Our church holds a rummage sale, spring and fall. I’ve come to think of it as my savior. It starts with the horse sheds. Townspeople know that throughout the year, they can leave unwanted items in one of the bays of the old horse sheds behind the church. I can’t always manage to synchronize my […]
Making maple syrup is tough business — so tough that the Howrigans of Fairfield, Vermont, don’t share secrets even with their own family. March 1998: It is just after noon and the air is bright with more than just a hint of warmth to it. Shelley Howrigan pulls on her high-top rubber boots and sets out […]
A recent cartoon in the New Yorker depicts two older couples sitting amidst the construction debris of the interior of a house. The host says, “Our dream is to live long enough to see the end of our renovation.” I have often spoken those words here, where, one room at a time, the walls have […]
Geoffrey Antoine’s love for turnips has made him (and his turnip pie) a star at the Eastham Turnip Festival in Eastham, Massachusetts.
Renovating an old home from drafty to snug can come with a price. Is there such a thing as too much silence?
Read these simple party tips for hosts before planning your next big event 1. Don’t make things you’ve never made before. Be certain of what you’ll be serving. You can afford to be a bit adventurous, but don’t try out that “foolproof” souffle for the first time at your big party — save that one […]
Sometime around Thanksgiving, Mary Bevilacqua starts thinking about the Exchange. She decides whom she’ll invite and sends out invitations. She makes up the menu for the meal, and then, most important, she wonders what the cookie will be this year: Lemon snowballs? Nutmeg logs? Chocolate-peppermint bars? The Wellesley Cookie Exchange has been part of Mary’s […]
Read more about Norman Rockwell See video of Norman Rockwell’s Studio Look out the front windows of the inn and there’s the red covered bridge, the white Gothic-steepled church, and the Battenkill Grange, all lined up like something Norman Rockwell would have painted. Actually, he did — and this 215-year-old Vermont farmhouse is where Rockwell […]
Remembering a heartwarming holiday edition of “Mary’s Farm,” where Edie Clark reflects on the powers of cooking and friendship.
People sometimes ask if I’ve ever seen a ghost in this house, a reasonable question since the house dates to 1762. Like the flowers in the field that open in spring and fold when their time is over, many people have been born here, lived here, worked here, and died here, leaving an invisible tapestry […]
When Cheryl Wixson opens the door to her home in downtown Bangor, Maine, riffs from her stereo boom out into the cool air. She welcomes her visitor warmly, then dances down the high-ceilinged hallway of her big Victorian home, all the way into her kitchen — a big, colorful display that speaks of her love […]
One day late last fall while I was out raking, a pickup with a noisy muffler rumbled past. In its wake, a big black beast went storming by, hooves flying, tail spinning. Head down, he rollicked into the field across the way. My dog, Mayday, barked furiously from behind the protection of the front door. […]
