As our parents age, we often fret about “What do you give someone who has everything?” But there is another side of this equation. What does an increasingly frail elder have to give? Money may be in short supply, energy is diminished; in short, elders often feel increasingly like they have nothing to give. But they can give the gift that no one else can—their stories.
Author Archives: Marjorie
Your story is a great gift for the grandkids
Filed under Blog Posts-Personal Histories
Discovering the Cedar Swamp
Wallum Lake, Douglas State Park
Douglas State Park in Douglas, MA is probably best known for its swimming and boating. Lots of folks enjoy fishing there, and with hundreds of picnic tables set up near the water, it’s clearly a favorite spot for families to gather in the summer.
Choose your picnic table at Wallum Lake!
I’m not really a summer person. I tend to visit “seasonal” places like Wallum Lake at the state park in Douglas in the “off” season, when the crowds have gone home. Continue reading
Filed under Blog posts--Easy Walks
Opting Outside
Taylor Mill Historic Site, Derry, NH
Social media has been filled the past several weeks with information about Black Friday (hmmm- doesn’t sound so good to me!) and #optoutside, an effort that started with REI to go against the tide and refuse to open their stories the day after Thanksgiving. REI, and soon others, encouraged people to step out of the retail lines and into the outdoors.
Some of our family did just that today. We headed up to southern New Hampshire to get outside with my sister. Continue reading
Making Memories
Making pie dough
Holiday events, and preparations for these holidays are the perfect time to get the next generation involved in continuing your family traditions. The challenge for many parents is that this is exactly the time when they have little energy to include children in all that “needs to get done.” Continue reading
Filed under Blog Posts-Personal Histories
Do you need a gift for your grandchildren?
Here I am with Dad, ready to work on his stories
As our parents age, we often fret about “What do you give someone who has everything?” But there is another side of this equation. What does an increasingly frail elder have to give when getting out is more difficult? Money may be in short supply, energy is diminished; in short, elders often feel increasingly like they have nothing to give. Continue reading
Filed under Blog Posts-Personal Histories
Finding Family Traditions in Many Places
At the ocean–Gooseberry Island, Westport, MA
Members of my family all grew up near the ocean. Whenever we are able to get to the shore, we each take a big sniff and announce, “Smells like the ocean.” Tradition? I guess, if you understand “tradition” as being something that is repeated with significance beyond the actual act, something that brings long-held family experiences up to the present. Continue reading
Filed under Blog Posts-Personal Histories
“Where’s Joe’s Rock?” or “What Makes an Easy Walk?”
View from Joe’s Rock, Wrentham
The genesis of my Easy Walks book series began when I noticed an unusual amount of activity on my website, people asking the question, “Where’s Joe’s Rock?” Continue reading
Filed under Blog posts--Easy Walks
Home, Sweet Home
Along the shores of Silver Lake, Bellingham,
I’ve lived in one place for over 30 years now, and walked this path along the edge of Silver Lake countless times. On these walks I’ve met my neighbors, many who have become friends. I’ve watched as they have grown older (as have I) and feel wistful; so many have grown old and died. As I pass each house along my walk, I think of each person who called this place “home,” greeted me on my daily walks, and offered a friendly voice during some difficult times in my life. Gone, but not forgotten.
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Filed under Blog posts--Easy Walks, Meditations/Liturgies
To Loop, or Not to Loop?
View from North Street, Upton, MA
The Whitney property, on North Street in Upton, was our destination today. My walking partners, Bill and Marcella, are friends who are dedicated volunteers, who help care for their local conservation properties, and work to visualize where to place trails for better access. Continue reading
Filed under Blog posts--Easy Walks
Wild Cranberries!
Wild Cranberries
Many years ago my friend Ellen Chagnon walked with me in the sandpits behind Silver Lake in Bellingham, MA and said, “It feels like there should be cranberries…right here,” as she bent down and picked a wild cranberry. Thus began my love affair with wild cranberries. I have returned over the years many, many times to this spot, and others like it. I’ve found wild cranberry plants along the Pamet Trails at the Cape Cod National Seashore. We’ve enjoyed cranberry blossoms in spring at Acadia National Park, Mt. Desert Maine.
Wild Cranberry bog
But it has been to the trail right at my back yard that I have returned over and over. Proximity makes this natural, of course, but this proximity has also provided a glimpse of how a wild fruit can survive and often thrive. Of course, there have been years when I’ve found perhaps a total of ten berries in the entire patch. Other times the berries were so abundant the mice chewed the berries and used them for bedding, while still leaving quarts of berries for us to enjoy. And one year the fruit was filled with worms–ughh!
Picking buddy, Pam
I ventured out on a fall morning in the bright sunshine recently with my friend Pam. Usually I haven’t been able to wait and start visiting the cranberries too soon. Underripe berries, extremely tart and not very red would remind me to be patient. Other years the fall rains begin and flood the berries, making them unreachable. This year I’ve had a lot happening, and rather than being too early or too late, it was the perfect time to visit.
Can you spot the red jewels in this patch?
Most wild cranberries are smaller than the berries you’ll find at the store. But “our” variety is larger than commercial berries. My neighbors who have lived in this area for years tell me there used to be commercial bogs back in the area where these wild berries grow. Perhaps this spot is a remnant of those abandoned bogs.
Wish you could see a cranberry bog up close yourself?
Cranberry bog at Patriot Place, Foxboro, late fall
There is a cranberry bog and nature trail directly behind Patriot Place in Foxboro, MA, parking is next to the Bass Pro shop. And even more fun–it’s almost time to see the bog at harvest time.
Marjorie
Marjorie Turner Hollman is a writer who loves the outdoors, and is the author of Easy Walks in Massachusetts, 2nd edition, More Easy Walks in Massachusetts, 2nd edition, Easy Walks and Paddles in the Ten Mile River Watershed, and Finding Easy Walks Wherever You Are. Her memoir, the backstory of Easy Walks, is My Liturgy of Easy Walks: Reclaiming hope in a world turned upside down.
Filed under Blog posts--Easy Walks
Marjorie Turner Hollman 