Happy birthday to us Another year's in the books for Chef David and for me. Here we are, smack in the middle of birthday week, and smack in the middle of scrubbing, sorting, pitching, and packing ahead of Reboot.2, this time the two of us plus one bewildered doggie. It'll be okay, we think. We've … Continue reading Birthday Week 2021
COVID-19
Vacation Travel 2021, Part the Second: Asheville
COVID gives us the finger If you've traveled at all during the pandemic, you may be familiar with the phenomenon of the 'grab bag' in lieu of the breakfast that most fair-to-middlin' hotels include with your room. We found this at once disappointing and hilarious, although in truth we'd be unwilling to eat from a … Continue reading Vacation Travel 2021, Part the Second: Asheville
Sunday Almanac: Meteorological Summer Is Here
Which means the solstice is not too far off. Our house guests have gone home, but the last pair of days they were with us Vermont pulled out all the stops and lobbed damp, grey, winter-like weather our way. Earlier in the week I’d already fished out a hooded sweatshirt for one of them, who … Continue reading Sunday Almanac: Meteorological Summer Is Here
Surviving Insufferable People: Plus One for Resilience
“Pay me a hundred dollars and you can take my picture.” The man’s unruly gray hair spilled out of a cap knitted in rainbow-colored stripes, just as the words spilled from his lips. Everything else about him was entirely forgettable. I laughed aloud at this notion; my two out-of-town companions stood there speechless, observing the … Continue reading Surviving Insufferable People: Plus One for Resilience
Sunday Photo Essay: Out and About Bennington
The Putnam Block in Bennington, Vermont We have some visitors at our house this week, a little unplanned but most welcome. We took a stroll around downtown this afternoon and snapped a few photos. I'm struck by the contrast between this photo essay and another I made during some of the worst moments of the … Continue reading Sunday Photo Essay: Out and About Bennington
Thanksgiving Story: Pan-DEB-ic Edition
Thanksgiving 2020 We tried to put on a good face, didn’t we? I think most Americans did, but it’s tough to scale an occasion we’d typically celebrate in epic proportions for just a twosome. Chef David and I resolved to go on and cook like we would for a crowd, and then to freeze what … Continue reading Thanksgiving Story: Pan-DEB-ic Edition
Sunday Almanac: We March Inevitably Towards Winter
It is always a little sad to me when the snowplow rig assemblies start showing up on pickup trucks around town; it’s inevitable, but cold weather comes a little too soon on the heels of summer (to say nothing of ephemeral fall) in these parts, and wears out its welcome along about April, when everybody … Continue reading Sunday Almanac: We March Inevitably Towards Winter
Coping With COVID: A Lifetime of Stories in Teacups and Coffee Mugs
Mad Hatter: What’s the matter my dear, don’t you care for tea? Alice: Why, yes. I’m very fond of tea. March Hare: If you don’t care for tea, you could at least make polite conversation! —Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland cup and saucer I found a few years ago at the Adelphi Hotel estate sale, … Continue reading Coping With COVID: A Lifetime of Stories in Teacups and Coffee Mugs
Sunday Almanac: It’s Fall Foliage Time in Vermont
Kinda. Here in town, some leaves seem reluctant to let go of the summer, as am I. But the ‘peepers’ have been here in droves like they are every year, not dissuaded by The Plague, nor pestilence, famine, nor floods, it would seem. This year they’ve descended upon us not so much in tour buses, … Continue reading Sunday Almanac: It’s Fall Foliage Time in Vermont
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes: How This Pandemic Is Forcing the Evolution of Our Species
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. ―Charles Darwin from the New York Public Library Digital Collections Downtown Bennington is small, like Bennington itself, with a ‘four corners’-style crossroads at its heart, North and South … Continue reading Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes: How This Pandemic Is Forcing the Evolution of Our Species
Sycamore Stories 