Not too long ago, I chaperoned my 7-year-old daughter’s end-of-the-year field trip to the beach. These outings are often a stressful time for all but the children – teachers and parent volunteers are inevitably running after kids who insist on wandering and getting wet, all the while worrying about losing one to a crashing wave […]

They aren’t who you think they are More than half a decade into the Brony  (and Bronycon) phenomenon, the grown men who love “My Little Pony” understand that the world remains curious about them.  Forget your 1980s flashbacks. Yes, it’s true that indirectly, this all started when the U.S. toy behemoth Hasbro birthed a new […]

Pokémon Go exploded becoming the world’s most popular mobile game almost literally overnight. But true to the “you-teach-me-and-I’ll-teach-me” ethos, the app doesn’t come with many instructions. It’s basically up to you to figure out how to play. Fortunately, none of us are playing in a vacuum: There are dozens of localized subreddits, themed Facebook groups […]

LISBON FALLS – As far as Ed Wagaman is concerned, it was pure magic. He had traveled to Lisbon Falls from Pennsylvania just to glory in his love for all things Moxie. But when he arrived at 2 Main St., he found the famed Moxie Store locked, dark and empty. “I grabbed the doorknob and […]

Jorge Blanco sets the timer, grabs his bucket and begins to run.He sprints across the room to the faucet. He swiftly snaps a robe hook and a towel ring onto their respective wall mounts, and then, in a effortless move, pulls off the faucet handle and swaps out its ceramic cartridge for a new one. […]

I am thankful I have a very large, blue, plastic barrel in back of the house filled with rainwater. With all this lovely, but dry weather, the garden vegetables are crying for some moisture. Anyone with a garden should definitely have such a water-filled barrel available to them, particularly if you draw water from your […]

Certain herbs seem to belong in certain dishes: Sage defines poultry stuffing. Tarragon dazzles in sauce béarnaise and, as it happens, lavender is killer in pork fried rice.Oh, wait. You don’t put it in your fried rice? Well, you’re missing out.Those who sample my lavender-enhanced version often comment on its tempting herbal element, but they […]

The blue sedan slows to a halt alongside us and the driver’s side window slides down. We see a male 20-something, I’m guessing, head drooped over a phone in his lap. Pretending to notice us for the first time, he looks across the street.  “What faction do you belong to?” My roommates — let’s call […]