By Dom Cioffi At least once every couple of weeks, my son and I head to the music store for an activity we refer to as, “tasting the cakes.” That’s when you walk into a musical instrument store and try […]
Category: Column
Wetlands filter and enrich the landscape
By Declan McCabe One spring, following heavy rain, I visited the Saint Michael’s College Natural Area hoping to capture exciting photographs of the rushing Winooski River. Rather than raging floodwaters, however, I found the river’s floodplain was efficiently – and […]
Investing in our future leaders is critical
By Elicia Pinsonault Members of the Rutland Young Professionals (RYP) board of directors share many things in common, including the organizations we volunteer with, the communities we live in, where we work, our favorite spot to get outside and play, […]
Candy counters from the 1950s
By Mary Ellen Shaw When neighborhood grocery stores disappeared so did the penny candy counters. Having the opportunity to browse in front of one was a daily occurrence back in the 50s when I was a student at Christ the […]
Can you pass this Social Security quiz?
By Kevin Theissen Social Security provides retirement income for many, but according to Mass. Mutual Life Insurance, most Americans fail to demonstrate basic knowledge of Social Security benefits. Mass. Mutual used a quiz to test peoples’ knowledge of Social Security […]
April powder day surprise
By Merisa Sherman I awoke to a deafening silence. The birds of spring, so vocal in their morning song, had vanished. In fact, there was no noise at all — an eerie silence had overtaken the earth. It was almost […]
Making your funeral arrangements
A good friend died recently. At the age of 80 all his life insurance had expired and his savings were spent. His family, financially, were living from week to week. His failing health along with Covid-19 put him in an […]
Returning to form
A week ago, I explained how I was sitting on the deck of a beautiful boutique hotel overlooking the pristine waters of the Caribbean while writing my column. This week, unfortunately, I’m back to my living room chair. It’s hard […]
Financial spring cleaning
By Kevin Theissen If you have been procrastinating on one, some or all aspects of your personal finances, why not apply the concept of spring cleaning to your money? The following are some ideas to get started or restarted: Get […]
Look out for yourself this week
By Cassandra Tyndall What is one area of your life that is so solid, you could never imagine it going wrong? Is it your relationship? Your career? Or maybe it’s something you’ve cultivated within yourself, such as a spiritual relationship […]