Around each holiday, as I go about my life in both in work and play, I am Inevitably stopped in my tracks by something or someone that make me go, WHERE’S MY CAMERA??!! It is that HEAD TURNING moment that seems to just define the holiday and all it symbolizes. This Fourth of July weekend was no exception.
On my way to a wedding Sunday morning, I stopped for a cup of coffee at the Wooden Barrel Country Store in Chittenden, Vermont. Out in front of the little roadside oasis, was the breakfast club of regulars who start their day with a cup o’ Joe and a smoke at one of the blue picnic tables. Among the group was Charlie Parker of Pittsford, drinking his coffee, drawing from his corncob pipe and rocking back and forth on his heels with his glasses resting against his forehead. Behind him in the distance, an American flag hanging above the front entrance to the store.
WHERE’S MY CAMERA??!!
Charlie Parker doesn’t have an email address, doesn’t own a computer and doesn’t use a cell phone. By trade, he is a “skunk striper” for the state of Vermont (A road crewman who paints the white lines down the center of the highway) and he never misses his morning coffee time at the Wooden Barrel before work. Today, I pay homage to all of the Charlie Parkers that live in Vermont and celebrate this truly American holiday!
I will continue posting my favorite HEAD TURNER come each major holiday that I celebrate! Happy Independence Day, everyone!
