Book review: Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss — by Margaret Renkl

(Milkweed Editions) “Late Migrations” is, on the surface, a collection of essays. Astute observations and vignettes of natural surroundings, place and wildlife, that set the scene for anecdotes of family, ancestry and heredity. There’s remembrance and recognition in the passages; they are precious and inclusive simultaneously. Tales relayed by the author’s grandmother are studded with relics of dialect that lodge the stories firmly in time. These stories paint a portrait of a family, a child’s view of a fam … (read more)

Yesterday— Running Time: 1:56 — Rating: PG-13 Any summary of “Yesterday” would miss its magic.  Don’t look for the good, the mediocre or the bad in this one. Just try watching and waiting for it to wrap you in its arms. That takes about five minutes. In i … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival announces its opening and closing night films for this year’s fifth annual event, Aug. 22-25 in Middlebury. In addition, MNFF is introducing a late night screening at the festival. MNFF has selected an i … (read more)

SALISBURY — On Friday, July 19, at 7:30 p.m., the 40th annual Salisbury Summer Performance Series (at the Salisbury Congregational Meetinghouse), in collaboration with the Salisbury Historical Society and the Vermont Council on the Humanities, will sponso … (read more)

BRISTOL — The Bristol Rescue Squad, which serves the towns of Bristol, Starksboro, Monkton, Lincoln and New Haven, is expanding its ranks and its members are getting better trained. The group would like to congratulate and welcome the following members th … (read more)

Do you ever notice that it’s tough to follow a conversation when you are in a space with a lot of background noise, like a crowded restaurant or public meeting? Have you found yourself asking people to repeat themselves or slow down when speaking to you? … (read more)

RIPTON — While area classrooms have gone silent for the summer, Addison Central School District officials continue to work on a facilities master plan that will guide future decisions on building repairs and possible school closures within the ACSD. A gro … (read more)

CORNWALL — When’s the last time you wrote a poem? For some of us, it was a long time ago… like, before Facebook, OMG — back when journals served as outlets for inward, emotional tweens. For others, like Gary Margolis, poetry is a daily practice. Every mor … (read more)

VERGENNES — A bus, travelling from New York City to Vermont, speeds past a herd of cows. A little child points out the window and says, “Do you know that’s where chocolate milk comes from?” This is one of Marion Sullivan’s many treasured memories from her … (read more)

WEYBRIDGE — Lemon Fair Insect Control District officials received more than 20 mosquito complaints last week from residents in the LFICD’s three member communities, and they are ramping up education efforts to reduce spawning grounds for the pesky, blood … (read more)

CORNWALL — Farmers and other landowners who are worried that an effort to reclassify the Otter Creek Wetland Complex as a Class I wetland would affect their current eligibility for federal conservation funds needn’t worry, according to representatives of … (read more)

BRISTOL — After weeks of interviewing and surveying community members this spring, then analyzing the 249 responses they got, the Mount Abraham Unified School District has released a summary of its findings. The results are not so great. Of the eight word … (read more)

ADDISON COUNTY — On the morning of July 4 Vermont State Police responded to a report of a motorcycle hitting a deer on Lincoln Road in Ripton. Police report that sometime before 11:20 a.m. this past Thursday, Robert Wesley, 54, of Ripton was driving a 201 … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury police cited Urban Landon, 32, of Lincoln for first-degree aggravated domestic assault and interference with access to emergency services, after a report of a person striking a woman in the Maple Street area on July 4 at 6:44 p.m. … (read more)

VERGENNES — Vergennes police on July 4 cited a city woman for domestic assault after responding to a 2 a.m. report of people yelling in a Main Street apartment building. Police allege that Tammy Curler, 53, struck a man in the face. Police said Curler tol … (read more)