At Home in NH

Twelve years ago, my husband and I went in search of a new place in which to sink our roots. Fate and circumstance drew us to New Hampshire, to a “for sale” sign on a quiet hilltop. I fell in…

During the last thirty years, I’ve lived in three uniquely New Hampshire homes. And in each place, we celebrated the Christmas holiday a bit differently, adding traditions as more children came along, then letting some go as children grew up…

 Illustration by Carolyn Vibbert Every year or two for more than a decade after I graduated from college, I loaded most of my possessions into a compact car and moved on to the next likely place. I was seeking a…

Orchard ladders are beautiful. They’re mirror images of the trees they climb—wide at the bottom for solidity, and narrow at the top to fit between branches. Their form-follows-function design means the rails that hold the rungs have a pleasing, slow…

Everything I know about Judaism, I learned from Fiddler on the Roof and Woody Allen films.

Pawprints in a dusting of snow.  A bowl of tuna on the steps. Gone the next morning. And the next. Until one evening, at dusk, she revealed herself—a tabby we called Shadow. She ate our offerings but kept her distance.…

Home improvement, in my experience, has three categories: voluntary, for added comfort, luxury, beauty or efficiency; necessary, for property maintenance; and emergency, required by terrible and unforeseen occurrences. Since our move two and a half years ago, I’ve grown familiar…

It was in Jamaica where I learned that a well-prepared meal does not depend on a large kitchen.    We had just finished remodeling our kitchen in Connecticut. It had all the bells and whistles a food writer or caterer could…