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By DAN MACKIE

Spring is served in the Upper Valley. You know the menu: an appetizer of fleeting sunshine, followed by angry clouds, a north wind and a demitasse of snow, sleet or freezing rain — with a side of mud.Anyone who has lived here for long knows that we...

By DAN MACKIE

Somewhere along the line insurance became a laughing matter. At least that’s true for the major companies that spend something like $5 trillion annually bombarding us with TV ads.I’m tired of the insurance gecko and I’ve never seen the point of the...

By DAN MACKIE

The robins are back, mask mandates are gone and COVID-19 has been dialed back to COVID-18, or maybe something much lower.Forgive me if I’m not feeling too rosy about this, except for the birds. Our feeder has been hop-hop-hopping this week; our...

By DAN MACKIE

I’ve been trying to remember Ukraine, the way I saw it when I knew so little about it. It was a mystery to me when we arrived in 2009, only a little less so when we left. Before our trip, I don’t think I’d ever given more than a moment’s thought to...

By DAN MACKIE

I cannot claim that Jeopardy! has saved my life in the pandemic, although this column would have a better chance of going viral if I could.No, the game show has not saved me, helped me lose 7 pounds in 7 days or preserved my so-called sanity. But my...

By DAN MACKIE

Happy New Year! One of my traditions is to start the year by dusting off the old crystal ball and predicting — with uncanny accuracy — the news of the year ahead.First, a disclaimer: These predictions are for entertainment purposes only. None should...

By DAN MACKIE

It’s that “most wonderful time of the year” when I am again confronted by the fact that I am not a wonderful Christmas shopper.Although I grew up with the Yuletide traditions and still am moved by singing Silent Night by candlelight, the magic of...

By DAN MACKIE

Who turned out the light? I’m sure you’ve noticed, as have I, that yet another time change has robbed us of the vigor of the late afternoon sun.After the joys of summer, when days hung around like they’d never leave, your average day now starts up...

By DAN MACKIE

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and so is Leftovers Week, which is a little like Shark Week on TV. We transform into nature’s perfect eating machines, on the hunt for comfort carbs and power proteins, day after day, night after night.And...

By DAN MACKIE

It’s a funny thing to get nostalgic about, but I’ve recently been getting wistful about the gas stations of yore.I blame, or credit, the Lebanon Historical Society which, in the words of a younger person I know, is “killing it’’ on social media....

By DAN MACKIE

When I wrote recently about dogs in the Upper Valley and elsewhere, I didn’t mean to slight another constituency that deserves our respect and admiration: cats.A reader informed me via email that she much prefers our feline companions. While dogs look...

By DAN MACKIE

As a retired newsman, I am always sniffing around for trends, and recently my nose for news led me to this one: Dogs are upping their game.As I stroll about, mostly in West Lebanon, I am seeing more high-end dogs. Maple Street, the main pedestrian...

By DAN MACKIE

It’s been another great pollen season, at least for our plant neighbors and friends. For many humans it’s been a time of watery eyes, aching sinuses and languishing fatigue. Not to mention headaches that roll in like thunderstorms and head-in-a-vice...

By DAN MACKIE

I am sitting here at my keyboard contemplating the possibility that the roof over my head may well have increased in value overnight. The real estate boom never sleeps.Homes for sale in our West Lebanon neighborhood are being snapped up in days — or...

By DAN MACKIE

Lately I’ve been noticing a calamitous decline in the quality of certain consumer goods — index cards, for one sorry example that has left me bitter.Whoever made the ones I procured at the Very Cheap Discount Store of Imported Shoddy Things is...

By DAN MACKIE

On behalf of seniors everywhere: It took us a lot of years to get this old, so we don’t want to waste the effort.That’s my reaction to a recent study reported in the New York Times that found that older folks stayed happier during the pandemic. Stress...

By DAN MACKIE

I wasn’t named the inaugural poet this week, although if called upon I would have tried to serve my country. It was just as well since I didn’t have any verse prepared for the occasion — or any occasion. I haven’t written poetry since high school,...

By DAN MACKIE

Dear Santa,   Please excuse me for writing to you through the Valley News. I would have gone with the U.S. Postal Service, but the director recently tossed out some high-speed sorting machines for reasons I won’t get into. I don’t have to tell you, of...

By DAN MACKIE

With the election over except for the shouting — and four more years of that, perhaps — pundits are turning to America’s “need to heal.”That’s a tall order at this moment in time, so blow a bugle to gather the U.S. Mental Health Brigade. Calling all...

By DAN MACKIE

You-know-what is happening on Tuesday, when it all comes down to Four More Years of MAGA or Oh, Lord, Any More and I Will Lose My Mind.The undecided voters are committed to their indecision — so I don’t imagine readers will turn to this column for...