First published in the Chronicle and Transcript By Esther Baird. Well Regular Readers, I’m typing this from day nine of quarantine, or to be more precise, isolation. When you are a close contact to a person with COVID-19 you quarantine. When your whole family goes down like a raging infectious ball of corona-fire, you isolate….
Author: Esther Baird
A Sub Kind of Day
By Esther C. Baird First published in the Chronicle & Transcript 2/4/2021 I’ve long said I’d wrap our two girls in bubble wrap if they could go to school in person during COVID times. Whatever it takes, I am willing to pitch in; which is how I found myself as a Pre-K substitute aide last…
At Home with an Atypical Christmas
First published in the Chronicle and Transcript Dec 19, 2020 I’m not sure how your holiday season is going, what with the pandemic and all, but it’s certainly not normal and we are finding ourselves doing things we never imagined. Like, just for example, hanging out in the poinsettia corner of Home Depot, sitting on…
Road Tripping To Thankfulness
Well, it’s Thanksgiving week here in good ol’ 2020 and we’re finding new and unusual things to be thankful for. For example, we recently took a road trip to that fabled destination that lights up the eyes of teenagers across America: Western Pennsylvania. Hey, it was new to us and, therefore, exciting. We planned a…
A Dusting of Unpredictability
First published in the Chronicle and the Transcript Nov. 18, 2020 It’s been a trying time Regular Readers. And I don’t only mean because we’re both in a pandemic and a political existential crisis (maybe over by the time you read this?). But also, here in early November, we are already keenly aware that winter…
All the Home’s a Stage
So I have some news Regular Readers. We’re moving. But, just up the road to another Boxford home, which is admittedly crazy. But you don’t know true crazy until you’ve been staged. “Staging involves giving potential buyers a vision for what the home could be for them,” our realtor explained. It also involves a small truckload…
The Dinner Fortress Has Fallen
So it’s October. My back-to-normal-for-2020 schedule these days is: work in the morning at my church office, zip home, prep dinner (since my dinner fairies are AWOL), then go grab our two girls from school at their earlier COVID-19 release time, before the evening shenanigans kick in. Side note: the dinner fairies… they stink. Global…
Faked You Out
By Esther C. Baird First published in the Chronicle & Transcript Sep 23, 2020 Like everyone out there, we do a lot of our shopping online these days. It’s faster, easier and pandemic-friendly. Unless we’re trying to get back-to-school clothes for teenagers who must try things on or their lives will be ruined. Fortunately, that’s…
Back to School 2020
First published in the Chronicle & Transcript, September 9, 2020 By Esther C. Baird Well it’s back to school season. Whatever that means. I have friends who are homeschooling, friends who are sending their kids to schools that are fully remote and friends who are using a hybrid model. I have friends who are teachers…
My baby she can drive my car
By Esther Baird First published in the Chronicle & Transcript Aug 25, 2020 Hey there Regular Readers, it’s been a while. We’ve been living out of state at our family camp in the Adirondacks the last three months and basically staying off the grid. I’m emerging now both because the real world beckons with school…