Maria and I just returned from three days in Vermont at an old inn we love, and where we spend our honeymoon. Maria got a very original tattoo of an alligator and a flower – she’ll write about it on her blog, I was going to get one (a dragon) but decided to spend our last day sleeping and reading, I needed it and we needed it and it feels good, I am rested and at peace. We had a great time, talking, walking – I got her socks, leggings, the tattoo trip as a birthday present, if I gave Maria a diamond she would be horrified, she was thrilled to get socks and leggings.

While we were at the tattoo parlor – we appreciate and trust our friend Alex of Mountainside Tattoo, he is a careful, responsive and creative artist in Bellows Falls, Vermont, I was invited to observe a timeless American ritual I knew belonged in my “Looking For America” series, I think some things about America are timeless, they speak to a world without change.

A 16-year-old girl came to see Alex with her sister, boyfriend and mother, she wanted a tattoo on her right rear shoulder that said “Bulletproof,” it was in honor of her grandfather, who passed away recently, and whom she loved dearly. She was nervous, the family gathered around her, the boyfriend, who never spoke, hovered, nearby, taking her hand. Her mother was happy she wanted to honor her grandfather this way, his nickname was “Bulletproof” from his service in the Korean War. I felt as if I had walked into a Norman Rockwell painting, the single light in the ceiling bore down on this beautiful young woman, so full of love for her  grandfather she wanted to bear his nickname for life.

I have more photos of this, which all speak for themselves, I’ll put them up later, they deserve their own space. We are glad to be home, we visited the animals, let the dogs out, scraped up three wheelbarrows of donkey manure from the barn, filled up the woodholders. We are good about not making a big deal about coming and going, so the dogs don’t either. I have never had a dog with separation anxiety, and hope to keep the record alive. Deb Foster messaged us that Lenore is a “bed hog,” which we know, and she adores Red and is able now to rub Frieda’s belly. I don’t think there was much reason to miss us. More photos and thoughts later.