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
Photography
Travel Story: Three Days in Wilmington
Downtown Wilmington, North Carolina straddles a line that lies somewhere between the urban luster of downtown Charlotte, and its well-heeled, Old-Money South Carolina neighbor, Charleston. It’s decidedly scrappier than either city, yet possesses the allure of the Coast and the emergent culture of a city coming into its own as a destination. The Chef and … Continue reading Travel Story: Three Days in Wilmington
Travel Story: Wish You Were Here
Sunday Photo Essay: Mile-Around Woods Unleashed
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
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
Sunday Photo Essay: Human Nature
Listening to one of my favorite radio shows not long ago I was gobsmacked by this notion: we often think of nature as separate from us, a thing we must protect, else destroy. But the truth is, we humans are also part of nature, and not separate from it. I latched onto that notion right away, because … Continue reading Sunday Photo Essay: Human Nature
Lenten Reflections: Sunday Photo Essay
Last Thursday, one day after Ash Wednesday, was crazy warm—we hit 54 degrees, I think, or close to it. Just about unheard of on a February day in Vermont. I ditched my yoga class and instead grabbed my Big Girl Camera and Scout's leash and asked him to lead the way. He made a beeline … Continue reading Lenten Reflections: Sunday Photo Essay
Vermont Vortex: When Parts Fail
What is that thing, you ask? Why, it’s a completely broken alternator plucked from an ’07 Subaru Outback. (What—you don’t have random car parts on the floor in your mudroom? You should; all the popular people are doing it.) I snapped that photo in the early morning hours on Friday, when one impatient David-the-Chef stood … Continue reading Vermont Vortex: When Parts Fail
Signs of Life: Sunday Photo Essay
The dark finish on the steps and handrails was elegant and dressy once upon a time, you can tell. But over weeks and months, then years and decades, it collected scuffmarks and even a few deep gouges, call it a patina if you wish, from the traffic in the house: you can see it clearly … Continue reading Signs of Life: Sunday Photo Essay
Vermontish Doppelgängers and Other Christmas Week Reflections
This one thing still happens to me every week, if not every day: I see somebody and I think I know who it is for an instant, and then remember there is no way I could possibly know them. I am new here still, and mainly disconnected, still. Back ‘home’ in Knoxville I could scarcely … Continue reading Vermontish Doppelgängers and Other Christmas Week Reflections
Sycamore Stories 