Thanksgiving Day dawned mild and sunny. There was little left to do in the morning at daughter Betsy's house so there was time for a stroll and for The Major and grandson Rory to have a tete a tete. Things got a lot busier at daughter Diane's house, especially in the Thanksgiving kitchen. Cooks and kibbitzers gathered near the stove to be there when the turkey came out of the oven. It is impossible to get everyone in the…
One beautiful day this fall I was driving around doing my errands when I passed a farmhouse shaded by trees. I was forcefully struck by the beauty of the well kept house in a peaceful shade. I was also struck by the thought that this is what prosperity looks like. As we have traveled through the political campaign season, and the harvest season on our way to Thanksgiving I cannot help thinking about what it means to be…
I'm still baking for the Family Feast tomorrow, but I just finished my cookies for Moonlight Magic in Shelburne Falls on Friday, November 23. Lots of cookies for sale at the Visitors Center and lots of magic throughout the town. For more Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.
When our friends LiSha and Chris visited us, all the way from China yesterday we spent the day celebrating. After sharing lots of family photos and stories we took them on a whirlwind tour of the highlights of Heath and Shelburne Falls. We began with a visit to Bob Dane's glassblowing studio to show off his artistry and shelves and shelves of beautiful glass ready for his local sale on December 8-9 and 1-16. Unfortunately, we couldn't take our…
The first thing Cynthia Boettner had to explain to me about the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge is that the Refuge consists of the 7.2 million acres of the Connecticut River Watershed that runs from the far reaches of New Hampshire, through Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut before it exits in Long Island Sound. That is an enormous charge and responsibility. As Boettner explained how she works to monitor, control and eradicate invasive plant…
When we finished the remodel of our kitchen a few months ago I took Mr and Mrs Vegetable out of the drawer where they have been living for the past two decades. I remember these from my childhood when they hung on the kitchen wall in New York when I was about five (1945) and then in the farm kitchen in Charlotte, Vermont. My brothers and I found them in a big storage closet along with our childhood…
Beavers have been working this area out on Rte 8A and now the water has risen nearly to the road. The pond has become quite large and there is more. It's hard to see the steps of the dam below the beaver pond but the water is rushing here. And here is evidence that work continues. For more (almost) Wordlessness this Wednesday click here.
Mild weather this long holiday weekend has given us time to work together to dig up, dig down, cut back and rake, all parts of putting the garden to bed. Henry helped me slightly enlarge the end of the bed around the fountain juniper, cleaning out weeds, and making room for small bulbs, miniature golden daffs, 'Diamond Ring,' Pink Sunrise' and macrocarpum 'Golden Fragrance' muscari. We will be able to see these from the dining table in the spring.…
Every spring we begin the gardening season with new energy and new plans. After a winter of reading and thinking we stride out into the spring sun to build and dig, to add and subtract with confidence and high hopes. In the fall, while we are hoping we still have time to plant some bulbs (we do) it is time to review and see how our projects and experiments turned out. Our big project this year was really…
Mary Lyon, the founder of Mount Holyoke College, was born in Buckland in 1797. Nowadays the Mary Lyon Foundation supports local education in the hilltowns of western Massachusetts which include the town of her birth. Last night my team, the Prescriptive Orthographers sponsored by local Baker Pharmacy, was one of 25 teams who participated in our Annual Spelling Bee. Every team got themselves up in more or less outrageous costumes. The Woodward Wordsmiths even brought the car that…