Welcome to My Green Vermont
I was born in Barcelona, where I went to a school run by German nuns, studied solfeggio, and played the violin. When I was ten, my parents and I moved to Ecuador, where I had a number of exotic pets and strange adventures. Four years later, we landed in Birmingham, Alabama. None of us spoke English, and the strange adventures continued. (Many of these appear in My Green Vermont.)
Survived high school. Got B.A. in French and Biology, Ph.D. in Romance Languages (French and Spanish). Gave up the Church and the violin, got married, had two daughters, taught at a liberal arts college in Maryland. Also grew veggies, made bread, kept chickens, milked goats, and wrote for newspapers and magazines. I got bored with teaching, took up running, and went into higher ed administration. I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), and learned to live in a totally different way.
I started My Green Vermont when we moved to that state. For ten years I lived with my spouse, three dogs, twelve hens, two goats, and assorted passing wildlife in a house on a hill, surrounded by fields and woods. In 2014, we moved to a cottage in a continuing care residential community near Lake Champlain. Gave up livestock and vegetable gardening in favor of wild birds, honeybees, a little red dog, and a gray cat.
My Green Vermont is a fertile compost pile made up of stories about the weirdness of growing up in three countries and three languages; portraits of beloved animals, both wild and domestic; and reflections on aging, being kind to the earth, and staying as calm as possible. I hope you will visit often, and add your own stories and reactions.
My Green Vermont
Latest Posts
How I Can Tell It\’s High Summer
The Saint John\’s Wort is in bloom along the driveway.The neighbor farmer just hayed our field.The geraniums on the patio have to be watered every day.The tomato plants are giving
The Occasional Worm
Next week, if the forecasts are accurate, we will have five days of temperatures in the 90s. I\’m trying not to think about how that will make me feel, but
The Impeded Stream
I stumbled into a treasure chest of quotes by Wendell Berry a while ago, and at times like these I want to sing little songs of praise and gratitude to
Wrens, Etc.
From the frantic \”zicking\” I hear all over the yard, the house wren babies must have left home this morning. The parents are going nuts under the tall mint, under
My Mother And The Archbishop
When my sister went to check on my mother at the hospital yesterday evening, she found her sitting in an armchair by the bed, propped up with pillows, knowing who
Pond Inhabitant
The crew who made our stone patio and put in our fish pond left this morning, and this afternoon there\’s a frog in our pond. It\’s just a little frog,
Buddhism To The Rescue
As my mother careens from lucidity to hallucinations and stupor,as her family is flung daily from optimism to despair,as her release from hospital draws near and the decision about continuing
Bisou\’s Menopause
With a single exception, every dog I\’ve ever owned has been spayed or neutered. Bisou, who just had the surgery yesterday, is the eighth. Until my last two dogs, I
My Green Vermont
Latest Posts
How I Can Tell It\’s High Summer
The Saint John\’s Wort is in bloom along the driveway.The neighbor farmer just hayed our field.The geraniums on the patio have to be watered every day.The tomato plants are giving
The Occasional Worm
Next week, if the forecasts are accurate, we will have five days of temperatures in the 90s. I\’m trying not to think about how that will make me feel, but
The Impeded Stream
I stumbled into a treasure chest of quotes by Wendell Berry a while ago, and at times like these I want to sing little songs of praise and gratitude to
Wrens, Etc.
From the frantic \”zicking\” I hear all over the yard, the house wren babies must have left home this morning. The parents are going nuts under the tall mint, under
My Mother And The Archbishop
When my sister went to check on my mother at the hospital yesterday evening, she found her sitting in an armchair by the bed, propped up with pillows, knowing who
Pond Inhabitant
The crew who made our stone patio and put in our fish pond left this morning, and this afternoon there\’s a frog in our pond. It\’s just a little frog,
Buddhism To The Rescue
As my mother careens from lucidity to hallucinations and stupor,as her family is flung daily from optimism to despair,as her release from hospital draws near and the decision about continuing
Bisou\’s Menopause
With a single exception, every dog I\’ve ever owned has been spayed or neutered. Bisou, who just had the surgery yesterday, is the eighth. Until my last two dogs, I