Is it possible to love a government agency? I say yes, yes, yes! The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles is terrific.

First, they have a good web site where you can conduct a lot of your tedious motor vehicle related business. If you prefer to deal with real people, your town clerk can handle simple DMV tasks, such as car registration renewal. Sometimes, you need to see a real DMV person, to get a new photo on your license for example. In those cases, they have mobile van units that appear regularly at a VFW post near you.

Sometimes, a person does something truly backward, like let their car registration expire. For over a year. In this case, a trip to Montpelier is required.

I have prior experience with the DMV in three other states and none of it was what you might call positive. New York was the worst — long snaking lines, gray-faced bureaucrats. They had it all. That was a long time ago. Perhaps things have changed. I’m pretty sure they didn’t have a web site in 1979.

On Wednesday I took a friend up to Montpelier to renew his car registration. We got a late start and were pleased to discover they are open late on Wednesdays. The drive took about an hour and we arrived after dark. I wasn’t sure where the office was located, but I figured State Street had to be near the big domed state house and, sure enough, the DMV was right across the street. Bonus — we got movie star parking right at the foot of the stairs.

Once inside the building, we realized we had left my friend’s wallet (and identification) at home. The clerk who greeted us ascertained the nature of our business, gave us the appropriate form to fill out and assured us we didn’t need the ID. We did have the expired registration and were able to complete the paperwork quickly. I got a numbered ticket from the clerk (A75), turned around and saw A75 was being called to Window 8. If I had to complain, I could say it would have saved time if she had just told us to go to Window 8.

At Window 8 another pleasant DMV employee quickly processed the paperwork, printed the registration and handed it over. It took less than 3 minutes. In fact, we were walking out through the beautiful Vermont marble lobby (built in 1949) less than 10 minutes after arriving. I had put a couple of quarters in the parking meter thinking I could always come back out and put in more if necessary. Ha.

All in all, it was much more rewarding than your average administrative chore. Now I’m trying to think of a reason to go back.

I am not in Charleston today.

Today is a brilliant fall day. The leaves have all pretty much come off the trees, but the sky is bright blue. I can see the river across the street again; in summer, the foliage blocks the view. The frosty nights have not yet completely decimated the garden. Sure, the morning glories and zinnias are gone but the roses are thriving and the calendula are having one last mad fling. I love to sit on the front steps in the autumn sun and enjoy these last glorious moments.

“Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact. But maybe everything that dies will some day come back.”

This weekend will be given over to house cleaning and getting my life back under control, but for now I’m going to soak up the sun.

Is it just me or are there more Monarch butterflies out and about this year than ever before? I noticed them when we were in Quebec City, and after we came home there seemed to be a lot of them flitting around everywhere I went.

Yesterday we were sitting outside at a friend’s house, enjoying the end of a perfect summer day when a butterfly alighted on Dave three times.

Dave was wearing a red shirt and cap so in the twilight, the butterfly could be excused for thinking he had found one honking huge flower, but it was very odd when he landed on Dave’s mustache and perched there for a couple of minutes. Kind of creepy, don’t you think?

I have been tracking the Monarch butterfly migratory progress on the Journey North web site. As of this morning, it looks like they are about a third of the way back to their home in Mexico. I’m afraid the one we saw last night might not make it.