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Much of the travel writing to which we’re exposed reminds me of the old fable of the six blind men inspecting and describing an elephant: it reports on only a portion – and often a small one, at that – of the reality of the travel destination.
Read moreby Willem Lange EAST MONTPELIER – It was a stage set by Dickens: the best of times, the worst of
Read moreThe hammer of autumn darkness and the return to “standard time” seemed to fall harder than usual this past week.
Read moreby Willem Lange EAST MONTPELIER – The crew and I shot the last episode the other day of this year’s
Read moreI’m sitting in my snug office, wearing fleece (damned if I’ll activate the thermostats yet!), listening to a cold rain dripping from the eaves, and thinking back about 48 hours to a happy circumstance – a golden apple of a day stolen from the weather gods – and a very distressing phenomenon: my only experience ever, as far as I can recollect, of being utterly spent physically.
Read moreObviously, the younger generations in societies have from time immemorial been taking it in the shorts. A full 250 years before Aristotle, the Greek poet Hesiod, who I suspect was weaned on the ancient Greek equivalent of a pickle, trashes the kids with this noxious refrain: “. . . frivolous youth of today . . . are reckless beyond words . . . When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders.”
Read moreWe had an overnight guest coming, which set the housekeeping staff (me) a-humming. I laundered the sheets and pillowcases in the guest room, hung a fresh towel in the guest bathroom, and even dressed up my end of the house, making up the bed with the flannel winter sheets and wrangling a new denim duvet cover over the old comforter.
Read moreMonday this week, like the two days before it, was gray and drizzly. It was also the Feast of St. Francis, that cheerful, optimistic 13th-century Italian friar who’s most often pictured with birds on his shoulder, animals around his feet, and a halo about his head. The day before in church, we’d observed the Blessing of the Animals: everybody who could, brought their mobile or portable pet to be blessed.
Read moreAs surely as sugaring presages the advent of spring, September slides into October with its usual seasonal observances.
Read moreWhen we were small boys, during the war, we rarely failed to make it to the Washington Avenue armory in Albany when we heard there was to be a muster of fresh recruits.
Read moreI should have known that Kiki wouldn’t stay in her little hatch in the rear deck of the kayak, even though I’d thoughtfully padded it with a big fluffy towel.
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