Need I say more?

Heath woke up in the clouds this morning. There was a very Brigadoonish feeling in the misty air as I drove to the Transfer Station with my trash and recycling. The dim headlights of oncoming cars could very well have been flickering torches as the hunt went on for the the missing Harry Beaton whose flight threatened to destroy the magical village.But the only tartans are on Henry's and my flannel shirts as we prepare to tackle the…

While browsing through the garden blogs this rainy morning I came upon the Human Flower Project and this recent post about the Books in Bloom garden created by St. Michael's College (Burlington, VT) education professor Valerie Bang-Jensen and biologist Mark Lubkowitch and their students. All the plants in the garden have a connection to a children's book. There are lupines for Miss Rumphius, poppies for the Wizard of Oz and blueberries for Blueberries for Sal. Of course, there…

This is our old stove, a Magic Chef c.1930s. It was in our old farmhouse when we bought it, and I used it for the first couple of years. It only has three working burners, but the oven worked and as the cook I was happy. But we worked on the house and moved the kitchen space and I got a modern stove. After renovating the old kitchen space (some years later) the old stove was moved and…

How can it be? The leaves are turning and the other night there was a frost warning. I had a fire in the wood stove the past two days. This year, as we approach the heating season with some trepidation, and a new (efficient we hope) heating system, we are still getting our firewood ready and hoping that the Farmer's Almanac's prediction of a very cold winter is wrong.

A perfect end to a perfect week with grandson Tynan Matthews. Even the heavens put on a farewell show his last night in Heath. The weather has been tropical with storms almost every day. Will we ever be able to mow the lawn again? Happily it doesn't take good weather to have a good time. We went to Mass MoCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) and saw lots of Badlands exhibits about the depredations of Man and Nature of…

Sawyer Hall is not the oldest building in Heath's newly designated National Historic District, but it is the building I am most familiar with. Originally built as a town library, and named after the man who put up the money, it has been added on to and functions have been added. The whole east side of the downstairs is the Heath free Public Library founded in 1894. Across the hall is the Post Office, and an office for…

There is a reason and a use for lawns. Croquet! Although I can't say that our turf is finely maintained. A cultural foray. Off to North Adams and Mass MoCa, the Museum of Contemporary Art which is housed in the renovated old Sprague Electrical Factory. The museum of part of the revitalization of this old mill town and it is just about 45 minutes from our house, across the historic scenic highway, The Mohawk Trail. We stopped to…

A few days ago Amy Stewart at Garden Rant was talking about a beautiful new book, Shed Style and Elegant Hideaways by Debra Prinzing with photographer William Wright and published by Clarkson Potter, which was all about the various useful and elegant sheds that gardeners used. Some are totally functional, but others have more elevated styles and uses. Then Amy asked all of us to write and describe our fantasy shed. I wrote about our Cottage Ornee which…

These two tiny creatures are yellow spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) that my husband dug up when he was cleaning the drain in our dirt cellar - part of the continuing work on our new foundation.These are our first cellar salamanders, but our neighbor had one living for years in his wet basement. Apparently this is not unusual. Yellow spotted salamanders can live as long as 20 years and except for their mating season in March or April (depending…