My Backyard

It is good to be back in this corner of My Backyard again. The siege and transition the print edition paper has been through during the last six months is over. My Backyard is on the street in its print format every other week. Basically, you will find the paper in all its old places on the [...]

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The graduation season is upon us.  My memory is that my graduations were more important to my parents than to me.  I think much of that feeling was generated by the fact that I was the first generation to graduate college.  In my parents generation many kids were fortunate to graduate high school.  In our [...]

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The trees have gone from budding to leaf out in our backyard. The morning fog events let us know the land and water are warming. We are moving toward planting time. This may be a summer to return to family gardening. My friend Lou Lacivita would tell me to hold my horses and to remember [...]

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With a Sunday in April nudging ninety degrees locally and more of the same predicted for the middle of the week, I can only wonder what temperatures we will see in August in New England.  It was hot enough on Sunday for me to go the bottom drawer of my dresser to find a pair [...]

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Today, while getting My Backyard ready to go to the printer, I will be paying more than half my attention to the Boston Marathon. I do know my first memory of that marathon is South Attleboro’s Jake Brederson training on the local streets and highways. Jake was a speed walker and a good one. That [...]

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I have been tempted in recent days to move to the summer office.  Since over night temperatures are still often below freezing, I will avoid the temptation.  I remember Thanksgiving Days that were warmer than this year’s Easter Sunday. If you could find a spot out of the wind and in the sun, it was [...]

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There are not any buildable lots left in our neighborhood.  Maybe if the paper street is ever developed a lot or two could be cut out for a new house. That wooded stand of rocks and scrub oaks would be an expensive project.  There is also a small plot that the telephone company once used [...]

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Newspapers are shrinking. Web sites are growing.  Free newspapers like My Backyard have fewer advertisers and fewer pages but our circulation and distribution are not shrinking. Pay for newspapers not only have fewer pages but also declining distribution. If you are a pay for paper, you cannot increase circulation with fewer paying customers.
 
My Backyard is [...]

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Rick Bliss wanted me to mention that the South Attleboro Lions White Cane Day is on April 11th this year.  As I understand it, South Attleboro Lions will be collecting donations at Mo’s Car Wash, Yankee Spirits and K-Mart.  Rick has not told me yet where I am going to fill in or at what [...]

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I believe in “the luck of the Irish.”  Even though I have never found a four leaf clover, I do know that it is sometimes better to be lucky than smart. I always tell people that I have the occasion to help, that I can teach them to be smart, but I cannot teach them [...]

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