By Dom Cioffi I was giving my son and his buddy a ride to grab lunch the other day and happened to mention that school was just around the corner. “What’s that supposed to mean?” my son responded indignantly. “It means that summer’s over in two weeks,” I replied. “You’re lying!” he countered with an assured…

By Cal Garrison, a.k.a. Mother of the Skye I’m writing this on  Aug. 7 with the sun sitting at 15 degrees, 19 minutes Leo, and the moon juxtaposed at 15 degrees, 19 minutes Aquarius, The Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a full solar eclipse. This particular eclipse has already gotten so much…

By Dom Cioffi This past weekend I had the pleasure of playing guilt-free golf. (Let me explain if you’ve never heard of this.) My golfing career has basically coincided with my marriage, meaning, I picked up golf right around the time I got married. In that time, I have had to balance my love for…

By Kevin Theissen In early July, Financial Times (FT) published a story titled “Five markets charts that matter for investors.” Among the issues addressed in the charts were the bond market bear watch. The yield on 10-year German Bunds (Germany’s government bonds) reached an 18-month high of 0.58 percent recently. Yields rose after the European…

By Brady Crain I’ve been house sitting in Jersey City for the last few days, and for the next week. I love coming to the city — going to the museums, the culture, the music — except the exhausting roar of tires and air conditioners that is virtually ever present in a New York City…

By Marguerite Jill Dye It was high time we hiked up the Deer Leap trail once again but I’d forgotten what a challenge it was. Even with my twin hiking poles keeping me balanced, placing my feet atop, in between, and over boulders and rocks, carefully picking our way was difficult and tiring. As we slowly…

By Mary Ellen Shaw If you have a garden area that is close to the street you get to meet a lot of people while you work. These people seem to fit into the category of “walkers”—dog walkers, fitness walkers and stroller pushers. I am always happy when one of them stops to tell me…

By Lisa Niccolai Walk through a hardwood forest this month and it may seem more like October than July. Trees that normally provide cool shade have bare crowns with just a hint of green. And is the bark on that sugar maple moving? This is not a trick of the light: you are, in fact,…

By Bret Yates What does it mean that the music video for “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth is now the most viewed YouTube clip of all time? First of all, given the initial conception of YouTube as a repository for user-created (or at least user-uploaded) video, it’s kind of disappointing—although deeply…

By Cal Garrison, aka Mother of the Skye This week’s Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Scorpio Moon. On July 31, at approximately 7:10 a.m. (EST) the Moon will turn Void-of-Course, and remain in that condition until 8:10 a.m. (EST) on Tuesday morning, Aug. 1. That means we had one whole day to roll down our…

By Barbara Mackay I love the fact that there is always something new to observe in nature. Take goldfinches, for example. I have often watched them devour milkweed seeds from an acrobatic, upside-down position. Recently, I spotted several bright yellow males perched atop dandelion stems, plucking the seedheads at a frenzied pace. Previously, I had…

By Marguerite Jill Dye Exactly one year ago I wrote my first weekly column in the Mountain Times when a Canada lynx kitten was perched outside our home upon our return from Woodstock. The magnificent creature appeared during the annual Bookstock literary festival and seemed like a fitting event. It blended the genres of mystery (to…

By Brady Crain Things are going really well with the back surgery recovery. Now that I can move my arms about and twist my spine, even trips to the chiropractor are easier, and it feels good to get back to the morning routine I have had forever, where I tumble out of bed, do a…

By Mary Ellen Shaw In the heat of summer I can’t help but think of the many days back in the 50s and 60s that I spent at the Rutland City pool. It was located on the west side on North Main Street where there is green space today. Its history goes back to 1929…

By Brett Yates When I read about the fiasco that ensued when the South Burlington School Board decided to change the nickname of the local high school’s sports teams, I had a moment of déja vu that took a few minutes of Googling to resolve. In case you missed it, the racially insensitive moniker of…