Welcome to the July 2013 edition of Jud’s New England Journal, the rather curious monthly musings of Judson Hale, the Editor-in-Chief of Yankee Magazine, published since 1935 in Dublin, NH. Two New England Dreams Operating an inn or country store seems to be the ultimate lifelong fantasy for many. But, beware, there are pitfalls…Get Our […]
I’ve gardened from a very young age, starting when I was probably 6 or 7, following my father around, pushing seeds into his tilled earth–marigolds and zinnias, cucumbers and string beans, the easy ones. He separated a special area of his garden, marked with twine and small stakes. My garden. My father knew a lot […]
Recently, my neighbor, Eric Hanson, the Vermont State Loon Biologist and his wife, Anne packed the car for a trip to Anne’s college reunion. Early Friday morning, Eric stashed one more item in the back: a Styrofoam steak box. By 5:30 am they were all headed south on I-89 toward Massachusetts– Eric and Anne and […]
Every pile of firewood contains a few of those knotty, forked, cross-grained chunks of wood that are impossible to split, but too big for the stove or fireplace to swallow whole. In New England they’re often known as “old maids” or “schoolmarms — mostly, no doubt, for the associations with being left behind or passed […]
I’ve never read Little Women; boys didn’t when I was growing up, and most still don’t. Thus, much of what fascinated me about Eve LaPlante’s Marmee & Louisa, a dual biography of Louisa May Alcott and her mother, Abigail, came as a shock. I had always assumed that Louisa’s books were thinly disguised versions of […]
The Craftsbury General Store is where many of my small town’s groggy souls fill up their cups and take their first slurp of coffee. For instance this morning, Barb stopped by on her way to work at the Academy, followed by Paula who works at the Flower Shop, then Sarah who runs the Art House, […]
Welcome to the June 2013 edition of Jud’s New England Journal, the rather curious monthly musings of Judson Hale, the Editor-in-Chief of Yankee Magazine, published since 1935 in Dublin, NH. Adding Twigs to the Family Tree It’s a fun endeavor, but you better be prepared for some surprises …Get Our FREE Yankee Best New England […]
Beantown offers plenty of restaurant options for hungry residents and visitors. Read our picks for the best food & dining in Greater Boston. BEST BAKERY CLEAR FLOUR BREAD, Brookline Crisp baguettes, hearty whole-wheat sandwich loaves, flaky croissants, and “baked doughnuts” (currant-studded brioches brushed with butter and rolled in sugar) here are so extraordinary that people […]
Once hundreds of trap-fishing companies plied the Rhode Island coast; today only four remain. Photographer Markham Starr spent 40 days documenting a vanishing way of life for the last trap fishermen of Rhode Island. On the evening of May 20 in Atlanta, Georgia, the City and Regional Magazine Association, which comprises 74 city and regional […]
Last year, I accomplished something I didn’t think possible: I cleaned out my barn. Rolling open the big doors revealed a great hodgepodge of objects from the past, files from stories I’d written over the years, family papers, and things I think I might need or might fix someday. Lacking a compelling reason, one can […]
As much as I love art, it is rarely possible for an artist to improve upon the beauty of the natural world. The myriad forms of teeming, swarming, walking, winged and rooted life are just so impossibly intricate and overwhelming that just paying attention to what’s drifting and floating by in the air, in the […]
Twenty-one years ago, back in March of 1991, I wrote a short profile of Boston painter George Nick for Yankee in which I observed that “though he rarely paints people, George Nick is a society painter.” “In the solid, reassuring facades, high bay windows, and ornate stone entries along Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue, he […]
