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
December, 2008 “On Gloom”
The word “gloom” is onomatopoeic, like “crash” or “bump.” Just listen to that nauseous initial “gl,” followed by the prolonged mournful “oo.” And no sooner are you over that than
December 7, 2008 “Subverting Simplicity”
The question came up in conversation the other day about what I would do if I had lots of money. And for a while, I couldn\’t come up with anything.
December 6, 2008 “Hens in Winter”
I think I might be running an industrial egg farm. It hasn\’t been going on for long, but who knows when it will end? Here are the circumstances that led
December 4, 2008 “Buddy Holly, My English Teacher”
The first thing my father bought upon arriving in Birmingham, Alabama, was a radio. A classical musician, he was a passionate jazz aficionado, and assumed that, since Birmingham was in
December 3, 2008, “Sister Dorothy Does A Makeover”
Newly arrived in the US, I spent my high school freshman year drowning in a soup of cultural and linguistic confusion. I was the only foreign student in the school,
December 1, 2008 “Dog Drug”
I have in my garage the dog equivalent of crack cocaine. My dog drug is in the form of a basketball-size red ball made of hard, heavy plastic, and I
November 30, 2008 “Grrrr…”
That\’s me growling, not my dogs. But I\’m growling at my dogs, or rather at the mysteries and ironies of training dogs, living with dogs, trying to figure out dogs.
November 28, 2008 “Stick Season”
Good friends invited us to celebrate Thanksgiving with them. Our contribution, aside from our irrepressible charm, was limited to a few bottles of wine. It was my easiest Thanksgiving ever,
My Green Vermont
Latest Posts
December, 2008 “On Gloom”
The word “gloom” is onomatopoeic, like “crash” or “bump.” Just listen to that nauseous initial “gl,” followed by the prolonged mournful “oo.” And no sooner are you over that than
December 7, 2008 “Subverting Simplicity”
The question came up in conversation the other day about what I would do if I had lots of money. And for a while, I couldn\’t come up with anything.
December 6, 2008 “Hens in Winter”
I think I might be running an industrial egg farm. It hasn\’t been going on for long, but who knows when it will end? Here are the circumstances that led
December 4, 2008 “Buddy Holly, My English Teacher”
The first thing my father bought upon arriving in Birmingham, Alabama, was a radio. A classical musician, he was a passionate jazz aficionado, and assumed that, since Birmingham was in
December 3, 2008, “Sister Dorothy Does A Makeover”
Newly arrived in the US, I spent my high school freshman year drowning in a soup of cultural and linguistic confusion. I was the only foreign student in the school,
December 1, 2008 “Dog Drug”
I have in my garage the dog equivalent of crack cocaine. My dog drug is in the form of a basketball-size red ball made of hard, heavy plastic, and I
November 30, 2008 “Grrrr…”
That\’s me growling, not my dogs. But I\’m growling at my dogs, or rather at the mysteries and ironies of training dogs, living with dogs, trying to figure out dogs.
November 28, 2008 “Stick Season”
Good friends invited us to celebrate Thanksgiving with them. Our contribution, aside from our irrepressible charm, was limited to a few bottles of wine. It was my easiest Thanksgiving ever,