I met my dog Sandy through an elite introduction service: the Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue League. The process from my end was rigorous (I can’t speak for the dog). It was also table-turning, since I am a psychiatrist and ask the questions in most situations. The first dog rescue packet I received was daunting: application […]
Welcome to the October 2014 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. The Year We Predicted Snow for July and August And it turned out there was lots of it that summer!Get Our FREE Yankee Best New […]
NOW WITH HALLOWEEN coming along at the end of this month, it’s time for ghost stories again. Over the years we’ve heard dozens of them, all supposedly “true.” But, you know, some are not easily explained. For instance, the late Dr. James Huntington, a Boston obstetrician who gave his 18th-century house, Firth Acres, in Hadley, […]
Each September, just as the calendar is easing into the first official days of fall, Jim and I take to the road to make our annual pilgrimage north to the White Mountains. Though we spend much of the trip lounging on the fields of Loon Mountain watching burly men clad in kilts compete in the […]
While “scrod” may be delicious, have you ever heard of anyone actually fishing for “scrod”? There is, of course, no such fish as “scrod” in New England waters or anywhere else. The term began years ago when fishing schooners would return from the Grand Banks to the Boston fish pier, loaded with fish ready to […]
Excerpt from “Dreams of the NHL | I Remember,” Yankee Magazine, April 1988. My parents never pushed me to play; I guess they just wanted me to enjoy myself. But just like every other boy who’s ever strapped on skates, I dreamed of playing in the National Hockey League. Unfortunately, the scouts never came to […]
There is a turning point for the New England Fall Foliage blog every year when we flip the switch from prediction to observation. This is the point when we can stop anticipating the changing of the leaves, and rely on our network of New England foliage spotters to focus in on the best places to […]
When tourists reach the summit of Mount Washington, they will invariably look around and ask questions of the people who work there. Some of these tourists have been given a name by the summit workers. They are called goofers. And from their questions you can see why. This is my first trip to Mount Washington. […]
In July, August, and September 1692, Samuel Sewall with six colleagues presided over the Salem witch trials. “Judge Sewall” was no lawyer as we know lawyers. Pious theocrats interpreted the law, and Sewall was among the most pious and thoroughly convinced of religious personages in Massachusetts. His convictions and their consequences in Salem — 20 […]
The fall season in New England with all of its color is a relatively short period between the summer greens and the winter white. Transitions by their very nature are volatile, and this past week, a violent cold front broke a streak of hot humid weather with cooling winds and spectacular lighting. The calm after […]
The uncertainty that accompanies any major move in life is often expressed in odd ways.
Since 1945, the Bigelow Tea Company has been supplying New England and beyond with quality teas, and none is more popular than the brand’s signature blend, Constant Comment. It was invented by Ruth Campbell Bigelow in the kitchen of her New York City brownstone in 1945. Unhappy with the teas available on the market at […]
