Tuesday, the 15th, was the last day to feed the bees, at least in this part of the Champlain Valley. To ensure a sufficient supply of food to keep a colony healthy through the winter, a hive should weigh 160 or so pounds by now. Most of that’s honey, but to top off a hive, […]
The world spins faster. This is not necessarily a good thing. Some days I attend a video conference while my phone(s) ring, texts come in (teletype sound effect), calendar beeps, multiple Skype messages make moist Skype noises. I think, this is how the world will end: everything moving faster, overwhelming the individual until society throttles […]
All through May and June it rained. Biblical rains last 40 days and 40 nights; ours lasted 60. The roof leaked, the basement flooded, the dry side of the basement flooded. By the end, it wasn’t just me with seasonal affective disorder. May and June 2013 was the wettest 60-day period in Vermont in 100-plus […]
I’ve been watching with great interest the unfolding controversy over whether the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) singled out “tea party” groups for special scrutiny. It’s good to see Attorney General Eric Holder take this issue seriously enough to open an investigation although such an investigation need not be limited to these narrow circumstances. While anyone […]
Adrienne and I are watching the first season of Tremé on disc. I resisted this for three years, despite the praise the show – and the way it was made – received from New Orleans friends. If you haven’t seen it, the HBO series opens three months after Hurricane Katrina and takes place in an […]
“Is it real?”
This week I realized just what a fraction of media society I belong to. I was in DC Monday afternoon and with Typhoon Haiyan and the Illinois tornadoes, Greenpeace got the soundbite call from the cable networks. None of the usual suspects were around. I keep a gray suit (purchased for C$12 at a church […]