Andrea Doughtie, Rural Painter

We’ve had grandchildren here all week and I haven’t spent five minutes painting. So instead, here’s a snapshot of what it’s like on the road around here. It’s wonderful to be away from all the traffic in Houston. Sometimes I can drive half an hour into town and not see a single vehicle behind me the whole way. However–I allow a little extra time for obstacles. The roads are so hilly and curvy that it’s difficult to get around anything in front of you.

These bikers aren’t really a problem but often there will be a group riding right across the whole lane and it seems to take them forever to realize they should get over. Biking up here seems way too hard. The hills are so steep and the expressions on the bikers’ faces look grim to me.

Here’s a horse and wagon–a more frequent sight than you’d think. For a while there was another horse and wagon that kept going back and forth all the time and really slowed traffic around the village. We never found out why he was here for just a few days.

Tractors are also a common sight. Drivers of slow vehicles are usually very thoughtful and pull over periodically to let cars around.

This one is my favorite. There’s a dairy farm just down the road from us. From time to time the family herds the cows to another pasture on the other side of the road or back to the barn. I’m always so tickled when I have to wait for them because it seems to me the essence of living in Vermont.