Scarcely a ten-minute car ride from the bustle of our neighborhood lies one of southwestern Vermont’s best kept secrets, the Mile-Around Woods. It is a vast property once held by private landowners but now preserved by a conservation group and open to the public. Altogether, Mile-Around consists of a circular carriage road dating to the … Continue reading Sunday Photo Essay: Mile-Around Woods Unleashed
Labrador Retrievers
Dog Story: A Crust of Bread, a Glass of Wine…and a Marrow Bone
On Friday night David-the-Chef made salmon for our supper, and as he always does, crisped the skins in the hot pan next to our fish. These make the most delectable dog treats, with a little of the salmon meat still clinging to them. Scout-the-Labish never turns down a piece of crisped salmon skin. In fact, … Continue reading Dog Story: A Crust of Bread, a Glass of Wine…and a Marrow Bone
Artifact Story: Found Objects
I stood in my friend Jane’s big, open kitchen in Knoxville one morning nearly a decade ago gazing upward at a particular skylight over the adjacent living area. Several other friends stood there with me, our hands on our hips and our brows furrowed, trying to get a better look. A moment earlier one of … Continue reading Artifact Story: Found Objects
Dog Story: The Quiet Intelligence of a Little Lab-ish
You're getting too big for your britches. —Mom And so it goes with Scout-the-Lab-ish, who snapped at David-the-Chef a few nights ago, after David got up in the middle of the night and returned to bed and found a dog where there had been a chef-sized space only moments earlier. David attempted to gently scooch … Continue reading Dog Story: The Quiet Intelligence of a Little Lab-ish
Sunday Vignette: Scout Informs the Neighbor Woman
A two-story house abuts the line separating it from our property. Covered in asphalt shingle siding, it is an early structure, you can tell, nineteenth century at least. An educated guess says there’s clapboard under the asphalt, and the door on the other side, the front, has a pleasing curvilinear shape to it, double arches … Continue reading Sunday Vignette: Scout Informs the Neighbor Woman
In Like a Lion: Vermontish Running Habits
March is indeed stomping in like a lion this year. But two weeks ago, for two consecutive days, it was warm enough for shirt sleeves. We broke records. Same thing last week, though not quite as warm. Out came the running shoes, and the long leash, and the water bowl for the car. About this … Continue reading In Like a Lion: Vermontish Running Habits
Why Do You Run?
Why do you run? The gentle, soft spoken man balances a clipboard on one knee, pen poised in hand, listening carefully while I explain my habits before going on to tell him the history of a badly compromised heel. He starts scribbling while I talk. It gets me outside, I said. With my dog. It … Continue reading Why Do You Run?
One Picture, A Few Words: B & W Photo Challenge Day 6
We are tired. All of us. Yesterday Scout and I ran five miles, the longest run we've undertaken together. We reached a familiar milestone on the Battenkill I once met with Clarence-the-Canine, and then turned and headed back to the car. We did not run as fast as Clarence and I ran, but we stopped … Continue reading One Picture, A Few Words: B & W Photo Challenge Day 6
Scout’s Big Epiphany
Whatever life experiences shaped Scout-the-Lab before he came to us last December, there is this one truth about him, and about all dogs says the vet: they forget nothing. Scout’s skittishness is authentic, part and parcel of who he is. I may have envisioned a goofy, tail-wagging demeanor in my early quest for this dog, … Continue reading Scout’s Big Epiphany
Dogged Adventures: Asheville Is Noisy
The metal carabiner-like clip that fastens to the harness part of Scout-the-Lab’s seatbelt is maddening, like that childhood game Barrel Full of Monkeys: just when you think you’re about to get it clipped—or unclipped as the case may be—an irksome little hook (think crochet needle) gets hung up and refuses to slip through the metal … Continue reading Dogged Adventures: Asheville Is Noisy
Sycamore Stories 