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Country living

A collection of 37 posts

Harvest Jitters

Harvest Jitters

For us backyard gardeners, this is the time of year we fear most for our crop. It is not like we have a super abundance to go around.

Visualizing World Peace

Visualizing World Peace

Attendees at this year’s [MacDowell] Medal Day, were given white luggage tags and a pen and urged to write our wishes and hang them on fruit trees in the MacDowell Gardens.

Summer People

The July and August people have arrived, bringing with them their patronage of our stores and their vehicles, requiring me to look both ways before pulling out of the driveway.

Good, Quality Thunder

Good, Quality Thunder

The rain had stopped and we sat just to watch and listen as the storm’s slashing furry settled to not much more than a purr.

June

Huckles has developed a problem: he visits the neighbors.

Moon Walk

I submit our Presidential candidates should be required to spend three nights around a campfire with a view of the sky as part of their spiritual journey to the office.

Now We are Nearly to Spring

Now We are Nearly to Spring

Every year, awakened by the Mourning Dove, I would be glad to stand in that spot for a minute or two.

Winter Enchantment

Winter Enchantment

Imagine a place where the leaf action of a spindly plant at the edge of the woods can take center stage each morning out the kitchen window.

Nothing Much Happens

Nothing Much Happens

If you had to pick one thing to describe rural life, it could easily be that nothing much new ever happens.

Just Like That

Thanksgiving, and just like that our inboxes are full of Black Friday offers. The world is released to fill the airways with carols, string holiday lights, and buy Christmas trees.

Thanksgiving

It is hard to feel wistful for the long hours and seven-day work weeks. But we are thankful for having been innkeepers in many small ways and, sometimes, as you see, in big ones.

Porcupine

Going forward, I want to stress this for any porcupines that may be reading this postcard: Huck does not sniff around first thing in the morning. Remain calm. Stay put.

Crunch Time

We can imagine fifty thousand acorns hitting the ground in front and another fifty thousand more behind. A total of one hundred thousand acorns scattered across our parcel in the woods.

Docks Out

Notice has been given by the nice people that handle the in and out of our dock that the time for out is upon us . . . This is usually when remorse settles in about how little time we spent during the season on the pond.

Summer's End

Back to school always sneaks up on me. I am still not used to the fact it comes before Labor Day--nor am I happy about it.

Fiddleheads

Hancock’s Fiddleheads Café reopened Memorial Day weekend after a winter hiatus, during which time owner Sherry Williams continued her search for a buyer to fulfill her retirement goal, having worked might and main at the business for eighteen years. Ownership events occurring with small, rural businesses in New England

Bear

The counselors positioned it this way after breakfast: go back to the cabin, brush your teeth, put on good shoes, we’re going bear hunting.

The Children are Back

The Children are Back

We are asked frequently if children are welcome at the Inn. The answer is yes for the reason that in our own lives, as children, inns were magical places.

Winter

If you want the real deal when it comes to New England, you must come in winter.

Snow Haves and Have Nots

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.

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.

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.

Getting Out More

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.

Saving Huckleberry

Saving Huckleberry

Life without a dog for nine months had advantages, mobility among them. Go anywhere, anytime, without having to provision for the animal.

Beneath the Canopy

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