Staff Blog
Faith in Vermont: Missing Santa Claus
Our family missed Santa Claus this year.
Ever since we moved to Vermont seven years ago, our family has attended the “Very Merry Middlebury” festivities in downtown Middlebury on the first Saturday of December. This annual...
Faith in Vermont: For the Boy Next Door
When we moved into our current house, we moved next door to a boy. He’s an only child, and we share part of our long driveway with him and his mother.
The boy next door, whom I’ll call Theo, was nine years old at the time –...
Faith in Vermont: Curiouser and Curiouser
“The flags are lowered again! What happened this time, Mama?”
I was driving three of my daughters along Route 7, down to Brandon for a rehearsal of their homeschool production of Alice in Wonderland.
The last time I’d...
Faith in Vermont: I Feel Sad About Target
It’s not often that Vermont makes the national news, but on October 19, Vermont leaped to the top of my NPR news feed with the headline: “After 55 Years, Target Will Finally Open a Store in Vermont.”
It may shock out-of-...
Faith in Vermont: Doing All the Things
“You should write about this in your next column,” my nine-year-old daughter said.
She was huddled together with her three sisters and our two neighbors, attempting to walk in lockstep across our backyard while cupping their hands...
"Early October"
Early October
when my neighbors sight
in their guns scout out
the deer runs wear their
camo see themselves living
in their camps far back in
the woods plan who will
be drivers...
Faith in Vermont: Change and the Library
“Is that a new cash register?” my eight-year-old daughter asked the woman behind the counter at Otter Creek Bakery last week.
I do take my daughters to the bakery on a semi-regular basis because “they” need treats --...
Faith in Vermont: Apples, Fall, and the Future
My husband arrived home one evening during the first week in September after a stop at the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op. He raised his arm in triumph, clutching the handle of a small brown paper bag filled with Macintosh apples and...
Faith in Vermont: The Chick Stays in the Picture
Apology in advance: This is another column about poultry.
I promise that “Faith in Vermont” will not begin focusing entirely on chickens and ducks. Still, the truth is that I’m learning a great deal about life, love, death,...
Faith in Vermont: Death Comes to the Coop
When the first chicken disappeared, it wasn’t a big deal.
She’d been one of eleven chickens – ten hens and a rooster – of indeterminate age, passed on to us by friends. We’d always considered this our...