Hester Velmans

A poem on being snowed in during the Nor'easter that buried much of Berkshire County and the surrounding area in feet of snow.

Not the fairy tale you remember.

Sheffield resident Loet Velmans, survivor of a daring escape from Holland in a lifeboat, aptly named The Seaman’s Hope on May 14, 1940, compared his own plight to that of today’s boat people in the Mediterranean and elsewhere, risking their lives for a chance at freedom.

There are two organizations with roots right here in the Berkshires that already have boots on the ground in Nepal and are up and running, hard at work with crucial relief efforts. For those who would like their donation to have a direct effect rather than be swallowed up in one of the giant relief funds, please consider donating to these two local organizations "Kathmandu is in chaos. The aftershocks are powerful and continuous and people are living in the streets because they are afraid to go back into their houses, even if there has been no damage. Some of the major charitable organizations are calling us, asking if we can help because they are not yet here and are not set up. Our people have been working around the clock and we are doing all we can, but the task is enormous." -- Anya Cherneff, founder of Empower Generation, aiding recovery efforts in Nepal, and daughter of Hester Velmans and Peter Cherneff of Sheffield

So — enough with the food-pyramids and the nutrition admonitions. Don’t tell me how many glasses of this or ounces of that I’m supposed to consume, or the dire consequences if I don’t. From now on I am going to listen to what my own body is telling me.