Afternoons in an office can feel extra-long some days, especially in the winter months when the daylight is brief and sometimes nearly nonexistent. Once I start to yawn, I know I have to get up, stretch out and walk around. Maybe I’ll take a quick walk out for a coffee or make myself a cup o…
So, we’re stuck in between Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving, it’s cold, and lots of people are starting to get grumpy about it being dark as soon as our day starts (it feels like.) This is the perfect time to let you know that although vets may be knowledgeable about something, they may not li…
Historical fiction involves building a made-up narrative around real events and characters. Many of the more successful titles revolve around European courts and royalty, but there are many others set in varied locales for the more adventurous reader.
Over the past few weeks, I feel like every time I turn around at work there is a urinalysis for me to look at. Urine issues are on the upswing right now. For reasons we don’t completely understand, urinary issues are more prevalent with drastic weather or light changes, both of which are hap…
One of my favorite things about fall is the variety of squashes. Although they’re called winter squashes, because (sometimes) they can be stored through the winter, we start seeing them as soon as the end of summer. But it’s fall when most people start to think about squash. And with cooler …
As I’m trying to be a better adult, I have been cutting back on my candy consumption. This is never so painfully clear as during this wonderful holiday revolving around candy — Halloween. Thankfully, there are plenty of other activities (pets in costumes) to occupy my time. Like me, pets sho…
It’s right after World War II, and a small theater company is reuniting for the first time at a formal dinner party. And what do they decide to do? William Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “Much Ado About Nothing.”
I typically like a “cozy” mystery, where most of the killing happens just off-stage. But horror and action novels have continuously increased in intensity — and forensic accuracy — over the years.
As the cooler days move in, blankets aren’t the only thing added to our house. Suddenly, almost all new kittens and most pets that weren’t on flea protection started showing us a flea or two (or many more.) While fall makes us load up on firewood, wood pellets or heating fuel; it makes the f…
Eggplant is a love or hate kind of vegetable. For me, it’s love. I think what causes these feelings is the unique texture. The best (and maybe worst) way to describe it is being similar to a dense sponge. Because just like a sponge, eggplant absorbs flavor really well. It reminds me a lot of…
Let’s imagine for a moment that you are a dog. Don’t feel weird about it, I try to take this perspective almost daily! And while that might not reassure you much, it is actually very helpful to think of training and behavior from a dog’s world. So, there is this same darn truck that drives u…
So today we are going to get personal and talk about your behavior. Just kidding, I mean your dogs’! Though one is often directly related to the other. Recently it was brought to my attention that dogs often get pushed aside when life gets rough, and many new moms don’t like their dogs as mu…
It is now officially autumn — time for leaf-peeping, cider pressing, and of course, the first cold viruses of the season. I have a 4-year-old daughter and a 7-month-old son, and with my daughter’s entrance into preschool this year, the little ones have had two colds already since the start o…
I don’t love eating fresh tomatoes. I know, that’s crazy for a gardener with more than a dozen tomato plants in his garden to admit. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like tomatoes. I would just rather use them for sauce, salsa and crushed tomatoes. I make and can all of these and that way, I ge…
My eyes are itchy, my contacts feel like they are sitting on top of a layer of sand, and I keep sneezing. This may not seem relevant to a pet article, but I know as soon as I start feeling these changes that my appointments will fill up. However, they won’t fill up with sneezing, they will f…
In “Danse Macabre,” Stephen King described his writing as creating terror — the buildup — then horror — when we see the face of the beast — and finally revulsion, which is the big, gory gross-out. Some of us prefer our scary stories to inhabit the first realm, created by internal tension ins…
So, it has been established that I love the fall. I love hiking through the foliage, I love being outside without being hot (this last weekend excluded!), I love almost everything about it. What I hate, however, are fleas and ticks. We have fewer ticks for a while, but they make a resurgence…
Jaime Laredo won’t be stepping down after 20 years as music director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra until the end of the 2020-21 season, but this will be his last time directing the annual VSO Made in Vermont statewide tour — offering many the last opportunity to hear the legendary musici…
Although the weather is turning cooler much faster than I’d like, I have to say it’s my favorite time of year. Over the past few weeks I’ve picked peaches, plums, pears, raspberries and apples at local orchards and while visiting home in Connecticut. Meanwhile, in my backyard garden, it’s a …
The first week in October marks National Walk Your Dog Week, but since autumn is here a little early, I’m going to talk about fall walking a little early. Anyone who knows me knows that fall is my favorite season. There are a lot of reasons why, but mostly it has to do with temperature. Of c…
“The Magic Flute,” one of the most popular operas of all time, wasn’t actually written for the opera house. In fact, Mozart created his 1791 masterpiece for a public theater, or vaudeville house.
If you’re not concerned about threats to your privacy, it’s likely that you’re not paying attention. If you’re online, your privacy has been compromised, and even if you’re not, simply using a credit card or a cell phone is enough to allow advertisers to reach you through logarithms written …
Joseph Donohue is a well-respected chiropractor in our area. Known to his patients as Dr. Joe, Donohue owns and operates Thrive Center of the Green Mountains, Inc. with his wife, Lisa, in Wallingford. I have been fortunate to be a patient of Dr. Joe for years now, through both of my pregnanc…
Pawlet native Katherine Maness has returned after a decade in the New York City professional world, and she’s brought with her a new take on the greatest playwright in the English language. It’s an approach to Shakespeare aimed to resonate with audiences in the 20th century.
