Life, Law, and Politics in the Northeast Kingdom

Once again, Town Meeting is upon us.  I’m less involved in town politics than I used to be (I was Town Clerk and Treasurer for 6 years, before I started to practice law).  But I still vote and campaign when there are issues I care about on the warning, or when there are contested races.

This year, there’s a contested seat on the three-person Guildhall Selectboard.  Susan McVetty is challenging Pete Fay, the incumbent.  I support Susan.  She has a long history of exemplary service to the Town:  she’s been on the Selectboard a few times, and in addition, she’s served at various times over the last two decades as a zoning administrator, planning commissioner, cemetery commissioner, auditor, and treasurer.  She knows the ropes of town business inside and out.

Susan, quite honestly, is one of the most organized and detail-oriented people I know.  She genuinely cares about the town and about good governance.  In the past, she’s demonstrated the ability to work in a professional, collegial way with virtually all other Town officers, and stand up for what she believes is right, when necessary.

Her opponent, Pete Fay is an okay guy.  But he seems less and less engaged with the Town these days, and as I understand it, spends four or five months or so in the warmer climes of Florida.  I think we need Susan in there.

Susan, by the way, has other important skills, too, besides being a fantastic administrator in general:  she does her own hand-made chocolates, the best I’ve ever had!  (Full disclosure:  Susan also has worked with me in my law office for the last 4 years.  That’s part of how I have come to know and trust her work.)

Please vote for Susan McVetty on March 5!

In January, Vermont legalized possession (but not purchase and sale) of marijuana.  We still don’t have the more sensible, tax-and-regulate system that states like Colorado, Oregon, and now Massachusetts do, but the Vermont legislature appears to be headed in that direction, maybe even in the 2019 session.

We celebrated St Patrick’s Day by hosting a gathering of the Essex Co Democratic Committee, at our house in Guildhall.  About 15 of us read Irish revolutionary poetry, listened to Irish music,  talked politics long into the evening with fellow Dems, and the wonderful Terje Anderson, Chair of the Vermont Democratic Party, took the trouble to come out to remote Essex County, which impressed us to no end!

I became licensed to practice law in New Hampshire in 2018.   Had to take 4 days of continuing legal education down in Concord,  pass the Character & Fitness eval, pay quite a bit of money,  and go down to the New Hampshire Supreme Court to get sworn in.  A few months later, I was also admitted and sworn in to federal court in NH.  (At a reception after one session, I had the good fortune to meet former U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter.  He’s a delightful person.  We talked about hiking the 4,000 footers of the White Mountains, because he has done them all.  I’ve only done about 65% of them).

This year, the Vermont legislature passed a series of modest, common-sense gun control measures.  (S.55)  We outlawed bumpstocks, limited the acquisition of certain high capacity magazines, expanded background checks, and raised the age to purchase firearms to 21 (with certain exceptions).  The passage of S.55 here in Vermont was difficult and wrenching, as Vermont, until now, has had the fewest gun restrictions in the nation.  Here’s a photo of me on the Vermont State House lawn, at a pro-S.55 rally.

 

 

I stumbled across and bought a beautiful antique, oak desk for my law office.  I know it’s a little thing, but it has made a huge difference in my work environment.

A new brewery/restaurant came to Lancaster, NH!  My friend and neighbor Mike Holland finally fulfilled his long-time dream to open a craft brew establishment.  Next time you are in the North Country, visit the Copper Pig Brewery.  You won’t regret it!

My mom and I went on a day-long walking tour of a quaking bog, in New London, New Hampshire.  I’m fond of bogs, and this is a particularly fascinating one.

Edward and I spent an extended Memorial Day weekend in and around Central Park, in Manhattan.  For some time now, we had been thinking about a trip organized around the “theme” of exploring Central Park.  We stayed in an AirBnb on the West Side edge of the Park, spent our days walking inside the Park itself (mostly the northern section,  visited the nearby Museums, and went to restaurants and clubs on the periphery of the park.  (But we needed way more time than we had!)  Edward and I both love public art and Central Park is full of some of the best examples of it in the world.

We marched with our dog Django in the St Johnsbury Pet Parade.

