The Fondue Renaissance
Fondue is a thing of the 70s. While the notion of dipping bread in melted cheese has probably existed for as long as there’s been crusty bread, sharp cheese, and fire, things really came to a head...
View ArticleWhat it Means to be a Vermonter: Flatlanders, Woodchucks, and Me
On Vermont Public Radio’s Vermont Edition today, the topic will be “Who Is a Vermonter?” The topic ignited a torrent of reflection within me: I’ve lived in Vermont for 12 years, and though I grew up on...
View ArticleReports of the End of the Ski Season Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
In 1954, while on his second African safari, Ernest Hemingway and his wife, Mary, chartered a Cessna 180 for a sight-seeing trip over the Belgian Congo. Things didn’t go as planned. Hemingway, his...
View ArticleShut Up and Drink Your Scotch
Here’s the problem: I’m almost 48 years old, but I still think like a 25 year old. The other morning, while enjoying the first satisfying, coffee-induced pee-break of the day, I had a great idea. I was...
View ArticleThe Top Ten Things Vermonters Love To Do In The Spring
It’s been a weird spring already in Vermont, with a shot of early warm weather coming in the middle of winter, an early end to the ski season, and unusually warm temps in May. In fact, spring has...
View ArticleFive Boring Ways to Spend Money On Your Inn
I’m always amazed--and a little jealous--at other innkeepers who manage to spend money in creative, fun, and sexy ways. They spend money on the transient things that jazz up their inns, making them pop...
View ArticleObituaries: The Pool, aged 45, Stowe, Vermont.
Pool, The, at the Auberge de Stowe--Of catastrophic liner failure, at the age of 45. The Pool at the Auberge de Stowe passed from this world on Wednesday, June 6, 2012, surrounded by its loving family...
View ArticleThe Empty Nest
The number one question posed to us this summer is, “What are you going to do?”It’s been asked by friends and guests alike, upon learning that both our sons would be gone for the entire summer. It’s...
View ArticleThe Conundrum of Lodging Review Sites
Two of the larger review and booking sites in the hospitality business--TripAdvisor and BedandBreakfast.com--have recently made some changes to their search parameters that have upset many...
View ArticlePaper or Plastic?
My fourth grade teacher, Mr. Duffy, used to read to us. A former Marine with huge hands and a raspy voice, Mr. Duffy ran our class with a wisdom that belied his no-nonsense exterior. He gave us boys...
View ArticleThe Summer of 2012
Summer’s over. It ended on August 27, because that’s the morning I had to start wearing a sweatshirt when I got up to make the coffee. Though the days have continued to be sunny and warm, the nights...
View ArticleYour Foliage 2012 Guide & Planner
For folks planning on heading north for some fine fall foliage viewing, the question is always about timing. While divining the moment of the brightest, most astonishing colors is impossible, there are...
View ArticleYellow Bog
In October of 2009, while moose hunting in the Nulhegan River Basin of the Silvo O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, I discovered something extraordinary. While it wasn’t...
View ArticleThe 'Tudes of Fall Foliage
Today we took a drive north, to the back side of Jay Peak in Montgomery Center, where we own some land, to survey our apple orchard, haul off the last load of wood before winter, and check out the...
View ArticleTipping Points
This summer and fall, we hosted more than four hundred guests at our bed and breakfast. We warmly welcomed them. We discussed the area. We recommended restaurants. We told them about where they could...
View ArticleLightening Up
I was not going to write this blog post. I was going to write a completely different piece. In fact, I did. But as is my custom, I wrote the column, put it away for a couple of days, and went back to...
View ArticleThe Connoisseur of the Turn
Chantal and I made our first turns of the season up on Mt. Mansfield this week. Ski-crazed flatlanders might gasp and lust after out good fortune, but by Stowe standards we’re a little behind the...
View ArticlePraying for Snow
Looking out the window on a December morning as the snow piles up into burbly tussocks, it would seem that the wishes of the North Country folk--who depend on snow for their winter livelihood, as well...
View ArticleMy Favorite Nonfiction Book
Everybody’s got favorite books. Books that must be owned, books to read again and again, books that offer new discoveries every time through. Some of my favorite works of fiction include Great...
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The State of Winter
Winter’s off to a strong start. Those who don’t live in the North Country might not understand what I mean by “strong start,” so let me explain: A strong start means cold and snow before the end of the...
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