Archives: March 2010

Dream Towns

If you are daydreaming about waterfront property, a low tax rate with great services, postcard charm, access to the great outdoors, excellent schools, easy commutes or an invigorating place to retire, we’ve picked a place where each of these dreams can come true. Now all you need is the house.In pitching baseball and in buying real estate, according to the…

Changing Spaces

Need a new place, or actually, just a new space? Moving on up doesn’t have to involve a real estate transaction. Let’s face it: The real estate market may be thawing but it’s still pretty cold out there. For Sale signs sit for months in front of unsold homes, frustrating would-be sellers and taunting wanna-be buyers. It’s a bit like…

Keys to Survival

The lessons of winter led to a final exam.When I returned to my native New Hampshire after seven years in Chicago, I foolishly remembered it being less snowy here than it is there. But it was only a few days into winter when I looked out the window and saw just a tiny corner of my traction-challenged Honda Prelude; the…

Weary Artist – Andy Friedman

It will be another strange bend in the road when Andy Friedman makes a return visit to Manchester to play Boynton’s Taproom in the Millyard on Feb. 27. Last time he was here for a wedding and he killed some time writing music that appears on his new CD “Weary Things.” The city even found its way into one of…

The Power of O

Can you find the secret to happiness on daytime TV?If you tune in to “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” you know the eponymous host gives lots of advice. Exercise. Diet. De-clutter your home. Read books. Buy leopard flats. On and on. For many people it probably goes in one ear and out the other, but not for Robyn Okrant — at…

Tea Time?

A movement may be brewing in our state. If the 1994 elections were about the angry white man, the 1996 elections were about soccer moms, the 2000 elections about office park dads, the 2004 elections about security moms and the upcoming 2010 elections are supposed to be all about the Tea Party movement. This movement emerged out of the Ron…

Take It From The Top

Cooking in a grand style at a grand hotel.The drive to The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel is a long one, but I often make it a few miles longer by going through Berlin. Heading north on Rte. 16, homes and businesses thin out with only a few clusters of buildings large enough to be called towns. From Berlin to almost…

An Ode to Mud

Dirt is not a glamorous substance. And when the snow melts and that dirt turns to mud, its lack of charm becomes so legendary that, here in New Hampshire, it has an entire season named after it. But like all humble stuff, there’s more to mud than meets the eye. First of all, as any little kid with a bucket…

Hit the Road

Oh, the places you’ll go.That quote from the unparalleled Dr. Seuss can be applied to those who hit the open road in comfort, convenience and versatility in an RV. Recreational vehicles combine leisure, travel and camping. From huge motorhomes that have everything from wet bar to jacuzzi to towable folding campers that scream barebones, New Hampshire’s varied landscape attracts residents…

Good Chemistry at Sweet Grass Farm

Featured Shop – Sweet Grass FarmOne of the fastest-growing businesses in natural skin care and home care products lives in New Hampshire, but it is somewhat of a secret. Sweet Grass Farm produces an extensive array of natural, useful and affordable products for home under several labels, including Farmhouse, FarmBaby (too adorable) and Chappy’s lip balm. While it may not…