Author: Judy Boardman

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…

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…

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.…

It’s another wet, gloomy day and I’m trying to get some housework done before I settle down with my book. I was thinking about the past weekend and the VAE meet in Bradford. What a great bunch of folks there are in the car club and how lucky I am to know them. In the…

With another cold spell approaching, it’s probably time to empty the woodstove ashpan once again. For those of you who don’t have to do this chore, lucky you. Over the years, we have had a variety of heating sources. When we built our house in 1969, electric heat was the way to go. It was…

A little while ago I was talking to an old-timer who grew up in Underhill. We were reminiscing about the old days here in town. He went back further in time than I do. He was asking about the barns on our property. Well, the house is gone and the big barn is gone. I…

The other day, during yet another rainy spell, I was watching the rain gutter downspouts spill water into a flower bed and thought about rain barrels. I went on Amazon and, sure enough, they had rain barrels. I  ordered one and it came two days later. It is now installed and works great. The mention…

You have probably been asked this question many times; I know I have. If you had a lot of money……. The question next is… What is a lot of money? It probably depends on who you are asking. To some, a lot of money might be $1,000 or $10,000 or $100,000, or more. But it is…

Well, it happened again. It was like shifting from first to reverse, going from summer to winter gear. It usually happens sometime in the end of September when I start thinking about getting ready for winter. All the summer chores and projects, most of which never got done, get put on “next year’s list” and…

In 1953, I was 5 years old and anxiously waiting to start first grade the next year. There was no kindergarten, no Head Start, no play schools, so you just waited until you were 6 and could start first grade. Here I might add that in Athens, Vermont, there was no bus, so transportation was…