by Susan Abbott Oil on linen panel 13" x 50" $4,000 Photo by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur When I go to town, I grab my basket from the back of the car and walk the rounds of my weekly errands: bank, post office, hardware store, office supplier. I wander down Main Street and up State, stopping to look at new shoes I don’t really need, splurge on a book about landscape painting I can’t live without, then I’m on down the street to buy a watercolor brush. It’s a short walk to the crowded farmer’s market for basil plants and fresh eggs. On to the copy store, where Glen will help me figure out how to mail a painting to France, and we talk for twenty minutes about our tomatoes--which reminds me to run over to the garden center for seeds. Then I race back to the library with overdue books. Hungry and thirsty now: Do I want cappuccino or Belgium beer? Crepes, pizza, steak and eggs, or seitan? Duck confit? Fajitas? Chicken soup and cheese danish? And what to do this evening? Indie drama or dumb Hollywood comedy? Shakespeare’s playing at City Hall. Maybe some music: bar blues, church sonata, cafe folk songs, bistro jazz, house party fiddle? Or Red Sox and a beer? That’s a lot of choice for a downtown with two streets. From city to village, Burlington to Plainfield, our towns provide a vital mix of commerce and community. They struggle, trying to compete with the internet and big box stores. Our towns’ businesses are owned by our neighbors, and our economic fates are connected, as are the fates of the state of Vermont and its towns. As the saying goes, “They is us.”

“Our little fashion plate admires heap big injun at the N-YHS, neatly dressed in his short sleeve Polka dot shirt of linen fabric and Bermuda Walking short. Short is also of a rayon and linen type fabric. Outfit comes in assorted colors of Rush, Charcoal, Gold, Navy, and White. Shirt, #31-52, retail $2.95; Shorts, #2-77, retail $2.95. Chips and twigs.” From “Photos taken at N-YHS for other publicity purposes, undated.”