By Cal Garrison, a.k.a. Mother of the Skye This week’s Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Capricorn Moon. The big news this week is that a bunch of planets are going retrograde, and a couple of them are changing signs. Here is the list: Saturn goes retrograde on May 11, at the…

By Gary Salmon Are you tired of the lives we are living (or not) since this corona? Days are certainly moving more slowly than in the past and each invites us to do something spectacular with warmer days and anticipations of the future. We need some sort of key movement to welcome us into spring…

By Mary Ellen Shaw One of my favorite things to look forward to each year is the colorful display of flowering trees and shrubs. Although they may be short-lived compared to a garden full of perennial flowers they certainly brighten the landscape. With the world topsy-turvy as we deal with Covid-19 anything that resembles normalcy…

By Dom Cioffi One of the things I’ve tried to do during the quarantine is to influence my son on a variety of topics. His school is doing a good job assigning projects and staying on top of his education, but I’ve opted to take this opportunity to steer him toward experiencing a few of…

By Kevin Theissen Stimulus checks are arriving. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has distributed over $150 billion through over 88 million stimulus payments, according to Andrew Keshner of MarketWatch. If you have recently lost a job, or you’re having difficulty paying bills, your check may already be spent. However, if you’re still working, or remain financially comfortable,…

By Rachel Mirus This May, while we thank the human moms around us, I’ve been thinking about the many dedicated moms throughout nature, too. Nurturing mothers come in many unexpected shapes and sizes, including a few diminutive examples – like spider moms. All spiders lay eggs and wrap them with silk into some kind of…

By Cal Garrison This week’s horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Libra Moon. This week is huge, on multiple levels. As the Moon moves from Libra to Scorpio, it will reach fullness on May 7. The full moon in the month of May is known as the Wesac Moon and is significant…

By Merisa Sherman Leaning on my shovel, I take the bandanna from my Carhartts and wipe the sweat from my brow. It’s hot in Vermont and I can’t seem to stop the sweat from burning my eyes as I work on this garden reclamation project. A beautiful and productive garden until Irene came through, we finally admitted…

By Merisa Sherman Let the rain kiss you.   Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.  - Langston Hughes The rain would announce its arrival by the pitter patter of drops on the roof. A random drop here and there until they would find their…

By Michael J. Caduto Anyone who has shared a home with a dog or a cat has learned something about the silent language of tails. Wild and domesticated animals may use tails for everything from communication to courtship, balance to locomotion, and defense to swatting flies. Tails can range from short to long and be…

By Kevin Theissen During your accumulation years, you may have categorized your risk as “conservative,” “moderate,” or “aggressive” and that guided how your portfolio was built. Maybe you concerned yourself with finding the “best-performing funds,” even though you knew past performance does not guarantee future results. What occurs with many retirees is a change in…

By Dom Cioffi Nearly 10 years ago, in September of 2011, I wrote a review for the film “Contagion,” which is highlighted below. The film was an interesting composite of what might happen during a modern-day pandemic. I remember enjoying the film and also appreciating how realistic the plot seemed even though I believed the…

By Cal Garrison This week’s Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Gemini Moon that will turn Void-of-Course then enter Cancer. The business of being in quarantine has been a mixed bag for me. I have definitely enjoyed the peace and quiet and the long afternoon naps in the sun, but I noticed…

By Merisa Sherman It has been cold. Not that wonderful “let’s go skiing” kind of cold but the kind of cold that gets you way down deep in your spine. A spine-chilling cold that you never seem to get away from. My mom would tell me to turn the heat up, but I’m the kind…

Having a Ball By Dom Cioffi At some point during my early teenage years, I decided that basketball was going to be my thing. I don’t remember there being an epiphany or single moment when this dawned on me. Rather, the sport slowly enveloped my attention until it was the most important part of my…