Our trip to France was planned for late March 2020. My younger brother, Michael, and I needed to get over to see our mother in the Maison de Retraite that she had been transported to the previous December because her cognitive deterioration made it impossible for her to live […]
One of the most impossibly difficult aspects of the human experience is not only death itself, nor comprehending the idea that those we love will at some point no longer be with us, but how our enduring ability to love transforms death into something tragically beautiful. When […]
In 2018, when Republican Senator Kathy Marchione announced that she would not seek re-election in Senate District 43, the news immediately raised the collective temperature on a seat suddenly in play for a traditionally competitive district. But for Marchione’s eventual successor Daphne Jordan – competition is in […]
Consider the following exchange I had with “Joe,” the owner of an unnamed inn in the western Adirondacks:
It was roughly 9am, and I was waiting for Joe’s wife, who served as hostess, waitress, chef, and (remarkably, still) a charming bartender, to put the finishing touches on the […]
Mark Twain is credited with the pronouncement that “Golf is a good walk spoiled.” Truth is that the judgement was first rendered 38 years after Twain’s death … but the presumption continues. True or not, the balance to that invective might well be that Art Omi in […]
“Home is a place not only of strong affections,” Harriet Beeche Stowe once said. “But of entire unreserved.” The famous sentiment has since encompassed the entirety of the nation’s romantic ambitions for home ownership. It is not only a place we value as a “dressing room” for […]
What was your family doing 100 years ago? That’s four or five generations back. Past your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents, and on to your great-great grandparents. Think about it. How far back do your family stories go? If you’re the average person who knows something about […]
There is a lot to be said about the terms “routine” and “tradition” after the collective experience of 2020. For over a century, generations of local families have fastened themselves to the tradition of attending the Dutchess County Fair so much so that the annual event has […]
In an area like ours, where you can easily stumble across a local farm’s produce stand or a small business selling unique goods, farmers markets are a perfect way for the community to come together and appreciate these nearby offerings in one place. There are endless benefits […]
Emerging from our COVID has left us hungry – for experiences and joyful connection. For more than a year, we closed in on ourselves, threw ourselves into gardening and growing food, and found solace in the outdoors, perhaps becoming more curious about the natural world. It would […]