Jessie Raymond: Novice treasure hunter strikes pay dirt

This Christmas, Mark got me the world’s greatest gift: a metal detector.

It was Saturday, Nov. 27. I asked Mark to take a circuitous route, so people wouldn’t suspect where we were going. He declined, instead driving straight to the Christmas tree farm.

All I needed were a couple of snapshots of me wearing the pullover I had just finished knitting.

The way I remember it, I did not choose to be my husband’s barber. I am, as I made clear on Saturday, in no way qualified for the job.

Let me preface it by saying that I am fully aware that I’m aging.

This past spring, I fell victim to a diabolical scheme. All because our kitchen table now sits near a glass door, far from our woodstove.

I thought for the holidays I’d get us a 30-foot strand of solar-powered lights — the kind with golf-ball-sized clear bulbs set a foot apart, like you might see strung across barn rafters at a country wedding reception or illuminating a Christmas tree lot … (read more)

According to social media, we have just wrapped up “Hot Girl Summer.” I am not a hot girl and consider summer the season of sweating and bugs, so I skipped the trend.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, when it comes to style I’m no wild mustang. I’m more of a sheep, tagging along at the back of the flock.For our recent kitchen renovation, therefore, it’s no surprise that I went safe and traditional: Shaker cupboar … (read more)

Around the second week of June, Mark said, “Stop whining. If you don’t have time for a vegetable garden this year, just skip it.”The absolute nerve.It’s not a choice. My garden has become part of my identity. I struggle. I complain. I get stressed. But I … (read more)

I recently came across an unusual YouTube video on decluttering, a task I enjoy vicariously, if not in real life. A cheerful woman with a spotless, almost empty kitchen opened the cupboards to show that each family member had only two cups, two plates, an … (read more)

Twenty-nine years ago, on one of our first dates, Mark took me canoeing. This was before we discovered our favorite pastime as a couple: staying home. We were always off doing things back then, but only because we didn’t know better.Blinded by infatuation … (read more)

“So, did Mark get your kitchen done?”People say this to me all the time. They love to goad me into a rant about how it took him four years to finish the pantry (as if I wouldn’t bring it up unprompted within five minutes anyway).Mark started the kitchen m … (read more)

Last weekend we did something we haven’t done in well over a year: We had friends over for dinner.I am so out of practice.Pre-COVID, we regularly had company. But in the intervening time I lost all memory of how to entertain anyone other than immediate fa … (read more)

In our marriage there’s a division of labor. Mark is good at things that require brute force and power tools. I’m good at cooking and telling him when he’s using words wrong.We complement each other.Now, I had last week off. Mark, being a contractor at a … (read more)