Category Archives: Country

Turkey Dinner!

Posted on February 18, 2019 by Jonathan B. Hall

Big holiday turkeys are on sale! Twenty-five pounds for about $12.00. The big beast came home Saturday, has defrosted and in the oven now. Sometimes the turkey marks the holidays, and sometimes it’s just good economic sense. It’s easy to … Continue reading →

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The Iceman Stayeth

Posted on January 21, 2019 by Jonathan B. Hall

Eclipses last but a moment, but winter tends to hang on. The view from the patio (aka the “Hall Observatory”) is beautiful. The ice is hanging on to the trees, but so far no major collapses. The ice is thinner … Continue reading →

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Choir and Handbell Party

Posted on January 11, 2019 by Jonathan B. Hall

The choir and handbell choir met last evening at a delightful house in this county last evening for a post-holiday get-together. It was a quiet evening, given to good conversation and good food, but nothing to excess. I particularly enjoyed … Continue reading →

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Solstice

Posted on December 21, 2018 by Jonathan B. Hall

It’s the shortest day of the year, all the shorter and darker for the incessant heavy rain. It’s been pouring since the wee hours of the morning…it’s now after noon. The basement pump has been running for hours. It’s warm … Continue reading →

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Mercury

Posted on December 11, 2018 by Jonathan B. Hall

I was driving to the train station before dawn this morning. Venus was blazing away as she has been doing for weeks now. I chanced to look below her and to the east, and what do you know! There was … Continue reading →

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When You Can’t Do Anything Else…

Posted on December 5, 2018 by Jonathan B. Hall

. …clean your desk. . This is advice I learned from a genealogical magazine years ago–in that wonderful public library in Rutherford, New Jersey. When stuck, tidy up. It’s magic, every time. This little “back office”–a third bedroom when we … Continue reading →

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At Last, the Stars

Posted on December 3, 2018 by Jonathan B. Hall

It’s been so rainy and overcast! Early this morning, before 6, I stepped outside and saw the stars again. I felt something akin to what Dante felt on emerging from Hell to behold the spangled heavens. Well, that’s an exaggeration; … Continue reading →

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My Recent Birthday

Posted on December 1, 2018 by Jonathan B. Hall

Isn’t it a shame–it’s not safe to identify your exact birthday online. What has our society come to? Anyway, my birthday fell on a recent date, during the last “few couples of whiles,” as an elder cousin once said. There … Continue reading →

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Arcturus

Posted on November 23, 2018 by Jonathan B. Hall

The full moon just set, and this house’s long shadow faded into the darkness of woods and lingering snow. It is 6 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Venus is blazing at a white-hot magnitude -4.something. I’m sorry I don’t have my telescope … Continue reading →

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Thanksgiving CCCXCVIII

Posted on November 22, 2018 by Jonathan B. Hall

Today is the three hundred ninety-eighth Thanksgiving–or would be, assuming that it was rigorously and routinely observed, which it wasn’t. (However, it was never forgotten and then piously reconstructed. There were many Thanksgiving feasts before the official federal establishment of … Continue reading →

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