Rocks in our Heads

When asked what crop the soil of New Hampshire is most suited for, the astute Yankee replies:“Rocks.” It’s rocks that rise in the garden each spring. You can hoe ’em out and toss ’em to the side, but next spring (every spring) they’ll be back. They just keep coming. We are, after all, the Granite […]

Yankee Optimism: Alive and Squirmin’

Last winter, on the coldest night of the year, I was scheduled to tell stories at the historic and vernacular South Danbury Christian Church. (Vernacular means not fancy but functional — I looked it up.) “Will people come out in the cold?” I asked Bonnie Nichols, the organizer. “They will,” she said. A -40 cold […]

The World According to Sticklers

Illustration by Peter Noonan Jake renovated old houses. One couple wanted their new-to-them colonial restored with meticulous attention to historic accuracy.  “Alrighty,” Jake said. “Where do you want the outhouse?” Jake was a stickler. Turns out they didn’t want that much historic accuracy. I’m a stickler from a long line of sticklers. If my husband […]