oh yes, and humiliation and shame at so many people knowing or thinking they know our business.

I am a woman landowner. The Town of Monkton never notified me.

They thought my husband, whose Dad just died should tell me the bad news.

I have been verbally attacked in the town hall by a town official.

No one believes or cares.

When I raised questions of how they selected our property 

they themselves said only certain ones were selected 

but that is because they decided that.

When I asked for how they contacted me they said they didn’t have to.

They all voted together except one, abstention. Not one person in eleven felt I should have been notified. Not one person in eleven thought 

There was anything wrong with trying to sell our property in less than a year property tax delinquent. Even though that may have caused our bank to foreclose. And take more away.

I cannot waste any more of my finite life fighting these people.

The next victim I pray, will be a stronger soul, not battling MS, not afraid to death of courtrooms.

The next victim, I pray will enter the town office will say, “I am proud to be a flatlander! I was born in a city! I was a Tiger in high school, a champion of the debate team! Aggressive pushy lawyer, your worst nightmare to avenge Mary!”

Friday Night Musik

This hits the spot...

Tgiff

Link from YouTube...wow...

#fracking Gaz, er nG, er Gas updates

#Fracking

is outlawed in Monkton, Vermont, US

#Gaz #Pipeline in #AddisonCounty Vermont, US

is strongly opposed by myself and and large number of Vermonters

In fact so many that (believe me, small town) Monkton, Vermont, US Banned Fracking....

Oh yah, nah nah nah, 

you didn't ban the pipelines,

suck it up,

smell the gaz?

Enough of my rants.

Here is a summary of the press I could manages to save. There are hundreds of emails I cannot get to. Gas leaks, land takings, intimidation by corporations, being ignored by politicians, unconcerned with one, this time it happens to be me. 

A Great letter to the editor:

from the addison ind. shared by friends of mother earth...

Posted on March 23, 2015 |

• Opinion

By Stephanie Kaplan and Annette Smith

Vermont’s scenic beauty has always been highly valued both by Vermonters and by visitors to our lovely state.

In 1968 Vermont banned billboards to prevent the despoiling of Vermont’s landscape. And when Act 250 was enacted a few years after that, it included Criterion 8, which prohibits commercial or industrial development that would create an “undue adverse impact” on the scenic or natural beauty, aesthetics, historic sites or natural areas.

In 1986, the Environmental Board convened a group of people with expertise on aesthetics to develop an objective way of evaluating what is an “undue adverse” impact on aesthetics and scenic and natural beauty.

The result is the “Quechee Analysis.” It has been used to evaluate aesthetic impacts in dozens of cases by the Environmental Board (EB), Environmental Court (EC), and Public Service Board (PSB) and upheld by the Vermont Supreme Court (VSC) over the last three decades.

The Quechee Analysis has two steps. The first is to determine if a project will cause an adverse effect on aesthetics. If the impact will be adverse, then the second step involves addressing three questions. The impact will be undue if any one of the questions is answered in the affirmative.

One of the questions is whether a project would offend the sensibilities of the average person. If it is so out of character with its surroundings or significantly diminishes the scenic qualities of the area so as to be shocking or offensive to the average person, the adverse impact is considered undue and a project is denied. The EB explained the purpose of this provision: Criterion 8 was intended to ensure that as development does occur,?reasonable consideration will be given to the visual impacts on neighboring landowners, the local community, and on the special scenic resources of Vermont.

The VSC has consistently upheld the EB and EC decisions on aesthetics that applied the Quechee Analysis.

When the review of telecommunications towers and large-scale solar and wind installations was transferred from Act 250 to the PSB, the law required the PSB to give due consideration to some of Act 250’s criteria, including Criterion 8 on aesthetics.

In the past, the PSB’s interpretation of the Quechee Analysis was consistent with that of the EB in ensuring that development did not degrade Vermont’s scenic views, including those enjoyed by neighbors.

