A snow squall came whipping in this afternoon, pretty much out of nowhere. Whiteness blanked the mountain. A wicked wind scooped some of the paper bags of recyclables I had just loaded into the pickup, and took them up up and away. I don’t know where they went. I was in the garage, in the […]
In his classic A Child’s Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas remembers “a painting book in which I could make the grass, the trees, the sea and the animals any color I pleased, and still the dazzling sky-blue sheep are grazing in the red field under the rainbow-billed and pea-green birds.” There is an exhilaration that […]
“One thinks of the answer given by Audie Murphy to the question about how long it takes a man to get over war. Murphy’s reply was that one never does.”— Home from the Warby Robert Jay Lifton“… he searched for wounded, exposing himself to hostile fire; as bullets dug up the dirt, he held plasma […]
Wreath escort is underway: wreathsacrossamerica.org. The next wreath-laying ceremony will take place on December 19, 2020. Come with me into the center of the major media event of this day, Thursday, December 14, 2006. It’s 7:30 in the morning, and we’re at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, just outside the nation’s capital. The sun has […]
The Christmas Revels, a celebration of the beauty of folksong and dance on stage, has made its mark as a holiday tradition.
Here’s something different: There was no multitiered wedding cake at the last reception we attended. The bride was Kate, daughter of our friends Meg and Gerry, and she opted for fancy cupcakes instead. Her mother and sister decided that those lovely little treats would look great on special china, so they crafted a variety of […]
When the Tesluk family moved into a New Canaan, Connecticut, landmark, they became part of the town’s history, even as they started creating their own.
If the crèche at the Abbey of Regina Laudis strikes you as a little out of place, there’s a good reason. The austere Yankee barn that houses it is a world away from its previous home. Handcrafted by artisans in Naples, the intricate nativity scene was presented as a coronation gift to Victor Amadeus II, […]
The village of Westminster, Vermont, gives the gift of wonder and light to everyone who finds one special Main Street on Christmas Eve.
Downstairs in the farmhouse here, I have a small furnished apartment that I sometimes rent out. Last year I rented it to Santa. A portly man in his fifties, he was serious about this Santa business. No fake beard and rented suit for him. He had a full, bushy, pure-white beard that flowed to his […]
When the holidays descend, happiness sometimes may be muted by stress over gift-giving, food preparation, and questions that at the time seem so important: Where will all the relatives sit at the table? Will the turkey come out just right? This seems like a good time, then, to pause right here and take a look […]
Beth Richardson scoops peach and hot-pepper salsa out of a mason jar and into a small bowl and pushes it toward me. “Try this!” she says, her voice reflecting a mix of pride and unrestrained gusto for good food. The salsa is bright yellow with specks of green and tastes hot and sweet to the […]
