By Kyle Finneron This week I asked all of the participants to think about their lives if they woke up tomorrow and had their ideal body. I wanted them to really imagine what their lives would be like, what would they be doing and how different their life would be. It sounds like a…

  By Beth Roberts This week at our weekly meeting we hit my favorite point so far. As always we talked about the nutrition plan, discussed how their workouts had gone for the week and how they were feeling about everything. I realized they were on the verge of that pivotal point that is so…

Sharing Otter Creek’s Over Easy session beer with Harpoon head brewer Scott Shirley Some trends come and go. Some get absorbed into the mainstream. A few years ago, a trend of robust beer styles with prefixes like imperial and double proliferated the marketplace (and our refrigerators). Craft beer drinkers, in their constant pursuit of flavor,…

By Brady Crain The view from about halfway up Ascutney Mountain on Tuesday, June 16.  It quickly clouded over and the peak was socked in in no time. This week was a rough one for training. I have stopped lifting weights until the event, and have been pushing harder in endurance exercise. My ride this…

By Meghan McCarthy McPhaul Helicopters. Keys. Whirligigs. Samaras. Whatever you call the winged seeds released by maple trees, here’s one more word for them: delicious. Like many New Englanders, I have fond childhood memories of dropping maple “helicopters” from a height and watching them twist and twirl down to the ground. My children do the…

I’ve been a basketball fan of fluctuating devotedness all my life, and every year, I have managed to despise at least one of the two teams in the NBA Finals—until this year. In the 2015 NBA Finals, I actually wanted both teams to win. The Golden State Warriors are impossible to dislike. They’re young, fast,…

In the summer of the 1950s and 1960s all of my friends could be found at the city pool on North Main Street. It was located on the west side of the street not far from Seward’s Restaurant. North Main Street, a.k.a. Route 7 North, was a two lane road in those days.  We were…

By Cal Garrison, a.k.a. Mother of the Skye This week's Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Virgo Moon, one that is bathed in the afterglow of the midsummer crossquarter. Even though the solstice is technically over, it helps to remember that the lines of demarcation are not cut-and-dried in this reality —…

By Dom Cioffi My son graduated from elementary school last week. I never thought you could graduate from elementary school. I just thought it ended and the next year you started middle school. But apparently, times have changed. It turned out to be quite the festive occasion with a large school ceremony, bouquets of flowers…

By Cal Garrison, a.k.a. Mother of the Skye This week's Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a brand new Gemini Moon and a bunch of really interesting aspects that I am not in the mood to explain because I am too busy having fun; that's right folks! The one my second husband used…

Barb Wood I. Am. Human. I have to keep telling myself this. Humans crave flavorful food. It is my addiction. So how do I manage the day-to-day? I strive to make better decisions about food and exercise. When life presents you with a buffet of options, how do you make the right choice? Someone once told me we have three options: the…

By Kyle Finneron I would like to start by saying that the previous write up about gym etiquette and the one that follows are in no way directed towards any particular people. These are simply general/universal rules of etiquette that should be followed when in the gym and the weight room. Broken equipment There may…

By Beth Roberts This is the fourth week of the Body Transformation Challenge and at our weekly group training, we challenged the participants with another round of the circuits they had completed the week before. Everyone looked stronger again and some admitted that it felt a little easier already. The rest of our group training…

By Beth Roberts Everywhere we look there are different challenges designed to improve your health. There are exercises to add to your daily routine: a month of 30 burpees each day, a month of daily planks, a month of 100 push ups a day. Clean eating challenges to eliminate cravings for unhealthy foods that offer…

Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor, UVM Looking for an easy perennial vine that can grow in various situations, has a range of flower colors in both singles and doubles, and that provides a long flowering show in spring or summer? Consider the versatile clematis. Although there are many other common names for clematis, the most…