Dragging four bags of shavings to the barn, my hand slips and a heavy plastic-wrapped bale slams against my right leg. I swear without delicacy, grab hold of the corner and heft it the rest of the way. When they are all safely stacked in the hay storage I move to check the galvanized steel…
Category: Vacation
Lambing Season
When traveling, we try to take into account the fact that our time is limited and so not to over-plan, letting the breeze blow us from place to place. We’ve learned to quiet the temptation to see as much as possible in ten days, trying instead to learn what we can about the place where…
Six Degrees Of Separation or the Six Handshakes Rule
Paul and I return from a Saturday afternoon walk. The sun is warm on our faces, the stream crashes down the mountain, released from its frozen captor. The snow banks, shoved back by the plow dwindle, sprouting strange snow sculptures, sprinkled with dirt and rising like Northern Stonehenge. Robins flap past each other to mushy…
Peeling
In looking toward holidays or vacations my tendency is to become Rockwellian. I prepare with zeal for the ideal. Months ahead of the vacation walking down long isles in stores I toss small boxes of sparklers, hard packs of playing cards, twelve packs of lime seltzer, chunky bars of chocolate and fancy gin into my…
The Need to Rest
The week before any vacation is hell. Even when I am really excited about what we have planned, which I normally am, the week before we leave is chaos. This year we were returning to the farmhouse on the lake that we rent every year, only this year our entire extended family was joining us….