October, so full of color. Walking down our road I pull my sunglasses down onto my nose so I can see with a proper filter. Everything looks like a party until the north wind begins to whisper, cold rain riding its back. Suddenly there are only a few tenacious leaves swinging precariously from their branch,…
Honey
End of the growing season finds us like squirrels, rushing in preparation for winter. The sheep are enjoying the last of grazing: soon they will be watching the world from their winter paddock. During the final week or so of grazing, I take down the rotational fencing and let them have access to full pasture….
Melissa Featured in Rent.com Blog
With their home in the heart of the charming fictional town of Stars Hollow, CT, the Gilmore Girls – Lorelai and Rory – have captivated audiences young and old with their quick wit, strong bond, and a lifestyle brimming with cozy charm. From their iconic coffee runs to their love for literature and all things…
Searching
I finished the last bite of sandwich and began picking things up from the small square card table pressed against the window of my mother’s independent living apartment. She put her hand on the table, looked up and said, “I would like to ask you a question.” I set the plates back on the table…
Vacation-Brain
I believe that vacation is a state of mind rather than a destination. For that reason it takes time to achieve that state, wherever you may have landed. When we arrive at the pond there is chaos. Car doors slamming as everyone pulls bags from the hot backseats of cars, bags of groceries hurriedly pile…
Field Of Fireflies
Sunday afternoon, in the quiet of the church, Paul and I work together packing up the remnants of our spring student cello recital. As with most good things in life, we are, simultaneously, exhausted and exhilarated. I fold up the card table that held the graduation/happy recital cake and stack sticky paper cups used for…
And Suddenly……
I fill vases and large Ball jars with fistfuls of lilacs. We can’t see each other across the table for the purple. The moment you open the front door you can smell them, their scent short-lived but powerful. We pull the plastic taut over the green house and anchor it down. I can now see…
The Only Way To Grow
On the corner of the cherry bar in our kitchen is a pile of notebooks. We have a few years of date books, just in case we need to look back for some reason, a six slot wire holder that is stuffed with business cards, pamphlets of places we have been and places we would…
Community
When a spring season arrives it somehow feels like everything is new, as if winter has frozen my brain and made me forget spring. The leaves, curled tight like small green fists yesterday, have unfurled today, stretching their fingers toward the warmer sunshine. Looking out the kitchen window there is new texture across the mountains,…
What Frequency
I’m spending a lot of time sending out baby photos. Baby tomato photos documenting the growth from seedling to the true-leaves phase. I’m as proud as any new parent. Our kitchen has an eerie grow-light-glow that colors everyone’s face pale green. We began with about fifty seedlings. This afternoon I stood at the kitchen counter,…
Totality
Saturday we were on the Interstate headed north and began noticing the number of cars from out of state. Like the game we played as kids, counting license plates, we added up the amount until we reached our destination. I bought two pairs of paper “solar-proof” glasses in Montpelier several weeks ago before the supply…
The Firsts
The breeze from the north felt hard but the almost-April sunshine is warm enough for us to want to walk down to the pastures with the dogs. I have a pan of chopped potatoes coated in olive oil and sprinkled with herbs waiting to roast. Bright green stalked of asparagus stacked into the depths of…
Dirt Roads
There is a kind of buzzing under my skin in late February and March: it’s not bees, it’s a persistent, recurring agitation. It is mud. Late February, regardless of cloud cover, the sun is warmer. Driving the dirt road to our house I notice a new shiny slickness. The road becomes consistently wet, resembling the…