Category: The Softer Side

Occasionally, I realize that there is a good reason for not getting rid of stuff. I often start looking for something, and sometimes I get lucky. Today was one of those lucky days.  I have saved Wheel Tracks for years and still have the first issues. When I get them out to look for something, sometimes…

I’ve always had a love affair…..with glass: blown glass, fused glass, stained glass, mosaic glass, crystal…. If it’s glass and it sparkles, I’m all in. A few years ago, Don and I were traveling in western New York, and we stopped at the Corning Museum of Glass in Rochester, NY. Talk about glass! It is…

I’ve been looking at an old ledger that my daughter Susan had at her house. The earliest date is August 1853. She had forgotten all about it, and it surfaced one day when she was cleaning some corner of her house. The first page has this entry: Franklin, VT, Journal, S.P. and R. Gates. Gael’s…

Below is a car-themed poem I wrote last spring as part of a lot of writing I’ve been doing since Nancy died last January. It is based on an extraordinary early morning drive Nancy & I shared in the summer of 1964 in our then new Triumph Spitfire when we were in Europe for the summer…

As much as I love to write (and I am sure you love to read) about my fabulous kitty cat Willy and my ongoing old-age sagas, I need to talk to you about a more important subject. I feel we, the membership of the VAE, have come to a crossroad; basically, in a few words, the club needs…

This seems to be happening more frequently lately. For a while I thought it was my (old) age, but I’m beginning to think that it isn’t. This is happening to a lot of younger folks, even my kids who are now all middle aged: Not being able to remember people’s names. How many times have…

Well, they’re driving me crazy again this year! I always thought they were an infestation of the common ladybugs that we see in the garden in the summer and think “how cute.” Not! I have come to learn these are Asian lady beetles. The Asian lady beetle arrived in New England through both intentional introductions and accidental…

Driving to get groceries the other day, I met with two motorcycles, the 3-wheel kind. Maybe they call them tricycles; not sure, but right away I thought they are a safety thing for people “my age”! They certainly do not look as cool as a two-wheeled motorcycle but guess there are things that we must give…

Have you ever noticed the odd things that people have in their car? I was talking to a neighbor a few days ago, and she mentioned a turkey baster that she keeps in her car. When she explained to me why, it made perfect sense. For years I tried to keep my car relatively clean.…

Both of my maternal grandparents grew up in Vermont, but they later settled in Connecticut where my grandfather taught high school history. In the mid-1930s, they bought a small house in North Fayston, Vermont, for use in the summer. The house was soon named Little House by my aunt, who was a child at the time.  As…