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
Vermont
The Wrong Side of Every Door: Finding Paradise
The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore: When you let him in, then he wants to be out; He's always on the wrong side of every door, And as soon as he's at home, then he'd like to get about.—T.S. Eliot The oppressive heat of high summer in Memphis, Tennessee reaches its fingers across … Continue reading The Wrong Side of Every Door: Finding Paradise
Howdy, 2016. I already miss you, 2015.
New Year's Eve 2015, a street corner in Saratoga Springs, NY. My boy Bentley and his friend Billy have been with us for a week, headed back to their respective homes in Tennessee at an obscene hour tomorrow morning. We've had a great time together. I am always amazed how you can blink and it's gone: … Continue reading Howdy, 2016. I already miss you, 2015.
(Dis)Comfort and Joy
Handsome Chef Boyfriend and I spent yesterday Christmas shopping over in Saratoga Springs. We had fun, observed people, marveled at humanity, privately assessed it as we are wont to do for amusement. We ate lunch and dinner out, rare for us, and arrived home content if a little weary, with a bargain Christmas tree tied to the … Continue reading (Dis)Comfort and Joy
A Reflection for Advent: There is only now. Right now.
I am terrible at watching hockey games and have difficulty focusing on important things like, say, hockey. Instead I see the diamond quilting in a bright red jacket in the bleachers in front of me. And the little sign bearing a message which seems important, but I bet is often ignored. And other non-hockey details (yes, it … Continue reading A Reflection for Advent: There is only now. Right now.
Winter Workouts: Pouring Myself Nice Glass of Endorphins
I let the original version of this post sit in the queue and marinate for a while, and then I scrapped it. It sounded way, way too Eeyore-ish, and that is not how I wish to be thought of. But I admit to struggling with a heaping case of the blues lately. I always look for … Continue reading Winter Workouts: Pouring Myself Nice Glass of Endorphins
The Day The Sheep Shearers Came
You need not go far in my home state of Vermont to find a farm. Lots of people live and work on them, the rest of us drive past them going to and from. Same thing applies to upstate New York, a stone's throw away. Writer Jon Katz and his wife, fiber artist Maria Wulf live on … Continue reading The Day The Sheep Shearers Came
Along the Battenkill: Late Day Walk in Early Fall
Homecoming, Part the Third
Before we pulled out of Chattanooga on a hazy Tuesday afternoon, my dad reported he'd seen a burgeoning praying mantis and stick bug population this summer. And evidently my son is a praying mantis whisperer. I could not capture the kind of image he did, a challenge I threw his way. And what it lacks … Continue reading Homecoming, Part the Third
Homecoming, Part the First
This afternoon, for the first time since I moved to Vermont, a stranger made a comment about my Southern accent (which I can't hear at all). I walked through the automatic doors at Home Depot, where a man wearing a familiar orange apron was stooped to some task or other. He asked me how I was. … Continue reading Homecoming, Part the First
Sycamore Stories 