Tag: vermont
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Kintsugi
The pottery bowl that sits on my desk contains markers of my identity: black leather wallet with driver’s license, house keys, Covid vaccination record. The father of a childhood friend made it, spinning clay on a wheel in his garage a short walk from the house where I grew up, my hometown’s name etched on…
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The Maple Behind Mom’s House
Dad planted a maple behind our house after he and mom bought the place forty-some years ago. The tree grew quickly, providing shade for the deck in back. From there, we used to watch thunderstorms approach over the mountain to our west. The tree was stalwart in the wind and seemed to be immune against…
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Stargazers
Bought on a whim at the store, their aroma perfumes our home – nectar with a hint of cayenne – a scent that takes me back to childhood when they grew in mom’s lily garden below a stone wall in the back yard, tall stems of them among Turkish Cap, Gentle Shepherd, and other varieties,…
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After Thanksgiving
The Day After Thanksgiving, 2019 It is still dark when I get out of bed and go downstairs to begin my morning. Dawn starts to brightens the kitchen window. The metal pot in the coffee maker sings a merry tune as hot water drips into it. My wife and son still asleep, I have a…
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Vermont Quarter
Vermont Quarter, 2001: Tapping for Syrup He stands between a pair of leafless maples, two buckets hang off each of their trunks. A scarf that shields his neck is wind-whipped, the chill of early March still winter-fierce. In the distance, beyond snow-covered fields, the icy ridge of Camel’s Hump is limned with silver by dawn’s…
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Time Capsule
No one remembers for sure where it is. Twelve of us ages six through eleven buried it more than thirty years ago where we went to school at Tamarack Brook, a place whose location we described in song as the belly button of Vermont. Was it by birch trees under the stone wall? What about…
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Strawberry Season
Strawberry Season Back Home in Vermont, Viewed by a Guy Who Now Lives in California After a long winter and a wet spring when sunshine was scarce enough for concern, the first strawberries of summer are here to be enjoyed during a brief season. A friend shared a photo of them online: plump, sumptuous, red…
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A Nice Thing About Vermont in June
is when you go out for a walk at night to the edge of town where the street lights end and you pass by a field that is lit up with a galaxy of countless fireflies.
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Comet Hyakutake
The Rutland Herald had told us we might see it with our naked eyes assuming there were no clouds and the moon was not shining. We were teenagers riding the school bus home from a festival. The spring night was cold, reminiscent of winter. Huddled near the back, we spoke about music we played that…
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Farmers’ Market
There is no map of the Farmers’ Market. Every Saturday, the arrangement of stalls is different, so you need to figure out where Radical Roots sells baby carrots; you must search again for where Evening Song displays arugula and pea shoot greens, where Three Bears Bakery has ciabatta, where Whaleback Vineyard offers apple wine. Some…
From the Firefly Galaxy 