In addition to the Baking Education Center at King Arthur Flour in Norwich, Vermont, the complex has a bakery, cafe, and baker's store. The cafe is built in the round with beams supporting an expansive open, domed ceiling. Its construction reminded us of the Round Barn Theater in Napannee, Indiana. But chunkier. Not nearly as intricate.…

It was the brainchild of my son-in-law, Patrick. For my granddaughter and I to attend a class titled Wholehearted Baking: Whole Wheat Breads at King Arthur Flour's Baking Education Center in Norwich, Vermont. To learn together. To create a memory. On Tuesday, November 19th from 10 am – 1 pm, we learned baking techniques in this…

We had a place once. Where Dick and I loved to share a bowl of soup. It was a narrow space sandwiched among upscale shops in Montclair, New Jersey. Making your way from the front door to the ordering counter and kitchen at the back wall required careful navigation down either of two aisles defined…

The morning began at a farmers' market in Grand Rapids where I paused to admire a vendor's lovely veggie scape that she had created to display her autumn garden's harvest. I purchased a locally-raised, pastured chicken to roast. Then, we packed sandwiches, purple carrots, honey crisp apples and water. And we were off… To hike…

My brother, Cliff, gave us the idea. He had heard tell of it from someone but had not ventured there. We set out to find it. The Lost Forty. It began with a mistake. In 1882. During the height of Minnesota's logging days, a survey crew mistakenly plotted a lake 1/2 mile further northwest than…

A birthday comes around but once a year. I wanted mine to be memorable. What would make it so? I pondered ever-so-briefly… and knew. It must be outdoors. Hiking. Biking. It should include a food co-op and a farmers market. And a few unexpected twists and turns to make a perfectly orchestrated adventure. We began…

The clock positioned centerstage counts down the minutes (21 minutes 58 seconds) when Garrison Keillor's live performance of Prairie Home Companion will be simultaneously broadcast on the radio Saturday, the 14th of September 2013. Dick and I are seated stage right (house left) so close to the musicians, radio script actors, sound effects man… and…

A handful of residents inhabit the former mining town of Riverton (Minnesota), which is located between Brainerd and Crosby-Ironton on Highway 210. Although the iron ore mining industry ceased operation years ago, this proud community celebrated their town's centennial milestone on Saturday, September 7 with festivities that rivaled towns much larger than their population of…

Peace. In the autumn. That is what Dick and I find at the farm show held each year over Labor Day Weekend at Rollag, Minnesota twenty miles from Fargo, North Dakota. This is the view from our campsite overlooking the farmstead alongside Gunderson Pond. I have always been thankful for the farmers that grow the…

Late afternoon yesterday, as the day transitioned into evening and then darkness descended upon us, Dick and I sat encircled by mature pines at the Clearwater Forest Camp outside the small town of Deerwood near Brainerd (Minnesota). Informal rows of lawn chairs faced an outdoor stage in the early September afternoon sunshine and pre-autumn, sweater-cozy night.  Labor Day Weekend 2011, we were drawn to…