There you stood in your pale green frock with white trim, showing a little age but resolute and desirable still, ready for come what may. You embraced us when we walked inside, asked where we’d been, and so we knew we were yours. We massaged your muscles and traced the contours in your bones with … Continue reading Farewell to Thee, Dear Clapboard New Englander
Vermont
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
Sunday Photo Essay: Hope Springs Eternal
plucky parsley I was not absolutely sure I believed Chef David when he came inside from his run earlier today and announced last year's Italian parsley appears to have overwintered in our frozen Vermont soil, and is coming back. I'll be damned, I said a little later on in the afternoon when I crouched down … Continue reading Sunday Photo Essay: Hope Springs Eternal
Transitions: A New Professional Chapter
Yesterday The Chef helped me move my office from the William H. Morse State Airport, Eight Oh Two Marketing’s Bennington, Vermont headquarters, into our home office. I am late to the party, as this transition is one most of my colleagues made shortly after the pandemic changed the business landscape across the globe. It was … Continue reading Transitions: A New Professional Chapter
Nine-ish years in Vermont: A Retrospective
Woodstock, Vermont It is possible I’m already growing wistful for Vermont, and we still live here, I mused aloud to The Chef a few days ago. Incredulous, he asked, Do you mean to tell me when we’re down in North Carolina, you’ll miss Vermont? Mm-hm, I answered. He’d have face palmed, except we were in … Continue reading Nine-ish years in Vermont: A Retrospective
Food Story: Valentine’s Day 2021
Valentine's Eve 2021 Chef David and I celebrated on Saturday night with a dinner we planned last week. We're not often in the kitchen working at the same moment, but we did, a little, for this dinner. parsnips set to boil the embarrassing saucepan...every kitchen has one pure maple syrup makes everything better, even if … Continue reading Food Story: Valentine’s Day 2021
Sunday Photo Essay: Deep, and Crisp, and Even
deep, and crisp, and even Scenes from our little corner of southwest Vermont over these last couple of weeks:
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
