Vermont City Marathon Scenes

Runners make their way up "Heartbreak Hill,"
which to most of us is Battery Street
in Burlington. The  Taiko Drummers helped
push people up the hill

I briefly had time to check in last Sunday - yes a week ago - for the Vermont City Marathon in Burlington, Vermont.

There's always a few scenes and moments that are pretty cool.

Any one person will miss most of the quirky momets, but everybody will catch at least some. This post has just a few photos of the scenes, just for fun.

Dude with a huge
beard runs in
the marathon.

Runners make their way down Pine Street
in Burlington Sunday during the
Vermont City Marathon

Dude caught running the marathon barefoot 

A spectator and his dog watch the marathon
proceedings in Burlington this past
Sunday. 

Burlington, Vermont Police Chief Has Perfect Response To Protests On Veterans Day.

Burlington, Vermont Police Chief Brandon del Pozo
got veterans and democracy exactly right in
a statement about anti-Trump protests on Veterans Day.  

I'm going to let Burlington, Vermont Police Chief Brandon del Pozo be my unwitting guest blogger today.

Like many cities across the nation, people in Burlington are holding an anti-Trump rally.  

The march against Trump in Burlington is scheduled for today, Veteran's Day. Some people objected to the demonstration being held on Veterans Day.

Here's how del Pozo responded to that objection today on Facebook:

"There's a rally scheduled today at City Hall Park to rebuke what so many feel is the hateful and racist rhetoric of the United States president-elect.

Some people are upset that it's happening on Veteran's Day, a time reserved for somber reflection on the service and sacrifice of so many everyday Americans. 

But I think it's the perfect day for a protest rally. How do you better honor people's legacy than by using something great they've given you?

Protest on Veteran's Day, Americans, if you desire! It's our right, and it was secured by the men and women who are our veterans. It seems like a more profound way to honor them than simply laying a wreath."

By the way, responding to critics on Facebook, del Pozo assured everyone he'd have the same attitude had Clinton won and right wing protesters took to the streets. He also said he has no tolerance for violence. He just wants to encourage peaceful democracy.

Good work, Chief!!!

Weird Crime Spree: Somebody Stealing Burlington, Vermont Gardens

A gap in a Burlington garden because of a plant thief
who is on a crime spree in that city.
Photo buy Joel Banner Baird/Burlington Free Press.

Vermont isn't the worst high crime neighborhood in the world, but sometimes, the crimes are downright weird.

For instance, lately, there's a crime spree in Burlington, Vermont's largest (but still small!) city.

Somebody is stealing garden plants from resident's yards and homes.

This isn't just some drunk college students ripping up flowers and breaking tree branches on an intoxicated late night stagger through the neighborhoods.

Somebody who knows what they're doing is carefully digging up flowers, plants and shrubs, or carefully clipping flower blooms in apparent attempts to make floral arrangements.

According to the Burlington Free Press, at least 26 people reported plant thefts within 10 days, (Warning, if you click on the Free Press link, you'll have to complete surveys and deal with pop up ads to actually get to the story. )

Sometimes the thief or thieves have pulled up easily replaceable annuals like marigolds. Other times, expensive shrubs or bushes disappeared.

My theory, because the plants have been so carefully uprooted, is somebody is getting these plants for "free" by stealing them, then reselling them for a profit somewhere.

Most of the thefts have happened in Burlington's Old North End, a neighborhood of homes that are fairly close together with small yards.

The neighborhood has experienced a welcome rebellion against lawns, and many homeowners have pulled up lots of sod and replaced the plots with beautiful vegetable and flower gardens.

This includes easily accessible spots, like erstwhile front yards.

Gardeners are famous with their generosity, and will very often divide some perennials for you if you see some in somebody's yard that you really like.

"If someone had knocked on my door and asked for some plants, I would have gladly split some of the perennials and give them some. And most people I know would have done the same," said Emily Lee, one of the plant theft victims told the Burlington Free Press.

