“All I could see from where I stoodWas three long mountains and a wood;I turned and looked another way,And saw three islands in a bay.” From “Renascence” by Edna St. Vincent Millay After 2 ½ weeks with family and friends from the South Coast of Massachusetts to Midcoast Maine, I began this day in an … Letter from Camden, Maine READ MORE »

Mapping out a week along the Maine coast, I set out from the Boston area mindful of a stern warning – do not drive to Maine on a Friday or return from Maine on a Sunday, unless you want to sit in miles and miles of 20-mile-per-hour, if not standstill, traffic on Interstates 295 and … Historic lighthouses, Andrew Wyeth and Edward Hopper in Midcoast Maine READ MORE »

Of all the disruptions dealt by the pandemic, a neglected topic is the 180-degree change in the personal life of a frequent business traveler. You’d think the response would be – “wow, isn’t that nice, you can finally spend time at home?” That’s not the case for many of us – my closest personal relationships … Pandemic Journal: Womantraveler Disrupted READ MORE »

On Pond Bridge Road off Main Road in Tiverton, Rhode Island, I drive west toward the Sakonnet River, about a half mile away at the foot of sloping farmland. The road narrows for a two-lane bridge, past the Nonquit Pond “fish ladder” that river herring from the salty ocean “climb” to go around the dam … Pandemic Journal: Early Fall in Historic Tiverton, Rhode Island READ MORE »

Updated July 2022 July 24, 2018 After three days of tropical moisture and trade winds a la Miami, I recall what “100% humidity” is really like. You can slice it! We move slowly. Here I am in New England, where Rhode Island and Massachusetts meet off the Atlantic Ocean, and I am preoccupied with the … Living Like a Local Along New England’s “Farm Coast” READ MORE »

Breaking away from the city, I landed in Portland, Maine and drove two-plus hours northeast to the South Thomaston region off West Penobscot Bay. Along the hundreds of miles of coves, summer people and locals co-exist, occasionally uncomfortably. (In “One Man’s Meat,” writer E.B. White described his lobsterman neighbor Dameron as a “crusty symbol of self-sufficiency…a … Lobster “Bugging” and Puffin Sightings on Coastal Maine READ MORE »

The hoped-for Christmas snowstorm had failed to materialize, so we left Bromley Mountain in Southern Vermont for a day of cruising through villages that charm in all seasons. What better way to immerse in holiday nostalgia than the Vermont Country Store in Weston, bursting with toys, games, and foods of childhoods from all eras? Or amble around the borders of the … Seasonal Palettes and Palates in Southern Vermont READ MORE »

I was cruised by car in the guise of “Mustang Sally” from Cape Cod to South County, Rhode Island, a two-hour drive that crossed Narragansett Bay just north of fabulous Newport. Bypassing this upscale resort, I was in the mood instead for Hawaiian shirts and shorts over pressed white linen. That meant landing in North … Cruising by Car Along Narragansett Bay READ MORE »

The girls got together on in Woods Hole, MA for a rare girlfriends reunion — three of us among a group once three times this size who’ve been friends for nearly 30 years and are now dispersed around the world. Collectively we’ve lost two of our own to deaths way too young, supported others among … Girlfriends Meet Up in Woods Hole, MA READ MORE »