Tina Traster
The Archive
Party planning
‘It sounds like you’re planning a bat mitzvah,” my friend Monica said when I described the surprise party I was throwing for my soon-to-be 8-year-old. “Oh no,” I assured her,...
Bird breakout
Everyone said owning chickens is great but you’ve got to watch out for predators. I took this to heart because we share our wooded mountaintop home with hawks, raccoons, foxes...
Chain reaction
I now know there is a medicinal plant that can be used to treat next-door-neighbor blues. It’s called Fargesia, or clumping bamboo. Some background: Readers of this column might remember...
'Hill' of a job
Spring at my house is like a duel in an old western. My husband wields the Home Depot catalog, packed with tons of stuff for DIY backyard projects. My weapon...
I lived mom's adoption pain
Everyone said I would fall in love with my daughter the minute they laid her in my arms. She was beautiful, with her broad, alabaster face and deep, brown eyes....
Tool time
My friend’s husband Paul came over to cut down trees in the woods behind our house. He arrived with a gas-powered chainsaw, an electric chainsaw, soundproofing earmuffs and protective eyeglasses....
Dig me out
"Oh my God," I yelled, peering out the window. "Daddy’s had a heart attack. Wait here." I ran down the freshly paved path to the far end of my property,...
Cooped up
When I looked at the house I was to buy five years ago, I noticed a little green shed on the north end of the property with the inscription “Fresh...
Ice storm
Dec. 31. Snow is falling gently. It’s nearly midday, and I’m wearing a bathrobe over my pajamas while I set the table for our New Year’s Eve dinner party. My...
Drying out
I turned the dial to the left, and it sputtered — a faint “ca-ca-ca” noise. Like when you turn the key in a car ignition and the battery is dead....
Home is where the mart is
Listen up, Realtors — I’ve got a tip for you. Forget curb appeal or the new bathroom or the hot tub on the deck. Think food instead. Plug the greenhouse...
Disturbia
I’m tired. Noise from a nearby quarry, which operates at night during certain times of the year, disrupts my sleep. OK, I should have known that there was an open-pit...
Feeling the burn
"Holy smokes!” I yelped. “There’s a fire next door!” My husband got up from his rocking chair and joined me at the window. “They’ve got a bonfire going,” he said,...
The write place
FOUR years ago, we left our Upper West Side co-op for many reasons. My husband needed a driveway. My toddler deserved a bedroom with windows. I had to get out...
Measuring down
Ten days after moving into my renovated farmhouse in late 2005, a pale woman with beauty-parlor-stiff hair knocked on my door. She held a clipboard. I thought she was a...
AWAY THEY GO
The brown raised Ranch down the road is for sale. A young couple bought the house three years ago. I met them once for a brief moment when they jogged...
CLUTTER BE GONE!
If I had to box up the contents of my house, it would take five hours, maybe six. When I left the city for suburbia in 2005, it took a...
KITCHEN STADIUM
My childhood home always smelled of freshly baked goods thanks to my stout Polish grandmother, who pulled trays of mandel brot (almond bread), cream cheese cookies and challah out of...
DIFFERENT STROKES
What's a downtown hipster like Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. doing in the Catskills? "It all started because I bought a Range Rover," the whippet-thin musician says while walking around...
SUMMER FLING
What relief I felt last November when we packed up the patio furniture, stored the garden tools and disconnected the watering hose. But that's all over now. Spring and summer...