Archive

After Tigger died at 21, the pantry soon filled again with field mice skittering about and adding what looked like rough-ground pepper to our rice, nuts, pasta, and silverware. “That’s… Read More

Sometimes I worry that we’re at risk of succumbing to our own arrogance as a species. A quick history … In primitive times, just after we lost our prehensile tails,… Read More

After my wife stuffed a last minute contraband wheel of very ripe Livarot cheese into her carry-on luggage, we entered the airport, cleared security, and settled into our seats for… Read More

The essence of a good cultural collision is usually found in language, the malaprop’s a good example. Growing up in Morrisville in the shadow of Stowe’s social ascendancy in the… Read More

On our occasional visits to England, we’ve taken up renting Landmark Trust properties, which are considerably less expensive than hotels, especially when friends and family join in. We usually rent… Read More

We recently decided to dig a pond in the retired pasture next to our house. It raised some questions, the most common of which is, “Is the bottom yucky?” I… Read More

The concept may come as a surprise to some, but the notion is an old and venerable one. In Medieval times, hovels were usually heated with people, animals and a… Read More

Luckily, I spent my puberty in an all-male boarding school in New Hampshire. I began to shave there, only because my father had given me a razor and a pack… Read More

My imperious grandmother’s sister, maiden aunt Rose, was considered “frail.” She rarely saw anyone outside her coterie of effete friends who frequented the old Metropolitan Opera on 39th and Broadway.… Read More

When I was a cub scout in Morrisville in 1953, one of my merit badge projects was to learn Morse code. Another was talking into orange juice cans connected by… Read More

As a public service, commentator Bill Schubart warns public radio listeners of the deceptive practices used to entice you into inviting deadly roosters into your home in the springtime. All… Read More

When this reporter was young in the middle of the last century in Morrisville, Greaves Dairy delivered two scratched glass bottles filled with delicious opal-colored cream, floating on fresh whole… Read More