Reading the accusations against Placido Domingo last night was sad. As a victim of harassment and date rape, my bias is to believe the accuser. Courageous victims who speak out have so little to gain and so much to lose. Most victims say they come forward so it stops and another person is not harassed. Reading their stories brought up that familiar pattern: a person in power offers “help” and the help isn’t; in reality …
It’s the fiftieth anniversary of Woodstock. No, at 13 I was not there. But I do have a story from the time. My father, a Boston Commuter, picked up a young man hitchhiking with a sign for Woodstock. My savvy dad not only had two teenagers at home, he had in – laws who lived in the quiet, toney town of Woodstock, Vermont. So, Joe Gravel convinced the youth that no, he did NOT want …
I never ran a chainsaw. I could not start the gas powered ones Ken had. And once he started them, he would head off with them to cut. So I did lots of research last fall and bought a larger battery pack saw A friend came by and got me started. We charged up the battery Then we headed out. I asked him to test drive the saw; he would know if it strained, etc …
So often one sees before and after photos. Most of my life falls between those two in the “during.” Sometimes I label this progress; it’s rare that I arrive at after or done. This was how the west part of the drive looked after Friday’s storm. A younger friend came Tuesday and helped set me up with my new smaller chainsaw. He also cut with his larger gas powered saw. We got the Massey set …
This morning I am baking bread, making sorbet, and bagging up pizza dough. I will deliver these to three farms. My goal is to give farmer friends things that take time to prepare (when they have little extra time or energy this busy of year) for some faster food. I make sorbet from culled fruit frozen last season. Fruit is in short supply this time of year, but this first heat seems to make us …
First it was the daisies on the side of the drive Then the irises. Bless them for staying ahead of the weeds – I haven’t with this year’s mosquito population at an all time high Then the wild roses And the valerian is starting to open Flowers are in almost every direction I look! No peonies yet, though
Decades ago, when I was young, there was “womens’ work,” and any man doing such would be subject to ridicule. One Mothers’ Day my father dried the dishes and headed out the back door to our clothesline to hang the wet dish towel. While he was hanging the towel on the line, a reedy little voice piped up from across the street, “Happy Mothers’ Day, Mr. Gravel!” Every year each of us in my family …
After making bread for over a year, I had a thought. Why spend money on pizza as an occasional treat when I have the dough, jars of tomato sauce in the root cellar, and a friend makes excellent cheese. So, last night I tried it. After pulling out and ripping the dough I made a thicker – like deep dish – pizza. Pizza was easy to make, but it sill take some tweaking to make …
With a 16 x 20 foot sign at the end of our drive on a major highway, Ken and I led a very public life for decades. Even with posted hours people came up at odd times, and this led to some amusing anecdotes: the time I rounded the corner from the outdoor bath in a robe with a towel around my wet hair and there was the “chard guy!” We were also out in …
Although I have sat at the loom a couple times recently, I wove very little. How could I fill or just live with the empty space of not having Ken making pots while I was weaving? After call from a five year old friend about her pot holder weaving, I decided to give it a go. Since Mardi Gras is about ten days away, I set my pandora for Mardi Gras music – something I …
