The narration, a modern version of the second chapter of Luke, began the old familiar Christmas story. Mary and Joseph shuffled down the church aisle on cue, Mary cuddling a bundle clearly intended to be the baby Jesus, and Joseph strangely empty-handed. The mother laid the infant in a repre…
It’s deep in winter, and a nor’easter is dumping snow outside. In between the howling winds, you hear a boom. Maybe a heap of snow fell from the roof, you think, or a giant icicle crashed from the eaves. A few minutes later, another boom pounds through the blizzard’s gales. It’s closer this …
Every three years, Rutland Regional Medical Center has a responsibility to evaluate the health needs of our community. When we say “community,” we’re talking about a larger area that includes all of Rutland County. Being the second most populated county in Vermont means our community is dive…
One winter day, while teaching a winter ecology class, I pulled on waders and rubber gloves, grabbed a catch net, and led my “Minibeasts of the Stream” program, discovering a rich variety of insects in the frigid waters of Kedron Brook in South Woodstock, Vermont.
You know you’ve reached the age of mental saturation when, in spite of everything that’ll be happening between now and New Year’s Day, your major concern isn’t whether you’ll take the Polar Plunge into the sea to welcome in the new year, but where and when you’ll manage to change into your b…
There are countless things that can go right or wrong in a garden. Some of them are obvious: too much or too little water, diseases, pests and critters that nibble on our plants. Other things that can make or break your gardening efforts are less obvious. It’s those little details that can b…
The text at 7:07 a.m. read, “Hey, are you up,” the start of my introduction to one of the most beautiful creatures I’ve ever seen.
Home for the holidays? Family time is good for you. Strong family ties can help you live a longer, healthier life.
Of all life’s synergies, I appreciate most the one between my propensity for domestic procrastination and my love of moving through the outdoors — countless adventures are born of it. During a late November weekend, when faced with a day spent winterizing our home, my husband and I instead p…
My father, raised conservative Dutch Reformed and later ordained an Episcopal priest, never would venture onto a computer or the internet, even when I gave him the computer and showed him how. When I asked him why, his answer was a bit evasive, but what it boiled down to was that the devil l…
‘Tis the season to be jolly with family, friends, food and drink! Research published in the Journal of Obesity showed the average weight gain from Thanksgiving to New Years is anywhere from 0.8 to 2 pounds, much less than one might think. But if you gain 2 pounds yearly, before you know it, …
In a scene reminiscent of Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol,” every year, the children of the town of Danby receive gifts from a wealthy benefactor who was once a miserly tyrant. He drove his workers mercilessly, forcing them to work from dawn to dusk. He forbade them to carry pocket watches, lest…
The Outside Story
Praised by foodies and lovers of Asian cuisine, ginger is known for its culinary and medicinal properties. Grated, chopped, juiced or cut into thin strips, ginger is versatile and consumed as a spice, a beverage or an accompaniment in savory dishes as well as desserts. Spicy and aromatic, gi…
My friend, the late Walker Weed, of Etna, New Hampshire, was the oldest member of the Geriatric Adventure Society, and easily the most experienced. When he offered an opinion or a pronouncement, I listened. He opined one day that, if you ever have had an especially good experience — say, a t…
Almost all children are exposed to RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) before age 2. For most, it’s like having a cold. But some children, especially the very young, can become dangerously sick.
The mention of mistletoe evokes images of a seasonal kissing ball adorned with its leaves and berries or of someone sneaking a kiss beneath a sprig of mistletoe hanging in a doorway. You probably don’t think about where mistletoe comes from or what part it plays in the ecosystems where it gr…
I’ve always loved the idea of watching the sky for shooting stars. But I’m much more likely to be up to watch the sunrise than I am to stay awake past midnight, when most meteor showers are visible. Lucky for me, the upcoming Geminids meteor shower will provide an opportunity to wish upon a …
For thousands of years, people have decorated their homes with evergreen boughs, a symbol of eternal life, during the darkest time of the year — around the winter solstice and Christmas. In addition to common species such as spruce and fir, I’ve noticed another evergreen in my neighborhood: …
It’s difficult to tell who discovered it first — politicians, advertisers or the mainstream media. All of them make hay by scaring people. Any of us can lose our minds on a steady diet of CNN, for example, whose sponsors warn us of the imminent collapse of our automobiles ($4,000), the threa…
Teeds
Remember When
As the days grow shorter, the wintry winds of December will bring with them a host of holidays — and holiday plants. Walk into most stores, and you’ll see shelves of poinsettias, holiday cactus and amaryllis among many others geared towards decorating our homes and gifting to our loved ones.
If you have a gardener in your life and need some help selecting a gift, read on for some ideas that should please even the choosiest of gardeners.
Do you feel out of sorts? Are you finding it hard to join in on all the holiday enthusiasm that seems to be everywhere you turn, try as you might? You may be suffering from SAD or seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression and depressive disorder that follows a recurrent seasonal patt…
The holidays are typically a time for celebration and connection, but some people find they feel lonely during this time of the year, especially if they are far from family and friends or have lost loved ones. Even people who have busy social calendars during the holidays may experience lone…
A prominent figure in the history of American landscape design, Beatrix Farrand née Jones (1872-1959) was the mastermind behind the idyllic grounds of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden on Mount Desert Island in Maine and Dumbarton Oaks Gardens in Washington, D.C., among numerous others.
Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I grabbed a camera, three lenses, a tripod, a spare camera battery, and ran out the door for what I hoped would be my first decent opportunity to photograph a bull moose in years.
If you are prone to looking up as you walk (or pedal or drive) among trees, you may have noticed a bumper crop of cones clinging to the highest branches of white pine trees this summer and fall. Around my yard, the red squirrels have been busy gathering cones, chattering away as they scamper…
A few months ago, my companion, Bea (a charming widow of whom you have heard me speak previously), was chatting with a divorced friend and happened to mention that she was keeping company with an elderly widower.
There’s nothing like creating a salad of freshly harvested greens you’ve grown yourself from seed. The good news is, this is one crop you can grow year-round, indoors, safe from nibbling rabbits in fair weather and freezing temperatures in winter.
The Outside Story
Throughout the month of November, Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice will join organizations across the nation in recognizing National Hospice and Palliative Care Month as an opportunity to share information with our community about these important services. This year’s theme is “cour…
Food connects us in a way few things do, and kitchen conversations offer some of the best ways to connect over food. VT Fresh, a Community Health Program of Vermont Foodbank, celebrates cooking with fresh, healthy produce that is readily available in our state. VT Fresh offers easy-to-prepar…
Fresh garlic from your garden is hard to beat, and now is the time to get it started for next year. Let’s look at a few tips for a successful garlic crop using science and some practical gardening knowledge.
Southern Vermont Area Health Education Center is proud to join communities across America in celebration of National Rural Health Day on Nov. 16. The National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health and rural-focused organizations throughout the United States set aside the third Thursd…
Celebrating the passing of the autumn equinox and awakening to familiar, crisp, New England morning chills, we enter the seasonal time of year acupuncture equates with the Metal element (autumn) and moving towards the element of Water (winter). The five elements in Eastern medicine are assoc…
For years and years folks got along with an old grandfather’s clock,
The Outside Story
November is here and with that, Lung Cancer Awareness month.
What would you have done? I was committed to a Friday-Sunday weekend down by the seashore in Nahant, just north of Boston, and I had a fundraiser commitment Thursday at a senior living community in Peterborough, sort of halfway there from Montpelier. It didn’t make much sense to do the Peter…
