My kitchen faucet started leaking last week. Once upon a time, this would have been cause for something close to panic. I am not a handy person. The skills I possess come through hard work and practice, and I don’t practice plumbing. It takes quite a lot of remedial tutoring for me to even get… Continue reading The Lesson in an Ex-Leak
Category: Home & Garden
Pie in the Sky Day
Today is Pi Day, 3.14… (The date sort of breaks down after the first two decimal points. It was fun in 2015 though…) I had intended to make a vegetarian shepherd’s pie, but I hadn’t finished eating the potato, leek and fennel soup I made earlier in the week. So there wasn’t a great deal… Continue reading Pie in the Sky Day
Penny Loaf Day
March 11th is Penny Loaf Day, though it is also traditional to set the observance to the Sunday closest to 11 March. This is an obscure holiday that I’d like to revive. Because first of all, it involves bread (so, duh, of course!), and second it celebrates generosity that has endured for nearly four centuries.… Continue reading Penny Loaf Day
Sugar Season!
About this time of year the maple trees around New England become festooned in bright tubing. It isn’t as romantic as the old-timey, hanging-bucket pictures on all the syrup bottles, but it’s much easier to maintain and keep clean. The trees are tapped (meaning a small hole is drilled down to the inner bark) and… Continue reading Sugar Season!
Simple Living Style v Simply Life
It is that difficult period of winter-into-spring. It is assuredly not spring weather out there. As I write this, there is a four foot deep mound of snow all along the side of my path and it’s 8°F as the dusk gathers. That’s -13°C for the rest of the world. The forecasted low is -12°F,… Continue reading Simple Living Style v Simply Life
Wednesday Word: 5 January 2022
It is Twelfth Night, the last night of Christmas and the night before Epiphany, the festival of the Wise Men. This is the night when all the drummers show up along with a veritable cacophony of birds; a party of lords, ladies and colorful others; and quite a few cows. I'm not sure I would… Continue reading Wednesday Word: 5 January 2022
Wednesday Word: 15 December
Saturnalia begins on Friday this week. Much like with Mardi Gras, this holiday is not particularly my thing. But I do relish the breakdown of order. All the more so since I'm not overly fond of most order these days. Tricksters in the Tree The David and David tome that everybody is reading right now… Continue reading Wednesday Word: 15 December
Wednesday Word: 6 October 2021
It's dark. I know this happens every year. Intellectually, I am good with the decreasing daylight. I welcome the idea of more time to stew in the starlight, less time of constant chop chop chop in the sun. I welcome the idea... but I'm a bit more conflicted on the practical application. Especially when rain… Continue reading Wednesday Word: 6 October 2021
Wednesday Word: 22 September 2021
New England is just bonkers over autumn. It may be because we have these gorgeous sugar maples and morning mists and warm blue sky afternoons and loaded apple trees (every other year). It may be that we just like this season of impending doom. Three whole months to tune up the winter complaints. But in… Continue reading Wednesday Word: 22 September 2021
Celebrating Harvest Home
Time is telescoping again. I’m fairly certain I was just writing about Lughnasadh a few days ago, and here it is the autumnal equinox. The Full Harvest Moon will have risen and set by the time you read this. The blueberry bushes are picked bare; peaches are a sweet memory; tomatoes are just an annoyance… Continue reading Celebrating Harvest Home


