APRIL 30TH, MAY 1ST & 2ND 2010

There's nothing like the warm, sweet taste of pure Vermont maple syrup atop a stack of buttermilk pancakes ! Spring is here and the sap is running as sugar shacks all around New England kick into full gear to bring us this liquid gold. Come to St. Albans, Vermont for the 44th, 2010 Vermont Maple Festival April 30th, May 1st, and 2nd. This is a family event power-packed with all sorts of things to do and see. A sampling of events include sugar house tours, pancake breakfasts, specialty foods and crafts, music and entertainment, parade and carnival rides. For more information and a full listing of events you can visit the Vermont Maple Festival website. To learn more about how maple syrup is made and for a listing of other resources and festival read our article, Maple Sugar in New England.

Meditation at Hampton Beach

Written By: Diane T. Padilla

I am not an afterthought
dancing to the tune of
a silver starfish
Beached on the shores
of a fractured life.
Slate gray tide of smiles
Rolls in then a rapid retreat
when an outstretched hand
takes the bait.
Only once were the waters
stilled long enough to gaze
into the blue, finding deep
Currents of confusion.
In an underwater cave of hidden passions
Swirling, roiling, tossing, churned up, pulled under.
No more fishing in these waters
Dark and stormy.
I fight my way out of the riptide
and stand on solid ground where
I see a starfish
bleached white by the sun of my indifference.

(This is a revision of a poem published in the fall 2002 issue of Centripetal, the arts magazine at Plymouth State University, under the name, “Afterthought”).

Sunapee Mountain

Written By: Diane T. Padilla

Where The Sidewalk Ends is an independent bookstore comfortably nestled in the the  historic business district of Chatham, Massachusetts. Founded in 2005 by Joanne and Caitlin Doggart,  this mother-daughter team has grown in leaps and bounds. In fact, they are currently in midst of a major expansion project to grow their selection of children's books. I had the opportunity to speak with Caitlin on a few occasions and her passion for books is as obvious as it is refreshing. Read on as Caitlin presents in depth reviews and perspectives on some of today's current book releases.

Still Alice

by Lisa Genova

Still Alice by Lisa Genova (mass market paperback version published  in early January). Simon and Schuster. Still Alice is a gripping tale told from the unusual point of view of a woman, Alice Howland, as she transforms from a healthy and vibrant Harvard professor in her 50's into an early-onset Alzheimer's patient.

The author, Lisa Genova, watched her parents and aunts cope with the complexities of her grandmother's Alzheimer's and was transfixed by the idea of what it would be like to experience mental degeneration from the perspective of the patient. Writing in coffee shops in Brighton and Cambridge for over a year during her daughter's school hours, Lisa finished her novel and began the arduous process of looking for an agent and publisher. After being told there was no market for such a specific topic, she decided to self publish Still Alice in order to generate enough "buzz" about her book to catch the attention of the larger publishing industry. Her tireless publicity efforts on her own and her natural and sincere enthusiasm worked. Booksellers, readers, reviewers, book clubs, and Alzheimer's groups fell in love with Still Alice and through word-of-mouth the title's popularity spread.  In the spring of 2008 Lisa Genova signed a contract with Simon and Schuster, who published Still Alice in January 2009. It was on the New York Times bestseller list for 30 weeks during the first year of publication, there are now over a million copies of Still Alice in print in the US alone, and Simon and Schuster has Lisa Genova's next two books under contract!