In July, my mom and I drove across the stateto take the Green Mountain Champlain Dinner Train from Burlington down the eastern edge of Lake Champlain to Middlebury. There was a full dinner with wine on the train and some of the views were spectacular.  The next day, we had brunch on the Ethan Allen Cruise Ship,  on Lake Champlain with great views of the Adirondacks. (I find Lake Champlain to be one of the most romantic, dreamy spots in New England),

In late July, I ran in the Lancaster 5K Road Race.  It’s a race I haven’t done in a couple of years, so I worried I might have lost my mojo, but I finished, and my time was decent!

A second-great cousin of mine, Ben Eklof visited us in Guildhall this summer.  He is one of the children of my great-aunt Edith Cyr.  He’s a scholar of Russian history and lives and teaches in Bloomington, Indiana, with periodic research trips to Russia for research and scholarship.   We had a blast over lunch, meeting for the first time, and talking about our family history.

In August, in conjunction with the county prosecutor and the bar association, I organized two Expungement Clinics at my office here in Guildhall, for residents of Essex County.  This was a great opportunity to clear certain criminal convictions from one’s record!  We will probably do more of these sessions in the year to come.

For my birthday, we went to the Von Trapp Family Lodge, in Stowe, Vermont.  We ate at the fabulous restaurant, toured the brewery, and hiked around the gardens and trails.

In late August, we trekked up to a local, little-known gem:  The Cite Ecologique, in Colebrook, New Hampshire, for Permaculture Weekend.  We spent the day touring the grounds, learning about gardening, permaculture, and sustainability practices.  (We also had the best vegetarian meal ever in my life, I do believe)

In September/October, we traveled to Italy!  This was my first time in that country, so it was an exciting venture for me.  We flew to Rome and spent two days wandering the city and having a private guided tour of the Vatican Museums.  We then took a train to Perugia, in the province of Umbria.  It was a lovely train ride.   We stayed in Umbria, at a villa on a hill surrounded by olive trees, for two weeks, with friends from the U.S., Hungary, Mexico, England, and France.   On some days, we hung out at the villa, but on many days, we took day trips to various walled cities in the region, including Assisi, Deruta, and Perugia itself.   Then we took the train back to Rome, for more exploring and sight-seeing.  We were particularly taken with the Jewish Quarter, where we spent a full day in the Hebrew Museum, the Synagogue, and had the best meal (kosher) of the entire trip.

This was the worst political nightmare of the year, on the national scene.

I had my first appeal at Vermont’s Environmental Court, and won the case!

We spent Thanksgiving at our house in Lunenburg, Vermont with a group of 9, including our friends Jackie and Shaunna Shaw, of Guildhall and my friend and law colleague Eugene Levine.

For Christmas, Edward got me a Bodhran, a special Celtic drum I’ve been wanting for years.  I even have some online lessons for learning it!

Finally, we closed out 2018 by taking a spur-of-the-moment short trip down to New Bedford and Fall River, Massachusetts.    One branch of my family immigrated from Quebec to Fall River in 1877 to work in the textile mills.  My great-grandmother Marie Louise Doucet was the 8th child of the emigrating family, and the first one born after emigration.  We visited gravestones, stood in front of the church where my great-grandparents married in 1903, tracked down addresses and houses where my extended descendant family lived, and I stopped in at the Fall River Historical Society.  I took pictures of everything, as I’m working on a forthcoming blog post about my immigrant family.   We stayed overnight at a hotel near the New Bedford waterfront and ate at a couple of great restaurants.  It seemed fitting to close out the year with an homage to my ancestors.

Happy New Year!

The tomatoes, eggplant and peppers have gone by, sadly, and I’ve harvested all the squash and cucumbers.   But we still have a lot of kale, arugala and swiss chard in the ground.  Might even last into December if we throw some garden fabric over it.

Inside the hoop greenhouse, there is spinach, lettuce, mesclun, mizuna, mache and endive.  I’m hoping I’ll be able to harvest those cool-weather crops right through until February.

 

I’ve been a practicing Vermont lawyer since 2012.  Here’s a screenshot of my law partner Tiffany Young and I.  Visit our website here, if you’re interested.  I’m a trial lawyer with a focus on criminal law, tenant-landlord law, juvenile law, municipal law and employment/labor law.

Earlier this year, I finally ended the procrastination and submitted my application to become licensed in NH.  After all, it makes personal and professional sense for me:  I live and have an office within a stone’s throw of NH, just across the Connecticut River.

