Category: Haibun

hiking trail with wooden logs 0

Smuggs ’14 Chronicle, Day 5: July 29, 2014

The Sterling Pond trail sharply ascends the forested slope of Sterling Mountain. The Smuggler’s caves, rest rooms and parking lot lie across Route 108, nestled beneath Mount Mansfield’s western ridge. Step-like stones lead to...

old record player sitting by the window 0

Smuggs ’14 Chronicle, Day 4, July 28, 2014

Rain falls steady. I see the faint lines of its passage from my perch on the sofa. Classical music—a composition sounding suspiciously like circus music—plays on Vermont Public Radio. Three years with little rain:...

manchego brie and baguette on a table 0

Smuggs ’14 Chronicle, Day 2, July 26, 2018

see Mansfield againbefore taking the plunge downthe spiral pipe sliderelaxing in the hot tubFrankie under my arm The Cabot Factory Outlet in Waterbury offered a crowded house more than cheese samples. A pixie-cut-haired young...

a ferry crossing a fjord 0

Smuggs ‘14 Chronicle, Part I: Day 1, July 25, 2014

The rust-colored bridge—Thaddeus something—looms ahead.. The sign next to it: Mohawk River—Erie Canal. After two-and-a-half hours driving north, we enter the heart of the capital region, just south of the Adirondacks. I’m so excited...

white and dark clouds with birds 0

Weathering Storms

A cool breeze rustles the topmost leaves in the backyard. It spreads the white and gray cumulus clouds that enshroud the sky in a mass of growing darkness. It feels so much cooler than...

miniature train arriving at the station 0

Miniature Train-Riding

I almost can’t remember how the trains raced around the track. How Dad and I adjusted knobs and toggled twitches. How town lights turned on and off; how locomotives whirled out of the tunnel....

a boy roller blading between columns 0

Such Summer Fun

An old video, copied from an old film, shows me attempting to roller skate with the Sterino kids. I remember laughter, and perhaps some encouraging words from Debbie. She, with her long, thick brown...

wild horse on a mountain field 0

Racehorse Dreams

“It was one of his many ‘get rich quick’ schemes,” Mom says. She and Dad bought a racehorse with some thoroughbred blood in it. They hired a trainer and jockey, and rented stables. They...