Last night we had a treat. A full-grown bear wandered around in our backyard at dusk, checking out the bird feeders (now empty) and looked over to the house to see what we might all be up to. I hope he was amused to find three adults with cameras in front of faces and three pups with snouts perched on window sills.
He came by two times last week, tipping over our compost barrels and looking to find out what was lurking in a couple of plastic pails (birdseed). He picked up one in his teeth (we were spying no further than five feet from the… Continue reading
Good manners, and a sense of doing the right thing, came home to roost recently.
A colleague and warm acquaintance—I’d be pressed to say “friend”—lost his wife early last spring. I was added to an email list of “close friends” who received weekly updates on her progress fighting cancer almost as soon as it was diagnosed the previous fall. The situation was dire, and the outcome known. It was really just a matter of time.
I felt that any contribution I could make—not really knowing the family or other friends copied on these updates well—would seem somehow trite if not offensive. So, I read and soaked up the outpouring of love and support from afar, amazed at the tribe this couple had supporting them during their excruciating ordeal.
The wife… Continue reading
Climate change is so evident to all in new England that it is almost rite to discuss it these days. This winter — although plenty chilly throughout December and January — didn’t “heat up” until Valentine’s Day.
Since then, we’ve had at least five major storms with the last two in April. Not normal, or is it now?
Big storms in April due a lot of damage, mostly because of warmer temperatures. Run off from the mountain snow melt combined with any additional moisture add up to a MESS.
Exhibit A — Gleason Falls Bridge washout in Hillsboro, NH
We had an unexpectedly interesting day yesterday. Our friend Anne was presenting a workshop in Manchester, so we decided to meet her at Shaskeen (an Irish pub) on Elm mid-afternoon. She ran late, so we sipped stout and Guiness while doing our saved-up Sunday crossword puzzles. About an hour later she showed up, and while we visited, Dennis Kucinich supporters started rolling in and moving to the back room. We decided to hang out to hear him. Hopeless campaign perhaps, but he may be the only honest, not hampered by contribution “strings” one in the bunch. He was delayed by other events, natch, so we waited and chatted, got interviewed by students from Durham, Franklin Pierce, and Keene, as well as the Nashua Telegraph, and… Continue reading
I thought last week was a bit unusual — and gorgeous — but this is silly. More snow today and tomorrow.
I’ve lost sense of what time of year it is. Despite swapping fall/winter for spring/summer clothes in my closet, and sorting three households worth (Roger’s, Mary’s and mine) of collected vegetable, flower, and herb seeds last weekend, I can’t say it feels like the season has sprung.
However, there is real beauty in these late reminders of winter. Actually, the fact that they have come so late — when the temperatures are more moderate — may account for why they are so heavy and reminders of childhood storms and much coveted “snow” days in… Continue reading
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