Mud Season

Mud Season: How One Woman's Dream of Moving to Vermont, Raising Children, Chickens and Sheep, and Running the Old Country Store Pretty Much Led to One Calamity After Another by Ellen Stimson was a quick and entertaining read for me.

Stimson and her family leave their Midwest lives behind, heading to Vermont, to enjoy beautiful sunsets and a peaceful way of life in a small community. At least that's the dream they have. What they didn't foresee was their inability to fit in - not having been from Vermont, they were tagged as outsiders (and probably would always be considered such), and drew quite a bit of attention to themselves.  While I felt sorry for how difficult it was for them to fit in, I also laughed out loud as Stimson describes the many calamities that seemed to find them: imagine Stimson (who describes herself repeatedly as having a rather large derriere) running around in her swimming suit chasing a goat while cars stop to help her.  

Stimson and her family don't give up easily.  Despite the fact that many of the accidents that befall them could possibly have been prevented, (getting sprayed by a skunk, re-doing a run-down ramshackle historic home, buying a grocery store with big dreams and then losing the store in part because local residents boycotted buying things there after she moved the bread from its traditional location), Stimson pokes fun at herself in Mud Season, too.

And despite the struggles they encounter in trying to fit in to a small town, the Stimsons remain Vermonters some nine years later.  I'd love to hear how things turned around (I'm going out on a limb and assuming that they have gotten better), for this family; I'm betting there is still some pretty humorous material that could be included in a second installment.

I had pre-ordered this for my kindle and am happy to report that I found time to read this one on my kindle - something I am still struggling to do, much preferring the actual book to a virtual one.