Season Scenes from our Christmas Card

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. ~Charles Dickens

Discoveries Among the Late Autumn Leaves of Weir Hill

My colleague, Beth, used to be able to tell when I’d stayed out of the woods too long. She’d look at me and suggest I get my feet in gear. And yesterday I recognized the need myself and called down to my husband to accompany me. We took a long walk around the Weir Hill Reservation in North Andover, MA, one of the Trustees of Reservations properties http://www.thetrustees.org/.

Swan Lake and the Dangers Therein

“When turkeys mate, they think of swans.” Johnny Carson

A Geezer’s Guide to Riding the Rides at Six Flags New England

Roller coasters aren't the same anymore and neither am I - you're so confined and locked into your seat that the sense of danger isn't there....and so they twirl you around and flip you over a million times to substitute nausea for fear, or rather fear of nausea for fear of coaster.

Words and Images by Ann Trainor Domingue

"The road ahead for fine artists who produce only one true original is a difficult one especially in this tight economy. Although giclee (zhee-clay) prints -- high quality inkjet prints -- are possible, they're still not a dimensional copy of the original." Ann Trainor Domingue

A Photographic Ode to Summer’s Gift of Flowers

“In summer, the song sings itself.” ~William Carlos Williams

What’s Love Got to Do with Tennis?

What I love about tennis: a 20-something with all the stamina, energy, clear vision and healthy bones in the world can be whipped by a 70-year-old hip replacement candidate with angles and finesse.

Everything I Need to Know About Parenting, I Learned from my Guinea Pig

In hindsight you’ll realize pregnancy and birth are the easy parts, raising good kids takes considerably more time, effort, patience and resilience to pain and heartbreak .

Must I “friend” my ketchup

Burns: "Ketchup.. catsup.. ketchup.. catsup... I'm in way over my head" The Simpsons

On Death and Taxes

"Ye salary, twas earned well-fought Whose bounty promised life so fair; Reflect - it will be earned for naught For damn'ed audit, now we must prepare