There’s something about spring that makes you feel hopeful, you know? It stays light later, the weather’s warmer and our clothes aren’t so cumbersome. The birds are chattering away, and every day on our walk with Scamp, Charlie and me see nature waking up. There are buds on the trees, the forsythia is in bloom, and the lawn (dare I say it) is tinged with green. After winter, the sights, sounds and smells of spring are like a balm to my soul. Exploding color: fresh, bright and unapologetic. Charlie’s feeling it, too. In fact, he wrote a poem about it. Daffodils Did you finish rakin’ leaves Last fall? Me, not at all But soon the …

It’s finally spring here in Mahoosuc Mills, and you know what that means? Spring cleaning, of course. I’m not saying I go hog wild like my mother and grandmother, taking apart each room of the house, but it’s good to do a deep cleaning every now and then. In preparation for this ritual, I bought a new vacuum cleaner head. The old one had seen better days. Finally, the lever that switches back and forth from “carpet” to “floor” broke, and it was permanently stuck on “carpet.” Hard to get good suction going on a wood floor, I’ll tell ya. It’s sad how excited I was about getting my new vacuum cleaner head, but hey, …

Spring is in the air; you can just smell it. Time for you know what: spring cleaning. Saturday, Charlie and me decided to get to it. While he made himself busy with a dump run and tidying up the yard, I took one look at our oven, and decided to start there. If you bake a lot of fruit pies like me, you know they tend to drip juice. Then there’s sweet potatoes which ooze sticky goop and yummy casseroles dishes that bubble over. Frankly, my oven was at the point where I’d preheat it to bake something, and it would start to cook off some of that crud at the bottom. Then a little …

The warmer weather brings all sorts of creatures out of their hidey holes. The chipmunks are making a ruckus in the yard and we have 100% occupancy in our bird houses––five in all. Down to the A&P, I’ve spotted many a young buck in his spring uniform of choice: shorts, t-shirt, flip flops and a polar fleece vest. His female counterpart is wearing flip flops, too, usually with skinny jeans, a t-shirt and a big scarf. A variation of this getup is to substitute UGG’s for the flip flops and short-shorts for the jeans. Apparently, these young folk subscribe to wardrobe averaging. Meaning summer clothes, plus one winter item equals a legitimate spring ensemble. For …

Spring has finally arrived in Mahoosuc Mills, Maine. The daffodils are in bloom, the trees are budding, and we are fast approaching my favorite time of the year: yard sale season! I just love yard sales. I love going to them and I love having them. Because the thing is, if you go to a lot of yard sales, you have to have a yard sale every once and a while to get rid of all the stuff you bought at the other yard sales. I’ve learned through experience that having a successful yard sale is about marketing and product placement. If you’re thinking about having one, it’s not too early to start getting organized. …