In the very early 1990s I decided to buy my first computer. I was given the advice to purchase it by a fellow who was selling computers from his home on Park Street in Claremont, because he would also teach me how to run it. I had no computer science training in school, so I thought this wou…
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One of the easiest, and most satisfying, gardening activities I do each year is to plant tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and crocus in containers each fall. I keep them in a place that is cold, but not freezing, for three or four months, then bring them into the warmth of the house where I get …
A good company wants your business. A good company will bend over a little to accommodate you, especially if it doesn’t cost them anything. But first you have to speak up with your request.
Vote. If you can find any way to get to your local polling place, do so on Tuesday. The right to vote is one that many in the world do not have. Our forefathers had the foresight to allow their fellow men the right to voice their opinion and choose candidates to represent them according to t…
October 31st, Halloween, a day like no other on the calendar. Halloween, an amalgamated holiday, a combination of the Celtic festival of Samhain, All Saints Day, All Hallows Eve, and a few other traditions added in for good measure. Nowadays Halloween is mostly thought of as a holiday for co…
Like the Joad family in Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, countless squirrels are on the move. Heedless of traffic, they cross the road in search of new sources of food. Steely-eyed gardeners bear down on them, thinking revenge for the destruction of their crops, particularly tomatoes, apples and…
When I was a little shaver of about 8 years old, I would stay in Newport with my grandmother during the day while my parents worked in a shoe factory in town. My time was spent mostly outside in total freedom, devising various adventures, usually with my cousin. We had virtually no oversight…
There’s more to consumerism than a customer making a purchase. Sure, that’s part of the equation, but a full look at consumerism involves delving into misleading advertising, unfair pricing, violations of privacy, and even illegal actions such as soliciting money for non-existent charities …
It’s time for spooks and ghosts and goblins and witches and candy and parties and costumes and fun. Halloween stirs up lots of feelings in people, both good and bad. I have read in a National Retail Federation annual survey that they expect 1.7 million people to celebrate Halloween with spen…
I firmly believe that there is no more good music now than there ever has been, but there is a lot more bad music to sort through in order to find the good stuff.
Newport held its second “Kindness Event” on Tuesday. Fifty or so folks gathered on the common, listened to live music, took a moment to talk with other people, and took a minute to remind themselves of the importance of kindness. Along with kindness, a handful of people spoke and reminded th…
For decades I’ve been planting spring-flowering bulbs. Some come back every year, some disappear after a few years, and some I treat as annuals. The result? Just when mud season is about to swallow me whole, I am rewarded with flowers to enjoy outdoors — and indoors in a vase. Now is the tim…
The following are some humorous incidents that happened while I was working as a mason in the construction trades.
In the summer of 1995, at age 12, I chose the very first movie that I wanted to see in theaters. Chose may not even be the right word, at that age very few things felt like choices, but are more “have to” than want to. Add in that caveat and in summer 1995, I had to see “Apollo 13,” a film s…
New Hampshire and Vermont residents started receiving new Medicare cards from the federal government in July.
“The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein”
Years ago I was riding my Harley-Davidson motorcycle south on Route 10. Just outside of town of Goshen, New Hampshire, I spotted an animal wandering around in the road as if it was injured and I assumed it had been hit by a car. At a distance the creature looked like a large house cat becaus…
I first learned about rain checks when I was a wee lad of 6 or 7 and was taken to a baseball game (Braves at Mets). There on the ticket stub was a tear-off portion called a rain check, spelling out the terms. I read the words carefully, even though it was a fine summer day.
It seems like this has been a very mild fall. I am sitting in a very muggy, hot house, listening to rain patter on the roof this Thursday morning following a summery day of wearing a T-shirt and shorts to try to stay cool as I picked apples, cut corn stalks, and picked raspberries. We plante…
Often I am asked, “Why do you watch so many movies?” My answer is always the same, I like a good story. No matter the medium, a good story is in, whether it be books, films, or even newspapers, there are few things like a good story or even great story. “A Star is Born” is a great story, a s…
In the late summer of 1961 I had the advantage of going to summer camp on an island in the middle of Lake Winnipesaukee. One day at camp I was walking back from chow hall to our assigned cabin with another 9-year-old boy. He was a red-headed, freckle-faced Irish kid from the Boston area who,…
Detroit circa early to mid 1980s, a city in the midst of a crack epidemic in a country in a war on drugs. The setting of the true story of Rick Wershe Jr. or as he is more commonly known “White Boy Rick,” a street moniker that also serves as the title of the film in this week's review.
