For a relaxing read, the Stillmeadow series is always pleasant ( )

Right up my alley! Just day to day life on an old farm in Connecticutt in the 1950's. The author had a column in Ladies' Home Journal for 20 years. ( )

Unbelievably delightful book, loosely chronicling the years Gladys Taber spent at her country home, Stillmeadow Road in CT. Each chapter took the form of a month of the year, and what was discussed reflected the seasons at Stillmeadow, but also the seasons of life. A fireplace read where the book simply unfolds from chapter to chapter. It's a slow-winding journey through life and country living. Excellent! ( )

Stillmeadow Road is a time capsule memoir about a homestead in Connecticut that Taber purchases with her friend, Jill. It's all about country living, each chapter separated by the seasons. Month by month Taber lovingly describes life in a farmhouse by the weather, what's happening in nature, how humans react to it all. Her observations focus on the trees, flowers, animals, and condition of the house throughout the changing seasons. Why do squirrels stay active throughout the winter? Why does it rain during dog shows? Why are storm doors so ugly? At the same time Taber injects social commentary about raising children, dealing with death, being neighborly, sorting out religious beliefs, remembering childhood...the story jumps between country-life observation and spiritual introspection. ( )

Gladys Taber wrote of her farm, raising dogs, friendship, cooking, the changing of the seasons - all the little things that make life worthwhile. She was a widow raising her children on her own in a time that made that doubly difficult. ( )