An artist is kneeling with his hands in the earth. Kang Seung Lee has come to Namsan Park in Seoul, and somewhere along the mountain paths and Joseon gardens and 14th-century houses, he is remembering a writer and a filmmaker together.
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Starships and salamanders are on the move (March 31 newsletter)
Standing water spills over at the edge of the marsh, and the peepers are loud — high, rising, calling all around us. It feels too early to believe in spring yet, but the frogs are awake.
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Turn Park Art Space welcomes the equinox with light
At the top of the hill, cocoons pulse with light. Natalie Tyer has formed organic shapes as translucent as moth wings at Turn Park, and the glimmer intensifies as someone comes close.
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Farms offer maple syrup in sap houses — and online
Syrup and sugared nuts and fudge-like cream … the sap is boiling, and maple growers are expanding in the Berkshires with web shops. You can stop in for a quart or order one from home.
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Can we stretch out for a moment in the sun? (March 10 newsletter)
The sun is coming out today for an hour or two. Where should we go for a walk? It’s one of those unexpected early spring days that jumps ahead for a flicker, like that afternoon in mud time in the Robert Frost poem …
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W.E.B. DuBois strengthens the soul of a community (February 17 newsletter)
This morning I remembered a day in July in a garden along the Housatonic River. A woman was singing in a strong, rich alto, leading a spiritual in the W.E.B. Dubois memorial garden, and we were thinking about how he felt about the town where he was born.
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Snowshoe and cross country ski trails
The winter woods can be quiet and beautiful in the snow. In the valleys we have trails to walk when the snow is light or snowshoe or ski when it gets deeper, and on the ridges some trails are groomed for skiers.
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Guild of Berkshire Artists evolves outdoors
Eight tall forms stand in a wide circle like dolmens. They are metal frameworks 8 feet high and bright with color. They are holding glasswork, ceramics, encaustic protected in wax … and all of them will stand up to the weather.
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It’s all about soul (October 21 newsletter)
I was looking for a trail head on Bee Hill Road when I stumbled on the overlook above Williamstown Rural Lands, and the hillside was bright in the sun.
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Gotland sheep grow silver fleece and grassland
Laura Gates lives at Shepherds Craft Farm in a house she and her husband built themselves, with tall windows and beams of honey-golden wood, and she can look up on a fall morning to see silvery Gotland ewes grazing in the field.
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