By Albert Lalonde When starting a retirement savings and investment plan, the rule of thumb is the earlier, the better. For young professionals, that can be easier said than done. High rent, student loan payments, and modest junior-level salaries make saving a challenge. And now in this unprecedented year come the dynamics adding economic uncertainty…

By Merisa Sherman We pulled into an empty parking lot and raced down to the water, amazed that we are even still paddling this late in November. The BF unstrapped the canoe in record time while I grabbed our dry bags and paddles from the back seat. We could see the sky begin to hint…

By Kevin Theissen According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, productivity losses linked to employees not showing up for work cost employers approximately $225 billion annually, or over $1,600 per worker. Business owners and managers understand very well the rising cost of health care and the loss of productivity associated with absenteeism and…

By Dom Cioffi This is an actual group text I received a few days ago from a college friend: “Yo whoz goin 2 the re-union” I scanned those words two or three times, cringing progressively worse upon each reading. Forget the fact that zero punctuation was used or that the grammar was bastardized nearly beyond…

By Mary Ellen Shaw Before the pandemic I was watching a talk show that used to air on ABC. One of the hosts, Keke Palmer, who is her late 20s, said that when she was a child and didn’t know the meaning of a word her parents would tell her to look it up in…

By Susie Spikol Bent down in an apple field searching for a lost earring, I found a different treasure: a stout mouse-like animal, with a short tail and stubby ears. It gave me one quick look, then disappeared through a maze of tunnels in the thick autumn grass. I would have loved to follow this…

By Cassandra Tyndall Do you remember the iconic scene from the movie, “A Few Good Men,” when the character played by Tom Cruise goes on a relentless search for the truth behind a murdered Marine? After weeks of investigating, probing and being guided by instinct, the dramatic climax in the courtroom is a movie scene…

A little over 30 years ago, I lost my father to a massive heart attack. He was 55 years old, in good shape, and active – definitely not someone you’d expect to die so young. However, he was a smoker and as the coroner report attested, he had considerable plaque build-up in his arteries, which…

By Merisa Sheman The yard was covered in white. I mean, really covered in white. It wasn’t that pathetic little amount that we got on the first snowfall last week where you talk yourself into thinking that there’s probably enough snow to ski some laps around the yard before the snow is all gone. This…

By Kevin Theissen It has been estimated that fewer than 50% of adults have a will or other estate documents in place, which may not be entirely surprising. No one wants to be reminded of their own mortality or spend too much time thinking about what might happen once they’re gone. But a will is…

By Lee Emmon For nearly a decade, I’ve been adding to a brush pile in the woods behind my home. A depository of pruned branches, dead flowers, discarded logs, old leaves, and an occasional Christmas tree, the pile is a decaying testament to seasons and chores long past. Over the years, the pile has settled…

By Cassandra Tyndall 2020 has been one of the most dramatic years I’m sure many of us can remember. Amongst dramatic years, there are dramatic months and dramatic weeks. When I studied the astrology of this year, I highlighted this week as being one of the most intense and direction shifting all year. This is…

By Gary Salmon Maps are windows to our world. The more colorful the more interesting. They tell us where we have been and can even direct us to future actions. Two come to mind that have been useful this year. The weekly Tuesday Covid-19 maps of Vermont continued to stay the same color while a…

By Merisa Sherman It has snowed before and it will snow again. As the world swirls around us like snowflakes in a mid-winter storm, I find comfort in these words. I find that I repeat them to myself, like a comforting mantra, while I focus on my breathing. I let the words wrap around me…

By Dom Cioffi It’s Monday night as I’m writing this – the eve before one of the most contentious presidential elections in recent history. I voted two weeks ago by mail-in ballot and have spent most of the past 14 days avoiding media. I haven’t watched or read the news and I certainly haven’t engaged…