We pulled the Subaru into our Vermont driveway late yesterday afternoon with another 2,200 miles on it, a couple of road-weary travelers we, still a little sugar-frosted from the beach and lightly crisped around the edges. I made it all the way to the Pennsylvania state line on Saturday before I fought back tears thinking … Continue reading Wilmington in Black and White
Outdoors
Twelve Seconds on the Battenkill; Summer Cycling in Vermont
Making Sense out of the Senseless: Love is the Answer
Annie Lennox urged me to pick up my feet and pick up the pace through sweaty ear buds, her lyrics suffused with emotions: love, loss, loneliness, joy, she knows each of them intimately, she sings. A perfect Vermont Saturday morning was the only other motivation I needed to run: success is measured in hot cheeks, … Continue reading Making Sense out of the Senseless: Love is the Answer
Agricultural Reflections: Cycling on the Battenkill
People here in Vermont are much closer to the land than they are in other states where I've lived. The state as a whole is sparsely populated, sparsely developed, and most of us live within spitting distance of at least one working farm. The road where I ride my bicycle is dotted with them, and an … Continue reading Agricultural Reflections: Cycling on the Battenkill
Running on the Battenkill: Easter Sunday
Your body is a temple. I'm an adherent but lately have not behaved in a way to reflect this heartfelt conviction owing to circumstances and such. I started running about fifteen years ago for several reasons, chiefly to energize myself in the early morning hours ahead of a long day dealing with a difficult child. By 2011 … Continue reading Running on the Battenkill: Easter Sunday
Snowless Winter: A Walk in the Woods
The woods are lovely, dark and deep—Robert Frost Mt. Equinox looms over the Vermont Valley at 3,816 feet, the highest point of the Taconic Range, a finger of the Appalachians, and the oldest mountains in the country: Mother Myrick Mountain lies to its north, and Red Mountain to the South, the place we call home. Everywhere are … Continue reading Snowless Winter: A Walk in the Woods
Postscript Bedlam Farm: Sunday Photo Essay
Still experimenting with my new-old Nikon, still fooling around with free photo editing. I have a long way to go and the reality is I'll need to pay someone to teach me. The October Bedlam Farm open house happened on a weekend that could not have been more picturesque and photo-worthy. Revisiting these images, playing … Continue reading Postscript Bedlam Farm: Sunday Photo Essay
Along the Battenkill: Late Day Walk in Early Fall
Kingdom of Wilis: Foggy Vermont Morning
Giselle is a story ballet with Romantic-era sensibilities that still somehow reaches modern audiences. In it a pretty peasant girl—Giselle—dies at the close of the first act, duped by a handsome nobleman promised to a princess, her heart too weak to withstand the loss. In the second act she is transformed into a wili, a … Continue reading Kingdom of Wilis: Foggy Vermont Morning
The 3rd of July: Cycling on the Battenkill
Great news: today is gorgeous, a perfect day for a longish ride. Less great news: the tourists have arrived, lots of 'em. Yes, I know they drive the economy. They also drive their luxury cars like maniacs on otherwise quiet country roads, and I still have a little grit in my teeth to prove it. … Continue reading The 3rd of July: Cycling on the Battenkill
Sycamore Stories 