By Cal Garrison, a.k.a. Mother of the Skye This week’s Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Virgo Moon, in the wake of a series of aspects that have led more than one person to write and ask me if the “Sky is Falling:” No kidding. Evidently, there are a number of astrologers…

Courtesy of Brady Crain Crain in 1997 at 235 pounds. “#$%@#$ *#$% God @#$*%^& stupid @#$*% East Mountain Road!” After my big run last Friday, I did a bunch of basic recovery stuff, hiking, biking, and skiing. Sunday I went for a run on Superstar. My legs betrayed me, and I crossed my tips and…

By Daris Howard I was a junior in high school when the first calculators came out, and they did little more than add, subtract, multiply, and divide. By the time I graduated from college, Hewlett Packard had advanced calculator technology a lot. The testing center at the university I was attending was given some calculators…

By Michael J. Caduto In the early 1960s, Euell Gibbons wrote “Stalking the Wild Asparagus” and introduced millions of North Americans to the virtues of harvesting wild foods. Since that time, gathering wild edibles has become increasingly popular, and in our region, woods-grown delicacies such as ramps and fiddlehead ferns appear in grocery stores each…

The conveniences and safety factors in today’s cars were not in effect when I was growing up back in the 1950s. A friend and I were reminiscing about car trips when we were kids. There were no seat belts and the cars I rode in did not have air conditioning. When you wanted air flow…

Have you noticed that, in national news articles, reporters increasingly tend to quote statements that emerge from the Twitter pages—rather than the actual mouths—of public figures? I’m not writing to complain about this. Twitter is a popular medium for trivial and nontrivial communication alike. Most politicians and celebrities use it. Tweets can be important; they…

By Dom Cioffi There are certain things in the developed world that are easy to take for granted: the relative safety we experience, the medical care available to us, and the food we have access to. But the one thing we always count on without much thought is water. In this country especially, we turn…

By Brady Crain The view from Deers Leap looking out to Route 4 and Pico Mountain. One of the perks of running trails is view like this! It’s been an interesting week of training. Last week I did an 18.11-mile run (a loop through Plymouth and Bridgewater on Routes 4, 100 and 100A, with approximately…

Alder and Willow Flycatchers: sibling species By Steven D. Faccio By mid-May each year I begin to look forward to the return of the alder flycatchers that nest in the willows along the stream near our house. Usually the last migrant to arrive on our property, this small, drab gray bird with its sneeze-like song,…

Like all serious literary artists, I exist within a near-constant state of writer’s block and often have to consult other people for ideas. When I ask my girlfriend Quinn what I should write about for my column, she always has the same answer: “Me.” I ask what I should write about her. She tells me…

By Cal Garrison, a.k.a Mother of the Skye This week’s Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Pisces Moon, with aspects that include the movement of the planet Mars, into the sign of the Twins. Whenever Mars enters Gemini the Male Principle splits in two and gives us a chance to approach things…

Flowering trees are beginning to bud and perennial flowers are starting to poke their heads through the dirt. These brave souls endured a really frigid winter and will soon wow us with their tenacity. Many of the annual blossoms in our yard have a meaningful connection to people in my life. I welcome the memories…

A gangly nerd avenges his past with extreme forays into athletics I was born a sickly child. Asthma, pneumonia, and scarlet fever frequented my childhood home. Moving to Vermont at the end of my seventh year, I grew up a wheezing nerd (a moniker I wear proudly). I grew up believing that I would never…

Go figure: how tree burls grow By Joe Rankin I’ve had my eye on this maple in my woods for some time. Not because it’s a beautiful timber tree. It’s only about eight inches in diameter, after all. But it has an interesting burl about 14 feet up the trunk. As a woodturner, I love…

Where does Tom Brady rank within the annals of sports cheaters? On May 6, the NFL’s 243-page “Wells Report” implicated Brady in January’s “Deflategate” scandal, wherein the Indianapolis Colts accused the New England Patriots of using underinflated footballs—in violation of the league’s p.s.i. requirements—during their AFC Championship victory. Now, the official word is that, yes,…