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
Mater dolorosa
I haven\’t thought of Our Lady of Sorrows in a long time. But in these soul-wrenching days, when the distress both in me and around me has drained words of
Grateful Houseplants
(Although it feels frivolous to write about houseplants at such a sad and anxious time, I offer this post in the same spirit as those Italians who sang arias on
Perfectibility
When we lived in Quito, I used to ride the school bus home for lunch. My mother would sit at the table and watch me eat. “Sit up straight,” she
Homesick
While my mother, immobilized by vertigo, lay stretched like a corpse on the bed in our Manhattan hotel room, my father and I went to the top of the Empire
House Cleaning, Part 2: Good Enough
The good fairy at my cradle gave me a couple of gifts for which I’m grateful. But the bad fairy did me a terrible turn: she instilled in me the
Housework
When Saint Benedict wrote the Rule for his monastery fifteen centuries ago, he instructed the monk in charge of the kitchen to regard all utensils as if they were the
Day After Day
First thing every morning, I take Bisou outside. Then I feed her and Telemann, and clean the litter box. Next I make a cup of coffee, a cup of tea,
My Green Vermont
Latest Posts
Mater dolorosa
I haven\’t thought of Our Lady of Sorrows in a long time. But in these soul-wrenching days, when the distress both in me and around me has drained words of
Grateful Houseplants
(Although it feels frivolous to write about houseplants at such a sad and anxious time, I offer this post in the same spirit as those Italians who sang arias on
Perfectibility
When we lived in Quito, I used to ride the school bus home for lunch. My mother would sit at the table and watch me eat. “Sit up straight,” she
Homesick
While my mother, immobilized by vertigo, lay stretched like a corpse on the bed in our Manhattan hotel room, my father and I went to the top of the Empire
House Cleaning, Part 2: Good Enough
The good fairy at my cradle gave me a couple of gifts for which I’m grateful. But the bad fairy did me a terrible turn: she instilled in me the
Housework
When Saint Benedict wrote the Rule for his monastery fifteen centuries ago, he instructed the monk in charge of the kitchen to regard all utensils as if they were the
Day After Day
First thing every morning, I take Bisou outside. Then I feed her and Telemann, and clean the litter box. Next I make a cup of coffee, a cup of tea,