To get into NH, I didn’t have to take another bar exam (thank goodness), but I did have to complete a 19 page application, track down and submit copies of my various admissions and diplomas, get 5 people to vouch for me in writing, and take 15 credit hours in New Hampshire practice and procedure.

I was sworn in formally on September 14, at the New Hampshire Supreme Court, in Concord.  Afterwards, Edward and I had a nice lunch to celebrate.

 

Do you dream of a move to Vermont, or dream of owning a second home here?  Are you interested, however,  in a more authentic and untouched part of the state?  Is there really such a place left in Vermont?  This post is dedicated to you then, the ones who’d prefer to avoid the stereotypes, the tourists, and the mass marketing.

In part, this is a sales pitch, both for our home for sale in Guildhall, but more broadly, for my beloved corner of Vermont, which very few people know exists.  But this is also my reflection  on the nature of Vermont, what we think we know about it, and how to experience the real Vermont, rather than the myths and the marketing.

For many, Vermont is a romantic idea, a destination involving ski resorts, maple syrup, Vermont teddy bears, well-groomed bike paths, leaf-peeping and venues for Vermont crafts, in places like Stowe, Killington, Brattleboro, Putney, or Burlington.  But is this the real Vermont?  Is there any place left in my beloved state that’s relatively untouched and not mass-marketed?  Places where some authenticity remains?

I think such a place does exist and we live it.  We are full-time residents of  Essex County, an area tucked into the northeastern corner of the state between Quebec and New Hampshire.  Few (including many Vermonters!)  have ever heard of our county, which is home to about 6,000 people.  Still fewer have heard of Guildhall, the county’s beautiful shire town.  After all, Guildhall’s population is only 263.  Yes, you heard me correctly.  Not 2,630.  Just 263.     Although Essex County has a few bigger towns (the biggest is Lunenburg, population about 1,300), the majority of our towns are similarly tiny.

Our house, known as the Benton Cottage, is an eight room Colonial Revival built in 1915 by Everett C. Benton.  Generations of the Benton family had lived in Guildhall, but in the late 19th century, Everett moved to the Boston area.  He and his family retained their ties to the area, designing and building a summer cottage, and acting generally as a town benefactor, including the finance, design and building of the town library,  town offices, and several public monuments.   When the Benton family visited Guildhall during the summers of the early 20th century, they weren’t tourists.  They had real connections here, with real family and friends.

The Benton Cottage sits on the banks of the majestic Connecticut River, with a spectacular view  of the northern White Mountains.   Click here to see the online Benton Cottage photo album

We’ve had our house on the market numerous times, periodically over the last six years.  Exactly two people have even come to look at it. (They made no offers).  If no one comes to look, there is no way they will fall hopelessly in love with this property like we did back in 2004 when we moved here from Boston.  We were so smitten (and looking for a change) that we pulled up roots from the city we loved and moved to this hyper-rural area.  We simply could not resist.

But our town is remote.  As you might imagine with 263 people, there is no supermarket, no restaurant, no coffee shop, no bank, no pharmacy.  We don’t have a single gas station. (For these amenities, we drive about 15 minutes, to Lancaster, NH).

What was so irresistible about this little town and county where not much happens?  Where to start?  The house with its graceful, stately fence facing the most charming New England green I think I’ve ever seen, with a public library, courthouse, sheriff’s office, church, and town office where you can pick wild strawberries on the common in June and July.    The three fireplaces, in the living room, dining room, and study.  The glorious wrap-around porch where we have sat many an hour watching the Connecticut River and the flood plain full of birds and wildlife.  The spacious lawn where I’ve since installed raised beds and grow herbs, flowers and vegetables.    Where every house, including ours, is listed on the historic registry maintained by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The landscape surrounding us is wild and virtually untouched by tourism.  Bicyclists come through town occasionally in the summer and some adventurous auto leaf-peepers in the fall.  But they don’t congregate; there is no place to stop, no stores hawking goods, no hotels and only a handful of bed and breakfasts throughout the county. (Only three that I can think of).    The drive north (and south) on Route 102 is one of the most beautiful river byways in the state, and few are aware of it, even tourist officials.   The extraordinary Silvio O. Conte Wildlife Refuge, on Route 105 on the way to Island Pond is a protected working landscape with endless opportunities for hiking, fishing, and biking.  Maidstone Lake, about seven miles north of the Benton Cottage, is one of Vermont’s most beautiful state parks.

