I keep thinking that I have a good memory. And, it is good, but I forget little details. The breakfast Melinda made was as good as the morning before, but I can't remember all the little ways it was different. All I can tell you is that it woke me up and gave me sustenance to face what would be an amazing day of discovery.
We talked of course for most of the morning and worked on our individual projects online for a while. Around mid-afternoon Melinda said, "We're going to Brattleboro, Vermont for dinner!" She told me there is a great BBQ place there, called Top of the Hill Grill. And, since I was going to be headed to Brattleboro anyway, I thought it would be a great way to get a preview.
So we headed out. There are two direct ways to get there, either I-91 or Route 5. Melinda said she likes to take 91 there because the view is more open and you can see the mountains, and then 5 back to see the more winding landscape, houses, and barns. I would be walking 5 in a few days (though in the other direction) and this would allow me to see the landmarks along that route.
She was right about the view along 91, certainly was filled with majestic mountains. The land is lush, not just because it is spring and everything is so green, but because this Connecticut River valley funnels clouds down upon the land, and then wipes them across the mountains which extract their moisture. It reminds me of a rain forest cycle. The sun can be out in a clear blue sky and then the clouds roll in the moisture meets the land, and then they roll back out again. We would get a truly grand and powerful example of this later that evening.
When we got the Brattleboro, I believe we took the Canal Street exit and drove along Canal (which is also Route 5) until we bared to the left where 5 becomes Main Street and then Putney Road. Along the way, I saw what was a neat little town, not unlike Greenfield in some ways. It's buildings in the downtown area were densely packed with businesses and little shops. It is the true sign of a good city economy to see no business vacancies. I recall while walking through some of the small cities in the Carolinas that it was the exact opposite. I mean that except for the odd diner or second hand store, every storefront, every building was empty with "For Lease" or more often "For Sale" signs ungracefully propped up in the windows. I would learn that Brattleboro was not quite as prosperous as my first impression seemed to indicate, but it was a far cry from the desolation of some of those Southern cities.
At the point where Canal bares left onto Main, the most obvious feature visible from just about every angle is the Anna Hunt Marsh Bridge which is accessed by turning right onto Bridge Street. There, the road becomes Route 119 and crosses the Connecticut River passing over Hinsdale Island which is part of New Hampshire, leading into that state with a sharp turn south through Hinsdale. I would get to know the area around the bridge and Hinsdale itself when my friend Jeff visited me in Brattleboro several days later. But for now all of this was brand new.
It didn't take long to travel the less than half mile to the Top of the Hill Grill, passing by the picturesque Anna Hunt Marsh region of West River on our left. We parked and then joined the line of people waiting to order. It was slow going, as orders were taken at the window. We had plenty of time to study the menu. Again, I can't remember what Melinda chose (maybe she will remind me and I'll add it here), but I decided on the Hickory Smoked Beef Brisket, which came with coleslaw, cornbread, baked beans and dipping sauce. We were pretty hungry by the time the kind young lady called us up to the window. The smokey aroma didn't help. We ordered and went to sit down at a table to wait. This place gives you a playing card in lieu of a reservation number--ours was the King of Diamonds.
While we waited, I was awestruck by the gorgeous view. It looked like something out of a story book. I forgot to bring my camera, so Melinda let me use hers to take a shot of the marsh land below...
The Anna Hunt Marsh set under a golden evening sun.
Finally, they called our card and I went up to gather the the two plates. Sitting down to enjoy the meal, I noticed that the brisket was not as I remembered it being at Johnson Family BBQ in North Carolina, but it was still delicious, cut into thin slices with that hickory flavor permeating every bite. The coleslaw was good, with a creamy dressing that wasn't overly sweet. The baked beans were Boston style, with a brown sugar sauce and bits of fatty pork on top. And, the corn bread was moist and in the shape of a little loaf. Everything together was a real comfort food, and we enjoyed it in this beautiful place, at just the right time of day...
Side view of the kitchen. Amazing that they crank out so many items
from such a small workspace. We would end up meeting the couple in the foreground.
Well, at least Melinda looks good! And, no, I'm am not actually an egg.
The couple next us saw our struggle and the gentleman, named Jeff, offered to take a proper shot...
Two great friends.
And so, we returned the favor...
Pam and Jeff, our new friends!
We talked with them for a while, as they waited for their food (coincidentally, also being holders of the King of Diamonds). I spoke with Jeff. He is from Connecticut currently working to landscape their 13 acres in Middleton. He told me about his passion for not wasting things--recycling and reusing. For example, he said that he recovers metal from old wood, burning the wood for fuel and selling the nails as scrap. He and I share an interest in simplifying life. Once upon a time he worked traveling with band as part of the road crew. They often drive up here to enjoy the scenery and good food. He was one hell of a nice guy, a gentle giant of a man. He was very interested in what I was doing and we became friends on Facebook.
There was still plenty of daylight left and Melinda was not finished with our tour. We hopped in the car and headed back toward Greenfield this time taking Route 5 the whole way. I did my best to keep track of certain landmarks as we enjoyed our drive. And several days later, I would remember them as I walked back to Brattleboro, passing by them in reverse order.
