Some people make a yearly pilgrimage to Mecca; I make mine to visit friends in Vermont where we visit as many Open Studios as time and energy permits. Few experiences are nicer than being driven around Vermont by good friends with whom experiences of 42 years of our lives have been shared.
Vermont is beautiful at this time of year, with varying shades of clean, green foliage that has not yet been chewed up by caterpillars or whatever else chomps on them. Opportunists, counting on all those out for the Open Arts and Crafts Studios were having yard sales, lawn sales, tag sales, barn sales and any other kind of sale possible. Flowering shrubs were in full bloom as were apple trees and any other flowering fruit tree imaginable. Distinctive to Vermont homes is the acreage in front of almost all homes, perfectly manicured by any or all family members on their sit-down mowers. On one huge estate, master and mistress were on his and her tractors, mowing a lawn that had already been turned into velvet by the hired landscapers. It seems to be a local pastime around there.
In one town traffic was slowed for a 'coin drop' for the volunteer firemen; later for a 'bottle drop' to send a boy on a school trip to Italy.
Artists were patient with those of us who were asking questions and buying very little (commonly known as 'tire kickers' in automobile showrooms). We were given a demonstration by a blacksmith on how to turn a piece of iron pipe, about eight inches long, into an abstract duck. The yard was filled with artistic versions of crows, dragonflies, mayflies, caterpillars, lobsters, clocks, candlesticks, menorahs, and many other articles created by this talented artist.
In the Northeast Kingdom, near the Canadian border in Newport, we saw a wood carver of birds. He had quit his stressful job job as the only orthopedic surgeon in the area and was devoting himself to his carving. Admittedly his pieces were selling for two or three thousand dollars each, which sounds like a great price, but he said if he paid himself $10 and hour, it would not cover the time spent on his carvings. Over and over we visited happy creators whose love of their work was effusively projected. Everyone freely described how they did the work, produced the product or art, and seemed grateful for feedback.
The Vermont Arts Council which sponsors this wonderful experience every year over the Memorial Day weekend, should be on the calendar of anyone interested in an eye opening experience through the eyes of people who have found a way to make life fun and eat off it.
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