For many years I was in denial. Yes, I refused to accept that fall and winter were on the way by October. I didn’t start fall clean up until November, and by then it was cold, raw, often wet and unpleasant out. Now, having reached a certain age, I prefer to work when it is warm and sunny — s…
Having a problem with the deer getting into our crops, we contacted New Hampshire Fish and Game a couple of months ago. They lent us a “Critter Gitter,” an electronic motion detector that goes off when creatures wander by with light strobes and a series of annoying screeches. We have placed …
Good penmanship, employing the longhand, cursive, or script style of lettering has become a dying art form. I refer to it as an art form, because when done properly it is very pleasing to the eye. The cursive style of writing was invented to speed up the writing process in that all the lett…
Maybe it is silly to give this so little room. Such is my ache for independent radio with a human voice.
Summer is over, officially, and the garden knows it. Tomatoes exist only in the kitchen, many flowers are looking lackluster, and trees are losing their leaves. What’s a gardener to do? I buy color in the form of chrysanthemums and fall asters. And I also enjoy wild asters that appear along …
I have the privilege of owning a Jack Russell terrier named Junebug. I named her that because when she was still a few months old she was about the size of a June bug. She is 11 years old now, and she weighs about 20 pounds. Jack Russells normally live to be about 20 years old. This breed of…
Summer keeps chugging along here at the farm. The only crops that gave up the ghost early were the cucumbers, leaving some who ordered cukes for pickles with empty jars. The bean field was set to produce what looked like a great late crop, with blossoms covering the plants. Late last week, h…
Every now and then, away from the popcorn smell and the often loudly talkative setting of a theater, from the comfort of my own couch I will sit down with an indie film and fall in love with it. “Hearts Beat Loud” is one of those films.
One of the most delightful qualities of the film ‘A Simple Favor’ is the French pop soundtrack. ‘A Simple Favor’s’ soundtrack is almost entirely French pop. One of my favorites is “Les Passants” by Zaz. In “Les Passants” there is a line that says, “these days I run towards balance.” Balance …
Here’s one for you…
We live in a pretty wonderful place. I can’t fathom living anywhere else by choice. I attended the New Hampshire Association of Counties annual meeting with my husband this week, and we attended meetings and seminars and shared meals with some dedicated and interesting people, all as committ…
“Depth of Winter”
I sometimes wonder if I’m part squirrel. No, I don’t bury acorns for winter, but I do love putting up food for winter, especially potatoes. They’re the ultimate “comfort food,” as far as I am concerned, and I rarely have too many. If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to harvest an…
In the summer of 2013, “The Conjuring,” one of the scariest films from the last decade, came out. “The Conjuring” had such an immersive story that it has developed into its own universe, The Conjuring universe. Currently there are five film entries into this universe: “The Conjuring” 1 &…
Squirrel! My son and his friends in high school used to shout this whenever a friend was quickly and easily distracted from whatever they were doing, like a dog or puppy is easily distracted from whatever it might be doing when a squirrel crosses its path and a chase ensues. This year, shout…
When I was a lad of 16 years, I was dating a young lass in my neighborhood. One day her 12-year-old brother, whose name was Jape, asked me if I would join him trout fishing in our neighborhood brook some time, and I said sure I would.
If you watch or read the news, you no doubt have seen or heard that President Trump’s tariffs on commodities coming in from around the world have hit our nation’s breadbasket hard. For years, agriculture has been grooming and refining trade deals with overseas markets. In the relative blink …
“John Woman: A Novel”
Wizards of the Coast hit upon a gold mine when they one day decided to take the worldwide phenomenon that is “Magic: The Gathering” the trading card game and turn it into a largely single-player gaming experience, though it took them a while to master the formula. From the ‘90s version of th…
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