Jarvis Coffin Up Yours As usual, it took a minute when I slipped behind the curtain and unfolded the paper ballot to process all the names in front of me.
Other Musings 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.
Food About Breakfast I stopped ordering scrambled eggs at restaurants, including good ones, long ago. Invariably— as in, every case, every occasion—scrambled eggs come out overcooked and rubbery, sometimes flecked with specs of brown.
Jarvis Coffin Nothing Much Happens If you had to pick one thing to describe rural life, it could easily be that nothing much new ever happens.
Other Musings Boxing Day You are entitled to your own set of facts when it comes to the origins of Boxing Day because there are none.
Other Musings Power to the People I wonder how far it will be in the future when the notion that we delivered electrical power around the world by stringing wires over hill and dale will seem archaic.
Jarvis Coffin 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.
Other Musings 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.
Jarvis Coffin 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.
Other Musings Vaccine I have this personal connection to vaccines. When the polio vaccine came out my mother, aunt, and uncles were among the first to receive the shot--among the first, I tell you, after six thousand years of polio's recorded torment.
Jarvis Coffin 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.
Other Musings 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.
Jarvis Coffin 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.
Other Musings 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
Other Musings Sentimental Lights I can conjure an argument for why our collective imagination, the state of romance, and all the poetry in the world have suffered since the advent of incandescent light.
JarvisCoffin 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.
Other Musings 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.
Other Musings How's Your Back? It turns out that everyone has an opinion on back pain. Why not? One out of two people are affected.
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.
