Category Archives: Columns

Published pieces I’ve written, primarily in The Recorder, Greenfield, Mass.

Nesting

A wet, sticky week. Nesting season. Signs everywhere. Just this morning, Wednesday, on our daily romp, the dogs and I bumped into an average-sized snapping turtle of the most ornery countenance in a shallow puddle not far from a beaver pond. Chubby found it, knew better, barked and kept his distance. Lily really didn’t bother […]

Springtime Capsule

Steamy and sticky it was for our Wednesday-morning walk, the dogs now kenneled and my brow still perspiring from the romp around Sunken Meadow, where we caught the sights, the sounds, the scents, the sweet smell of spring overwhelming, four interesting mushrooms, large and showy, sprouted along the fallen trunk of a chestnut oak. I […]

Checklist

Nature Lessons

It’s May Day — Workers Unite! — gray and wet, a saturating rain casting a warm green glow across the freshly mowed lawn out the window; large, twin Japanese maples along the southern perimeter at their prettiest red, the hues slightly different, right one a tad softer. I have often wondered why, then spat out […]

Checklist

Life was good, the weather fine, a cool, stiff south wind making our walk pleasant indeed as random thoughts ran through my consciousness, not unlike the dogs sliding in and out of Sunken Meadow’s dense wetland perimeter. Driving in, the two Canada geese Chubby’s been playing with for months were for the first time in […]

Observations

My, how that 90-degree Monday brought in the leafing and blossoming of spring. Overnight, my two large Japanese maples went from subtle buds to small, delicate red leaves, the burning bushes and bridal wreath suddenly became opaque, pink flowers popped out on the apple tree, a similar hue appeared on three Kwanzon cherries, and the […]

Field Trip

Here I sit for the second time today, just couldn’t get started on my first attempt, distracted, too many options. To remedy the little stalemate, I decided to load up the dogs and take a walk through the twin sunken meadows, which always seem to lift me to a better place. When I returned a […]

Bait, Barbs and Poignant Memories

The sports desk flashed the green light Tuesday night, said Wednesday’s local schedule was thin indeed. “Oh good,” I thought. “Now I can go right to town on that column I started Monday and revisited Tuesday.” So, proceed with caution. I have been known to get carried away. Which reminds me. I was in my own little […]

Circling the Bases

I can see the rain pouring down outside, hear it splashing off the flagstone terrace. I knew I should have thrown that whole cord of wood in this morning. Blame the wife, an easy, unjustified target. Up just after 7, I made coffee, fed the fire, got dressed and immediately went to gather wood and […]

Cougars & Stuff

Daffodils stand straight as an Episcopal preacher, cardinals sing their joyous tunes and life is good, spring optimism saturating my nostrils, filling my lungs, penetrating deep into my cynical soul. I love spring but must admit it was not kind to me as a kid. When an adolescent’s sap ascends from his roots, oh my, […]

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