I walk or hike most weeks with my two dear friends, Rob and Michael, wherever the spirit takes us. Lately, due to my sore ankle, we’ve walked back roads. Recently we encountered a fine little book, I Left my Sole in Vermont, by Nicole Grubman, that has helped us discover a number of other fabulous, local road walks.

While romanticizing old rural Vermont is often tempting, I also always find it ill-advised. However, it offers a clear glimpse back into a period of time that is at once both not far away and still very much 19th century. I often feel there are lessons we can learn that may guide us into the future—lessons of providing for our needs more locally and living more simply.

And, as I said yesterday, I find the landscapes stunningly beautiful. As Michael said, “Walking is the perfect speed to see Vermont!”

Our walks lately have included sampling (mostly) wild apples at nearly every turn—a bumper crop this year!

These two farms on Center Road have watched each other for many years, and still do.

The cupola speaks clearly against the Fall blue sky.

Sunshine, windows, and patterns—how many have seen them before I did?

Vestiges of a once common past: red barns and green enamel shades on the barn light.

I can imagine a past when the sounds would have been horses and cows and maybe the voice of the farmer carried across the valley.