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Inspirations

“Salty Beach,” 11×14 pastel, Ruth Sterling, 2022 Last week, a small group of us from the Milford High School Class of 1973 got together to start laying the groundwork for our 50th reunion. Yesterday, the news reached me that our high school art teacher, Bill Rapf, had died. Today, I finished, signed and framed a […]

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Oh Danny Boy

Photo: At Milford elementary school basketball with Danny and our classmates Christina and Ed Medlyn and their terrific grandson. After Dan Murray died in February, my brother Hondo sent me a message saying that the Monadnock Ledger Transcript was looking for people to talk about the impact Dan had in the community. I wrote this […]

Voting in Keene today

Conversate.

Photo: 7:45am in Keene, NH. No one pictured here factored into this essay. Today I learned a new word. Conversate. Used in a sentence by a person six feet behind me in the line to vote: “We are not here to conversate. Turn around and shut up you f _ _ _  ing c_ _ […]

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What’s next for Keene Pumpkin Festival

Ten years ago, a proven team of festival organizers threw in the towel and put the future of the fest up for grabs. They said they had done all they could. In the next four years, Keene Pumpkin Festival underwent some interesting improvements that cleared the Main Street for pedestrian traffic and cleaned up the […]

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Pumpkin peace

When the end comes, it is nice to be able to say with conviction, “I did what I could.” I think everyone who has been at the helm of the Keene Pumpkin Festival wanted to do some good. And good things happened. People were helped, a city was energized and made world-famous. A Guinness World […]

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Thoughts on motherhood

Photo: First Mother’s Day as a mother, baby Harland “I can think clearly now, the kids are gone.” I remember that specific thought popping into my head, complete with the melody to “I can see clearly now,” a song my youngest brother, the musician, has made his signature song. The point was, from the time […]

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Innovative design and tools

A New Tool in the ShedToday we welcome a new 27-inch iMac with all the bells and whistles. We have set up Creative Cloud for Adobe Illustrator (which I have referred to as my right hand for the past 20 years), Photoshop and InDesign. Adobe Premier if wanted or trusty iMovie for Youtube and Instagram […]

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Sterling Label Design

This weekend I could be celebrating my five years as the marketing manager at Amherst Label. Instead of a party, I’m uploading a new STERLING website. My colleague and I at Amherst Label wanted to show a customer STERLING’s capabilities, which dovetail beautifully with Amherst Label’s art department’s services.  Because of Amherst Label’s 42 years […]

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The perfect weather for Website building

Dreary winter days—when the snow is unsuitable for skiing, the ice isn’t strong enough for skating, and the woods are too slippery for hiking—those miserable days are ideal for Website building. Compound the climatic misery with a mega head cold contracted on New Year’s Eve, and I am in just the right condition for exploring […]