I am writing to you this week from my parents’ house – well, my house now. I am sitting at a card table set up where the dining room table used to be. I am at the stage of clearing out my parents’ house where I am equal parts frustrated, nostalgic and overwhelmed. One piece […]

Moving. Ugh. I swore the last time, when we bought our sweet little farm we love so much, that it was our last move. “Never again!” was the rallying cry as we slogged through the stacks of boxes and bubble wrap. I meant it, too. I love this place and would have been perfectly content […]

I had to say goodbye to my old horse, Henry, this week. But I am not here to talk about that. It feels like I’ve been doing a lot of talking about death lately. What I want to talk about instead is purpose. I belong to the school of thought that believes that, ultimately, our […]

Well folks, I had intended to have a whole other conversation with you right now, but you are going to have to wait a week for my intended thoughts because: wow. The aurora borealis! Did you see it? Was it amazing where you were? I saw it, and it was breathtaking where I was. I […]

Maine is a land of traditions. Some of them are beautiful. A few are even profound. Some of them are distinctly odd. Most of them are seasonal. None of them (or at least none that I can think of) are pretentious. Which, in its own way, is another one of our traditions. That plaid-clad, down-to-earth […]

“Where are you from?” Such an interesting question. On the one hand, I think it is absolutely fundamental to the human experience to ask this. It is rooted in the primal idea of “clan,” the big question of “friend or foe?” I think about all of the many cultures where when people meet, they greet […]

Sept. 11 is a day of national mourning. This year marked the 23rd anniversary of the awful, sad, mind-boggling day when terrorists took so many lives. Moments in history like that, the big traumas, they leave a really big scar. You remember where you were. I was home, snuggled up with my not-quite-1-year-old baby. He […]

Our state gets a lot of visitors. This is not news to anyone. After all, though we may think of ourselves as “the Pine Tree State,” our license plates proclaimed us “Vacationland” way back in 1936 – and it seems to have stuck. That’s fine. We are a gracious state, we roll out the pine […]

Happy Labor Day! By the time you are reading this, the holiday will have come and gone. How was it? I would love to spend some time talking about the holiday origins and labor unions, but I am here right now to talk about Labor Day as a marker, a line to be crossed on […]

OK everybody, here we are at my most favorite time of year – fair season. I mean, OK, it can be an exhausting day. You get hot and dusty, and sort of overwhelmed with sights, sounds, smells and crowds. But, oh, who am I kidding? All worth it, it’s the fair! The thing about the […]