In “Julie and Julia,” the new movie about Chef Julia Child, there’s a charming restaurant scene where a middle-aged Julia (played by Meryl Streep) asks her husband (played by Stanley Tucci) what she should do with the rest of her life. Her husband inquires, “What is it that you really like to do?” Julia, with fork poised in mid-air, replies,…
In New Hampshire at this time of year, killing mosquitoes isn’t just a necessity, it’s a competition sport. True, there are people who live here for years without picking up the finer points of the sport, but they’re understandably embarrassed about it. For those people – and folks from away who are trying to pass – here’s a brief introduction…
Carol Babel has loved cats since she got her first one at age 2. Her husband Bob Weller was also a cat lover. Now they have a cattery, breeding and competing the mysterious (even mystical, some believe) Maus that date back to Egyptian times. With their cheetah-like back legs, Maus can run at 30 mph and jump six feet in…
Dudley Laufman is a familiar figure in New Hampshire — he’s practically a part of the geography, after playing and calling for barn and contra dances for more than 60 years, most recently with his partner Jacqueline Laufman, performing as “Two Fiddles.” We take a lot of our natural wonders for granted here, so it’s nice when someone from outside…
Stars shine. They rise and fall. Occasionally they align. Sometimes they go streaking across the sky. People are a lot like stars — each is unique and brilliant though some get lost in the crowd. Our It List is a constellation of the state’s stars who have, for one reason or another, burst into view this year. Some light up…
Capturing the transient beauty of the garden. Judy Stalus would like you to stop and see the roses, or maybe the tulips or delphiniums. “People don’t take the time to see the beauty around them,” says Stalus, who has been a fine art photographer since the early ’70s. Stalus has a way with flowers. Her ethereal photos of fresh picked…
Couch potatoes, arise! Stephen Priest sees his torn Achilles tendon as “good fortune.” Without the injury (now years ago) he wouldn’t have become an outdoor enthusiast nor written a book about it. When Priest’s doctors told him that there was an even chance the tendon would tear again in the future, he set out to prove them wrong. He began…
Take advantage of National Pomegranate Month — November. Starting to show up in New England grocery stores this time of year, the under-utilized, mostly decorative, ancient pomegranate. The pomegranate season runs from late September to mid-January. The variety you’ll probably see in the store is called Wonderful, grown mostly in California. Generally speaking, this variety is popular for juicing. One…
Fresh and local — you hear it all over these days. But if there is one place where fresh, and hence local, is really important, it’s the seafood that finds its way to your plate. I have always thought that people who don’t like fish have never had real fresh fish. “Fishy and stinky” are not descriptive words for fresh…
Head for the hills — it’s cooler thereThe road through Sandwich Notch, laid out in 1801, climbs gently over one of the state’s least-known notches. It is unpaved and closed in winter.From I-93 Exit 24 in Ashland, follow Route 3 to Holderness, then Route 113 along the northern shore of Squam Lake, where the Squam Lake Science Center offers narrated…