But somebody is not politely asking for the plants.  They're just taking.

Burlington City Councilor Sara Giannoti, who represents the hardest hit part of town is dismayed because this is a quality of life issue.

"For it to happen to people who take so much time and effort to beautify a neighborhood - it hits your soul," she said.

A lot of the thefts are fairly unusual specimens, so the garden thief has taste, even if the lousy person or persons has no morals.

Among the plants to disappear are three dwarf apples trees that a man had planted as a memorial to his late mother-in-law; a dwarf weeping Japanese maple and a beautiful red blooming Asiatic lily.

People in the neighborhood are setting up surveillance cameras in an effort to catch the plant criminals.

A technician at the University of Vermont Medical Center is offering to help people set up inexpensive surveillance systems.

This is good. I hope the what I believe to be the World's Most Unethical Gardener gets caught. And I'm dying to know who it is.

As an avid gardener myself, I know my fellow gardeners tend to be a friendly, honest bunch. I hope this Burlington bad apple gets caught before he steals more good apple trees. Or any other plant.

 ,

Trump WAYYYY Overbooks Vermont Venue: This Ought To Be Interesting

Donald Trump is holding a rally in Burlington,
Vermont tonight, but gave away WAAY too many tickets

Hooray for Trump supporters!!  The Donald is holding a rally tonight at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington, Vermont.

Here's the problem: The Flynn has a capacity for 1,400 attendees. The Donald's campaign has issued 20,000 tickets. See the problem here?

According to the Burlington (Vermont) Free Press, the city's mayor, fire marshall and police chief are not amused by this situation.

This will mean that many Trump supporters, who are often perpetually angry anyway, will be angrier still for not getting in.

This is also liberal Vermont remember.  Which means that also outside the Flynn tonight is sure to be a LOT of demonstrators who don't like The Donald at all.

You can see why the mayor, the fire marshall and the police chief are in a grumpy mood today.

The Burlington Free Press has this quote:

"'I wonder if the Trump campaign took into account the safety of the police officers who have to contend with large, dissatisfied crowds,' Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo said. 'This situation would place police officers in needless confrontations with citzenry.'"

del Pozo said he would have shut down tonight's Trump venue had it been a music concert or something because of the safety worries, but he's not in this case because it's a political event, and he wants to protect First Amendment rights to free speech.  

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger is peeved with Trump campaign, too, says the Burlington Free Press. 


"Their attitude is, what happens outside the venue is someone else's responsibility," Weinberger said of Trump's campaign. "It's not the way I would treat my supporters, people coming to an event of mine."

Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington,
Vermont has a capacity of 1,400 or so, but Donald
Trump's campaign distributed 20,000 tickets for the event. 

Which raises questions about a Trump presidency: If he made a mess of things either diplomatically, or with the economy or anything else important, would Trump just say it's somebody else's problem to clean up?

I'm prone to conspiracy theories, so here's my latest: Does Trump hope for trouble, so that he can tell his "real Americam" supporters that those horrible liberals like the ones in Vermont, are violent jerks who are to be hated and not trusted?  

Again, that's just a wild conspiracy theory which has no basis in fact, but Trump does make you wonder.

Next door to the Flynn Theater is a wonderful little sandwich shop called Kountry Kart Deli. They've introduced a new sandwich this week called "The Trump."

It's bologna on white bread. Kountry Kart is charging $20.16 for this sandwich. Eat up, kiddies!

Guy Fleeing Drug Raid Nabbed By His Pants On Outside Apartment Wall

Burlington, Vermont police say this guy
tried to flee an apartment during a drug raid
but his pants got caught on an exterior wall
of the building. The city's fire department
had to rescue him. 

Burlington, Vermont police conducted a drug raid at an apartment in that fine city and one of the people in the apartment tried to flee out a second story window.

