Season of the Sticks

An Unexpected Detour

I saw mention the other day of New England being stuck in Stick Season, referring to that period of time between the colored beauty of foliage season and before the snow falls.

I’d never heard that reference before, but I thought, how perfect. Walking the pup the other morning was such a dreary bummer - wet, overcast, the leaves all down. Just walking through a landscape of bare trees. Stick Season.

And as I do when faced with a phrase like that, I looked it up, figuring that must be an old New England small town saying. Or maybe it appeared in a poem by Robert Frost.

None of the above. Have you all heard of Noah Kahan? I’m sure ALL of you have since he appears to be an enormusly popular Vermont-based folk pop singer. He’s been on SNL, played Red Rocks and Madison Square Garden and dueted with Post Malone and Olivia Rodrigo.

I am old, and wildy out of touch however, and thus was unaware (until last night) that the phrase was popularized just two years ago in his mega-viral song, Stick Season.

The song is pretty good by the way, mainly because it hewes so closely to the Bob Dylan recipe - keep it simple, focus on the lyrics.

Here’s the chorus:

And I love Vermont but it's the season of the sticks / And I saw your mom she forgot that I existed / And it’s half my fault but I just like to play the victim / I’ll drink alcohol ‘till my friends come home for Christmas

And I’ll dream each night of some version of you / That I might not have but I did not lose / Now you’re tire tracks and one pair of shoes / And I’m split in half but that’ll have to do

That’s really good. Here’s a link to the OMV.

Anyway, I’m good with Season of the Sticks; a time of chill air and uncertainty where we’re never really sure what the temperture will be, how we’ll feel in the morning or how fast it gets dark or light. A time when we can’t see the grass, but also can’t see the snow. When slivers of blue sky and Sun feel reveltory. It just feel like every day we’re waiting for something to happen, something to push us along to the next level.

So maybe we shouldn’t just wait. What shall we do to help move us through this season and onto the next and the next? Drearyness be damned. Something simple, like a hot chai by a fire? Tell us. What plans do you have this week to push you through? To push you through the Season of the Sticks.