A Touching Memory of Christmas Past
It’s a weirdly warm day, balmy and 51 degrees. It’s hardly the type of weather that makes you feel in the Christmas spirit, though it’s still barrelling down at us and will be upon us next Tuesday. I am excited that after so many years we are having a cocktail […]
Aldi’s Brings Sanity to the Grocery Aisle
I’m breathing in a sigh of relief…I can just feel how much I am saving by switching supermarkets to Aldis! For the past seven years, I’ve been forced to shop at the most expensive store in the world–Whole Foods. And Trader Joe’s was the second store, but both are not […]
A Christmas Party? Oh Yes!
I’m listening to Vince Guaraldi play his signature piano music that goes with the Charlie Brown television specials….old familiar songs played simply on piano with a bass and drum. Nice and spare, and each song languishes just long enough to feel supple and supine at once. We’re planning a Christmas […]
Thanksgiving 2018: At Home with Love
Thanksgiving a day of traditions This year was different than any year I can recall back to 2006. That’s because we made Thanksgiving dinner and hosted a few family members here with Rachael and her kids. I had ceded control of the cooking feasting holiday for so many years I […]
I Miss My Truck
Snow is coming. These days forecasts have gotten so good that when they say 100 percent, yep, we WILL get snow. So it’s now the week before Thanksgiving, and the radio says we’ll see 4-6 inches, starting around six pm. My snowblower is securely stowed down at Bill’s farm, wrapped […]
Wallow Takes You to the Farm then to the Sea
We had a rendezvous scheduled with a few dozen Oxford Sandy and Black pigs and piglets who live in small Quonset huts on a hillside overlooking the ocean. Their master is a pair of Guernsey siblings, Nicola Terry and her brother, who together have begun to offer a combination farm […]
Simon Dufty: A Hotelier’s Hotelier
Simon Dufty looks the part of the perfect Englishman, except that no man from Jersey would ever call himself English. For 40 years, this impeccable and unflappable gentleman has worked in the hospitality business, and today he manages the delightful Le Fregate Hotel in St Peter Port Guernsey. On the weekends […]
Guernsey: A Delightful Bailiwick Well Worth Exploring
Last night I flew from Gatwick to the Bailiwick of Guernsey, and today I got a chance to tour a bunch of fun places on this 24-square mile island. Though it’s only five miles long, Guernsey doesn’t feel small…there are many beaches that show off wide swaths of odd-looking rocks […]
World Travel Market Brings Out, Well, The World
I learn so much when I come to London for World Travel Market. There is nothing like it, a convention where every country in the world is actively involved and exhibiting. Just about every US state, too, is represented, and preaching to the 51,000 strong throng and the 5000 exhibitors. […]
London and Guernsey Are Next Week’s Destinations
[wpgmza id=”3″] On Monday night I’ll board a Norwegian Air Shuttle Dreamliner and hit London for World Travel Market at the Excel Center. It’s an overwhelming show with so many people to see I’m sure I won’t see them all. But it’s always fun to be a part of one […]
Jane Trigere: A Force for Good is Gone
I first met Jane Trigere about 30 years ago, after she and her husband Ken Schoen moved to town from Easthampton in 1994. They bought the old firehouse, and quickly turned it into Ken’s bookstore, filled with tomes relating to Judaica, his specialty. Jane was very vocal about her opinions […]
Chuan Jiao Bistro: Amherst’s Newest Chinese Restaurant
About a year ago, my weekly lunch friends and I ate at the Ichiban, the newest Japanese/Chinese restaurant in Amherst, right next to the uber-popular Miss Saigon on North Pleasant St. The restaurant was cavernous, with two huge rooms and few diners were seated with us. Fast forward to late […]
One Ferry Street: Rejuvenating a Decaying Mill to Glory
Easthampton will soon see a depressing and abandoned mill turned into a huge new housing and retail complex starting next year. The news is more good for this up and coming community, which has seen so many great new developments in the past few years. The story on MassLive yesterday detailed […]
Tag Sale Day in Deerfield This Saturday
Back in 2008, when I owned the GoNOMAD Cafe, we celebrated the first ever Tag Sale Day in Deerfield. I had gotten the inspiration after visiting Hopewell, NJ and saw so many tag sales. When I had the cafe, it was a natural gathering place for tag-salers, and we did […]
Bolting Up to Portland Maine
The Bolt is a Great Little Electric Car We’re testing out the newest Chevy–the Bolt EV, all-electric car–on a road trip from Boston to Portland, Maine this weekend. I’ve always been interested in trying out something like this, but instead of a quick five-minute test drive, we’ll get a full […]
Hidden Hills Website is Coming Back
I am very excited about a new project I am working on with my webmaster Rose and my girlfriend Rachael. It’s called Hidden-Hills.com and it’s a re-invention of a website that was started early in the 2000s to promote towns that are out of reach of the Mass Pike and […]
Cattaraugus County, New York: Surprises Around Each Bend
We’re traveling across the vast expanse of Cattaraugus County in Western New York this week, after setting out from Corning where the TBEX conference was held. Two hours later we were exiting the interstate for the run-down city of Salamanca, which is inside the Seneca-Iroquois tribal nation. The tribe has […]
Riding and Paddling in the Finger Lakes
Two memorable outings in a beautiful part of New York State We set out from Corning New York toward the village of Watkins Glen, which to me only conjures up the famous racetrack…and specifically, a few concerts that have taken place over the years that jogged my memory. But Watkins […]