Police got an assist from the guy's pants, the Burlington (Vermont) Free Press reports. He got snagged on the outside of the building when his pants caught on something.

A video in the Free Press link shows the humilating moment for Aaron Drumgo, 25 of Brooklyn, New York when police got him down from the side of the building.

Says the Freeps:

"Drumgo attempted to flee by leaping out the window. His pants became caught on part of the building, and he was left hangingt outside. He eventually was rescued by the Burlington Fire Department."

Of course, in this country we have the concept of innocent until proven guilty. But a guilty part of me thinks that it would have been fun if indeed Drumgo was indeed guilty, we could have left the Burlington Fire Department out of it.

Just leave him there and charge admission for people to watch the spectacle of Drumgo stuck on the side of the building.

Police did say they found 200 grams of crack cocaine in the apartment and a digital scale, the Free Press reports. If that's true, there could be some jail time in our building hanger's future.

They'll probably put him in a cell, though. Cruel and unusual punishment to attach the guy to the exterior wall of the prison. Especially given how arctic Vermont winters are.

Burlington, Vermont Bike Race Was Intense, Photogenic

The Green Mountain Stage Race was held over the Labor Day weekend in Vermont.

It involves insanely fit people on bicycles riding as fast as possible up and down the steep hills of Vermont, amid bright sunshine and summer humidity high enough to melt a Florida alligator.

The race culminates in the Dealer.com Criterium, in which our intrepid racers zip around the narrow streets of Burlington, Vermont.

It looks scary if you're participating, but it sure is fun to watch. So I did. And took a few photos.

These guys sure do look intense. They're in it to win it. Scroll down to see all the photos.

St. Patrick's Day Chaos Rules (Thank Gawd!!)

I'm in downtown Burlington at the moment, the usual quiet of dawn on a Sunday morning.

It will turn raucous fast, as it is St. Patrick's Day. The tavern doors have already swung open, and they will be crowded soon.

This truck will almost surely be part of
Burlington, Vt's St. Patricks Day festivities today

Burlington is looking forward to what is maybe the most unique St. Patrick's Day parade. There's a local concrete company here called. S.D. Ireland. They have quite a few of those cement mixers. They'res are white, painted with green shamrocks.

A convey of S.D. Ireland cement mixers, their horns honking away, will make their way through this city's streets this afternoon. I can't wait for the noise.

I might be working in stereotypes here when I present the following video, showing the Dropkick Murphys performing, on St. Patrick's Day, a ditty called "Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced" with the help of several dozen, mostly shitfaced female audience members.

Again, maybe I'm pandering to the popular bias of what St. Patrick's Day is. But one of my most precious friends, Ellen, happily gives the Dropkick Murphys the Ellen Seal of Approval, so it has to be good.

So here's that video. Enjoy, me lads! And hat tip to Gary Rith for alerting me to this video, via Facebook.

Photography: Beautiful, Frosty, Vermont Winter Morning

I was at work early Sunday morning, and as I looked out the window the sun was rising and sparkling off frosty trees outside my office in Burlington, Vermont

Frosted trees near Battery Park, Burlington, Vt.

There had been a little fog overnight, and the temperature was in the single numbers. The fog froze to the trees. Steam rose from nearby Lake Champlain, which still hadn't really frozen since it's been a relatively warm winter.

The steam added to the frosty surroundings

With all this going on, I decided to take a break and go outside with my camera.

A walkway under frosted trees,
Battery Street, Burlington

I'm not crazy about winters, even mild ones, but the surroundings outside Sunday made me appreciate it a little more, despite the love/hate relationship I have with the season.

That's steam not ice on Lake Champlain. The dark sky
in the background is the fog that was frosting the trees

We Sent 2012 Away in Finest Way: Dinner at Pistou

I'm not the type to splurge. I need to economize, save money. I've vowed to try to redouble those efforts in 2013.

