Scene Here

Scene Here: Final Dining

Scene Here: Final Dining

The cook turns from the steaming griddle to face the small dining room, which is crowded with breakfast customers. He looks to the front door. “I don’t remember the last time I saw a line out to the parking lot,” he says. At the long counter a seated man nods, then...
Scene Here: Sweet Expectations

Scene Here: Sweet Expectations

If Willy Wonka took Turkish baths, his house would smell like this. In the evaporating room at Gould’s Sugarhouse Sunday morning, clear liquid sap is boiling down into concentrated gooey goodness. The thick steam it lets off is warm and silky, with a slightly sweet...
Scene Here: Spring Steed

Scene Here: Spring Steed

I pull my mud-splattered sedan onto the side of Hill Road in Ashfield, parking it at the metal gate of the cow pen at Taylor Farm. My snow tires crunch on gravel, and a dozen cows turn their heads and stare at me. Their pen is connected to the back of an enormous red...
Scene Here: 8-Bit Wonderland

Scene Here: 8-Bit Wonderland

Tonight’s soundtrack — a bright string of poppy club songs — has many of the bar-goers at The Quarters in Hadley nodding their heads. Those who aren’t bopping along to the beat have their eyes fixed on whatever vintage arcade game they’ve decided to drop a few coins...
Scene Here: Dinner with Friends

Scene Here: Dinner with Friends

It’s a cold evening on Worthington Street in Springfield, but the Resource Center has filled with warmth. In the last minutes before dinner, visitors keep busy by playing cards, writing, reading, braiding hair, and swapping stories. The Resource Center is run by...