Saturday night we went to the bean supper down to the Congo Church. If you’ve never been to one (and that is a sad state of affairs), you usually sit family-style at big round tables. Well, at our table was a couple who’d obviously had an argument before the shindig, and had not left it in the car. All through dinner, they kept sniping at each other. Wow! Is that ever uncomfortable. There’s a big difference between sniping and some gentle ribbing. What is that difference, you might ask? Well, I’d say, it’s about whether you (the person doin’ it) are motivated by love or wanting to make the other person feel as miserable as …

Charlie came home from work last Friday, and I could tell he was a little thrown off. Usually, I got dinner all set out for him. “What’s up?” he says, staring at me with my coat on and ready to go. “Don’t you remember? Caitlin’s art opening?” “Oh, Jeez…” Clearly, he hadn’t. “Come on, Charlie. It’ll be good for us.” See, my niece Caitlin and her boyfriend Adam are part of this group art show at To Bean or Not to Bean, Mahoosuc Mills’s very own coffee shop and performance space. Just opened up in one of the old mill buildings last fall. I don’t think they’re going to put the Busy Bee out of …

I don’t know about where you live, but up here in Mahoosuc Mills, seems like the minute Turkey Day was over, folks were flying into Christmas. Big time! Well, Thanksgiving was so late this year. It’s starting to look mightly festive, and you can’t help but being swept up in it. Across the street, the Phinney’s put out their crèche, and it’s beautiful as ever. And Hank and Pearl Plaisted have really gone to town with them icicle lights. Ever since Hank took that header while hanging lights a few years back, they let their son-in-law do all the ladder work. Hank stays earth bound, thank goodness, and keeps busy throwing net lights over their …

I run into my cousin Ronnie’s daughter, Shannon, down to the Wally Mart the other day. She was there with her friend, Emily. They’re cute girls, both in their mid-twenties, unattached. You should have seen their shopping cart loaded to the gills with paper towels, toilet paper, feminine products and about twenty bottles of Oil of Olay. “Wow,” I says, “would you look at that haul!” “We’ve been couponing!” Shannon says. “Got some wicked good deals, too.” “I’ll bet.” Now, working at the A&P, I know my way around coupons. And since the economy went south, I’ve seen more and more people using them. Why not save money where you can, right? Heck, growing up, …

A couple of weeks ago, I gave you some general tips on how to have a successful yard sale. Now that you’re up to snuff on the basics, let’s move on to something I didn’t cover in that blog, which happens to be the number one yard sale rule: once an item leaves the house, it doesn’t come back inside. Honoring the number one rule is easy if you remember the golden rule of yard sales: if it has any sentimental value, I don’t care if it’s a bottle cap, keep it. If you remember that golden rule, the rest is easy. You’ll be ready to part with everything in your yard sale. That means …

January may have been long and cold, but God, didn’t it seem like we got a lot of snow in February? Charlie and me tried to make the best of it. I don’t go in for cross country skiing. Too steep a learning curve. But, I love snowshoeing. Well, I come from a long line of snowshoers, so it’s in my blood. I still have my mother’s snowshoes from when she was a kid. They were handmade by her uncle, Octave Pease. The webbing was made from the hide of a deer he shot himself. I get them out every winter for decoration. Octave: now there was a character. He came from a big family, …

I run into Bucky Dumont down to the A&P on Friday. He’s the fella with the horses who gives sleigh rides during our Down Home Holiday Festival. I was doing a little shopping after work, and he was “picking up a few things for the Mrs.” Sure enough, there in his shopping cart were milk, sugar, and a dozen eggs. “How ‘bout that case of Pabst, Bucky. She ask you to pick that up?” “Nope. Them’s what I call my “office supplies!” I’ve seen Bucky’s “office.” It’s that shed off the barn where he fixes his farm equipment and maintains the horse tack. Oh, he’s got it all decked out: ole pot bellied stove, TV, …