By DJ Dave Hoffenberg Doors open at 7, Chris Pallutto opens the show at 8 p.m. and the Outlaws will take the stage around 9-9:30 p.m. This is the first concert of the winter season and it should be a rocking good time. I had the pleasure of interviewing founding singer/songwriter/guitarist Henry Paul. The Outlaws…

By Mary Ellen Shaw Shopping for food in Rutland back in the ’50s was an entirely different experience than it is today. The Rutland Directory for 1955 has 50 listings under the heading of “Grocer.” Only two of those stores were large chain stores. One of them was the A & P (Atlantic and Pacific…

By Sandra Dee Owens What direction is your dial set to? There is one thing I do in order to improve anything in my life. One single thing. I keep moving forward. I love how simple that is. But as we all know, simple is not the same as easy. No matter how sucky things…

By Jen Weimer For many of us, this season involves hunting, gathering, and preparing for a long, cold winter. This often includes stacking (or restacking) the firewood that’s been seasoning while we enjoyed the laid back warmer months of summer. Humans have used wood as a source of heat since they learned to control fire…

By Conrad Baker Swift and apparently silent, a lone bat traces the contours of the woods’ edge at dusk, floating through canopy and meadow. In the last daylight, a sharp-eyed observer might catch a glimpse of white armpits, indicating that this is no barn bat or attic bat. This is an eastern red bat. Eastern…

By Dom Cioffi I was a collector as a child. At first, I collected stuffed animals and picture books. Then I moved on to army men and Matchbox cars. Later, it was baseball cards and record albums. Along the way, I found a bevy of other items that I felt I needed to hoard into…

By Merisa Sherman I adjusted the mask on my face for like the 15th time that day. The hard plastic kept scratching my face and I knew, I just knew, that I would have a big mark for, like, the next few weeks. My dad and I had cut a mask so it worked perfectly…

Asking the hard question: Are we better together or apart? Years ago, when our children left our nest to build their own, my husband and I sat down and asked ourselves a very hard question. Are we better together—or apart? Our marriage is, and always has been strong, solid—and scrappy. It seems that two people…

By Liz DiMarco Weinmann As we navigate the return to in-person work, stricter dress codes, business travel and meals with clients, I’m hoping that the importance of being respectful to colleagues hasn’t disappeared entirely. But, considering the past few years of social isolation, it’s reasonable to expect that we all could benefit from a refresher…

By Kevin Theissen It is now official that starting in January Social Security benefit checks will be going up by 8.7%. The CPI-W, which is the index used to calculate the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), rose by 8.5% over the last year to an index level of 291.8. The Social Security Administration (SSA) takes the…

By Dom Cioffi I took my father-in-law to a professional football game last weekend. Football is one of the few things we bond over, so if I must spend an extended amount of time with him, I prefer it to revolve around football. He’s originally from New York (having grown up in Brooklyn), so he’s…

By Rachel Sargent Mirus One neighbor calls our house “the spider house” because so many orb weavers spin webs outside our large living room windows. Our spiders work on their webs at dawn and dusk, and I watch their silhouettes against pastel skies as they move like aerialists – twisting, pulling, building, repairing. The orb…

By Mary Ellen Shaw The morning host of a local radio station who is fairly new to Rutland said he sees signs on buildings for businesses that are no longer open. He named a few of them and invited people to tell him what they miss about not being able to go to these places.…

By Merisa Sherman Brrr, it has been getting chilly lately. I know, because I am sitting here snuggled up in my favorite down puffy coat getting warm by the remnants of the Killington Block Party bonfire. It’s still going strong this morning after reaching to the treetops last night. Whereas last night, it was surrounded…

By Merisa Sherman We let the dogs lead the way, frolicking and bouncing as is their want when they are just 10-month-old black labradors. A full zest for everything they can possible sniff along the way but always wanting to keep mom in visible range. This young gentleman never ventured further away than a retractable leash would…