For example, in a 2001 case, the PSB denied a wind tower, ruling that “because … the Project will be in the direct view of the (neighbors) from their home and will significantly diminish their enjoyment of the scenic view from their home … the Project will be offensive and shocking to them and to the average person in a similar situation.” In denying the project, the PSB accurately applied the Quechee Analysis as established in legal precedent. The decision was upheld in 2002 by the Vermont Supreme Court.

But, the PSB no longer considers the interests of neighboring landowners. Every decision issued by the PSB on solar and wind projects has dismissed the interests of the neighbors, ruling that because they are most likely to be affected by the project, they cannot be considered the “average person.”

The PSB’s finding is especially nonsensical because in order to participate at all, neighbors must show that they have a particularized interest that is greater than the interests of the public at large. But then the PSB uses that particularized interest to ignore the neighbors entirely.

Thus in order to be able to participate in the proceeding, neighbors must prove that their interests (e.g., views) will be affected, but then because their views are affected, the PSB says that their interests (e.g., views) should not be taken into account. They base this absurd reasoning on their made up notion that a person who is directly affected cannot be the “average person” that the Quechee Analysis considers.

Although the PSB says that it applies the Quechee Analysis, in fact the PSB is completely ignoring long-standing legal precedent.

The PSB is also contradicting the EB and its own precedent by ruling that municipal zoning ordinances do not constitute clear written community standards for purposes of the Quechee Analysis.

In its zeal to approve every single telecommunications tower and renewable energy project in the state, the PSB is fabricating its own interpretations of the law regardless of the standards of the local community and it is allowing the scenic beauty of Vermont — that was so carefully protected over so many years — to become degraded.

Vermonters can speak to the House and Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committees at a public hearing on renewable energy siting on March 24, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Statehouse in Montpelier. Please come and let legislators know that protecting Vermont’s scenic beauty is important and that communities and neighbors must be a respected part of the process in the development of new utility infrastructure.

Stephanie Kaplan

Calais

Annette Smith

Danby

Stephanie Kaplan is former counsel for the Environmental Board. Annette Smith is executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment.

Regulators weigh penalties....huh? How much does a penalty weigh? Pints a pound the world around?

from the digger:

http://vtdigger.org/2015/03/25/state-regulators-weigh-penalty-against-vermont-gas/?utm_source=VTDigger+Subscribers+and+Donors&utm_campaign=54ed96afbf-Weekly+Update&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_dc3c5486db-54ed96afbf-405544597

from the addison independent

the governor is grilled for supporting pipeline through addison county

http://www.addisonindependent.com/201503vergennes-shumlin-challenged-pipeline-stance

Whaddaya mean, they knew about the costs estimate price of the propsed pipeline?

http://digital.vpr.net/post/state-vermont-gas-mishandled-price-estimates-beginning?utm_source=Seven+Days+Email+Newsletters&utm_campaign=894b26216e-Daily_7_Thursday_032615&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_24eb556688-894b26216e-308368125

Regulators review...

http://www.wcax.com/story/28611931/regulators-review-vt-gas-pipeline-project-costs

a few more...

vtdigger.org

State: Vermont Gas Mishandled Price Estimates From The Beginning

Vermont Public Radio

Vermont's Public Service Board is considering a $35,000 fine for Vermont Gas Systems because of the company's handling of major cost overruns that ...

vtdigger.org

State regulators weigh penalty against Vermont Gas

vtdigger.org

Eileen Simollardes, a vice president at Vermont Gas Systems, testified before the Public Service Board on the company's delayed announcement of a ...

Ok...That is all I can handle. 

Hope for Spring soon...

meg

The Fool

Who will protect the fool?

April' Fool's Day

Are you the fool?
Or
Are you the fooler?

Just fooling around,
For April fools day.


This fellow,
 the discoverer,
May be mistaken for a fool.
Really he is a sophisticated traveler,
Looking at the new world he found