I like to give gifts. I just don’t like to shop: not for groceries, not for clothes, not for cars. Shopping takes time away from things that I do enjoy, like my work, cooking, gardening, playing outdoors and reading.          I especially dislike shopping during the holiday frenzy between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Despite advertising that […]

I wrote My Plymouth Rock for Thanksgiving, 2007. I’m republishing it now, when many Americans seem to have forgotten how most of our families arrived here.          I first learned about the Pilgrims in 1963, when I was in second grade and Columbus’s discovery of America was still considered an unqualified success that logically led […]

 Here in the Northeast winters can be long and cold, so how to save on heat is a significant concern. Back in May, it seemed as if all sidewalk conversations were about how to make our houses more energy efficient. And if it wasn’t energy efficiency we were talking about, it was energy generation. By […]

I’m piqued that leaf peepers come peeking at peak foliage on the Green Mountain pinnacles as if nature were a spectator sport and autumn the champion season. I don’t question the splendor of the red and yellow maples setting the hills on fire, or the spectacle of the bright autumn sky. But the current penchant […]