By Marguerite Jill Dye Do you have a friend whose healing hugs and spoken words encourage and inspire you? Do you have a friend who sees your strengths and teaches you how to overcome weaknesses? I do. Argentine born artist Graciela Giles emanates love, joy, and healing energy. Mom introduced us years ago. She feels…

. By Laurie D. Morrissey There’s a giant living in northern Coös County, New Hampshire. It’s a 61-foot tall tree, the country’s largest known American mountain ash. At last measurement, it stood at a height of 61 feet and had a circumference of 70 inches. That’s outstanding for a tree that’s described by most sources,…

Some of us (and that includes me) have had our Christmas decorations up since the day after Thanksgiving. But by mid-December “the spirit moves” just about everyone. As you bring out your boxes of decorations you will find them filled not just with “things,” but memories. When I start removing items from the boxes my…

By Cal Garrison a.k.a. Mother of the Skye This week’s Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Moon that will be sitting in the late degrees of Capricorn until it moves into Aquarius. The next 10 days will bring us to the Winter Solstice. This period of time is climactic, in the sense…

Wednesday Dec. 12 KILLINGTON 6 p.m. Liquid Art Open Mic with Fiddlewitch 7:30 p.m. Sushi Yoshi Music Trivia Bingo with DJ Dave PAWLET 7 p.m. The Barn Restaurant and Tavern “Pickin’ in Pawlet” POULTNEY 5 p.m. Taps Tavern Beer Dinner and Craig Agus Ceol RUTLAND 9:30 p.m. Hide-A-Way Tavern College Night with DJ Mega Thursday…

By Dom Cioffi A couple weeks ago I sat down at my computer, cup of coffee in hand, and pulled up the morning’s email. I rifled through the prerequisite offers for discount drugs, quickly deleting them as fast as I could read their suggestive subject lines. There were also a few pertinent emails about work,…

By Marguerite Jill Dye This time of year, we often reach out to loved ones and sometimes to people we haven’t met yet. It’s a time to give gifts and bestow blessings through kind actions because some of the best gifts cannot be bought: they are given from deep in our hearts. The gift of…

By Carolyn Lorié I once lived in a cottage perched atop a sloping field in Western Massachusetts. It was the lone structure at the edge of undeveloped forest and sat far from the road. The cottage had a large front deck with an expansive view and a smaller one in back that faced the forest.…

I’m inspired by artists’ journeys and the quality of their powerful work on an international blog that features 52 artists each year. It’s called “Artists Tell Their Stories.” Beginning Dec. 6, I’m honored to be the artist of the week. Along with showing colorful paintings of various places I’ve traveled and lived, it’s made me…

By Dave Hoffenberg “Sing us a song you’re the piano man. Sing us a song tonight Well we’re all in the mood for a melody And you got us feeling alright,” sang Billy Joel. Brad Morgan is the piano man I’m referring to and you can catch him the next few weekends at Killington’s new…

By Dom Cioffi On March 24, 1975, in Summit County, Ohio, a heavyweight boxing match was held between Muhammad Ali and a relatively obscure fighter named Chuck Wepner. Wepner was a journeyman boxer with a semi-respectable record. What he was known most for was leaving fights covered in his own blood, as attested by his…

By Rep. Jim Harrison You are out on a walk and you see the dark clouds nearby. Do you seek shelter or take a chance on the storm passing by? Last week there was a fiscal briefing for all new and returning legislators at the State House. While some of the information shared was positive,…

By Cal Garrison a.k.a Mother of the Skye This week’s Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Moon that will be sitting on the Libra-Scorpio cusp until it officially enters Scorpio, a little after 2 p.m. on Dec. 3. My Sun is in Virgo, but I have a ton of Scorpionic energy. With…

By Mary Ellen Shaw I don’t know about you but if you are old enough to be called a “senior” you probably miss dealing with “real people” when you have business to transact. Face-to-face will always be my preferred way of doing things. But when the place of business isn’t local you are forced to…

By Brett Amy Thelen It’s the time of year when the landscape is laid bare, the ground is impenetrable with frost, and flying insects have faded into memory. As fall slides into winter, resident songbirds like robins and waxwings must switch from their warm weather diets of earthworms and arthropods to the best of what’s…