Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

When I awoke on Sunday morning, my brother and his wife were already up, having breakfast. I stumbled, bleary-eyed, into the kitchen and my brother greeted me with a cheery smile: "Merry Christmas."

"What?"

He gestured to the window. Outside, the ground was white. "But," I blustered. "It wasn't supposed to snow. It was supposed to rain. I read the weather report."

"Welcome to Vermont."

Unfortunately, even though I'd told The Gryphon to bring his snow boots, just in case, I hadn't followed my own advice. But my brother's wife had a pair that fit me, so I lucked out.

My brother checked the weather reports and found out the snow was nothing severe. We could see, as well, that the snow wasn't collecting in the roads. My brother says he calls this kind of snow "white rain" because it doesn't accumulate enough to cause trouble. The snow plows were already zipping up and down the streets. As my brother explained, they wait all year for the first snow, anxious to get in the action.

We took our time getting ready and having something to eat before we went out on our excursion for the day, a tour of the Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury. By then, the roads were definitely clear and the snow was letting up. Down in Waterbury, there was even less snow on the ground, and the skies were gray but clear.

It might seem funny to some, to eat ice cream during the first snowfall of the season, but that's exactly what we did. We went inside and paid for tours, and since our didn't leave for about half an hour, we got some cones. I tried a limited edition flavor whose name I forget. It had a lot of crunchy bits in it, like pretzels and hunks of chocolate. The Gryphon got the same flavor, while my brother and his wife got the limited edition flavor, Chocolate Therapy, a rich chocolate with chocolate chunks.

Now, my nephew and The Gryphon had both developed colds, and The Gryphon had taken some medication. My nephew, of course, hadn't. He had a tiny taste of ice cream, which he spit up. I think he prefers his foot.

When they called us for the tour, we assembled with the rest of the group. Since my nephew was in a stroller, we had to take the elevator upstairs to meet up with the rest of the group in a video room, where we watched a video on the history of Ben & Jerry's. I think this was probably updated from the one I'd seen a couple years ago, but most of the information was familiar.

My nephew, who's normally very cheerful and easygoing, started crying partway through the film and my brother's wife whisked him out of the room. I think maybe the noise was too much for him, on top of not feeling tiptop.

Then we got to tour the factory. We didn't expect to see the lines in production, since it was a Sunday and the factory is normally closed Saturday through Monday. But as it turned out, they were open to make up for a day later in the week when the lines would be down for some sort of equipment maintenance.

I had seen the machines in operation before, so after a quick look I stepped back and let others see. The tour guide narrated the process along with a video they usually use on Sundays. We weren't overly impressed with the tour guide; she kind of let the videotapes do the talking for her. My brother, having been through this tour a couple times, knows other tour guides are far more entertaining.

When it came time to follow the guide downstairs to the sample room, she failed to instruct those of us who had to use the elevator how to find them downstairs. We had to ask.

In the sampling room was an unexpected treat. They were handing out two samples that day, a mint chocolate chip and chocolate chip cookie dough or pecan. I chose the chocolate chip cookie dough. They were in tiny little Dixie cups, but that was more than enough, on top of the cone I'd had earlier!

On our way out, we got to see one of the quality control inspectors at work. I gestured to my camera to ask for permission and he gave me the thumbs up, then even posed for me. What a great job!

Before we left, I wanted to replace my old Cherry Garcia T-shirt, which is so big I don't even wear it as a nightshirt anymore. I only hold onto it for sentimental reasons, as it was one of my favorite tie-dyes for years. I mentioned this to my brother, and he was shocked that I'd ever worn a size XL. It's sweet that my brother never saw me, at my biggest, as being as large as I was.

But when I looked at the Cherry Garcia shirts, I was disappointed. The slogan used to say, "What a long strange dip it's been," but now it says "Pleasure awaits," which didn't thrill me. I mentioned this to my brother, and he said maybe they wanted to be sure to distance themselves from drug references. That's probably true, but it's also a line from a very well known Grateful Dead song, and in the context of the song it refers more to the journey of life. Ah, well.

I looked at the other shirts to see what I wanted to get. The basic Ben & Jerry's tie-dye was the sort of rainbow tie-dye I've seen a million other places. I looked at some of the other designs, such as the retro ones. There was an orange T-shirt with cows driving a psychedelic bus which I liked, as well as a green ringer T-shirt with a Ben & Jerry's cow on the front. I liked this for its simplicity as well as the vintage look.

As I held them up, the orange one was clearly larger, even though they were both a size small. I asked one of the clerks if I could try them on in the bathroom, and she said OK. I tried them both, and the green one fit perfectly, since it's fitted. The orange one had the same problem that I normally have with T-shirts anymore: they're boxy in the shoulders, too big in the waist but tight at the waist. This is primarily because T-shirts are unisex, which primarily means they're designed to fit men.

When I came back out, I told the same store clerk that I was getting the green one because it fit better and that the orange one was a little big. She said she has the same problem, but because she has a long torso, sometimes the men's sizes do work on her.

I bought the green T, and they put it in a little paper bag. It looked like I was buying a pint of ice cream. Here's a comparison of the old and new shirts.

Outside, we paused to take pictures of ourselves in one of the cutouts designed for picture taking. I especially like the one of my brother and his wife, where they look really happy.

We drove back home in time for my nephew's nap. The Gryphon was also feeling under the weather and thought he'd take a nap, too. But my brother had a couple errands to run, so I volunteered to tag along. I had something I wanted to get: some supplies for making a wrist corsage to go with my Halloween costume.

He and I drove to the local Wal-Mart, where he stopped first at the jewelry counter to have a new battery put in the watch he wears for work. While they put that in, we walked over to the show department to find him new work shoes. He had a lot of trouble finding his size, which is a common one. After trying on several different pairs, we found him one that worked.

I glanced at the silk flowers in the craft department, but he leaned in to me and said, sotto voce, that the craft store two stores down was better.

When we got back to the jewelry counter, they'd installed the battery and the watch was working again. Pleased, my brother settled up and then we headed for the craft store.

We were wondering up and down the rows of silk flowers, looking for ideas, when my brother spotted something perfect in the bridal section. It was meant to be a pin-on corsage, but when I held it on my wrist, we agreed it would work.

Next, we went to the lace section to look for lace to surround it with, as well as some elastic to fasten it to my wrist. My brother found the perfect lace, and I bought a half yard. He also spotted the elastic, and I picked one that looked like a good width.

Back at his place, we showed our goodies off to his wife. I planned to ask for her help putting the corsage together, since she's artistic and good with crafts, but we didn't get a chance. However, once I returned from Vermont, I managed to hobble together a nice looking wrist corsage. Nice in the sense of god-awful. Lacy and pink. So '80s!

For dinner, my brother's wife made us some really delicious burritos with ground turkey, which really hit the spot on a cold day. My little nephew was a little fussier than normal, but he went to bed without incident.

We settled on the couch to watch Desperate Housewives, one of the favorite shows of my brother and his wife. I fell asleep partway through. We all made an early night of it, as my brother had work the next day.

More on our trip to Vermont:

October 26, 2005 - The Magic Conductor

October 27, 2005 - Foody Heaven

October 31, 2005 - Montpelier Shopping

November 4, 2005 - More Vermont Pics

My last Vermont journey:

September 30, 2003 - Green Mountain Journey

Copyright 2005 by Alyce Wilson

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