Editor’s Note

My dad knew the name of just about every living thing in the woods and fields where I grew up. He was an amateur scientist and tried hard to impart his love of nature to his children.

I’m sure that enough has already been written and said about the march vote of the NH legislature to deny the request of a 4th grade class to have the red-tailed hawk named NH’s official raptor, But I’ve got a stake in this.

You can learn a lot from a yard sale. And not just about the people hosting it — though it’s tempting to judge a family on the books and debris of their lives that they have on display.

Marking the memories at Manchester's Palace Theatre as the "jewel of the Queen City" turns 100.

Just as 2014 was coming to a close, NH’s theatre family lost a dear friend named Kevin Riley. He was a friend of mine too. Not a close one, but a guy I was glad to know. I never heard him speak an unkind word about anyone — and in the ego-driven world of theatre, that’s rare.

How’s this for a new year’s resolution?: “I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.”

We’re all entitled to one addiction, assuming it’s legal and not terribly self-destructive.

Just about every year we are picked as one of the stingiest states in the union.

Some months I have to admit that what I call work is what many would love to do on their vacations.

I suppose most people have a story about something that happened at the fair. Usually it has to do with the consequences of eating too much fried dough and then riding something called “The Scrambler.”