But, as a last hurrah, I decided to treat husband Jeff to a four course dinner at a restaurant called Pistou in Burlington, Vermont. The place had been recommended to me, but I still had little idea what I was getting into.

Logo for the great Pistou restaurant,
Burlington, Vermont

The place is expensive, by my standards, anyway. But I took the chance. The food had better be good. Jeff deserves the best. Don't blow it for me, Pistou, I thought.

Thank goodness everything went way beyond expectations, and gave us a nice sendoff to 2012.

I'm so used to and disappointed and overwhelmed by American restaurants, no matter what ethnic cuisine they offer. There seems to be some law that U.S. restaurants must offer diners an enormous pile of food that's about the size of a leaf pile under a 100 year old maple tree after foliage season ends.

This is apparently called "value." The food might be mediocre, but there sure is a lot of it, so quit your bitchin' you fat diner you!

Pistou's portions weren't big at all. Satisfying, yes, but they didn't need five gallon pails for each serving. Normal sized plated did fine. The restaurant went for flavor over filling us up at the pig trough.

The New Years menu at Pistou was a four course affair that opened with oyster in a cream sauce, then scallop in another sauce, then ribeye in yet another sauce, and for dessert, goat cheese of all things, in guess what? A sauce!

Well, OK some of the sauces were actually purees, but why get technical?

You didn't know what Pistou would serve you until you actually entered the restaurant and they informed you with a small list that accompanied the huge wine list they put in front of you.

Wine lists are daunting, so it was with great relief that they gave us the option of letting them choose what wine they would serve with each course.

You could see into the kitchen from where Jeff and I were sitting and I was stunned at who was cooking. Children, really. They were young men, a bit scruffy, probably in their early 20s. They looked like a trio I'd meet at some college frat party.

But there were no fraternity hijinks in the kitchen, no sir!  These guys were serious. And knew what they were doing. While many 20 year guys can't boil water, they deftly mixed ingredients in a way that beautiful aromas wafted into the dining room. 

This was promising.

Then the first course came out. Oysters.  I hate oysters.

Somehow with the puree they were in, I actually liked them. I don't like the slimy texture of Oyster. But with the other ingredients,  I found myself not gagging over oysters. A first!

And since Pistou is such a nice restaurant, with such nice staff and nice fellow customers, it was a relief not to cause a scene like that.

Next, the scallop dish came out. Just a single, large Maine scallop, sitting atop another complex, delicious puree. 

The puree was delicious, the scallop was prepared perfectly. But when you combined the puree with the scallop, it became the best bit of seafood I've ever had.

Next came the ribeye, again served with a puree. Same delicious experience.

They told the ingredients they used in these dishes,   but I can't remember them all. And I thought it would be gauche to whip out my reporter's notebook a pen and tape recorder and conduct wide ranging, noisy and demanding interviews in the middle of the dining room.

The wine they chose for us was, to my palette, so-so when sipped as independent units.  But when you had some with the course it was paired with, it was perfect.

 The takeaway: Pistou put Jeff and me in exactly the right mood to say goodbye to 2012 and hello to 2013.

The downside to this whole experience: There's no way I can make anything a tenth as good in my kitchen as I had at Pistou.

Christmas Postcard from Vermont

Yesterday, two days before Christmas, the ground was free of snow in Burlington, Vermont, though snow covered the landscape in most of the rest of Vermont.

Snow begins to fall, Church Street Marketplace,
Burlington, Vermont Sunday night

Burlington is in a low spot, near Lake Champlain, and sometimes misses out on the snow.

As last minute shoppers scurried around Burlington's Church Street Marketplace while darkness fell late Sunday afternoon, it began to snow.

Big, slow flakes drifted down, making everyone think they wandered into a teleision Christmas special. People emerged from shops and restaurants, exclaiming and smiling at the falling snow. Children gaped up at the sky trying to catch flakes on their tongues. Dozens of people whipped out their smart phones taking pictures of one another enjoying the snow.

