new england essays

A collection of 20 posts

autumn

Of Free Will and Graders

Free Will and Graders 10 3 25 123 PM0:00/326.93399092970521× We live along a dirt road, and the big news this week was the town arriving to grade it. This happens once in the spring and once in the fall. Sitting outside on our porch, we can usually

Other Musings

Autumn Hugs

Fall has arrived, and we hope, so will the pilgrims.

Grandchildren

Ever Seen a Lizard Dressed as a Wizard?

Science is not the concern of Postcards from Monadnock. Wonder is; more specifically, wondering.

August

The Culmination of Days

One goose honked until it was hoarse—until anyone could have understood its anguish. ‘Help!’ it was screaming. ‘My baby!’

essays

Riding with Mom

We have heard, my brothers and I—now wives, even grandchildren—those stories a thousand times.

Other Musings

Cue Summer

There is not enough closet space in our cabin to accommodate our seasonal wardrobes, that is, our separate fall/winter and spring/summer collections. I feel like a putz mentioning it. How many sweaters or cotton shirts does one person need? If we could simply divest ourselves of three-quarters of

Other Musings

Blindfolded Canoe Racing

There is something about blindfolded anything that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom: you do not see chickens daring each other to cross the road blindfolded.

ticks

Eat, or be Eaten

I am all about live and let live these days, with one—well, two—current exceptions: ticks, and mosquitos.

Spring

(Human) Nature

“Travel,” read the sign on a Seine River cruise boat, “is the ethic of caring for the world.”

maple syrup

800 Words on Maple Syrup and Wiper Fluid

You may be thinking, is he really postcarding about washer fluid behavior?

Other Musings

Lost in the Woods

For example, there is the possibility of getting lost in the woods . . .in freezing temperatures. I did this last week.

Other Musings

Walking on Ice

It is a superior feature of winter to be able to step onto a frozen pond or lake, and we have many of them. It is liberating.

February

February

We made it. February. Now the year can really begin.

Other Musings

Wood Heat

Heating with wood is a complex business . . . one manufacturer described the process as more art than science.

Jarvis Coffin

Home Again

It is good to get out of the woods now and then. Even Huck would agree.

Jarvis Coffin

November

November 11 29 24 349 PM0:00/318.01752834467121× November scored first this season with one power outage, one tree down across the driveway, and five inches of snow.  The outage happened while we were away for the night, which made it impossible to know how long it lasted. When

Jarvis Coffin

Labor Day Weekend. Already.

The steps to our hillside garden are not repaired. The felled wood is not all cut up and stacked. The dock is still waiting to be treated with teak oil.

Other Musings

Summer People

The July and August people have arrived, bringing with them their patronage of our stores and their vehicles, requiring me to look both ways before pulling out of the driveway.

Jarvis Coffin

Independent, Inching Forward

Soon you have the sense you are talking about the same things, which is when it hits you . . . you have only inched forward.

Other Musings

A Sensitive Time

Those are things you must get used to in New England, learning to be a tough tomato.