TBy Esther C. Baird/Tri-Town Transcript columnist First Published in the Tri-Town Transcript February 12, 2014 When our eldest daughter was a toddler, we transferred to Australia for six months. Regular Readers may recall that is where, The Baird Facts, began. What they may not know is that while there, I took my daughter to a…
The Baird Facts
Getting Better at Winter
By Esther C. Baird/Tri-Town Transcript columnist First Published in the Tri-Town Transcript January 30, 2014 Look, I get that we live north of Boston. The weather is exactly as it should be. And I am trying very hard to be cool with that. Someday it will be May and I will walk Blue Ears without…
The Fish Who Lived
By Esther C. Baird/Tri-Town Transcript columnist First Published in the Tri-Town Transcript January 17, 2014 Regular Readers may have caught the line in my last column about a fish tank a certain unprepared parent purchased for her daughter at Christmas. I’d done just enough reading about fish tanks, and the crazy nitrogen cycling process, to…
[Road] Tripping Into Winter
By Esther C. Baird/Tri-Town Transcript columnist First Published in the Tri-Town Transcript January 1, 2014 Well it’s January. The lights are still twinkling on many houses, but the Christmas trees are yellowed and the stores are onto Valentine’s Day. The reason for sequins, holiday cookies, and sugar-rimmed cocktails has vanished into the winter mist. The…
Tuning Up for Christmas
By Esther C. Baird/Tri-Town Transcript columnist First Published in the Tri-Town Transcript December 20, 2013 So we have this piano. It came with our house. Technically, we asked if it could stay, and in a back-saving move, the owner said yes. I’d wanted a piano so that our two daughters could learn to play and…
Meet Me at the Bonfire
By Esther C. Baird/Tri-Town Transcript columnist First Published in the Tri-Town Transcript December 6, 2013 I’ll admit I’m the queen of early Christmas crazy, but even I have lines drawn in the decorative cotton snow that I will not cross. Sending out Christmas cards before Thanksgiving is one of them. I think we can all…
Just Keep Creeping My Way
By Esther C. Baird/Tri-Town Transcript columnist First Published in the Tri-Town Transcript November 20, 2013 November. I’m not a fan. You know what I am a fan of? The so called ‘holiday creep’ that has occurred. The media likes to make a big fuss about retailers and their early sales or their crazy decorations, but…
Let the Heating Wars Begin
By Esther C. Baird/tritown@wickedlocal.com. First Published in the Tri-Town Transcript October 24, 2013 Boxford Topsfield Middleton — Oh, New England. You plague me so. Just when things get lovely, just when I think there is no place this beautiful, just when walking Blue Ears becomes magical and not full body combat against bugs . ….
The Good, the Bad and the Tasty
By Esther C. Baird/Tri-Town Transcript columnist First Published in the Tri-Town Transcript October 21, 2013 Well, it’s Fair week here in Tri-Town land. And at Casa Baird we are creatures of habit. We always park in Lot E because there is generally less traffic, and we always begin our visit by getting the worst part…
Failing at Grocery Store 101
By Esther C. Baird/Tri-Town Columist First Published in the Tri-Town Transcript September 12, 2013 I’m a Stop-N-Shop girl. I know every aisle and shelf of our local Danvers store. I know the clerks and they know me. I’ve considered having my mail forwarded there — I’d get it faster. In fact, I know the store…