When my last name is recognized anywhere, it’s usually because people knew my grandpa Stan Stölen. Besides having owned the Stölen Foods grocery store in Hanley Falls for a number of years with my grandma, he was also a gun dealer, did chainsaw sharpening and repair, had a construction business, an antique store, and drove for Medi-Van. Mostly people recall having dealt with him on construction projects, and his penchant for striking up a conversation that would inevitably only end with the longest of long Norwegian goodbyes.

I was introduced to the Audubon Christmas Bird Count while living in Alaska where you might not expect any hardy feathered souls to still be hanging out up there in the wintry North Pacific. Despite ice forming on my kayak as I tracked down shorebirds along the rocky outcroppings surrounding Kodiak, it was a satisfying experience on many levels.

Good-bye, November. Hello, December. The year is just flying by. And all the 10 year olds are thinking, “why does time go so slow?” Was Thanksgiveus just a week ago? Uff da. I have so much yet to do before Christmas. Gifts to buy, decorations to put up, tree to buy. Or just sit and watch the world go by.