Burlington

I arrived in Burlington yesterday afternoon, after a 6 hour drive from New Jersey.

As I drove north, the leaves steadily returned to the colors to which I am accustomed. Green melted away slowly, giving way to a dizzying prism of natural hues. The colors are still more muted than those that I saw in Maine, but are well on their way to full color.

I arrived at the home of my cousin David in South Burlington around three o'clock. Within minutes, we left the condo and headed out in his car to see his new home.

I will be here for one week, and the main purpose of the trip is to help David in the demolition and reconstruction of his recently acquired property on Isle Le Motte, a small island about 45 minutes outside of Burlington. The house itself is a wreck--a crumbling, water damaged, stained place that the previous residents had obviously let go with reckless abandon.

Nonetheless, the potential of the home is obvious. It is a comfortably-sized home, two floors, with a huge kitchen. The views from nearly every room are breathtaking. Out the back windows, one sees rolling fields of wheat over which the afternoon sun pours. David and Tara, his wife, own five acres of land around the house. The land appears to be incredibly fertile and just begs to be filled with fruit trees and gardens. There is enough room for them to eventually even have some animals if they wish--perhaps a few chickens and and some sheep or something--and the somewhat decrepit outbuildings will serve well as homes for such animals.

I will post pictures later today or tomorrow of the house. The pictures you see already here were taken after two hours of hard labor with mallets, hammers and pry bars. Using these varied implements of destruction, we engaged in a full-frontal attack on the upstairs ceiling.



We appear to be winning the battle, although we have not escaped without wounds that display our domestic bellicosity.

Today I head into Burlington, where I hope to find some nice fishing spots on the lake or one of the local streams. I hope that all are well. More soon.