One of the best things about warmer weather is simpler cuisine. The produce in our local grocery stores looking better by the week, and soon our favorite farm stand will overflow with beautiful local lettuces and vegetables. By the time summer arrives we'll be making dinners of fresh corn on the cob, tomato slices, spicy … Continue reading Food Story: Falafel I Have Known
Spring
Vermont Springtime Portrait: Pictures and Words
Spring comes to Vermont in fits and starts, coughing and sputtering like an old man in the morning. This year is no exception: the occasional raw, chilly day will spoil any ten-day outlook, just as the gnats do my early morning backyard excursions with Scout. What is the point of a trustworthy dog off leash, … Continue reading Vermont Springtime Portrait: Pictures and Words
Winter Has Loosed Its Grip: Perfect Friday Afternoon in Vermont
In my fledgling foray into photography I'm learning light is everything, especially when your equipment is limited to an oldish Nikon and a single lens; I can make do for now, and should until I know better. The light in Arlington Park on Friday afternoon was clean scrubbed and brilliant following a spate of biting … Continue reading Winter Has Loosed Its Grip: Perfect Friday Afternoon in Vermont
Romancing Haglund’s Deformity: My Forever Running Partner
Vermont broke weather records last week: my car thermometer said 73° when I left work Friday afternoon, with partly cloudy skies and a pleasant breeze that carried an earthy spring scent—in February. I could be wrong, I speculated to Handsome Chef Boyfriend a few days earlier, and I know there's still plenty of time for big snow, … Continue reading Romancing Haglund’s Deformity: My Forever Running Partner
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
Self-Stewardship: Healthful Habits, Happy Body
Updates: I am pretty dang pleased to report my foot issues have not yet derailed this latest big effort to resurrect my beloved running habit. I told somebody yesterday I've learned to view every glorious, temperate day in Vermont as a gift; last week there were several of them, and the temperature once even climbed into the … Continue reading Self-Stewardship: Healthful Habits, Happy Body
New England Track & Field Championships: When Life Hands You Lemons
It's track and field season here in New England; maybe in other parts of the world, too, not sure—this is well outside my life experience bubble. 'Tis also the season when Handsome Chef Boyfriend morphs from pastry chef by day to pole vaulting coach by afternoon and the occasional weekend, true story: he coaches invincible … Continue reading New England Track & Field Championships: When Life Hands You Lemons
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
Garden State Highway: Beauty in Unexpected Places
If driving were a metaphor for the rancor which seems to characterize the tenor of American politics these days, it is playing out on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey. Any remnant of human decency that real, face-to-face interaction demands is lost once you're behind the wheel of a car. And on this particular stretch of … Continue reading Garden State Highway: Beauty in Unexpected Places
Warm Days & Cold Nights: Sugaring Time in Vermont
Yesterday Handsome Chef Boyfriend and I drove past three sap buckets hanging on roadside telephone poles in Upstate New York; somebody's got a sense of humor. HCB's brother would enjoy that, I am sure; there is a longstanding dispute in this family about who makes the best syrup—New York (where brother S lives) or Vermont. Though I … Continue reading Warm Days & Cold Nights: Sugaring Time in Vermont
Sycamore Stories 