By Esther Baird. First Published in the Tri Town Transcript Mar 21, 2018 Some of you may recall the column I wrote a few years back about the time my husband insisted we get a whole-house generator. I huffed and thought it was a waste of money, but then had to write that I was wrong…
Author: Esther Baird
Black Market Lunch
By Esther Baird First Published in the Tri Town Transcript, March 9, 2018 Our two daughters are tween and teenagers. They no longer need help with basic household tasks. And yet, these talented, relatively self-sufficient, smart, socially savvy girls see a lunch box and turn into exhausted balls of existential angst. And, I’m a million…
It’s Virtually Summer
By Esther C. Baird First Published in the Tri Town Transcript. Feb 5, 2018 I’m jogging through Silver Creek, New York. It’s a hot sunny day. The kind of hot where the grass is starting to bake out a little bit and you can smell the pavement expanding and shimmering. It’s an August kind of…
Just For Fun
By Esther C. Baird First Published in the Tri-Town Transcript, Jan 19, 2018 I’m sitting here wearing a tank top and flip flops and drinking ice water. And yes, it’s cold out. Actually, you may remember this day: It’s 6 degrees outside with a foot of totally frozen snow blowing around like fine grain sandpaper…
Can I Get An Amen?
By Esther C. Baird First posted in the Tri-Town Transcript Dec 26, 2017 This is not the perfect Christmas. I make mistakes. I’m not terribly relaxed. Also my cards are so, so, very late. But each Christmas I am reminded that the first Christmas set the stage for a time when stress and chaos and…
All Things Bright and Edible
First Published in the Tri Town Transcript Nov 24, 2017 By Esther C. Baird Regular Readers, it’s been awhile, but today let’s return to that always popular topic: Moose, our Bernese mountain dog puppy. He looks all grown up now at around 100 pounds, but I assure you he is not.
Frontal Lobe Obstacles
First Published in the Tri Town Transcript Nov 10, 2017 By Esther C. Baird The night before the storm that blew the Tri-Towns off the map was lovely, with no wind. I know because we held our first teenage party for our eldest daughter’s eighth-grade class in our yard. Because we have the standard Boxford…
The Timing of the Teeth
First Published in the Tri Town Transcript Nov 1, 2017 By Esther C. Baird My daughter stood next to me, obviously agitated, as I typed on my computer. She’s 10 but she can hold a stare and, with it, a feeling. In this case the feeling I felt burrowing into my brain was one of unmet expectations…
A Letter to October
First Published in the Tri Town Transcript Oct 12, 2017 By Esther C. Baird So it’s October. We’re back into the swing of things now. We make lunches and we drive. We figure out how to be in three places at once. It’s tricky, but we’ve got this. It no longer wakes us up at…
Shiver Me Pink Timbers
By Esther Baird First Published in the Tri Town Transcript Sep 29, 2017 This, dear Regular Readers, is a cautionary tale. It began when we ran into a group of friends this summer. One husband relayed how he had a nasty bout of poison ivy, everyone murmured sympathies. Except me. I took a not-subtle step…