With all that is going on, perhaps a pause is called for
By David Fortier Come Sunday morning, the hope is the cardinal that has been outside our bedroom window will still be there to greet us, the cardinal along with the…
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In May ’47, three-way tie for high school valedictorian
Compiled by Dave Greenleaf 150 Years Ago – May 1872 A destructive fire occurred last Thursday caused by sparks from the locomotive setting fire to dry leaves near Cuss Gutter….
A going-away party and some tough issues around town
By David Fortier Come Sunday morning, Mary and I will be preparing for a family party, this time a going away party for child No. 3, who is coming close…
Here comes summer, beginning with farmers market
By David Fortier Come Sunday morning, Mary will have celebrated a birthday and will have received birthday greetings in-person, via Facebook, and, of course, from the family, texts with confetti…
Testing negative, a good thing in a tragic week
By David Fortier Come Sunday morning, Mary and I will have gotten through our bout with COVID-19. On Saturday evening we both took rapid tests and tested negative, which is…
Online scams? Phone scams? Don’t be so cynical
by Jack Krampitz As the years have gone by, it has been very touching to me that so many people who I don’t even know have reached out to me…
A family birthday party — the first of the summer, perhaps — and rising temperatures
By David Fortier Come Sunday morning, Mary and I will have celebrated the oldest’s 38th birthday along with family and friends, a party which will be interrupted by rain, but…
Happy Mother’s Day greetings–via texts and phone–and a visit from one of the kids and companion, Quinn
By David Fortier Come Sunday morning, the Happy Mother’s Day greeting will be appearing on the family text thread along with some photos and emojis, and there are just a…
Yard work and a stop at the bakery; repairs underway
By David Fortier Come Sunday morning, Mary and I will have admired—well, not admired, but commented on our lawn, spotted as it is with wild onion plants—on our way to…
100 years ago city votes to adopt Daylight Savings Time
Compiled by Dave Greenleaf 150 Years Ago – April 1872 The freight train from the west met with disaster just above the North Village. An axle broke throwing off a…
Time for yardwork, a little hoop and a family celebration
By David Fortier Come Sunday morning, Mary will have started working a bit in the yard, but the weather is still not ideal—better but not what one might expect this…
All the recent rain has turned the Pequabuck into an actual raging river
By Jack Krampitz We in Bristol do not have the Mississippi. We don’t have the Hudson. We don’t have the Connecticut. We don’t even have the Farmington. But we do…
Some ricotta cookies from a friend’s recipe, Easter with the kids and other connections among us
By David Fortier Come Sunday morning, Easter Sunday at the Fortier household, we will have gone to Mass at 8 a.m. and then hit the road for our Easter dinner…
One more time to Hartford Stage for another gem, this time from Neil Simon starring Marsha Mason
By David Fortier Come Sunday morning, Mary and I will have attended another Hartford Stage production, this time Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers, starring Marsha Mason, who also co-directed. She…
Learning as we grow about how to go about it and keeping our focus–local news
By David Fortier Come Sunday morning, the week will have wound up with me watching a couple of NCAA basketball games, two women’s games (UConn) and two men’s (Duke and…
Fire by the side of the road saves imbiber 150 years ago
Compiled by Dave Greenleaf 150 Years Ago – March 1872 On Saturday evening there were rowdy times in the saloon neighborhood. Albro Castle, John Atkins, Eugene Lane, Wallace Allen and…
TBE celebrity readers support launch of first fund drive
By Jack Krampitz When TBE Editor Dave Fortier announced our first ever fund-raising campaign on Sunday, the writing staff never imagined the support we would get from all over Bristol…
No better time to support TBE than now
By David Fortier Come Sunday morning, TBE will have finally set up our links for readers to support our efforts. On our website, there is a green box with the…
BCHS Rams take state championship, a former Ram is celebrated and a challenging listening assignment
By David Fortier Come Sunday morning, our Bristol Central Rams boys basketball team will have capped a tremendous season by beating the Northwest Catholic Lions in the Division II state…
More family time while keeping what is happening in Ukraine in mind
By David Fortier Come Sunday morning, the clocks will have been turned ahead an hour and I will have stopped ranting about why, “Why do we need to play around…