A Bittersweet Land

I just submitted a short story to the Southshire writing group’s anthology of short stories related to food. They call it their “Pepper Pot.” We’ll see if I can make the cut. In any case, here is a snippet from my submission. I wrote about my experience with Turkish coffee. The story begins here with [...]

Articles on Web Applications

If you can persevere, Wired News has a series of articles on Web 2.0 and free applications that are well worth looking into. If you don’t know what Web 2.0 or 1.0 is for that matter, these articles are worth reading and applying.
Is Web 2.0 Caught Up in its Own Noise?
Web 2.0: A Pattern Library
Folksonomies, [...]

Directories are out. Tags are in.

I have my web sites listed in a number of online directories either for blogs or web pages. You can find them at the bottom of the right column. One of my frustrations has been with the difficulty of categorizing my web sites. Is this a writing site? yes. Non-profit site? yes. Photography, web tips, [...]

21 Publish: Too Good to be True?

In uncharacteristic fashion, I gave in and clicked on an ad this morning. The company is called 21 Publish, and they offer free, hosted blogging for communities. In other words, you have a web portal or home page where you can post links or general content, and list all of the blogs in your community [...]

What You Can Do With Blogs

While there are some really nice web sites out there with static designs, I am a big fan of web sites that change content often and offer more interaction. My experience consists of Nucleus, Wordpress, and Typepad, but another popular program is Blogger. Though the standard Blogger designs are not much to look at, you [...]

Sugar Shack Journal

We spent yesterday visiting a number of sugar houses in the area for the open house weekend. I was browsing the Bennington Banner this morning and found they had a picture of the place we visited yesterday. It was quite an operation.
The owner works in the construction industry, but apparently does maple syrup on the [...]

Merck Forest Hiking

We took several outings to Merck Forest this past week to Merck Forest(www.merckforest.com, but their web site is out of commission right now). it’s a wonderful place with a great mission. They protect tons of land for hiking and camping, as well as operating a sustainable farm with organic methods. Here’s what you can see [...]

Eavesdropping: Writing Exercise

One of my favorite writing prompts is eavesdropping on conversations and pulling a line or two out of context. These lines become the starting point my writing. I typically give myself 15-20 minutes, but will keep going if I’m having a good time with it. Here are a few gems that I heard recently:
“He’s religious [...]

A Taxing Process

There may be a light at the end of the tunnel for the Southern Vermont Arts Center and Hildene in their dispute with the state over the tax exempt status of large portions of their properties. I don’t know why the state would want to add additional burdens to two non-profits who do a lot [...]

Introducing the Bethany Network

I have decided to launch the Bethany Network, which can be found under the heading on this site: Bethany Net. Here’s a short introduction to this new kind of non-profit:
The Bethany Network
Promoting spiritual and physical wholeness.

Partnering with non-profits who provide essential social services. When we address physical needs, we open the door for spiritual healing [...]

Wanting It Both Ways

I spent lunch yesterday presenting the latest news from SVAC to the Rotary Club in Manchester, VT. We had a nice lunch meeting at the Ye Old Tavern and I inundated them with all kinds of brochures and papers.
During lunch many of us were wrapped up in a discussion of the traffic problem in Manchester. [...]

Vermont Photography

On Sunday we took a walk along Kelly Stand Road near Arlington on the edge of the town of Sunderland. There is a fantastic stream that rushes along the road. If you keep following this rough and tumble road, you’ll find yourself on top of the Green Mountains and on the Long Trail/Appalachian Trail.

Red Ink Revisions

A friend from my high school days has started her own edited service. She’s been all over the US working in a wide variety of jobs and has a solid editorial background. The company is called Red Ink Revisions.
It’s worth visiting the web site just to see the top notch job done by Red Frog [...]

Volunteers at Work in Southern VT

As Reported by the Rutland Herald:
Volunteers harvest timber for recreation center

March 19, 2006
By Johanna Sorrentino Staff Writer
[...]

Collaboration & Management Tools

Since my focus is on helping non-profits on a shoe-string, I have been sampling two programs that help with project management and collaboration online. The nice part about using an online tool is that members/volunteers an organization without a central location can track with each other. Even if there is a central location for the [...]

Paul Bremmer at the Northshire Bookstore

Myself and roughly 150 people enjoyed an afternoon with former ambassador and CPA director Paul “Jerry” Bremmer. The event was held at the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, Vt that was just voted the top bookseller by Publisher’s Weekly. Quite an accomplishment for a small-town store.
Bremmer gave about an hour long talk on his new book, [...]

Can You Afford Not to Blog?

This is the question asked in a new book called Naked Conversations : How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers. Bloggers Robert Scoble and Shel Israel set out to show how blogs can foster trust and better communication between companies and their clients. Blogs may be one of the most powerful tools [...]

In My Neck of the Woods

Here’s a round up of what’s going on in my little corner of Southern Vermont:
Batten Kill Watershed Alliance awarded $2,520 conservation grant
Corned beef menu tonight at church
Weekend fast set for world peace

My Manic Moleskine Search

It all began when I was reading Jordon Cooper’s blog one day. He was talking about not being interested in blogging while at work. He only carried his Moleskine notebook with him to take notes and write out ideas.
It intrigued me. I looked into the moleskine web site and found that this notebook used [...]

This Week in Vermont

Here’s a smattering of Southern Vermont and Non-Profit related news:
Leahy fights for grants for the poor
St. James to host Lenten discussions: way to capitalize on the impending release of the Da Vinci Code movie.
Manchester tables banner plan: All change appears to be painful. No matter what.