This winter was neither brutal, nor particularly lingering, so we really have little to complain about. However, with the onset of the very serious COVID-19 virus, the concept of “Stay Home, Stay Safe” has taken cabin fever to new, and annoying heights. I’ve tried really, really hard to acce…
Trust public health experts who say it’s too soon
Woolly adelgid and scale insects were killing hemlocks in Connecticut, but natural forces saved the trees.
The greatest Irish holiday, signaling the coming of Spring, is usually celebrated with wild abandon at restaurants and pubs. This year’s somber tone was due to the closing of all restaurants and bars for dine-in and drink-in availability. Instead, most restaurant owners quickly downsized and…
With a health care system that’s already stressed and facing a pandemic that will test all its limits, it’s difficult to think of legislation in the context of “normal” times. But there will be a day when health care returns to something resembling a pre-coronavirus state. And the virus is p…
Explore the outdoors, take time to listen, see and appreciate signs of spring as an antidote to coronavirus stress.
While attempting a Spring cleaning of my home office central, I found a sheet of paper folded into one of the cubby holes, opened it and recognized my husband’s handwriting. It read “Worked all night removing roof tiles on May 3 — need to bill for the job.”
The economic fallout will pale next to the potential human toll
The emerald ash borer is destroying ash trees in the U.S., but scientists hope a beetle can save the trees.
In a joking mood one morning a year and a half ago, I snapped a picture of one of the kitchen cabinets and posted it with this message on my Facebook page: “My husband leaves this cabinet door open all night because his cereal and tea are in there and it saves time in the morning. I told him…
When God’s wrath and the flood jointly abated, a dove brought the good new to the ark and Noah, keeping hope afloat.
There is no escaping the debate over economic development subsidies. Even as Gov. Ned Lamont has enacted a turnaround of policies that showered millions of dollars on companies that were thinking of coming to or staying in Connecticut under his predecessor, Dannel Malloy, the question of how…
My church once sponsored a community giving contest, offering Litchfield schoolchildren the opportunity to explain in words, pictures or song why their favorite charitable cause deserved attention. The three contest winners would have the honor of St. Michael’s donating $500 to the charity o…
So, just what is it that a Little Free Library Steward does? Here are the highlights from a busy week in my world here at Little Free Library at StoneHill.
A biologist, psychologist, philosopher and an anthropologist will describe the complexity of issues surrounding climate change in upcoming lecture series.
Underneath the chaos and lack of preparation, Trump’s reliance on swagger rather than rational management makes him unsuited to lead in a health crisis.
A bill to repeal religious exemptions for childhood vaccines cleared a House committee, but a tacked-on provision dilutes public protection.
“Prayer is talking to something or anything with which we seek union, even if we are bitter or insane or broken… Prayer is taking a chance that against all odds and past history, we are loved and chosen, and do not have to get it together before we show up. The opposite may be true: We may n…
Connecticut’s climate is conducive to hemp growing, but a challenge is finding the right market.
The running theme early in Gov. Ned Lamont’s second legislative session appears to be “Think small.”
An intriguing newspaper ad caught my eye and as a freelancer, I’m always on the lookout for quirky story ideas. Also, payment was promised, which is always a bonus. The ad described a clinical trial at a prestigious organization in New Haven. They were researching off-label use of a pharmace…
Why we’re having a mild winter that is causing bears to stir early.
What has happened in Connecticut to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the one guaranteeing freedom of expression? What about the similar provision in Connecticut’s Constitution? Is freedom of expression still the rule in the state?
Juvenile justice reform in Connecticut is proven successful, but now the minimum age should be raised from 7 to 12.
First, have a friend give you a sexy negligee one size too small in a Victoria’s Secret bag. (She knows you’re on a regimen and will now have a new goal!)
Thank you from the Library
“All things are engaged in writing their history….Not a foot steps into the snow, or along the ground, but prints in characters more or less lasting, a map of its march.”
Connecticut has led the way on one of the most important social issues of our time — gun violence prevention.
