I got my first taste of winter fun in the 1940s when I was bundled up and placed in a wooden sleigh that was made for a small child. I still have that sleigh today. It has a back to lean against, a wrought iron handle for pushing it and metal runners. My mother was…

Aside from a total bitch of a cold that has settled into my lungs for a long winter nap, this has been a kickass week. Great skiing, great snow, great skiing, and more great snow. I’ve been super impressed with the skiing and the snow, did I mention that? I have some new equipment too,…

Shortly before Thanksgiving, internet content farms began releasing articles about how to avoid contentious political discussions with relatives during the holiday season, as if, in the absence of clever techniques of distraction, the carving knife intended for the turkey might soon turn into a weapon. In late November, we were fresh off a nightmare election;…

By Cal Garrison, a.k.a. Mother of the Skye This week’s Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Virgo Moon, on the cusp of the Winter Solstice. The Solstice falls on Dec. 21, this year, but these days leading up to it are pregnant with life. To top it all off, Mercury goes retrograde…

By Kyle Finneron Organic is a term that I’m sure most people have heard by now. In the early days of organic foods there were only a few vegetables that were available in an organic capacity, but now the list has grown to an excessive level. As we speak I am drinking organic coffee, my…

By DJ Dave Hoffenberg “I’m funny how, I mean funny like I’m a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I’m here to freakin’ amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?” said Tommy DeVito in “Goodfellas.” If you want to see how people are funny, then head to…

Mountain Meditation By Marguerite Jill Dye A friend asked me to write about the Electoral College but, honestly, I don’t have the heart. Hillary Clinton won 2.8 million (and counting) more votes than her opponent and I’ve held out hope that enough state recounts and adjusted electoral votes could result in a miracle and change…

By Ned Swanberg When I’m hiking, I like to watch for rock basins, sometimes as small as cupped hands, that appear along summits and ridgelines. These are “thin places.” When filled with water, these tiny quivering pools offer a deep plunge into time. Basins run the gamut from Star Lake, a half-acre tarn beside New…

This week has been a blur of skiing, lifting weights, and selling solar. Having skied a blissful 45 days so far (every operating day of the resort), and having had a couple of genuine powder days, I can honestly say that this year is off to a great start, and I am living my joy.…

For some reason, all of the classic TV Christmas specials were produced in the mid-to-late 1960s, starting with “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1964) and continuing through “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” (1966) to “Frosty the Snowman” (1969). As a kid, I watched all three every year, along with “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (1965),…

By Marguerite Jill Dye Our grueling, marathon campaigns and election have been a long haul and have caused sustained stress for many people. Many Americans are depressed, in shock, and grieving for a sense of loss of the nation we love and are fearful of what lies ahead. The stakes are high and the future…

By Elise Tillinghast House sparrows—those little brown and gray birds that flash mob the bird feeder—are common and easy to see. They’re quarrelsome, noisy, and when they’re on the ground, they move in vigorous hops that remind me of popcorn popping out of a pan. They’re also an invasive species, scavengers that have hitched their…

My husband, Peter, and I are fans of tennis. Although we don’t have a lot of “needs” when it comes to what we watch on TV, we do like to follow tennis tournaments throughout the year. The Tennis Channel will soon be leaving our “sports package” and moving to higher level of programming. Of course,…

By Merisa Sherman, author of Tales from a Female Ski Bum blog Like so many East Coasters, I grew up ski racing. Membership in the Killington Ski Team meant that my family had a legitimate reason to spend every weekend skiing. Any small amount of success meant that I could justify taking Fridays or Mondays…

The first order of business this week is to congratulate Killington, their volunteers, and their “Beast”-ly snow crew for putting up one hell of a show for the FIS Womens World Cup.  It was a great, tough course with lots of drama, and most importantly, it brought out an audience that pushed records for regular…