There's a Plunger in My Tree

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

SYNOPSIS


There’s a Plunger in My Tree is a compilation of humor columns that I wrote for the Stowe Reporter, the weekly newspaper of my hometown of Stowe, Vermont. Many of these pieces are set in Stowe, and aim for that “down home” feeling that comes with writing about life at it is lived in the slow lane.

Many have nothing to do with things Vermont, other than the fact that they were written there. Rather, they comprise a loosely structured, decidedly episodic story of my life, starting with my profligate early adulthood and continuing on to the present moment.

So, the reader will find me jailed in France one moment and having inappropriate liaisons the next. Eventually, my wild oats get sown and I move on. Here I meet “the salad girl in my life”, she who is destined to stay by my side through all of the ventures and misadventures that follow, and to become both foil and straight man in many of my accounts.

I write at length about money, most notably of my disdain for the stuff and how it seems to become the be-all and end-all for so many people.

And I write some about food and about restaurants, two topics on which I am particularly passionate.

Five of these pieces (there are about fifty in all) seek to find the humor in a brush with death, a life-changing event that left me unconscious for several weeks, hospitalized for several months and recovering in a physical rehabilitation unit for several more.

I take a stab at travel writing too, specifically my unsuccessful attempt to become a Southerner.

It is only after fleeing the South that the “action” moves back to Vermont, where I feel that I have earned the right to expound on all manner of trivia, from reminiscences about child and pet rearing, to scenes from a marriage, to village life. You’ll even find the occasional recipe and flight of fancy.

Had the people of Stowe - my bi-weekly readers and a pretty eclectic bunch - not responded as favorably as they have to my columns, I would not have assembled this collection. But because they have led me to believe that these autobiographical anecdotes strike a common chord, I’ve decided to put them out there with the hope that the rest of the world will agree.

(Now: How to find the rest of the world?)

2 Comments:

At November 6, 2009 at 1:33 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your writing is exquisite. I have made a note of your blog. I shall read more. Today I am doing two interviews so it will be over the weekend.

Also BlogCatalog has bought:
http:// BrooWaHa dot com
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http:// www dot HalfHourMeals dot com

Both are free and growing by the minute. Stop by because you and your writing style will fit right in.

 
At February 17, 2010 at 1:30 AM , Anonymous Down Comforter said...

I must tell you that your posts always prove to be of a high value and quality for readers. Keep it up.

 

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