Hillbilly Christmas

I am wearing a heavy work glove.
(photo: courtesy of Islesford.com.)

I snuck out to Little Cranberry Island to attend the Christmas performance by the school kids, and in the process got press-ganged into playing washtub bass for a musical number that was included in the evening's lineup.

Now, if my writing career ever flounders, I have a backup skill.

That fellow to the right of me in the picture, hefting the accordion, is my stepfather.

Book Tour: 6,473 miles

The official tally is in. The total number of miles I drove this year to promote THE SECRET LIFE OF LOBSTERS was 6,473.

The lobstermobile.
(photo: Ash Corson)

But since I drive a Honda Insight -- a gas-electric hybrid that gets nearly 60 mpg -- I did the whole tour on just over a hundred gallons of gas. If I had been driving a Ford Explorer, I would have needed triple that much gas (and money).

Where did I learn to be so frugal and eco-friendly? Well, partly from my father. I bought the Honda the year he died -- you can read that story in an oft-cited article I wrote for the New York Times.

But I also learned frugality from Warren Fernald on Little Cranberry Island -- if you've read THE SECRET LIFE OF LOBSTERS, you know Warren. Biggest tightwad I ever met. But that's how he could afford to catch lobsters sustainably for half a century. He didn't need to wipe out the lobster population. For him, the good life was only taking what you needed and saving the rest for your kids and their kids.