With the arrival of a little snow, the holiday preparation was complete. Time to enjoy Christmas.

Here's a quick video postcard I made of the holiday scene in Burlington last night:

One Way to Stop Dogs, People From "Fertilizing" Your Lawn

Judging by the pic I snapped for this post, somebody in Burlington, Vermont was fed up with people letting dogs do their business on their front lawn.

The sign is certainly one way to let people know what they think.

Actually, the sign might be referring to humans "doing their business." Which of course is even worse.

Only in Burlington, Vermont: Weird Sign, Again

You always see notices taped to utility poles, advertising the latest hot band coming to town, the latest lost cat needing to be found, the latest garage sale with bargains bargains bargains!!

In Burlington, Vermont, sometimes you get signs like this one here. (Click and make it bigger and easier to see)  Somebody was clearly having a bad day, and not necessarily thinking clearly.

I hope whoever it was is OK.

But, happily, this person regrets throwing some sort of flag away, or stomping on it or something.

And "Sado-Mass-ichism?" Does that mean doing something kinky, but only in Massachusetts? I'm confused. I probably ought to stay that way.

This is just yet another mystery in the big city of Burlington, Vermont.

Poop On the Grass

You never know what you'll see on the grass as you're walking along sidewalks in Burlington, Vermont.

As I passed some recycling and other debris waiting for garbage pickup,  I had to sidestep some poop on the grass. As you can see by the pic, it was not traditional poop, the kind left by a dog.

I haven't seen a 45 rpm record in a long time. And the record is called "Poop." I'm unclear who sang it. I almost grabbed the 45 so I could play it and hear what the song was. But then I realized it's been decades since I had access to a record turntable.

So, like all smart people, I didn't touch the poop on the lawn, and walked away.

Vermont Park Ninjas?

You never know what you're going to see when walking around Burlington, Vermont. In a park Thursday in the city:, I photographed these strange ninjas. It was unclear what they were doing, but I figured I'd better keep walking after snapping a quick pic. 

Plane Loops and Swirls Over Vermont

I caught this biplane doing loops and circles and smoke trails in the skies over Burlington, Vermont Sunday. Wish I was up there.

It was all part of the Lake Champlain Maritime Festival 

Too bad boats can't do what the plane did. That would really be something.

I also wonder if I was on that plane, would I have had fun, or would I have gotten sick? Or both?

I kind of like the dramatic clouds behind the plane. It looks like he's battling a nasty storm, but really, not much more than a sprinkle was coming out of them.

As always with the photos in this blog, click on the photos to make them bigger and get a better view.

Summer Moments, Burlington, Vermont

Beautifully patterned clouds over downtown Burlington, Vermont
Friday evening

A relaxing scene in Burlington's City Hall Park
Friday evening

There was construction near Leunig's
restaurant in downtown Burlington, so wait staff
jokingly wore hard hats
while serving customers

Walking around Burlington, Vermont on a gorgeous Friday evening, I obnoxiously pointed my camera at what I saw, just to capture the moments of a languid mid summer night. What I came up with:

Wild Storm Chase, Burlington, Vermont, 7/4/12

The Fourth of July in Vermont had some fireworks that no pyrotechnic company could beat.

Incredibly intense thunderstorms roared down from southern Canada, and as alwasy, I set about storm chasing as the weather developed.  I always have to collect more weather porn, don't you know.  And belatedly on the Fourth, I got some real money shots from the weather.

Burlington Free Press phototgrapher Glenn Russell
documents flooding in downtown Burlington
after a wild July 4 storm.

At midafternoon, one complex of storms formed just north of the Canadian border, a little above northwestern Vermont. It appeared the storms were heading right toward my St. Albans, Vermont house, so all I had to do is sit and wait with my camera and intercept them.

Nope. They storms veered to the east, despite the dire severe storm warnings for St. Albans. I couldn't catch up with the storms as they headed toward Danville, Vermont, in the northeastern part of the state.

