Life in Vermont means you have some pretty unique days to celebrate. Town Meeting Day is the day for town/village elections and public meetings on referendums and such. I had never heard of this until moving up here, and frankly it’s a pretty cool thing. Then there’s Bennington Battle Day, a state holiday celebrating a particular battle in the Revolutionary war.
But there are also days… Read More …
Since this has been a “normal” Vermont winter, for the most part, I haven’t bothered documenting much. We’ve just had the usual accumulating snow for the last two months, with no big snow storms, and the typical piles of snow line the streets and the driveway.
The cold hasn’t been… Read More …
When we were first moving to Vermont in 2012, apartments were at a premium. I wanted to live close to work, if possible. But Waterbury had just suffered a significant flood, and there was ONE apartment available. To cover all Read More …
Vermont gets snow—that’s just a fact of life. The storms are far less intense and disruptive than many I experienced in Delaware, but measurable snow on May 9? I definitely don’t… Read More …
Though I’ve always lived in a neighboring town or village, everything here is spot on. There’s something special about most every town, village, or city in Vermont, but Montpelier compiles much of that character and charm into one small place. Yet one more reason I… Read More …
Vermont has been extra Vermonty this winter. The snow started in October, with the first measurable snow in November. We’ve been under snow pretty much ever since, and we’re at least two feet… Read More …
Yes, Waterbury can be a bit busier than this, especially during/after events or when the state employees leave the state complex. But for the most part, this is the hustle and bustle that I see on a daily basis. Add a little snow, and there’s something soothing about the slow heartbeat of traffic signals, spiriting folks here and there with … Read More …
Sometimes, it takes the eye of an outsider to appreciate your surroundings.
This past August, I had just such a chance when some old friends from Delaware came for a visit. Although we definitely wanted to hang out and catch up, I knew they’d also want to see what makes Vermont great and planned a few jam-packed days, including the usual “three-town tour” I give everyone: Montpelier, Waterbury, and Burlington. But with decent weather and my own wish to see a few new things myself, we all became tourists on that long weekend.
In Montpelier, we all tried… Read More …
Four years ago, when I was first considering a move to Vermont for a career change, there were naturally reservations. I knew that Waterbury was smaller than most any town I had spent the night in, much less lived in, and nearby towns weren’t much larger. I considered commuting from Burlington, a bit of a mixture of Wilmington and Newark, Delaware—only with more spunk and vigor—but the distance and inadequate transit made it impractical.
So, I gathered all the … Read More …
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, life is pretty short. I try to spend mine discovering anything and everything, big and small, bizarre and mundane.
No matter where I go—to and from work, out for a stroll behind my building, or walking through my neighborhood—I am constantly taking inventory. My eyes scan everything around me, detecting the least little speck of something out of place. (Ask Susanne—she’s witnessed me spotting the tiniest of things in the forest floor on many of our hikes together.)
So it was nothing new to… Read More …
