I’ve had countless friends in my life. Some have stuck around for decades, while others were gone in a matter of months. But what I’ve realized is that the length of time of any friendship is not indicative of the friendship’s worth. Take Danny, for example.  Danny and I met in kindergarten and were friends…

Why do ants suddenly appear every time spring is near? Just like bees, they long to be close to you – especially if your home is made of wood. Carpenter ants (genus Camponotus) and the eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) both nest in wood and are frequent visitors to my log home. The Northeast is…

I have a simple mind. Full of everything I need to be well. All I have to do is use it. Whenever my younger sister Marcelle wants to spur me to action, all she has to say is; “Well, I know you can’t do it, but. . .  " and with childlike enthusiasm, I spring…

It’s darkest before dawn. This week brings the crescendo of the current eclipse season with a Scorpio Full Moon or Lunar Eclipse. Not only does this eclipse round out the current season, it’s also the last Scorpio eclipse we’ll see in about a decade. In any form of healing, whether that be physical, emotional or…

Trees, they sway in the breeze, they have twigs, branching out on all sides.  Each branch,  sprouting leaves, leaves of kindness of love for the world, love for the earth, for Mother Nature. People need to give more. More love, especially for the earth. Don’t let things blow away in the wind, hold onto them,…

I lay in my bed, the sun shining through the windows and turning our nighttime fortress into an unavoidable brightness.  The heat is off, but the weather hasn’t quite warmed up yet and I really don’t want to get out from underneath the covers until the sun has actually warmed up the house.   But…

  In 1984, my high school basketball team had one of the best records in the state. My teammates and I had been playing together for years, so we were a well-oiled machine. We also had a diverse set of players that covered all the needed attributes for a championship team.  I was a tall,…

   Call it a flower or call it a weed – clover is a plant everyone knows. Who hasn’t idled away an hour hunting for a four-leaf clover, hoping for good luck? A member of the legume family, clover is common in lawns and fields, in disturbed sites, and along roadsides. Of the world’s 300…

  Much has changed since last week. We exited the fiery inferno of Aries season under a cloak of darkness and entered the serene pastures of Taurus. Though this time around, they don’t look to be the fields of green and skies of blue to which we are accustomed.  There’s a lot of confusion, instability…

  The spirited performance troupe known as Barn Opera is inviting the Killington-Rutland community to a unique meet-and-greet plus a concert, being held on May 3, from 6-7 p.m., at The Hub CoWorks, 67 Merchants Row in Rutland. Most area residents refer to that location as The Opera House, and next week, Barn Opera’s performers…

During the course of our lives most of us have played the role of a “sales person” even if it wasn’t by choice at times. For many of us it began in our elementary school days when we sold items for fundraisers. When you were “peddling your goods” you often went with a friend. That…

It was early in the day at Tuckerman Ravine and we had just finished breakfast over our small canister stove that we use for fast and light camping. It’s a tiny metal thing that opens up like a butterfly and screws into the top of a small canister of isopro fuel. It’s pretty neat actually,…

I remember that it was Christmastime in the mid-1970s. I was at the local mall with my mother in the now defunct retail chain, Montgomery Ward. I liked going into Montgomery Ward because they had a little bit of everything. But during the holiday season, they beefed up their toy section, which made it especially…

Years ago, when I worked at a nature center in Connecticut licensed to care for injured and orphaned wildlife, a baby opossum was brought to us. It was found lying on a golf course, and was too young to be on its own. We named the opossum Alice and estimated it was 9 weeks old.…

A song was quite famous here in Australia several years ago called “One Crowded Hour.” That’s how this week’s Solar Eclipse will likely feel. While technically an eclipse in Aries, its energy swiftly captures the Sun’s entrance into Taurus as our brightest star clashes with Pluto.  This eclipse might feel like you’ve turned up to…