Mitch and I had a chance to go out on a Saturday night, thanks to the wonderful friends who invited Max to a airsoft battle/sleepover. We decided to head into town and try a new Mexican restaurant... the latest incarnation in a site that goes through restaurants like 11-year-olds go through a bag of Doritos ( Read more... )

I was talking to a friend of mine who is a big traveler. She writes a blog about her family and their travels, and we were talking about places all kids need to see at least once. I remembered seeing a book that offered a list of suggested places, and finally found a copy of the list on line. I don't agree with all of these, but it is a jumping off ( Read more... )

I mentioned in my last post that my mother's cousin joined us at Howe Caverns the other day. Since Linda is my mother's first cousin, I think she is my second cousin, if I've interpreted the chart I found on the internet correctly. It's been over a decade since I last saw her... maybe even 15 years or so. Although we lived in the same state for my ( Read more... )

Who knows how many years it has been since I was last at Howe Caverns. At least 27 or more. Not one thing about it looked familiar when I was there again on Saturday. I've been driving past the Howe Caverns exit on Route 88 ever since my parents retired to PA. The location is hard to miss: the site has the words HOWE CAVERNS spelt out in huge white ( Read more... )

There is a route I drive pretty regularly any time I am heading south or east out of Vermont. The first part of the trip is along a road called 22A, which offers some lovely views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks, but is also one of the dullest stretches of road to drive. The speed limit keeps changing -- sometimes it's a steady 50 (which ( Read more... )

Two days back from vacation, and I am relieved to not be at work today. It's been a hard return, and not just for the usual post-vacation reasons ( Read more... )

We are back from the journey I've started referring to as the West Across NY Trip. I had a vision for an Old Fashioned Family Car trip, like my nostalgic self wants to remember. And it was that. And more. And less.

The thing is, long car trips were never that jolly then I was a kid. My sister and I would be squished into the backseat of whatever ( Read more... )

So then. Here I am. I officially became slightly more underemployed yesterday, but I'm being allowed to finish out the week at my usual 24/hour/week. Because no one has still said anything about expectations or future plans, I had to ask HR what I should plan for this week. They suggested some weird formula where I would work two 6 hour days, then ( Read more... )

Another Friends of the Library Book Sale has come and gone, the first Heather and I have coordinated on our own. As a fundraising professional, this event is a lot of work for little financial return. As a library trustee, I see lots of room for improvement. As a community member, I have to wonder about the fate of paper books, and about the ( Read more... )

Ten days have passed since I heard about getting my hours reduced at work. I guess I'm now in the grieving stage of this process.

What am I grieving, really? Loss of prestige? Loss of income? I think I'm grieving for the agency I used to work for. The one that was a human services organization that cared more for its human employees, as well as ( Read more... )