Back to school means different things to different people. To many parents, it is a sigh of relief and return to normal schedule. For many teachers, it is a return to normal schedule, but not always with a sigh of relief. You may be surprised to learn that back to school also has an impact o…
Several years ago, my wife and I did a learn-to-sail week at Malletts Bay. It was terrific, except when the wind didn’t blow and we had to get towed in. We managed to avoid bumping into anybody else’s expensive fiberglass toys, and generally had a good time.
In the Wendy MacLeod comedy “Slow Food,” a couple celebrating their anniversary simply cannot get their waiter to bring their food. Their frustration leads to lots of laughs — and much more.
Many people balk at the idea of “alternative medicine” for their pets, but what does alternative really mean? We are quick to choose foods or products that claim to be all-natural, so why do we only look to drugs as a solution to our pet’s problems? While medication can be a very useful tool…
In Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” made famous by the 1966 Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton film, George and Martha tear each other apart with their alcohol-fueled caustic banter.
With a nearly 5-month-old baby, I’m right in the thick of it when it comes to breastfeeding. It has come as a surprise to me that I’ve had many more challenges this time around than I did with my daughter. From damaged nipples to blocked ducts, I have had plenty of opportunities to learn how…
Anesthesia and surgery can be a scary thing for pet owners. One of the most common fears that I hear about procedures is putting pets under anesthesia. I understand this concern because everyone and every pet reacts differently to the medications used for anesthetizing, but I’m going to go o…
Summer is here, which gives families extra time at home together and longer days to reflect on needed new family members. We are seeing lots of new pets lately, which I love so much, but leads me to my next topic of choosing a new pet. As we all know, baby animals are adorable. One of the re…
I’m sure there was a time when chiropractic care felt very alternative, but these days it feels fairly mainstream. Insurance often covers chiropractic treatments, and patients range in age from infants to the elderly. To explain more about chiropractic care, I interviewed Dr. Mark Woodbury, …
While attending the Agatha Christie Festival, avid fan Lucy discovers the possibility of an unpublished play by the great mystery writer. Lucy finds herself on a quest, including encounters with Christie herself, her adulterous husband Archie and his mistress, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.…
People still seem unsure about the funky-looking yellow squash called pattypan. Yet, if you know yellow summer squash, then you more or less know pattypan, which is simply another variety of summer squash. The only major differences are the shape and coloring. Pattypans are shaped like flyin…
We were fortunate enough to have Tom Estill from NASA by way of Christ the King School in the library to explain the importance of the Apollo 11 mission. It was a reminder that science can be fun and educational at the same time.
We are in full-on summer mode! The temperatures are hitting the 90s, my air conditioning runs all night, and my hair is twice as voluminous and half as attractive. Summer is my personal least-favorite season, though I admit it has a few advantages. The long daylight and cooler nights can be …
“Oklahoma!” was a box-office hit when it opened on Broadway in 1943, and a new production is a hit on Broadway right now. The Weston Playhouse production, which opens Thursday, underscores just why: This is a show for and about all Americans.
We go out on the boat a lot. My dog loves to swim but I am afraid she will jump off when we are moving. How can I keep her safe?
A crostata, also called a galette, or even just a tart, is one of my favorite ways to use fresh summer fruit. With a crunchy, rustic crust, one could call it a lazy version of a pie. But that’s a perspective I’m fine with after picking and pitting more than a dozen pounds of cherries from a …
In Theresa Rebeck’s new play “Dig,” Megan has done the unspeakable.
Everybody has their own preferences for summer reading. A traditional beach read is often a romance and not too complicated (even a book-sale Harlequin works … in a brown wrapper or hollowed out Tolstoy if you care what people think) but that doesn’t mean it has to be aimed at the lowest com…
Everyone has heard the lines on spaying and neutering, and for the most part it is a common practice. Not many of us have made it this far without heeding Bob Barker’s advice. I’ll help explain some reasons why it is so important. We will start with the fact that Bob Barker said so every day…
Imagine as you are going about your evening the sky is suddenly filled with bright flashes and loud noises. The Earth seems to actually tremble, and you feel the walls of your house vibrating. You thought this was a safe place, but the world seems to be exploding around you. Your owners are …
It’s that time of year when the lush green of the outdoors calls to us to commune with nature for the short window of time we call summer. It might be my favorite season in Vermont, but it comes at a cost: the ever-increasing presence of ticks.
There are so many specialty and niche chocolate bars available these days. Most of them are pretty good too, with creative flavor combinations and unique textures. I’m not sure we have ever had this many choices for chocolate. Most of these bars are made by smaller producers that use just a …
“I and You,” Lauren Gunderson’s 2014 award-winning comedy, lulls the audience into a witty sitcom of two sparring teens, given a modicum of depth by a Walt Whitman poem. But ever so gradually, the flavor darkens as the reality of the situation emerges, finally into a poignant and compelling …
Daniel Andai, Killington Music Festival’s artistic director and concertmaster of the Miami Symphony, first came to the festival as a young violin student from Florida.
My dog loves to swim in the summer, but starts to get a lot of skin and ear infections. Is there anything I can do to prevent this but keep letting him swim?
Previewing upcoming arts and entertainment events throughout the region.
Previewing upcoming arts and entertainment events throughout the region.
Previewing upcoming arts and entertainment events throughout the region.
Previewing upcoming arts and entertainment events throughout the region.
