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
In Memoriam: Lexi And The Long Pier
The minute I found an obedience class, I signed us up. The class was taught by a painfully thin, gravelly-voiced instructor who chain-smoked during the break. She knew dogs, and
In Memoriam: How I Found Her
It was four years after I was diagnosed with CFS, and I was still mourning the professional life that the illness had forced me to abandon. I wanted to do
Last Day
I knew last night that today would be her last day. I made the call first thing in the morning, to get it over with. I showered and dressed and
Zen Buzz
The rain came Saturday afternoon, and it was welcome after this Mediterranean-dry spring. While the sun was still out that morning, I walked around and discovered that the side yard
Bluebirds
Right outside my window, in the little nest box that in past springs has sheltered families of wrens, a pair of bluebirds are building their nest. Blue, orange, and white
Old Ladies
One is ninety-four. The other will soon be fourteen. One is my mother; the other, my dog Lexi. Every time I step over Lexi\’s recumbent form on my way to
Gothic Fantasy
Among the countless delights of my daily existence, one of the latest is my rediscovery of needlepoint. I was skeptical when the urge first hit me. O.k., I said to
I Think I Saved The Apple Crop!
I\’m not sure what happened in the rest of the country after last week\’s apocalyptic heat, but here in Vermont the all-time highs were succeeded by two nights of hard
My Green Vermont
Latest Posts
In Memoriam: Lexi And The Long Pier
The minute I found an obedience class, I signed us up. The class was taught by a painfully thin, gravelly-voiced instructor who chain-smoked during the break. She knew dogs, and
In Memoriam: How I Found Her
It was four years after I was diagnosed with CFS, and I was still mourning the professional life that the illness had forced me to abandon. I wanted to do
Last Day
I knew last night that today would be her last day. I made the call first thing in the morning, to get it over with. I showered and dressed and
Zen Buzz
The rain came Saturday afternoon, and it was welcome after this Mediterranean-dry spring. While the sun was still out that morning, I walked around and discovered that the side yard
Bluebirds
Right outside my window, in the little nest box that in past springs has sheltered families of wrens, a pair of bluebirds are building their nest. Blue, orange, and white
Old Ladies
One is ninety-four. The other will soon be fourteen. One is my mother; the other, my dog Lexi. Every time I step over Lexi\’s recumbent form on my way to
Gothic Fantasy
Among the countless delights of my daily existence, one of the latest is my rediscovery of needlepoint. I was skeptical when the urge first hit me. O.k., I said to
I Think I Saved The Apple Crop!
I\’m not sure what happened in the rest of the country after last week\’s apocalyptic heat, but here in Vermont the all-time highs were succeeded by two nights of hard