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
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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
Mid-Week Almanac, 9.23.20
It’s somehow Wednesday already, a vacation day for me because I have a little bidness to take care of later on this afternoon, and maybe I simply needed a day for myself. There’s nothing left for me to say about missing our annual travel down South that I haven’t already said, so I’ll leave it … Continue reading Mid-Week Almanac, 9.23.20
Journal Entry: Gardening Is Difficult, and Other Truths
exquisite flowers, not from our garden Early this morning I stood outside near the badminton net in our back yard, clutching a dog poop bag in my hand and waiting for Scout to do his doings. Something on the ground caught my eye; further examination revealed a half-eaten green tomato, abandoned. Dammit. Hope you enjoyed … Continue reading Journal Entry: Gardening Is Difficult, and Other Truths
Sunday Photo Essay: Mushrooms Are Good and Other Truths
a good mushroom When I was growing up you could not have paid me enough money to eat a mushroom; this never dissuaded my mom from trying. She made beef stroganoff as part of the dinner entrée rotation, and evidently the recipe called for slimy little canned mushrooms. The sensorial outrage going on inside my … Continue reading Sunday Photo Essay: Mushrooms Are Good and Other Truths
Music Story: A Guitar Worth Playing…
a guitar worth playing …is worth playing badly. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it. And anyway, the pandemic does not care. In prep school I met and become fast friends with one Stephanie (Pipkin) Jackson, who was something of a musical savant, already accomplished at classical guitar at the tender age of 13; … Continue reading Music Story: A Guitar Worth Playing…
Sunday Photo Essay: Look Busy
Saturday morning busy I can't recall a moment in my lifetime at once so exciting and completely anguished. SpaceX launched the Dragon Endeavor successfully yesterday with two American astronauts aboard, and today docked at the International Space Station. Meanwhile, American cities are burning, we're still navigating a deadly pandemic, and people are dying. This control … Continue reading Sunday Photo Essay: Look Busy
Frozen Moments: A Memory
Impressionist-like landscape Leaving work last Friday afternoon, and even a couple of moments earlier in the week, I paused to drink in the landscape around our office campus, so eerily quiet just now. It always possesses a bucolic beauty, even on the bleakest winter days. But at some point when I was too preoccupied with … Continue reading Frozen Moments: A Memory
Journal Entry: Rules and Regs
I follow rules and regs. (What are rules and regs?) COVID-19 wouldn’t have impressed my great-grandmother Gracie too much, I’ll bet. I was expressing this notion to a few colleagues on Friday in an office ping thread where we were heaving a collective sigh over the language that’s everywhere you turn right now: in these … Continue reading Journal Entry: Rules and Regs
Sunday Photo Essay: When a Pandemic Hands You Lemons…
...make lemon chicken soup with orzo, obviously. My craving began on Friday; I satisfied it today in my kitchen. I found this version on a blog called pinchofyum.com; I like the way this food writer thinks (and you've gotta love somebody who married a man named Bjork—seriously, I want to invite these people over to … Continue reading Sunday Photo Essay: When a Pandemic Hands You Lemons…
Sycamore Stories 