Once we were back in town Melinda took me sightseeing, and was especially keen on showing me the woodsy area where she occasionally walks a friend's two dogs, that I believe was called Temple Woods. It was a lovely area for hiking, with many trails and even a now unused road they called the Old Boston Road, that - as the name implies - used to go all the way to Boston.
Rain had moved in and I was happy to be seeing all these things from a nice dry car. There was one other place that Melinda wanted to show me, and I think it was the best view of the day. We drove up Mountain Road just as the rain ended to the very top of a mountain, where we parked and ventured over to Poet's Seat Tower, a sandstone observation tower. According to Wikipedia...
Poet's Seat Tower is a 1912 sandstone observation tower, located in Greenfield, Massachusetts. It was so named to honor a long tradition of poets being drawn to the spot, in particular, the local poet Frederick Goddard Tuckerman. By 1850, the location was referred to as "Poet's Seat" by Tuckerman in a surviving herbarium entry for November 10th of that year.
An earlier wooden tower was erected at the site on June 3, 1879. This first structure was built, along with a public drinking fountain and a road accessing the site, under the auspices of the The Greenfield Rural Club.The breathtaking view from the base of the tower allows one to see all of the valley around Greenfield. We could even see the location of Melinda's house, though the leaves of the trees obscured the actual house itself. It was simply amazing. I thought it was so cool that the people had a place where they could see the whole layout of their town! Well below us and in front of the shear cliff was a nice high hill where town folk and their kids could go sledding in the winter time. Truly a pleasant place to live at any time of the year. Melinda let me take this incredible panoramic picture with her iPhone...
Here we see the sunset in the west while the rain which had just soaked our location moved
southward as seen at the left. Directly in front and below is the Graves Brook section of town,
and it's park, complete with tennis court and a good sized baseball field. The railing seen on
the left and right is actually straight, the strange angle is an artifact of the panoramic process.
With the waning of daylight, we still had one more place that Melinda thought I should see, and I was game for anything at this point. Now we were off to Shelburne Falls, racing to beat the dark (under the speed limit of course...ha!). This is the town in which one of Bill Cosby's houses stands.
The town was another wonder of Western Massachusetts, with its rocky riverbed (seen in this overhead Google Earth view), and the extraordinary Bridge of Flowers, which spans diagonally across the Deerfield River.
It had been quite a day of delicious eye candy. Now that it was dark out, we headed back to Melinda's house and rested for a little while. That night she asked me if I wanted to see how her practice of Quantum Biofeedback worked.
This was something completely new to me. I'd seen biofeedback used before as a graphic representation of bodily functions recorded by small electronic sensors. The idea is that a person can learn to control the processes of the body that are normally involuntary in order to improve health and treat certain conditions.
But what Melinda did was step beyond that. Quantum Biofeedback uses a system that integrates personal information, physiological history, and certain physical quantum signatures to analyze and then adjust these signatures to bring them into a certain range. It is the imbalance of these signatures (my word for it) that negatively affects us in our daily lives. It is not a physical process, but rather an equalization of energy.
She uses a machine designed to do this by either connecting the subject with electromagnetic wires or do what is called "subspace" treatment, remotely over any distance. Now, I don't understand much about the process and am using my own terminology, so I hope Melinda will forgive my clumsiness and inaccuracies as I discuss this. I want the reader to know that my descriptions are from the lay (uninformed) subject's perspective--as I was to be the subject on this night. I will certainly update this post if/when I learn more or stand in need of correction.
During this last Journey, you may recall that I have had periods of pain and discomfort due to the effects of long distance walking. Specifically, my heels, ankles, knees, and shoulders were what hurt most frequently. She had taken my information and done subspace work on me a few times. And, I can honestly say that I did feel better each time she did this work.
On this night I sat in a comfortable chair and she hooked me up with a head band, and a band on each wrist and each ankle. All of these bands were wired to a machine. First we took a reading of where my numbers for everything from each organ system of my body all the way to my psychological state of mind. With a highly complex computer program, she analyzed all of this. She was able to click on one thing, say, my blood, and sections and subsections of information would come up on the screen to show her what might be of concern and what was functioning normally with me. Then we went from system to system and the machine sent out the balancing function for each. After each of these, Melinda would check the numbers. Most of the time things would come back down closer to normal. A few of my systems stayed beyond the normal parameters.
I found the psychological aspects especially fascinating. I should also mention that what we were doing was unusual. Typically, the subject does not get involved in the analysis, but Melinda was trying to show me how it all worked, more than trying to treat me.
I personally believe that it is up to the subject to keep an open mind. And, whether this system actually does what it claims to do or it is only some kind of placebo effect, the point is having positive results. On this night, in addition to learning about the process, I do genuinely think that I had more than a baseline experience. More than anything, I was extremely relaxed afterward.
For me, seeing Melinda use this method with such dexterity, really knowing her stuff, and the obvious caring and desire she has to help people heal themselves, is what gave me confidence in what she was doing. I can see why she has so many clients and why they derive such positive results from her work.
We finished up and then talked again until very late. She had a retreat to go to early the next morning and invited me to stay the next day and night to watch over the house while she was gone and until she returned the following afternoon. I was more than happy to do that. I felt so comfortable there, that it was a real privilege to be able to have the place to myself. I didn't mind postponing my departure for another two days either. In fact, I didn't really want to leave as it was, and this was the excuse I needed to stay.
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