Vermont has had seasonal labor troubles way before the pandemic began— there are not enough seasonal workers.  Locals don’t want work that runs out when the tourist do. Before the pandemic, bigger businesses were able to bring in foreign workers on H1 visas to fill the gaps—if they could provide housing!  We have an affordable  housing shortage too.  So committees […]

My son, Sam, travels for work.  Obviously during the last year and a half much of his travel has been interrupted.  Sam is a freeride ski coach and his high-level athletes depend on international glacier training in the off season.  This year as pandemic conditions started to improve and travel restrictions were relaxed, plans were made for the team to […]

There are many things to complain about when it comes to our government and the decisions that are made in Washington.  But there is one amazing program the U.S. government has supported since the beginning of the pandemic.  There has been no fanfare, no arguments, no bipartisan discussion, no memes, and no political cartoons. You may have thought—like I did— […]

I have had a haunting week.  Stuck in my head is the tune of a song, I Used to Know, but not that one. Having a song stuck in my head has caused me to pretty much think of every song I ever knew Yesterday.  I know it was a ballad-type song (Alice’s Restaurant), sappy (We’ve Only Just Begun), and […]

This week I have been helping Sadie start to look at colleges.  She is lucky: she comes from a family that will be able to afford college for her, but we can’t afford to waste money in the process either.  So how do we help her make smart choices about her future?  I am not convinced lots of AP classes, […]

The pandemic has brought about many changes but the one thing I have found most objectionable is how quick to judge each other. I listen to the news. I believe I am well informed. I am capable of making my own decisions.  When the CDC said I needed to still wear a mask even though I had been fully vaccinated, […]

I have a white, cloth bedspread that my mother gave me. There used to be two of them but I have no idea what happened to the second one. This one looks like a worn-out sheet which someone embroidered a geometric pattern and attached cotton lace around the edge to make it fancy.   My mother passed away many years […]

Prom season has always been a particularly difficult parenting time for me.  It makes me long for the terrible two’s and maybe even the sleepless nights of infancy. The endless negotiations, conversations and lamentations go something like this: “Child: Tony asked me to the prom. Should I say yes or hold out for Rick.  Me: That was nice of Tony.  […]

This past weekend, I was walking up Cox District Road early, around six.  I never sleep very late in the spring and it is such a beautiful time of day.  I almost never see anyone else.  But that morning, as I rounded a corner up near the reservoir, coming towards me was the most beautiful, midnight-black lab.  Now if you […]

The Job Bank started as the brainchild of Woodstock area townspeople and local parishes back in 1970.  The first “office” was in the basement of Saint James. Then in 1974 the “office” moved into the kitchen of the town hall, then to the elevator landing on the second floor, to the closet where the theater now stores the popcorn, and […]

This past weekend my husband, (the builder and all round “do it yourself” man) started to dig a hole to bury our new above-ground pool three feet into the ground.  Don’t ask. The house was built in 1840 and back in the day everyone had a glass dump— a place on the property where the stuff they couldn’t burn and […]

Last summer when we bought our retirement beach house in Maine I threw out my usual decorator’s  hat.  This house is supposed to be our last house.  We looked forever and this house checked all the boxes except that it needed a lot of work.  Work is good, that’s why we bought an old house. Putting our own stamp on […]

Last summer, was my first attempt at vegetable gardening in many years.  I started out married life thinking I would become an Earth Mother—all home-grown produce, homemade jelly, homemade bread, homemade baby food and cloth diapers. The garden came first.  Our little house used to be a chicken farm and the spot we picked for our garden had years of […]

April vacation week… COVID may have limited our travel but it can’t interfere with a week of vacation unless you let it.  Mother Nature has been nice this year and the New England weather has been exceptional—almost warm and sunny. My little family went to visit our house in Maine.  We anticipated long walks on the beach, take-out dinners, and […]

Here in Woodstock, a group of people, mainly teachers and students, meet on Friday mornings in the winter to climb to the top of Suicide Six. Some carry snowboards, some use climbing skins attached to their skis, some use snowshoes or crampons and lug their stuff. They reach the top, hopefully watch the sun rise, and ski down—once.  Go to […]

Well, the wait is over.  On Tuesday I got my first COVID vaccine.  In the end, I showed up for my appointment, waited about five minutes, and got a very small—not scary at all—shot in my arm.  I got a small card with a signed acknowledgment of my first dose of the Moderna vaccine and an appointment for my second.  […]

I am easily overwhelmed.  I have finally said it and I know it’s true.  These days I escape to my car and sit in a sunny parking lot with my computer to get anything accomplished. Why?  Because in my car in the parking lot at Billings Farm ( my favorite sunny spot when the cows are out),  I get no […]

It has been a wild year—much of it not good, some of it just ok, some of it actually really good.  On Saturday I got an e-mail from Susan asking about swimming lessons for the summer.  It took me by surprise.  I have taught swimming lessons at my home every summer for over thirty years.  Last summer, I didn’t.  The […]

Woodstock Area Job Bank Pilots Virtual Networking Group  for Recent Grads/Early Career Job Professionals In addition to the devastating health impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the virus has taken a big toll on our national and local economy. Many are looking for work, and competition for available jobs is fierce. A job search can be lonely and overwhelming. The good […]

The changing seasons are upon us.  Summer has become fall, and fall is slowly and gloriously turning into winter.  Here at the Job Bank, it is time to add to our list of Bit Time workers.  What are Bit Time workers?  They are community members who would like just a “bit” of work that pays a minimum of $20 per […]

I have cast my vote—done, finished, stamped, posted.  I have exercised my right to place an absentee ballot for the November election. Now, I can turn off the news and wait it out.  Finally!  This particular election cycle has been unusually difficult for me to endure.   I know there is a big, wide world out there, but the only […]

Yesterday, my husband and I visited Killington and decided to walk down the mountain.  Ok. I admit it would sound better if I said we hiked up Killington on a beautiful fall day.  But the truth is we had passes to ride the gondola to the top of the mountain and because the day was so magnificent we decided to […]

When my children were little, I knew the benefits of having a schedule: breakfast at 7, naps at noon, go outside, dinner at 6, two books at bedtime, lights out at 7. We rolled through our days with mundane predictability. I knew it was important for them but I also knew it was important for me. Little children can be […]

Last weekend, my husband finally tackled the one project he has been dreading —uncovering exactly what lies underneath the old kitchen floor.  When you own a house that was built in 1840, you expect a lot of “decorating” and “modernizing” has happened over the years.  With this house we have already had to wrestle with whether or not to save […]

When you live in glass houses, expect to wash windows.  My husband and I always choose to live in old houses that have more windows than walls.  We generally don’t replace windows to save heat because we love old, wavy glass,  especially wavy glass in windows with lots of tiny little panes.  This year on Mother’s Day, four of my […]