As I crossed the road to pick up my newspaper in predawn cold, a light overhead caught my eye. High above the field across the road was a mere sliver of a moon with an impossibly large bright star just beneath it. Half-awake or half-asleep, I don’t know which, I stared at this apparition for…
A thank you
It hasn’t emerged as a major issue in the pending state legislative session, but a speech this month from Katie Dykes, the state’s commissioner of energy and environmental protection, could be a precursor to a major change on how the state procures its power supply.
A Follow the Forest initiative seeks to preserve swaths from here to Canada
It’s the magical hour of 3 a.m. and I am jolted from restless sleep by maniacal shrieking, hooting and loud peeping underneath the bed. I brace myself, prepared to grab a weapon, but the only object within reach is a large spray bottle filled with cold water. Just shaking the bottle results …
It was the summer of 2015 when I saw my first Little Free Library on Silver Sands beach in Milford. I remember that excitement, finding a book to read on the beach. I could not wait to get back to the hills and put books in my front yard. I found a cupboard at a local tag sale, filled it wit…
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which has protected many avian species for more than100 years, is facing jeopardy from government deregulation and man’s ever-expanding — and invasive — technologies.
The University of Connecticut has an Athletics Department problem, and it has nothing to do with a maybe-not-as-dominant-as-usual women’s basketball team.
The simple low-cost solution to improving Litchfield County’s economic prosperity is greater second home development/ownership, tourism and permanent resident transplants who primarily made their income outside of the County. Unlike other counties in CT, Litchfield County’s greatest competit…
There’s so much more to a book than just the reading. — Maurice Sendak
As impeachment again comes to dominate the national news, the twists in the story have been wild and unpredictable. But few could have foreseen a role for a mostly unknown congressional candidate from Connecticut who has already been denounced by his party over unrelated events.
Two recent events came together for me in one epiphany, defined by Merriam-Webster as “an usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something.” Strangely enough, this was on the Twelfth Day of Christmas, which is also known as the Epiphany. When you’re …
Two state lawmakers, one from each party, asked the General Assembly’s banking committee reently, to hold an informational forum on a case now before the Department of Banking — a case that’s stretching the bounds of what we thought a regulatory action could look like.
The issue: A plan that would clear certain criminal records automatically was introduced in 2019 but died in the Connecticut General Assembly. The proposal would only apply to people with nonviolent convictions and would help clear a path to acquiring housing and employment after a sentence …
Red-bellied woodpeckers are just one of the once-rare birds in the state that now make it home
I have hazel eyes — green with flecks of gold and sometimes blue. According to published statistics, only 8 percent of human beings have hazel eyes, which can change with mood and surroundings. Since they often change color, people with hazel eyes are said to be unpredictable and fun loving.…
For many decades, hosts of individuals have reported seeing mountain lions in Connecticut. But other than the one killed by a motor vehicle on the Wilbur Cross Parkway in Milford on June 11, 2011 — the only confirmed presence of a mountain lion in Connecticut in recent times — none of myriad…
Against Donald J. Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wanted narrow impeachment charges, despite key House Committee Chairs’ arguments for broadening the impeachment charges. These veteran lawmakers, led by House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler, urged Speaker Pelosi to include the ten o…
Debt has always been a mixed-bag for me as it had to be paid even as outside forces beyond my control interfered.
The issue: The recently concluded year brought a new raft of environmental concerns for state residents, including one that even many well-informed advocates had never heard of. PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, are manmade chemicals that are potentially hazar…
My favorite book at age eight was “Alice in Wonderland.” I revisited it in the 1960s when Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane gave it a psychedelic twist and it revived with the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp film interpretation that was even more psychedelic. But nothing can be more phantasmagorical…
If anyone had forgotten the underlying issue behind the never-ending statewide debate on highway tolls, a reminder was issued last week from the Department of Labor, and it told a familiar story. Despite some minor movement on a few indicators, the state’s job situation remains stuck in a ye…
I love the Litchfield Hills — the sound of it (a lot of quietude), the warp and weft of tall trees everywhere, curving byways, ups and downs and a herd of cows watching as you walk by their pasture. I also appreciate that very few people fence-in their homes. It wasn’t like that in Florida.
