Desso's
Today we say good-bye to Lil Desso, who ran Desso's General Store in Jericho, Vermont.
It is understood to be the longest continually-run store in Vermont and more, at about 200 years!
Lil was the heart of Desso's and the heart of this community.
Lil was the heart of Desso's and the heart of this community.
We all want to be more like her when we grow up.
Rest in Peace, Lillian Dorothy Cutting Desso. ♥
Rest in Peace, Lillian Dorothy Cutting Desso. ♥
I heard that Howard's still first. Wonder where?
ReplyDeleteGot into the upper forties overnight, is just now hitting 70ยบ! And I didn't sleep at all well. So me and Beau went back to bed at 11 (*his* urging, lol! -- must have kept him awake with all the tossing and turning). HATE to waste good sleeping weather!!
Puddle, Sorry MicroSoft has managed, yet again, to gum up the works.
ReplyDeleteAlan, that theory about Romney's tax returns is indeed intriguing.
Got an answer from Joe Welby. Bill, you were right. He said he adds all Engelbert fans to his network.
He also said I'd have to contact Enge's manager to submit a song. So, I asked how to go about doing that. Since I didn't expect any reply at all, getting both an explanation and a helpful tidbit was quite a nice surprise.
Ah Puddle, I'm sorry. Do you know why? Are you in pain? Or are you anxious? It does seem a pity to waste good sleeping weather.
DeleteIt was pleasantly cool here last night. Not that I slept well. Probably would have read all night but my battery bit the dust. My own fault for not remembering to recharge. So, I did eventually go to sleep, but as usual didn't rest. That's just the way it is.
Don't know. Discomfort, but no real pain. Too hot, too cold, bed wrinkled, not enough air. . . . name it. Dumb.
DeleteAh, gotcha. Sounds like me. General malaise. Not pleasant, certainly, but not really anything to worry about.
DeleteHave you tried listening to music or an audiobook? Sometimes works for me, especially the audiobook. Do you have an MP3 player?
No MP3 player. Can't listen to music and sleep, too. My mind keeps waking up, *trying* to listen to the music, lol! *Voices* I can generally sleep through. . . . Don't know why -- so late night radio is generally pretty good. But not last night. Hoping it's not a trend.
DeleteSure do hope tonight's a restful one for you, dear puddle! ♥
ReplyDeleteLast evening, Sweetie and I went to the calling hours for Lil Desso. There was a line to get in. Despite there being no body laid out, it felt like a “lying in state” event. There were photo albums and framed photos, and more vases of flowers than I’ve ever seen at a wake before, even including one from her high school. When we went through the line and spoke with her dear husband, Gerry Desso, he remembered us right away, looked at me and said, “Your letters meant so much to Lil!” Then he hugged me...four times! :-) We didn’t stay long, so that we could get back to Burlington and have dinner with youngest and his bride, at American Flatbread.
ReplyDeleteThis morning, we went to the brick church on the green in Jericho Center for Lil’s service. I can’t remember the last time we had such perfect weather: a blue sky day, high of 75F and humidity just 38%. The service was called a funeral, but as there was no body (or even an urn) there, it was really a memorial service. The church was packed to the gills, and we saw a lot of people we know such as Sue (whose house we rented when we first moved here); we thanked her for being the person who first told us about Desso’s! As expected by the venue, it was a little bit tinged with fundy theology, but as there was no fire and brimstone and no altar call, we did fine. :-) The pianist did a lovely job with the music, especially the worthy medley of hymns and songs played as the prelude. The sung hymns were Amazing Grace and The Old Rugged Cross. (I have since asked my offspring NOT to use the latter when my turn comes. Ha!) The pastor did a fine job of meshing gentleness and humour, and the eulogies written by Lil’s granddaughter and daughter were *gorgeously* expressed. If those two eulogies were all the service had consisted of, it would have been enough. But several folks from town also said a few words, the last being Tracy Campbell Pearson, who told about how she became inspired to write the children's picture book The Storekeeper in honour of Lil. She said she had known for some time that there was a book about Desso’s that she needed to write and illustrate. Then one night when she was pregnant and awake at 4am, she looked across the green and saw Lil’s light come on, and that’s when she knew the book needed to be not about the store, but about Lil. The service was followed by a meal downstairs, but I had to get to work, as a coworker was covering for me until I could get there, so we spoke with a couple of friends and headed out.
