Category Archives: Country

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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Winter Storm Avery

Posted on November 16, 2018 by Jonathan B. Hall

In the words of the Rankin and Bass classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, “It hit!” We knew snow would come yesterday, but nobody predicted how much and nobody was ready. I was one of the very luckiest. I held my … Continue reading →

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Frost

Posted on November 12, 2018 by Jonathan B. Hall

There were needles of fine frost on Burt, the apothecary’s rose, this morning. So much for “once blooming”! My fine specimen of Rosa gallica officinalis, the ancient and unmodified Red Rose of Lancaster (and of Martin Luther), has blossomed repeatedly … Continue reading →

Posted in Americana, Country, Flowers and Gardens, Food, Gardening, Seasons of the Year | Comments Off

Halloween Part One

Posted on October 31, 2018 by Jonathan B. Hall

Why waste the early morning of Halloween? Last evening, the Milky Way was brighter than I’ve seen it in years. (My all-time Milky Way sighting was over Tuxis Island in Madison, Connecticut back in the 1970s. Light pollution has probably … Continue reading →

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Upcoming Recital

Posted on October 12, 2018 by Jonathan B. Hall

I’m giving a recital at the Blooming Grove (NY) United Church of Christ on Sunday, November 18, at 4 PM. Here is an article about the event. I’ll be joined by Bill Powers, saxophonist, for a few pieces. Works will … Continue reading →

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