New England – Hashtag Retired

by Angela

‘Good old days’

We recently learned that the old-fashioned hardware store in our nearest little town is closing. It’s “aged out, ” I’m afraid, as countless suburbanites in the housing developments ringing the town go to one of the big box stores or buy what they need online. Most are too young to remember the curious pleasure of […]

by Angela

A garden by the sea

A few weeks ago, Hubby and I spent a day strolling through the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay with my cousins Liz and Paula. Although the gardens had taken on the fading tinge of fall, for us they were no less intoxicating than they would have been at the height of the blooming season… […]

by Angela

A luscious bite of Red Kite

Last summer, our Vermont family came to visit bearing a gift… a sweet (pun intended) looking container filled with what my beau-frère* pronounced “the best caramels and toffee you’ll ever eat.” As you read this, keep in mind that I am by no means a candy addict, unless we are talking Neuhaus chocolates, which we […]

by Angela

Grand hotel: Wentworth-by-the Sea

The greatest charm of that now-near-vintage Christopher Reeve movie, Somewhere in Time, was the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan, where it was shot. As Reeve’s character explored the hotel, he magically found love in another century, to the tune of stirring romantic strain of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Pagannini. But my near-obsession with […]

by Angela

Village views

We haven’t been north in nearly two years, which is atypical for us and much too long between trips. As I’m fond of saying, real life sometimes gets in the way. Hopefully, we’ll be back on track with a northward journey in the next few months. In the interim, the dry spell, I’ve gotten by […]

by Angela

Growing up with Yankee

I fell in love with New England—technically, my native New England—not on those tedious trips north from Pennsylvania when I was a tiny child, but month by month, on the pages of Yankee magazine. I’ve mentioned before that my father, a first generation Italian-American, grew up in a papermill town in Western Maine. Think Richard […]

by Angela

Mystic-ism

I’d wanted to visit Mystic Seaport in Connecticut for years by the time we finally got there on a misty (sorry—I couldn’t resist) day a few summers ago. Mystic is a delightful trip back in time if you appreciate the American Colonial period, and a great history lesson for kids. It’s easier to enjoy in spring […]

by Angela

I miss the mountains

This time of year, I get a very specific wanderlust that always involves going north, to the mountains. I was never lucky enough to live in New England, but my father was born and raised in western Maine, just 30 miles from the Canadian border. I’ve had one Yankee foot since I was old enough […]

by Angela

In the footsteps of the stonecutters…

We make frequent trips to New England, partly because we love it so, partly because we have both roots and family there. Our visits often begin and end at my brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s home in Vermont. On one such visit, we took a fascinating field trip to, of all places, a cemetery. But not just any […]