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Helen-Chantal Pike

The Pike Log: Random Entries About Making His Story Mine

Expats Unite!

January 6, 2013
Tags: Lindsay Cobb, The Vulture, Eleanor Leger, Eden Ice, Princeton, Beth Kanell, Montclair, Kingdom Books, Kate Kelly, Fair Haven, Ranney School, Steve and Elaine Dolch Pacholek, Bergen County, Asbury Park, Bruce Springsteen, Dalton, nh, St. Johnsbury, Village Book Store & Cafe, Littleton, Eatontown, Bellows Falls
My longest-running friend from high school and fellow Vermonter: Lindsay Cobb.
Like a first high school crush, some of us never get over the stories of Ernest Hemingway and his Parisian-based copains. While neither Vermont nor New Hampshire have cosmopolitan cities to rival Paris, they do have expatriates, none more obvious to me than the one-time New Jersey residents who voluntarily left home for the romance of  Read More 
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How to Survive Spider Poop, and Other North Woods Tips

July 28, 2012
Tags: Sharon Payeur, Ron Beecher, Gail Herbert Kimball, Beth Kanell, Christo, Tim O'Shea, Ellen Greaves, Jane Allard Wright, Roberta Gillott, diatomaceous earth, Mr. Clean, fly tape, shims, cats, Lake Memphremagog, Merry Maids, Upper Connecticut River Valley
Tall dog or bear cub: What do you think?
If you, like me, never heard of fly tape, don't feel bad. Means you live in a well-sealed suburban-looking home with a concrete cellar floor, factory-direct vinyl windows with fitted screens, and floors at 90 degrees to their walls.

Good for you!

When I moved from the Jersey Shore suburbs to 50 miles south of the Canadian  Read More 
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Will Open Mic Reveal Whodunit?

March 8, 2012
Tags: Sisters in Crime: Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Nancy Means Wright, Beth Kanell, Kathleen Towne, Kate George, Lee Kemsley, Richard Godwin, Michael Nethercott, David Carkeet
Beth Kanell says the game's afoot for Sunday, March 11, 2012, in Montpelier, VT. See bottom of entry for other New England locations.

The Upper Connecticut River Valley seems ready-made for prospective mystery titles such as “Mayhem in the Mountains” (malice domestic); “Dance Hall Swindle” (locked room); “Axed to Death” (hard-boiled), or “The Latchis Case” (police procedural). *

Part of the thrill of reading is to escape the humdrum. Where better to spend  Read More 
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How My Beloved Aunt Became a Cover Girl

February 28, 2012
Tags: Waterford Town Report, Boxcar & Caboose, Waterford School, Elizabeth Roberta Pike, Robert Taggart Pike, Monmouth College, Asbury Park, Beth Kanell
Elizabeth Roberta Pike and her grandfather, R.T. Pike, circa 1918, in Upper Waterford, VT.
Picture it: January 10. It's Phase 1 of the North Woods move and 70+ boxes of dishes, files, books, and clothing form a labyrinth through the house. The Time Warner Cable guy is threading lines that will offset my Verizon cell phone's mountain-challenged message "searching for service".

Lots of interesting things can happen when you're incommunicado.  Read More 
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Where the GPS Are We?

February 3, 2012
Tags: New York Times, Julia Frankenstein, cognitive brain development, Bruce Springsteen, Waterford History Blog, Beth Kanell, Upper Connecticut River Valley, Jamie Cross, Peter Lucia, Grey Matter Bookstore
Thanks to Peter Lucia for this illuminated version of the Upper Connecticut River Valley at night
“Why don’t you have a Tom-Tom attached to your windshield?”

Odd question from Carolyn Kinne Grass as she climbed into my SUV Thursday, armed with an oversized atlas left-over from the era of open touring cars, goggles and silk scarves.

“Why would I need one?” I retorted.  Read More 
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