FEATURES COLUMNS
Rick's List - Same Old Song and Dance Edition
Stop me if you've heard this one before ... In June, 1982, at the Texxas Jam in the Cotton Bowl, Journey headlined a bill that included Santana, Sammy Hagar, Joan Jett, and Point Blank. I lived in a house with several other bandmates and a roadie, and some of them attended the Jam because...
'sno fun without snow
Though modest in size — only about 17 acres, with a half-mile trail (that we looped around a couple times) — Knox Preserve in Stonington has expansive views of Fishers Island Sound to the south and Quiambaug Cove to the east.
Gifts for body, mind, and spirit
The Mitchell Isolation Hospital on Colman Street in New London was completed in 1914, thanks to a $100,000 donation by Annie Olivia Tiffany Mitchell. Today the hospital is gone, but its former nurses’ dormitory still stands on Walden Street.
Rick's List — Covering Congress Edition
On Wednesday evening, after the New Right Mardi Gras rolled through the United States Capitol Building, I sat down with my wife to watch events unfold. As we waited for the Capitol and its grounds to be secured and the members of Congress to return and verify the electoral votes...
Barn Island: Lessons from nature and history
Barn Island is an extraordinary place to visit in any season — a sprawling expanse of coastal forests, tidal flats, sandy beaches, lush meadows and rocky uplands.
Rick's List — Year In, Year Out Edition
... And now is the time for my annual, year-end checklist on how well I did in terms of adhering to my New Year's Resolutions for 2020. 1. I vowed to buy a two-year gym membership and never set foot inside the facility. Check. 2. I promised to sit outside the gym and offer free...
MORE FEATURES COLUMNS
Wash away 2020’s woes with an icy plunge
For better than half a century, madcap celebrants have kicked off the New Year by running from Mystic and leaping into the frigid water of Fishers Island Sound — a shared splash of jubilation and zaniness that prevailed during more...
What is 'forest bathing,' and why is it good for you?
Researchers in Japan tell us we should do something called “forest bathing,” a technique scientifically proven to activate our immune system.
Rick's List — Santa Recap Edition
When I was 24 and in a band called Tropical Otter, we were playing in an East Dallas bar on Christmas night. This is not particularly unusual as, typically, night clubs and cinemas do big business Christmas evenings because families are sick of a...
The joy of dining al fresco
Just because the weather has turned colder and snowier, it doesn’t mean we must only eat indoors. After all, fresh air enhances any meal.
Pine siskins are well designed for extreme cold
In the far north, where the evergreens are now heavy with snow, there lives an inconspicuous and finely streaked bird called the pine siskin.
Rick's List - Handbasket Edition
The Bureau of Ludicrous Statistics, a little-known federal outfit that keeps track of such things, has announced the U.S. set a record in the first 50 weeks of 2020 for the publicly expressed assertion that "(Someone or something) is going to...