By Merisa Sherman I awoke to a deafening silence. The birds of spring, so vocal in their morning song, had vanished. In fact, there was no noise at all — an eerie silence had overtaken the earth. It was almost as if a sound absorbing blanket had been spread over the earth while we had…

A good friend died recently. At the age of 80 all his life insurance had expired and his savings were spent. His family, financially, were living from week to week. His failing health along with Covid-19 put him in an intensive care unit for days apart from his family where he died. His hospitalization brought…

A week ago, I explained how I was sitting on the deck of a beautiful boutique hotel overlooking the pristine waters of the Caribbean while writing my column. This week, unfortunately, I’m back to my living room chair. It’s hard returning home after any vacation, but this one was especially difficult. The weather, people, food,…

By Kevin Theissen If you have been procrastinating on one, some or all aspects of your personal finances, why not apply the concept of spring cleaning to your money? The following are some ideas to get started or restarted: Get organized The first thing to do when organizing your finances is to collect all your…

By Cassandra Tyndall What is one area of your life that is so solid, you could never imagine it going wrong? Is it your relationship? Your career? Or maybe it’s something you’ve cultivated within yourself, such as a spiritual relationship with the divine or an unshakeable belief in yourself. The opposite can also be true.…

By Sandra Dee Owens All my life, I noticed it. The presence of a gentle, internal voice, offering helpful suggestions I mostly ignored. No, not ignored ... flicked off my shoulder like a bothersome bug. I gave my internal guidance system no respect or attention. And all my life, I noticed a collection of bold,…

By Mary Ellen Shaw By the time April arrives gardeners tend to get a little antsy. The temperature can be toasty warm one day and chilly the next. You want to plant some flowers but it’s just too early. However, there is still plenty to do in your yards and gardens as we get ready…

By Merisa Sherman For a few days every spring, there comes a magical moment for paddlers in Vermont. A section of the Otter Creek swells over the road and fills in a dairy farm pasture. The fields and some forests fill with a few feet of water, making this a paddler’s dream adventure. For years,…

I am presently sitting on the deck of a small boutique hotel in the Caribbean overlooking a tropical bay littered with yachts, catamarans, and sailboats of various sizes. Many of the vessels I see are moored together in groups of two and three with the passengers enjoying evening cocktails and revelry; the music is ubiquitous…

By Kevin Theissen Some data suggests that divorce rates in the U.S. have been falling in recent decades. Whether this is accurate or not, many people face the difficult challenges that come when their marriage ends. Getting a divorce is a painful, emotional process. Don’t be in such a hurry to reach a settlement that…

By Susan Shea On a warm, rainy April night a few years ago, I drove up our muddy, rutted dirt road through the mist, steering around the wood frogs hopping across the road. As I approached the vernal pool, there were more frogs in the road, so I parked to avoid hitting them and walked…

By Cassandra Tyndall Regardless of your location on the globe, April brings a change in the weather. In some parts, such as where I’m from, the night creeps up on the day. While in other parts, the evenings grow longer in anticipation for an endless summer. With the turn of the seasons, brings a turn…

By Merisa Sherman They were everywhere. Random and haphazard, they were strewn about like something had exploded. Pieces of all shapes and sizes littered the ground, discarded from their base as if they were nothing. Things that were once essential were now strewn about as if they had never really mattered in the first place.…

By Gary Salmon So how do trees work like a bank account? When they are sequestering carbon as all trees have over eons. A forest of trees is like principal, that grows and occasionally gets partially withdrawn (harvested). The faster and longer the growth the greater return from your collection of carbon sequesterers. It’s a…

At this very moment, nestled into the sediment at the bottom of your nearest lake or pond, are Daphnia eggs – as many as 100,000 per square meter, according to one Michigan study. A genus of microscopic crustaceans, Daphnia are sometimes known as “water fleas,” and their eggs can remain viable for anywhere from several…