I forgot to put in my list of "welcome to Vermont" events:

• On our drive up here - sortly after we crossed over Lake Champlain from NY, we stopped at a small town in Vermont to pee and switch drivers. We pulled up to a general store, the main structure at the town's one intersection. Inquiring about bathrooms, they directed us to a porta-john out back! In the course of events, Patrick had to dash back to the car to get some kleenex for Becky - no TP in the porta-john. Welcome to Vermont! Actually, Vermont reminds me of western Ireland - spectacular scenery, extremely nice people, and a laid-backness that would be called utter incompetence in other places. But here you just have to laugh and get over yourself.
• The faculty at St. Mike's has been incredibly welcoming. Reza, the department chair, has repeatedly loaded us down with the abundant produce of his garden. Herb, another econ professor, had us over for dinner with George Dameron (a history prof) and his wife. As Becky said, "Wow - George can discuss history, economics, Catholicism, and Italy all in one sentence!" Our kind of guy. I've met more people (faculty and staff) at St. Mike's than I can possibly remember, and they have been unanimously, outrageously welcoming, helpful, and outgoing.
• On our third day here, I left for the hardware store to get brackets for our IKEA shelves. I took a wrong turn, and - not 2 minutes from our place - was suddenly confronted with a spectacular vista of the Green Mountains, lit in the afternoon sun and dappled with cloud shadows. Welcome to Vermont.