I always learn something new about a person when I attend their memorial service. What I hadn’t realised is that when we met Lil she was only about 38 years old. She became the owner of Desso’s at age 22 and, except for an occasional short vacation, she worked 18 hour days, 7 days a week, for 30 years...!! When she retired from being a storekeeper, at age 52, she went on to help children at a school nearby.
There is one thing more. We were trying, at first, to save a seat for two friends, but as it was now 10 minutes before the service was to begin and they hadn’t come yet, we could see that holding a prime seat wouldn’t last much longer. At that point I saw Willy and Bob arrive. Willy works with me at the polls several times a year, is older than Lil, and has been battling cancer for at least three years. She arrived wearing a headscarf, as she’s been doing chemo treatments again. So, rather than have her sit on one of the hard chairs at the back, we offered for them to share our cushioned pew. As we waited for the service to start, Willy leaned over and asked me if I would be willing to stand for Justice of the Peace in town, as she and Bob need to retire from it. Apparently my name has been considered for some time. Willy’s understanding was that I had been asked previously and had declined. I don’t recall that, but it may be true. I recall being asked if I wanted to become a Notary again and declining that. I asked what the job entails, and in the end I said I would be willing. The Primary is the 28th and it may already be too late to add a name to the ballot. But it was nice to be asked and it certainly added something to my experience of being present at the service for Lil Desso, who did so very much for this community, and be asked to serve the community. What’s more, Willy and Bob have served the community for many years as well. It feels good to be so trusted in town!
ReplyDeleteGoodness, listener, Justice of the Peace? That's exciting!
DeleteThat IS very nice to be asked, listener. I am tempted to ask in jest if the Justice of the Peace is in charge of fining the outsiders who get caught in the local speed traps, but shall refrain.
DeleteAnd now, in honor of the new Mars rover, I shall watch "Contact" (with Jodi Foster) again. I like it the first time--how many movies have a cameo by Bill Clinton, after all?
TTFN
--Alan
I like = I liked
DeleteAlan, what floored me even more than Bill Clinton was Bernard Shaw. I mean, Bill was only the president. Bernie was the voice of truth. LOL
DeleteContact is a good movie. I've only seen it once. Should watch it again too.
Ah, yes. The one thing that irritates me a bit about "Contact" is that it confuses Christianity (and similar religions) with religion and spirituality in general. But of course it was made for an American audience. Nevertheless, it wouldn't seem to have hurt to give some recognition to the wider spectrum of human religious experience.
ReplyDelete--Alan
Yep, "Contact" is a pretty damned good movie. Tomorrow morning I help Miyoko make sakura mochi (sweet red bean paste wrapped inside cooked sweet rice "pancakes" with a salted boiled cherry leaf on the outside) for her poetry group meeting; in the afternoon we get an upgrade to HDTV on Dish Network. All very good. And the weather has cooled off--down around a hundred degrees. Our house gets a nice breeze off the river bottom, making it one of the coolest areas around here.
ReplyDeleteTTFN
Alan
Alan, YUM!!!
DeleteHmmm. Looks like we didn't get a new thread today. But Howard is first anyway.
ReplyDeleteWork deadlines today/tomorrow, so won't be posting as much as I'd like.
Can't help with the new thread: the bogger interface won't let me post.
ReplyDeleteNew thread
ReplyDeleteIt was there all the time, but had gotten stuck in draft rather than as scheduled. *shrug* This new Blogger setup is so confusing and hard to use.