Yesterday Chef David made lefse, a traditional Norwegian flatbread. He comes by it honestly. And I can't resist it. While I was in the other room folding clothes he sailed in with a folded corner of it, steaming hot, butter dripping out of it and all over the floor, and crammed it into my mouth. … Continue reading Journal Entry: Sunday, Muddy Sunday
Fall
Sea Glass Story: Willing My Home Improvement Project to Work
Sometime earlier this year—in late winter or early spring—I took a bad spill on a thin layer of ice at the bottom of our back deck steps. It was one of those cartoonish moments where you hope like heck nobody saw you: in trying to climb the steps, my feet went out from under me … Continue reading Sea Glass Story: Willing My Home Improvement Project to Work
Nostalgic Story: High-Waisted Trousers and Sensible Boots
“This is better than Saks Fifth Avenue,” quipped the well-heeled older woman when the two of us bumped elbows examining rustic pottery mixing bowls and honey pots. One look at her and you could tell she’d seen the inside of Saks and probably others of its ilk, and many times. “Anyway,” she went on, “you … Continue reading Nostalgic Story: High-Waisted Trousers and Sensible Boots
Dog Story: It Must Be the Biscuits
Whole wheat that gives shy persons the strength to get up and do what needs to be done. Heavens, they're tasty, and expeditious!—A Prairie Home Companion The shy Scout-the-Labish is coming into his own. Although lately I’ve been calling our tawny little guy of unknown parentage a Goldapeake Retriever, hijacking the clever adverts an Australian … Continue reading Dog Story: It Must Be the Biscuits
Journal Entry: Florence Is an Italian City
But millions of people in America’s mid-Atlantic will forever think of her first and foremost as a hurricane, of course. “Aren’t you glad you came down in July?” went my sister’s text at a moment when she was still paying close attention to weather and assessing the threat to her South Carolina home, considering staying … Continue reading Journal Entry: Florence Is an Italian City
Journal Entry: The Earth Grows Restless and Begins to Shift
And the days grow notably shorter. It had to happen eventually, I suppose. But the poison parsnip is dead, and good riddance to it. “I don’t suppose your leaves have started turning yet,” mused my dad at the other end of a cell phone connection about a week ago. “No,” I said, “but just last … Continue reading Journal Entry: The Earth Grows Restless and Begins to Shift
October in Vermont: Season of ‘Lasts’
It’s unfair to name October a season, which more properly belongs to fall. But it does mark a big transition in these parts, a time beyond which the air feels more authentically like winter to a person with Southern roots. Not once in the five Vermont winters I’ve seen have we missed a respectable snowfall—a … Continue reading October in Vermont: Season of ‘Lasts’
Tail of the Dog, in Which Warden Prepares to Play the Wrong Piano Concerto
In 1999 the Portuguese virtuosa Maria Joao Pires famously sat at the piano with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, conductor Riccardo Chailly at the podium, awaiting the first bar of the piano concerto she expected to play for this lunchtime concert. Imagine her surprise when the orchestra began playing a different piece of music—the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor—instead … Continue reading Tail of the Dog, in Which Warden Prepares to Play the Wrong Piano Concerto
Photo Essay: Grey Day on the Battenkill
Ain’t no sunshine in Vermont (cue the Bill Withers). And thus far today seems a carbon copy of yesterday—solid grey as far as the eye can see, the distinct chill in the air nudging you to put something warm on your back. Makes me whiney. Autumn in New England is spectacular at the height of leaf … Continue reading Photo Essay: Grey Day on the Battenkill
Traditions: Peering Through the Lens of Nostalgia
There are a couple of late November moments that fill me with so much nostalgia and sentimentality I get chills. One is hearing the strains of Tchaikovsky's Miniature Overture to The Nutcracker for the first time in the long Nut season. Don't get me wrong: I am not a fan of the ballet, nor the score, with the … Continue reading Traditions: Peering Through the Lens of Nostalgia
Sycamore Stories 