UPDATE:  My friend Linnzi Furman, who homesteads down the road here in Guildhall, has pointed out, rightfully so, the other advantages of our region, including the town being equidistant to St Johnsbury, Colebrook and Littleton, important cultural centers.  And then there’s our relative close proximity to ski areas like Bretton Woods and Burke Mountain.  Plus, Lancaster, New Hampshire, our go-to town is flourishing these days, with a new bakery, natural foods store, and brewery.

When a house goes unsold for long periods of time, it’s tempting to think surely there must be something wrong with the property.  Not in this case.  No, the Benton Cottage is in great shape,  lovingly preserved and maintained over the last hundred years.  No, sadly, it’s the location.  I suspect that this historic house, with all its features and its riverfront location with  stunning view of the White Mountains, would be worth a cool million or more if it were located even an hour south of here.

Here in Guildhall, we even have excellent broadband, which means that earning a living via telecommute is perfectly viable.  (And it takes less time than you might think to get here from Boston, usually 3.5 hours on the interstate)   But location is location.  Ironically, what we love about our  region, its sleepiness, its wild beauty, its lack of tourist madness, are the very things that keep our region a secret beauty, and prevent and inhibit population growth and much-needed economic development.

So those with the Vermont dream, I invite you to expand your notion of what Vermont means.  Come to Essex County. Come to Guildhall.  Have a glass of wine on our porch.  Experience the real Vermont.

For lunch today, we had a salad from the garden, with arugala, sorrel, lettuce, spinach, radishes, and chives.  (We threw in some olives too, but no, I don’t have an olive tree here in northern Vermont.)  It was so satisfying, even magical, to sit on the porch  and look out at the garden as we munched on the produce I had just harvested.

I spent hours in the garden, and it’s almost there.   I’m not sure exactly how  to describe my garden, but I think that over the years it has evolved into a sort of hybrid of  cottage and kitchen garden, with a little chaos and a little control– flowers, herbs, and vegetables mixed in together.

I finally transplanted all my tomato and pepper plants into the raised bed greenhouse, interspersing them between the cool-weather crops that I planted a month ago–lettuce, arugala, mesclun, spinach, radishes.  I learned recently from my gardening guru friends Tim and Peggy Cahill that eggplant doesn’t really need hothouse conditions like the tomatoes and peppers do here in Zone 3,  so I put them into a regular bed and that freed up quite a bit of space.

I planted seeds for two rows of bush beans and one vertical row of cucumbers, and I transplanted the brussel sprout seedlings that I got from Tim and Peggy into one of the beds, too.  Furthermore, Tim gave me a beautiful zucchini plant, and I decided to transplant it right into the ground, with a trellis so it can be trained vertically.

The vegetables I will have this year are:  cauliflower, cabbage, kale, carrots (if I’m lucky), bush beans, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, three different kinds of lettuce, arugala, spinach, radishes, broccoli, brussel sprouts, peas, swiss chard, onions, leeks, turnips, beets, cucumbers, rhubarb, and zucchini.

I now have six flower/herb beds on the property, and I created a seventh today.  Half of them are now cleaned up, weeded, and mulched.  I populated the seventh bed without buying any plants–just took stock of various perennials/wildflowers I have already have plenty of, and divided them for transplanting.

Finally, I got a good start on my container herb garden.  I put tarragon and basil seedlings into windowboxes and pots on the patio–I love my kitchen garden!  I still have yet to plant the borage, anise, coriander, basil, cilantro, fennel, and dill.  But my perennial herbs look pretty good:  lemon and english thyme, oregano, sage, lemon balm, lovage, savory, chives.

And the most satisfying of all?  The patch of lavender that I planted last year not only survived, but thrived.  Yes, you can grow and overwinter lavender in Zone 3!

 

April 22.  The day that my universe expanded to the outdoors.  Although a chilly wind blew periodically today, the temperature soared  to 58 degrees and the sun shone consistently,  radiating warmth.  I felt body and soul relax, as I threw open windows and doors, started turning over the soil in my raised beds, raked and cleaned up yard debris, lifted garden fabric off my lavender plants, and paid attention to long-frozen compost.   I moved a few trays of seedlings out into the sun for a few hours, to start hardening them off for transplant.

