my green vermont

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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

Bisou\’s Tail

Thwap, thwap, thwap. Thwap, thwap, thwap. In the six weeks that Bisou has been with us, this metronome has become the measure of my days. I walk in front of

Read More »

Wolfie\’s Tail

My German Shepherd, Wolfie, has a 20”-long tail. Sorry, let me rephrase that: my German Shepherd DOG, Wolfie, has a 20”-long tail. It emerges from the downward slope of his

Read More »

The Seasons Of Fall

Around here, fall is a season of extremes. It starts with the hillsides going up in flames of red, orange and yellow. And it ends with them the color of

Read More »

To Post Or Not To Post

My fingers are itching to write a post about a recent encounter of mine. Chalk it up to my monastic existence, but the encounteree is the most socially inept person

Read More »

Catalogs

\’Tis the season, already. Soon after we moved to Vermont, we were inundated with sales catalogs. Part of the cause may have been our children, who had to travel far

Read More »

Puppy For Sale

No! Just kidding! Bisou is the light of my life. However, like all the beings who light up one\’s life, she has her dark side too. She\’s four months old,

Read More »

The Dark Time

Oh, how I dislike the time change! Here it is, not even dinner time, and already black as midnight outside. Of course it\’s nice to have some light earlier in

Read More »

My Green Vermont
Latest Posts

Bisou\’s Tail

Thwap, thwap, thwap. Thwap, thwap, thwap. In the six weeks that Bisou has been with us, this metronome has become the measure of my days. I walk in front of

Read More »

Wolfie\’s Tail

My German Shepherd, Wolfie, has a 20”-long tail. Sorry, let me rephrase that: my German Shepherd DOG, Wolfie, has a 20”-long tail. It emerges from the downward slope of his

Read More »

The Seasons Of Fall

Around here, fall is a season of extremes. It starts with the hillsides going up in flames of red, orange and yellow. And it ends with them the color of

Read More »

To Post Or Not To Post

My fingers are itching to write a post about a recent encounter of mine. Chalk it up to my monastic existence, but the encounteree is the most socially inept person

Read More »

Catalogs

\’Tis the season, already. Soon after we moved to Vermont, we were inundated with sales catalogs. Part of the cause may have been our children, who had to travel far

Read More »

Puppy For Sale

No! Just kidding! Bisou is the light of my life. However, like all the beings who light up one\’s life, she has her dark side too. She\’s four months old,

Read More »

The Dark Time

Oh, how I dislike the time change! Here it is, not even dinner time, and already black as midnight outside. Of course it\’s nice to have some light earlier in

Read More »