LODGING Best Compound: BREADLOAF MOUNTAIN LODGE AND COTTAGES, Cornwall Bridge Under the same ownership as Housatonic Meadows Fly Shop next door, yet far different. This 1780s lodge has been brought into the 21st century, with five lushly landscaped hillside cottages featuring cathedral ceilings, luxe baths, and dreamy sleeping porches. Rates: from $295. 13 Route 7. […]
Every day I walk a few miles in the neighborhoods of my town. These days, more and more houses are sporting a sure sign of spring: cords of firewood, neatly stacked and beautifully arranged as if by a sculptor. No sooner do we get through one winter than we get ready for the next. The […]
Last Friday, five poets gathered at the Chesham Church, the place of the art show, the place where the jazz concert would be held the following night. The church, which slumbers through the winter, had been the center of activity for the past week while the congregation held a work party to clean it inside […]
Almost twenty years ago, I started putting on art shows to raise money for my church. The church, known as the Community Church of Harrisville and Chesham, is actually two churches, a Baptist church and a Congregational church both in the same town and unable to survive on their own. As a result, many years […]
In addition to this information on when to start seeds, when to fertilize, and when to water, see tips for beginner gardeners. Vegetable Start Seeds Indoors (weeks before last spring frost) Start Seeds Outdoors (weeks before or after last spring frost) Minimum Soil Temperature to Germinate (°F) Cold Hardiness When to Fertilize When to Water […]
We curse dandelions. We tug them out and they return in what seems like minutes. Ah yes, the invasive and pervasive pox on our carefully manicured lawns–the dandelion. I say, befriend this persistent perennial (especially the first young shoots), and if you don’t treat your lawns with harmful chemicals (and I really hope you don’t), […]
Maine’s ripe berries find a sweet home in our best cook’s kitchen, when Ruth’s Feeney whips up her recipe for blackberry jelly. On a warm August day, Ruth Feeney’s kitchen is fragrant with fresh blackberries. She’s making jelly from the berries she picked this morning over at the old family farm in Bryant Pond, Maine, […]
Retreat to the Island Isle au Haut, Maine, for a look at the classic center-chimney New England Cape home of author and lobsterman Linda Greenlaw.
I cannot claim that I have a tradition just yet, but if I remember to do the same thing next year I will have an official spring ritual. Last Thursday on my drive to work, I noticed there was still ice on Dublin Lake. However, on my drive home, the ice was out. My potential […]
We are all excited about the passing of this winter in particular because of an ice storm that paralyzed us in many more ways than just the absence of electricity and the comforts of home. It came in December, before the first snow, but we are still talking about how it affected us. And so […]
I am really glad my blog is about the outdoors and that the only sport I do where you have to pay-to-play is alpine skiing. Otherwise I would feel like a used car salesman year-round giving you tips on deals. Buy this now. These prices won’t last. In my case, I am only telling you […]
A long winter often gives up some of our friends. February and March tend to be particularly rough months for the elderly. A glance at the obituary page in the daily paper confirms this — much more space taken up by death notices in these months than, say, in April or May, such hopeful months […]
