Other Musings Winter If you want the real deal when it comes to New England, you must come in winter.
Other Musings Our Inner Loon [Loons] are among the Eagle Scouts of evolution. They are ungainly on the ground, not graceful fliers, but clearly, loons opted for diversification, perhaps because it made sense to hedge their bets at a time when volcanoes were still erupting and meteors plummeting to earth.
Other Musings Snow Haves and Have Nots The line between the snow haves and have-nots is sharp this year. We met our friends outside of Boston, where there was no snow. We went further south to Foxboro, and the land was barren and brown.
Other Musings Where Have You Gone, David Crosby? The loss of David Crosby has me worried about this . . . What compares today? What do we hold in common? Things appear and disappear so fast in this information age . . . turned to mulch with every page refresh. In a content world built around sharing, there is very little to hold on to.
Other Musings A Few Words from Dr. King We have despaired the last couple of years over the cantankerous nature of our politics. I will tell you it was worse in 1968.
Other Musings Migration Time It will be the unique and solitary sound of the owl serving as our closest friend over winter . . . except for footprints in the snow and a few ghostly pictures from our wildlife cameras strung around the trees.
Postcard They're Baaack The black flies came early this year. The adage has been Mother’s Day through Father’s Day, but I think they were here right after Easter. We live in the woods by the water, prime conditions for the little bloodsuckers.
Other Musings Getting Out More An ocean person will point to an island on a map and say, I have been there. Mountain people will stand at the base and respond, I have been to the top. Each always has thoughts of returning.
Other Musings Home I was moved by a sense of adventure in a strange land, by calls to prayer drifting from loudspeakers in Arabic and Hebrew, by the beauty of Christian churches, Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian
Other Musings Saving Huckleberry Life without a dog for nine months had advantages, mobility among them. Go anywhere, anytime, without having to provision for the animal.
Other Musings Beneath the Canopy Beneath the canopy, very little grows straight. Every bit of ground is contested. Every angle of sunlight is made available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Everywhere there are predicaments
Other Musings The Player's Punch Sit through any community auction, and you will learn something about its people.
Country living Thank you, Puppy I have a lifetime to try and make good on my obligations to humankind, but the dogs are never around long enough to even the score.
Jarvis Coffin Pilgrimage Streams of people ahead of us down the footpaths, all of us coming behind those who excavated the caves of worship centuries before
Country living Snail Salad It is entertaining to imagine myself at the table with my grandchildren, bargaining with them to finish their snail salad.
Country living February The rhododendron leaves are folded up very tight this morning. I could pluck one and slide it into a cigar tube. It is forecasted to be twelve degrees tonight, and the temperature is headed down for the weekend.
Country living Ice A couple of people went through the ice last week on a nearby lake. They were rescued, thankfully, but it always sends a shock and a reminder.
Jarvis Coffin Happy New Year and a Half New Year feels more like the middle of the year to me. The feeling derives from measuring time in school years and the passing of summer vacations.
Christmas Eve, Christmas No More Work Tonight At around three o’clock on Christmas Eve afternoon, my father would lead my brothers and me into the living room, motion us onto the sofa or a place on the floor, pour himself a glass of wine, settle into the armchair next to the fireplace and start reading Charles
Country living All Bluster. No Snow. The sun is weak against the dark and cold right now. It is powerless to rescue young sprouts out when they shouldn't be.
Country living Happy Thanksgiving -- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer
Jarvis Coffin Election Notes I made mistakes over many years. I go back to that meeting with the headmaster as the one where I was, in addition to all else, on the wrong side of history.
Country living Wine Country and Other Places We were on the road this month, attending class reunions and memorial services. It was a catch-up across the board.
Country living Pot Roast This story is about pot roast, and any story about food is also about the weather.
