About Amherst 2008 recap

Not fit for man or beast: Starlings descend on the bird feeder outside the kitchen window. It's supposed to be in the low double-digits tonight and windy.
Happy New Year though! Let's visit 2008 Memory Lane at About Amherst:


An historic December 12 ice storm leaves 1 million homes in New England without power but leaves Amherst unscathed.


Ana and I get haircuts at De Palma Salon at 6 University Dr., Dec. 30.


We elect Obama on November 4. Oh happy day.


In October Brian and I sail over the valley in a hot air balloon. Magical.


In September I'm absorbed with Sarah Palin, especially her hairdo and daughter Piper.


We visit Chicago in August and I attend an excellent conference on Dravet Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy that my niece Alexis has. See if you can find Brian and me in Chicago's famous sculpture dubbed "The Bean."

On August 29, we learn that a higher-than-normal amount of coliform has been identified in the Amherst water system, but it turns out to be okay. And John McCain has picked some Alaskan governor named Sarah Palin for a running mate.


We visit the Jersey Shore, Block Island and Washington D.C. in July and I give up on the garden.


In June, I visit Ana in Los Angeles.


We clean out the family home in Pittsfield and later sell it, the last tangible tie to my hometown.
Obama wins the endless primary.



And Selectwoman Anne Awad announces she is going to resign her position because she has been harassed by a local blogger (not me).


My sister Kathy and I surprise my brother Mike on his 40th birthday in Boise, ID on May 25. Here, his daughter Alexis checks up on Mike napping with son Calvin.


April 1, Amherst election results. Blogging mentor Stephanie O'Keeffe is an Amherst selectwoman!


Spring arrives April 21 outside the Amherst Bulletin office.


March 1 snowfall.


Bulb shows at Smith and Mount Holyoke colleges are a welcome respite from the snow.


Snowhenge, or February in Amherst.


Brian and I go to California in January, driving down from San Francisco to Los Angeles amid sometimes heavy rain. We saw "Fast Food Nation" author Eric Schlosser speak at an ecological farming conference in Monterrey. What I most clearly remember him saying is that growing food organically isn't the most important thing. Treating workers fairly is.

New babies alert

My co-worker Phyllis Lehrer's new twin granddaughters.


Sarah Palin has a grandson.

Back from Vermont

Brian figures every shutterbug passing through Wilmington, Vt. probably takes this photo.
I was fascinated by the Caroline Kennedy interview in today's New York Times (see excerpt below). The reporters, Nicholas Confessore and David Halbfinger seemed to harp on a few questions, especially HOW she decided she wanted to be a senator and why she would rather be appointed than run, and she seemed to get impatient. On the whole, I thought she came across as someone who I would find a little icy but who is trying to be sincere and the reporters seemed a bit annoying. I don't think she should be a senator, though -- too boring. I nominate her for ambassador to Ireland.

NC: Was he the first person you told — do you know if you uttered the words, ‘I think I’m gonna go for this?’ Or, something like it?

CK: Well, I don’t know if I utter those kinds of words, but yes. You know, it was a mutual decision.

NC: Could you, for the sake of storytelling, could you tell us a little bit about that moment, like, where you were, what you said to him about your decision, how that played out?

CK: Have you guys ever thought about writing for, like, a woman’s magazine or something? (Laughter)

DH: What do you have against women’s magazines?

CK: Nothing at all, but I thought you were the crack political team here. As I said, it was kind of over a period of time, you know, obviously we talked about politics, we talked about what’s going on, we’ve been watching the team that the president-elect is putting together — Hillary Clinton is going to be a spectacular part of that team, you know, then there was a vacancy here, you know, just like everybody else, you know: who’s going to fill it, isn’t that interesting, there’s a lot of great candidates, you know, obviously I have become much more politically involved than I have in the past, so you know, I figure, why not try, I really think I have something to offer.

NC: But there was no one moment you can draw on —

CK: I know I wish there was, I’ll think about it.

NC: If there isn’t, that’s what it was, that’s fine too. We’re not the crack political team, we’re always looking for good anecdotes and good stories.

