I had contemplated a Walden Pond swim today. After all, it was a beautiful, cloudless day, virtually windless with the air temperature in the mid-50s. Almost ideal on my list for what makes it a good November-December day for a swim. Almost. But tomorrow, December 6, was forecast to be even better with temperatures in the low 60s, so I decided to hold off for a day and do something I hadn’t done since early spring – take a walk around the pond.

There were a number of people fishing, one...

Many of us who live or work in Concord like to say – and most times with a smile – “only in Concord” when something occurs here that strikes us as somewhat out of the ordinary. And so it went last week when The Cheese Shop on Walden Street celebrated the arrival of “the largest cheese wheel in the western hemisphere” with its annual Crucolo parade. The tradition was started years ago and has since become a festive event that draws a large crowd of all ages gathered together to laugh, sing and...

I had just asked this new acquaintance of mine (I would like to call him a friend, but have not known him for that long), his thoughts about the Steelers, as in Pittsburgh. He’s from western Pennsylvania and, as he is now living in eastern Massachusetts, thought this would be a good way to strike up a lively conversation and, ultimately, get to know one another a little better.

It did just that, but in a way that I had not expected. He proceeded to respond that he could not – expletives...

Toward the end of each year, there’s always a tendency to look back, weigh your ups and downs, and then try to assess your fortunes for the year ahead. “Well, next year has certainly got to be better than the past year,” is one of the most common refrains, as if the two have any direct connection to the other and might somehow influence what lies ahead.

I try not to make that mistake, but still find myself looking back at the year gone by, assessing the good and the bad and pondering what...