I once realized with sudden clarity that owning a home, a home that has some land and a few outbuildings, perhaps some animals, is no different from owning a small business. I manage the budget and prioritize the needs the same as any shopkeeper, lying awake with worries as well as hopes for expansion and […]
Many years ago, my mother was in love with a soldier who went to war. On his first mission in the South Pacific he was shot down, leaving a huge sadness in our family. In his will, he’d left all his belongings to my mother. Mostly, that amounted to a 1937 Ford, gray with a […]
When Laurie Lufkin was little, her folks would buy subs from the local deli, the family would all pile into a boat with drinks, a big pot, and a bag of steamers, and they’d head downriver to the vast white dunes of Crane Beach. Her father owned the marina here, and her grandparents lived across […]
Last week we had our annual town meeting here in this town of 885 registered voters. New England town meeting is often held up to be “America’s true form of democracy” — but it really isn’t anymore, at least not on any grand scale. Most of the important decisions about the way we live our […]
I always watch the Oscars and it usually gets me to thinking about Georgia at this time of year. My parents made an annual pilgrimage there to a place called St. Simons Island. They rented a place where they sat out the months of March and April in that sun-drenched place before reluctantly returning to […]
Maple means many things to Marcia Maynard. Maple means the tall trees that surround her house high on a hill above Cabot, Vermont–a house that she and her husband, Ken Denton, bought some time ago as a hunting camp, the house they gradually renovated into a permanent home. Maple means the time of year when […]
I have a longtime love of libraries, reaching back to when my mother would leave me off at our town library while she did errands elsewhere. I was there in that library by myself, which in itself gave me a sense of freedom, but, I also learned, the books that rested on those mahogany shelves […]
There is so much snow here now that Mayday, my 20-pound schnauzer, can walk on the crust of the snow over to my living room window and look inside. She puts her paw on the window, a window that most of the year is way out of her reach. I get the feeling she is […]
How do you stunt the growth of paperwhites to keep them from becoming too leggy? The boozy answer may surprise you.
A week or so ago, I woke up to remember that I had forgotten to buy milk on my way home the night before. Tea without milk is no way to start the day. I reluctantly emerged from my down comforter, opened the front door, and let the dogs out. WHOA! I took a look […]
Happy new year to my friends out there. As I write this, it is 2 a.m. on the first of January, 2011. Up here on the hill, it is a fairly mild night, dark as pitch. I am not up at this hour because I’ve been out reveling. If I were not connected to the […]
This recipe for Portuguese kale soup—also called Portuguese penicillin—is a crowd favorite that has nourished family and friends for generations.