I took a long walk around our property here in Guildhall,  looking for spring plants, tree buds, insects, birds and other wildlife.  And then I went for a glorious 1.25 mile run and walk, my first of the season.

My first act in honor of Earth Day was to move my beloved rosemary plant, right, out onto the porch, facing the Connecticut River.  It gives the porch a certain Mediterranean atmosphere.

Below is a freshly-dug raised bed, watered and warmed by the sun.  In a few days, I’ll plant the first round of lettuce, arugala, radishes, spinach, and other greens here.  Around Memorial Day, I’ll replace those cool-weather crops with tomatoes, eggplant, pepper, and basil, and close the greenhouse walls if the temps fall below 70 degrees.

 

 

Here’s my indoor seedling setup, under lights.

 

 

 

I always get a bit excited about composting when spring comes.  Below is my compost area, which has gotten more sophisticated over the years.  The front two bins contain compost for the food and herb gardens.   The two bins in the rear are for dog waste composting.  I use it on the flower gardens and at the base of shrubs and ornamental grasses.  (We never send dog waste to the landfill anymore!)    The metal barrels contain sawdust, which I have learned is the best source of carbon for good compost.  (I get my sawdust from Northeast Kingdom Waste Management, in Lyndonville).  Although you can’t really see it in this photo, my favorite agricultural tool hangs from a tree branch in the upper left. It’s  for aerating the compost–and between it and the sawdust, I’ve had excellent compost over the last couple of years.

We have a fair amount of interesting artwork in our yard now.  Here are the fiddlehead sculptures, which I adore.  Seeing them poke out of the snow has helped me get through this long winter.  I can’t wait for the real, edible fiddleheads to be harvested.

 

For the first time since November, I walked down to the flood plain and stood on the banks of the Connecticut River.  It was downright intoxicating.  Happy Earth Day from the Northeast Kingdom!

 

Bernie Sanders.  I campaigned my butt off for him from December 2015 until the convention in July.  Together, Edward and I knocked on over 800 doors and made over 6,300 phone calls, to 18 states.  (Still exhausted from it!)

In retrospect, I feel that campaigning for Bernie is the best and most important thing I have ever accomplished.

In March, Edward and I and our friend Teri Anderson spent a week in Dublin, Ireland–to celebrate the commemorate the 1916 Easter Uprising.

 

 

Later that spring, back in Guildhall, Vermont, Teri helped me set up a new greenhouse and raised bed system.

 

We got some new outdoor sculpture for our camp in Lunenburg and our house in Guildhall.

In September, we spent several days at a lovely ocean-side getaway in Tenant’s Harbor, Maine, where my mom and her partner David were renting.

Edwards’ 4th grandchild was born in October.  Olivia Ailish Clark, in Brooklyn, New York.  The daughter of James Connolly Clark and Elizabeth Demetriou.

Edward ran a spirited campaign for State Representative here in our district of Essex-Caledonia.  He ran as a Berniecrat Dem, but sadly, lost to the incumbent Republican.  This district has been sending Republicans to the Vermont State House for at least 35 years.  We believe that this long-term GOP history, combined with a massive Trump turnout in the district, accounts for Edward’s loss.  He was enormously courageous for trying.

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Boston, staying right downtown at the Park Plaza.  The downtown location meant we could walk to all the familiar locations of my beloved Boston.  We meandered around the Public Garden and the Boston Common and the State House.  We heard Handel’s Messiah at Symphony Hall.  We took a fantastic art and architecture tour of the Boston Public Library. And we had brunch at the Parker House (where both Ho Chi Minh and Malcolm X once worked!) And for Thanksgiving itself, we spent the day at Edward’s daughter Rosa, and her husband Matthew’s home.  The children present for the day gave a great Christmas concert.  There is a lot of musical talent in that household!

Fidel Castro died.

The bombshell came on November 8, 2016.

I don’t know what to say about the state of our country now, except that my political energies are, along with Senator Bernie Sanders,  devoted to taking over and transforming the Democratic Party, so that we can take back the Senate and House  in 2018 and the White House, in 2020.  Happy New Year!