CK: I know, and I understand. I’ll think about it a little more.

Covered bridge over the West River near Wilmington. It was not a nice day to attempt cross-country skiing, so we took a driving tour of southern Vermont and saw several covered bridges. Wikipedia says Vermont has 107 of them -- more per square mile than anywhere else in the world. According to Wikipedia "(1) covered bridges appear similar to barns and it is easier to transport cattle across them without startling them, and (2) to build a structure for weather protection over the working part of the bridge. "


Ana and I enjoy the whirlpool bubble bath.

Brian and yours truly, taken by Ana outside the White House Inn in Wilmington.

About Amherst's entomologist at rest in our cozy room.


Back in Amherst, a beautiful sunset tonight.

Greetings from Vermont

Ana serenading us at home on Christmas morning.
Now we're staying at the White House Inn in Wilmington, a romantic Victorian mansion on a hill with the kind of country inn ambiance I love. I want to put some wallpaper like this in our bedroom. Hope Brian is up for a wallpapering adventure in 2009!


Brian and another member of the party check out the unusual and old-fashioned pool in the basement. There used to be tubing and cross-country skiing at the inn but they've been discontinued, so we spent the afternoon swimming and sitting in the steam room.


We had a very nice Christmas and exchanged quite a few homemade gifts. Ana painted this for Paul from a photo she took in Guatemala. She made me a sweet little pillow.


Ana with a tee-shirt by Amherst artist and craftswoman Sharon Cousin.


I made this dress for my niece Zena to her specifications.


And here's Cora with a little stuffed character she designed and I sewed.


I love the front-page photo on the Dec. 25 New York Times of some kids practicing for a Christmas performance. Not all of them were singing like they were supposed to be doing. But then again that's why they call it rehearsal, the cutline notes.

(C)old times

Ana's home from LA! Here she's skiing in the little field by our house.


My sister surprised all the siblings with a wonderful album full of old photos. On the last page, she included pictures of my late mom and dad and the six of us, with this quote from George Eliot: "What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life -- to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories."


Ana and Nicky had great fun laughing at the figure I cut in this photo from the album. I'm at left in my early-to-mid teens, wearing the pig tails I favored at the time and one of my many homemade outfits, in this case culottes and a vest. I remember making that vest at South Junior High. It's completely lined and I thought it was so classy. Have I ever mentioned that I think I got more out of my cooking and sewing classes at "South" than from any other class I've taken since?


I love this photo also from the album of the old Capitol Theater showing "The Carey Treatment" (1972). In color! Starring James Coburn.



Here's the movie poster courtesy of Wikipedia. It's about Dr. Peter Carey and a mystery involving an abortion.


Brian prepares to brave the cold.

Snow day

Let me in.


We got about 8 inches by around noon. Another 8 inches expected tomorrow.


Stalking birds from the comfort of the kitchen counter.

Jonathan O'Keeffe alerted me to this thisgreat video of a dog playing in several feet of snow. This kind of exuberance in the snow is not for Hester.


Brian on the rail trail.


And running down Amity Street.


Paul took these two photos at the Quabbin Reservoir today.

Waiting for the season's first snowstorm

We're supposed to get almost a foot of snow, beginning around noon today, which will make it the first major snowstorm of the season.
It's not the season's first STORM, of course. That would be last week's ice storm, the worst in 30 years, which coated the trees in the higher elevations, many of which fell, knocking out electric lines supplying power to over 1 million people in New England. Paul took this photo in the town of Oakham to which I've never been.


Oakham on the map.


Yesterday was one of those cheerfully sunny winter days and I went for a run. This from my favorite spot on Strong Street to take a photo.
Earlier this week, a woman burst into the Amherst Bulletin office, explaining she was waiting for a taxi, and asked what we all were doing. When I told her we were writing about the aftermath of the ice storm, she said she found people and the press around here unusually obsessed with the weather. It's true I can't remember talking about it all the time when I was younger and living elsewhere.
As I had yesterday day off (I was writing about the weather all day Sunday.), I thought I would mail a lot of Christmas cards -- but didn't. They'll be the mail soon!


More pics from Paul.