Living Madly

Living Madly: Quiet, Please By Emilie-Noelle Provost I’ve always had a low tolerance for noise. I can clearly remember being in the first grade and looking forward to the time each afternoon when our teacher would tell us it was time to sit at our desks and read quietly. It…

Living Madly: Goldfinches By Emilie-Noelle Provost Late summer has always been a relief. By this time of year, I’m sick of hot, muggy weather. I’m tired of air conditioning, and of eating salad for dinner because it’s too hot to use the stove. I long for cool breezes and early…

Living Madly: Moby Chip By Emilie-Noelle Provost My husband, Rob, is obsessed with the chipmunks in our yard. Each year, beginning in late winter or early spring, when the first pocket-sized rodent pokes its head of out of one of the portholes in our lawn, he starts tracking their daily…

Living Madly: Mud Season By Emilie-Noelle Provost Although I’m one of the few people I know who looks forward to winter, I’ve been feeling depressed since last fall. I’m pretty sure it happened gradually, the way that bad weather rolls in and blocks out the sun one cloud at a time.…

Living Madly – On the Road Again By Emilie-Noelle Provost Much of my professional life has been spent writing for the travel and tourism industry. I’ve written dozens of articles, reviews of restaurants and hotels, copy for websites, and reems of text used in marketing materials and on social media.…

Living Madly – Word from the Bird By Emilie-Noelle Provost When I was in middle school, I spent a lot of time reading dictionaries. I did this for fun. I especially liked the Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, a colossal multi-volume publication that, due to its size and expense, I…

Living Madly – Black Tower By Emilie-Noelle Provost Old friends and old wine are best. —German Proverb I’ve been fortunate to have many good friends throughout my life. Memories of wild parties, road trips, quiet conversations, long hikes in the woods, and afternoon barbecues that lasted into the night help…

Living Madly – Women’s Work By Emilie-Noelle Provost My maternal grandmother had a sewing room in her house that she jokingly referred to as her “sweatshop.” Once a spare bedroom, the space was home to her two sewing machines and hundreds of yards of fabric of all types and colors. Throughout…

Please welcome Emilie-Noelle Provost to our content contributors. A longtime resident of Lowell, Mass., Emilie-Noelle is a writer and the author of the middle grade novel, The Blue Bottle (North Country Press, 2018). She was the editor-in-chief of Merrimack Valley Media Inc., publisher of Merrimack Valley Magazine, from 2011 to 2016. Throughout…