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
Dressing For Sundown
You never know what you\’ll hear on NPR. A couple of days ago there was a story about a man who hangs out on street corners in New York looking
Blogging in the ER
You know how it is in American medical circles: you say the word \”twinge,\” followed by the word \”chest\” and, if you\’re male and in your 60s, the cardiovascular care
Plastic Nations
When I was in middle-school in Ecuador, in the late 1950s, it became fashionable among the girls in my class to carry books in transparent plastic bags. Even among the
What It\’s Like In Vermont Right Now
\”The sun was warm but the wind was chill.You know how it is with an April dayWhen the sun is out and the wind is still,You\’re one month on in
Sitemeter Is Dead
…or maybe just asleep. Sitemeter is the statistics counter that lets me know how many people click on my blog. And its death, or its prolonged nap, has given me
Quest For Transplants
At this time of year the small local nurseries, the ones that grow their own plants organically, offer greater variety, and go digging for long-forgotten heirloom veggies, keep their doors
Dear Bluebird: Please Go Away
After living cheek by jowl with you all last summer, I wasn\’t sure I wanted you back in the little nest house by our porch window. But yesterday, seeing that
Eager Dread
In Girls of Slender Means, Muriel Spark says of a plump young woman that she \”spent much of her time in eager dread of the next meal, and in making
My Green Vermont
Latest Posts
Dressing For Sundown
You never know what you\’ll hear on NPR. A couple of days ago there was a story about a man who hangs out on street corners in New York looking
Blogging in the ER
You know how it is in American medical circles: you say the word \”twinge,\” followed by the word \”chest\” and, if you\’re male and in your 60s, the cardiovascular care
Plastic Nations
When I was in middle-school in Ecuador, in the late 1950s, it became fashionable among the girls in my class to carry books in transparent plastic bags. Even among the
What It\’s Like In Vermont Right Now
\”The sun was warm but the wind was chill.You know how it is with an April dayWhen the sun is out and the wind is still,You\’re one month on in
Sitemeter Is Dead
…or maybe just asleep. Sitemeter is the statistics counter that lets me know how many people click on my blog. And its death, or its prolonged nap, has given me
Quest For Transplants
At this time of year the small local nurseries, the ones that grow their own plants organically, offer greater variety, and go digging for long-forgotten heirloom veggies, keep their doors
Dear Bluebird: Please Go Away
After living cheek by jowl with you all last summer, I wasn\’t sure I wanted you back in the little nest house by our porch window. But yesterday, seeing that
Eager Dread
In Girls of Slender Means, Muriel Spark says of a plump young woman that she \”spent much of her time in eager dread of the next meal, and in making