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I’m in the thick of a huge family surrounded by brothers, sister, inlaws, young relatives and even the tiny tots who make up the Cunningham family. After a somewhat arduous drive, six hours in the rented van, we made it. We had a harrowing experience when we blew a tire […]
The summer is blowing by and now we’re setting out again on a journey. This time, though, it won’t require notebooks, cameras and a busy itinerary. Rather, it’s a family reunion for the legions of Cunninghams who are all meeting up in Seven Springs, PA. It’s a noteworthy occasion. The […]
This Valley couple brought a little Brazil to the Arts Block on Saturday night. Cesar is a musician who leads bands in Miami, and Eve is a singer from the Valley. Together they made a CD and the night’s performance was a bit of improv vocals and a nice mix […]
Late at night, three in the morning, I wake up and begin reading Reddit. There is a thread entitled What baby name makes you want to punch the parent in the face? Here are some of the names people have chosen to give their babies…without the usual hilarious comments that […]
I rode a bike tonight through places that were once filled with workers and machinery, and today sit empty. It’s the South Deerfield Industrial Park, on Route 116, and I had great old memories of the hustle and bustle that once took place there. I remember delivering shirts to a […]
Last night I left the confines of the comfy upper Valley and ventured to West Springfield to the Majestic Theater. My friend Brad Shepard was singing, and I wanted to bring fellow singer Lennie Zarcone to hear him. I thought they had a lot in common, two men who love […]
Last night I had dinner with a large group of strangers. It was called Dishcrawl, and the night’s itinerary took us to four eateries in the resurgent town of Easthampton. Many in the group of 27 lived in Easthampton but never been to these establishments! It all started on Facebook, […]
I bought a record player at Radio Shack in 1973. I installed it in my room, and then went out and bought a few vinyl records to play. The second one I bought was Steve Miller Band’s The Joker. Last night on the 40th anniversary of this seminal classic rock […]
Nova Scotia is a wine destination. I never, ever thought I’d be writing about Canadian wine but this province has all that they need to become a world class place to taste wine and their farmers are growing more and more vines instead of the traditional crops like apples and […]
Today we drove across the big peninsula of Nova Scotia, from the Annapolis Valley down to the jewel of the south coast, Lunenburg. The town is famous, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site because of the lovely preserved 1750s architecture and perfect grid of the downtown. The building colors are […]
Nova Scotia has a familiarity that reminds us of the US east coast. Perhaps a little Vermont, mixed with some Rhode Island, but bigger. There are lots and lots of farms, and in the distance along the coast glimpses of the ocean. The distances are much longer as we found […]
Nova Scotia is as nice a place as I thought it would be. It’s kind of like Maine, but there are some things here that are way more dramatic. On a double-decker bus tour this afternoon, we drove around this compact city of about 400,000 and saw the impressive seaport–and […]