Notes of Chocolate

Vergennes
No LL

We've been learning a little about Jennifer's new job with Coffee Analysts. She had to develop her senses of smell and taste to be able to characterize the character of different coffees. Today, Libby and I were in a coffee shop in Vergennes. I bought some Nicaraguan Organic Coffee. The sign said, "Sweet, full toned, fruity with a touch of acidity. Chocolate notes with a complex finishing." That's exactly the kind of characterization that Jenny is learning to seek. I asked Libby if she could discern those things in the coffee. She said, "No, but I do get the taste of soap from the spoon."

A nice young couple came up and rafted with us yesterday. They were from Quebec City. (Yes, if you must know, the young woman was beautiful.) They told us about the difficulties of sailing on the St. Lawrence River in that area. It takes 6 days to get from Quebec City upstream to Sorel, fighting currents all the way. Sailing north from Quebec City is better but still one has to work the tidal currents carefully; they flow at up to 7 knots. The best part was the Sagenay (sp?) River fjord north of Quebec. They said that when they were in the river that there were four whales in there with them cavorting around.

Speaking of cavorting I just read in the Burlington paper that operators of luxury tourist submarines have reported a new trouble. It seems that clients are fond of making love in the transparent bubble in the bow. No doubt something to do with new experiences. Well, the trouble is that nearby dolphins sense that they are making love, get excited and jealous and start banging on the glass with their noses. Who said that dolphins aren't smart?

Last night I went to a concert in the Vergennes Bixby Library. Libby didn't come because she said the hill was too steep. The performer was Mark Witten from the nearby Maritime Museum. Mark had sailed on the Clearwater on the Hudson and learned a little about performing and composing folk songs from the famous Pete Seeger. Mark gave us his performance designed for kids, but all the senior kids there including me enjoyed it a lot. His songs all have a local flavor. He sang about sailing on the Hudson, on the canals and on Lake Champlain. He sang about horse powered ferry boats. He even sang a song in French from the early French settlers of this region.

By the way, the Bixby Library is a wonderfully beautiful building with marble columns and a stained glass dome that looks like Tiffany. It was built with money bequeathed by Mr. Bixby.