By Mary Ellen Shaw Once in awhile during the winter months I like to look forward instead of “back.” So this column will concentrate on flowers and veggies fresh from the garden. I don’t think that I am the only one who misses playing in the dirt this time of year.  Of course, if you…

By Dom Cioffi When I go out for a run, I follow a regular route. Some runners like to mix things up and head in a variety of directions, but I like my set, predictable loop. The meandering circle I run is almost exactly five miles long and encompasses a variety of hilly terrain. While…

By Gary Salmon Warm fires and cozy living rooms complete with a decorated Christmas tree are a part of many of our December lives. We look for just the right tree, not too dense to prevent ornament hanging, but just right to brighten up a late December of darkness.  It prepares us mentally for the…

By Dom Cioffi I’ve developed a few talents in my life and one of them is gift giving. Nothing brings me more joy than to wake up Christmas morning and watch everyone around me open the gifts that I bought them. Sure, I like opening gifts as well, but I’d much rather give than receive.…

By Merisa Sherman Ahhh, the New Year’s Resolution. The pressure to become a better version of yourself than you were last year and usually something that you will have forgotten about within the four weeks of January. Sure, we all want to recommit ourselves to our physical and mental health, but what does this mean…

By Sandra Dee Owens We don’t have to follow the first voice A woman passed through my line at the grocery store with a brightly colored box I knew so well. Without hesitation, I jostled my cart and went searching for the Pop-Tart aisle. That first voice had whispered in my ear, “oooooh, Pop-Tarts, have…

By Susan Shea I saw a new bird at my feeder last winter. In mid-December, a small, reddish-brown bird with an upturned tail, a white eyebrow-stripe, and a long, slender, down curved bill was on the deck below our feeder. Looking at its cocked tail, I suspected it was a type of wren —  a…

By Dom Cioffi Recently, my wife and I (along with another couple), went to a jazz club in the city. I haven’t been to many jazz shows in my life, but I do appreciate the genre so I was happy and curious to go. We bought tickets on the advice of another friend who assured…

By Mary Ellen Shaw Winter is not the favorite season for most seniors! We don’t like to walk around wondering if there is black ice underfoot. Nor do we like driving on it. Hearing that a snow storm is coming makes us want to hunker down and stay inside. Whatever happened to our childhood feelings…

By Merisa Sherman I have been and always shall be a ski bum. While throughout my life, the journey has varied greatly, the message has always been the same: there is no peace, no salvation, without the feeling of floating across the surface of the earth. This may appear in different forms, in varying forms…

By Dom Cioffi I look forward to this time of year, which is why I save up several vacation days to coincide with my company holidays. I use this extra time to partake in various Christmas activities and get numerous household chores accomplished. I also take a lot of naps in front of the fire.…

By Liz DiMarco Weinmann The lyrics of the holiday ballad “Grown-Up Christmas List,” reference fervent hopes for peace and a better world, a poignant contrast to blaring jingles that play on endless repeat. The song, written three decades ago by renowned composer David Foster, speaks to universal humanitarian quests: “No more lives torn apart…That wars…

By Merisa Sherman Pulling my hood over my head, I dove off the trail and under the tree branch, heavily laden with the snow from the past few days. Usually, the branch would be bent from the weight of heavy wet snow, but today it was only from the weight of so much snow falling…

By Kenrick Vezina Have you noticed the cheery evergreen sprig with pearly berries, currently perched over the doorways of Yankee traditionalists and those desperate to be kissed? That’s common mistletoe (Viscum album), which one botanical dispatch from the 1800s called “perhaps the most distinguished plant in the flora of England.” It’s found in broadleaf trees…

By Liz DiMarco Weinmann There is an expansive physical space in Rutland, over 14,000 square feet to be exact, known as “The MINT – Rutland’s Makerspace” — where almost anyone, of any age, interest or skill level, can fulfill the popular mantra to “find your happy place.” Dictionaries define finding your happy place as “…a…