In a column written back in May by fellow Mountain Times columnist, Dom Cioffi, he told about the various friends throughout his life. That got me thinking about the friends I have made over the years. Some remain in my life but most do not. The word “friend” is used rather loosely by many…

  A classmate recently told me that she didn’t remember any sports for girls during our high school years at Mount St. Joseph Academy in the early 1960s. I didn’t recall any either so I checked the yearbooks online to see if we were correct.  The ski team was the only sports related activity showing…

  For 25 years beginning in 1975 the month of May meant the beginning of camping season for my husband, Peter, and me. We had a permanent site at Belview Campground in Barton, Vermont. Crystal Lake was so close that we just walked through a field and we were there. I was reminded of my…

When they say that life was slower “back in the day” they are probably right! It was slower because it took longer to do everything. I was thinking of that the other day when I warmed up lunch in the microwave. Back in the '50s my mother would put a casserole dish containing leftovers from…

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…

If you went to school in the Rutland area chances are your school yearbook is on the website of the Rutland Historical Society. Looking at it online allows you to visually reconnect with your high school days. I sit at a breakfast table weekly with some classmates and this often results in a “verbal reconnect”…

By Mary Ellen Shaw The role that paper plays in our lives has changed so much compared to its role “back in the day!” Several years ago I was researching information about WWII and its effect locally. I visited the Rutland Historical Society and found a letter written during that war. It was correspondence between…

By Mary Ellen Shaw When I heard that Vermont State University plans to remove books from their library shelves and transition to digital books by July 1st it felt like a magic trick about to happen. Just say “Presto” and the paper books will suddenly disappear. Changes of that magnitude usually happen gradually. I have…

By Mary Ellen Shaw There is talk of building a hotel in downtown Rutland in the same location where the Berwick Hotel once stood. That hotel was destroyed by fire 50 years ago and since then the spot has been a vacant lot, known locally as “The Pit.” Recently there have been both TV and…

By Merisa Sherman It was quiet. A little too quiet. An eerie quiet. No fresh animal tracks on the ground, no wind moving the trees around. It’s so cold, you feel like even the surrounding air must be frozen even though it truly freezes at temps colder than 300 degrees. You couldn’t hear anything from…

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 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 Mary Ellen Shaw Remembering Christmas from the '50s and '60s has become a topic for my column every December. From a child’s point of view downtown Rutland was a magical place with lighted garlands strung across Merchants Row, Center Street and West Street. Santa Claus was waiting for my visit inside the Economy Store. …

By Mary Ellen Shaw I was watching a talk show recently and one of the topics discussed was an article from a 1950 McCall’s magazine. It gave 129 options that women could use to get a date. If you are in the “senior age category” you would be quite amused at some of the techniques…

By Mary Ellen Shaw At some point in our lives we seem to turn into our parents.I guess it’s inevitable as we grew up following their instructions. I thought of my father when someone commented to me that I mow the lawn in a different direction each time. Back in my youth the task of…