I had to give up the chase.

The area around famed Joe's Pond in Danville was hammered with fallen trees, overturned boats and lots of damage.

I thought I missed all the storms, until I saw on radar that another complex formed northwest of Montreal.

I wondered it the storm would hold together, and boy did it ever. It formed a "bow echo" on radar a backward "C' shape that portended trouble.

Flooding on South Union Street in Burlington after
a very severe thunderstorm on July 4. 

This one kept further west than I thought.  As I raced south to intercept it as I saw going by to my west, the storm raced south over Lake Champlain, finally making a beeline toward Burlington, Vermont.

Burlington got hammered with 60 to 70 mph wind gusts that knocked down lots of trees. Even worse was the incredible amount of rain that fell in a short period of time. Lots of streets flooded, as did cars, business and homes.

Sadly, a building that takes in homeless people during the day for meals and help got trashed by the flooding, according to the Burlington Free Press. 

Here's the film of the storm I took on Burlington's Riverside Avenue. This wasn't taken through a fogged up window. The visibility was really that bad, it was raining so hard:

"Taylor Swift," Strange Horns, Barf in Burlington, Vt

One of the joys of summer in Burlington, Vermont is the, um, creative entertainers on the Church Street Marketplace.

The "Taylor Swift Experience"
in downtown Burlington, Vt.  

The Marketplace is the main tourist and shopping center in the city's downtown, and in the summer it really comes alive with outdoor dining and extremely interesting people to watch.

Such was the case Friday with the appearance of an entertainer who calls himself the Taylor Swift Experience.

Taylor is a tall young man who was clad in a blue, green and white flower print dress, moccassins and a brown cowboy hat.

When I saw him, he was singing "You're the One That I Want," that hit song by John Travolta and Olivia Newton John from the movie "Grease, " and accompanying himself with his ukelele.

It was a sight to behold, let me tell you, but it was false advertising in that I did not feel like I was experiencing Taylor Swift.

Taylor told me his real name is Mike and he gets a lot more money thrown into his ukelele case if he's dressed as he was. Judging by the pile of money there, I'd say he was right.

Here's a brief video I took of the Taylor Swift Experience's command performance.



A lot of the entertainers on Burlington's Church Street Marketplace are actually quite good and relatively normal. For instance, the other day I saw and heard an exquisite bluegrass band that reminded me a lot of the Old Crow Medicine Show. 

But sometimes, things devolve badly. Last summer I started filming this strange guy playing a strange horn wearing a strange cow skull mask. (He's back this year)

The video is below, but be forwarned. The action in the background gets pretty bad, and this musician seems to have created some strange reactions. I suggest you not eat anything while watching the video.

Evil Teddy Bear Cloud?

I was taking pictures of some thunderheads developing Wednesday in the Adirondacks, across Lake Champlain from Burlington, Vermont.

Maybe my imagination is overactive, but don't you think there's something that looks like an evil teddy bear looming in the middle of the cloud formation?  (Click on the pic to embiggen it.
You be the judge.

An Urban Pileated Woodpecker Calls Burlington, Vt. Home

As I was walking through City Hall Park in downtown Burlington, Vermont yesterday, I approached a sugar maple that was past its better days. It was half dead, and I think the city is going to take it down.

This pileated woodpecker made
a nice hole in this tree in a downtown Burlington, Vt.

I passed under the tree and suddenly, wood chips rained down on me. I stopped, and heard a tap, tap, tap overhead. I looked up and saw the fellow pictured in this post: A pileated woodpecker.

They're usually in forests, pecking away at rotting trees, looking for their favorite foods, such as carpenter ants. I guess this guy found what he was looking for in a city park.

I think I was the only one who noticed him. Everybody else in the park was talking to each other, or on cell phones, or sitting on benches soaking in some sun. Nobody even seemed to notice as I grabbed my camera aimed up, and took a portrait of my new friend.