New Design for the Gift House Blog

By Martha | Published: September 20, 2012
My blog has a new design and title, but its mission continues: to document the strange and marvelous array of things that appear at our town dump’s swap shop, where locals browse and gab, share and swap, unload and load up. And where Harry Belafonte’s voice is always singing, Day O. My memoir about our family’s [...]
Also posted in Cape Cod memoir, Essay writing, Free Stuff, Free-cycle, Personal Essay, Re-useable Life, Recycled Clothing, Salvage, Salvage Shack, Slow Life, The Gift House | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments closed

DOG MAN comes to Japan

By Martha | Published: April 29, 2011
   Just arrived in the mail from Japan:  copies of Dog Man, translated into Japanese and published by Odyssey, a small family-run press in the north of Japan.  I am so happy to see this amazing life story – which the Sawataishis were courageous to share so honestly with me  – making a way back to its home country.  At such a difficult [...]
Also posted in Dog Man, Hachiko: A Dog's Tale, Japan, Japan earthquake, Mountain Life | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments closed

Remembering Morie Sawataishi

By Martha | Published: October 4, 2010
This is the time of year to remember Morie Sawataishi, the man who saved the Akita dog from extinction. The anniversary of his death, October 22, is less than three weeks away.  Morie did more than just devote his life to rescuing and restoring the Akita dog in Japan after World War II.  He devoted [...]
Also posted in Dog Man, General, Hachiko: A Dog's Tale, Japan, Mountain Life, Slow Life, Snow Country | Comments closed

Frog Highway — (from Patagonia.com)

By Martha | Published: February 12, 2010
I was recently asked by Patagonia.com to write about a “backyard corridor” experience for its environmentalism campaign. If you don’t know what a backyard corridor is, read on . . .     Frog Highway By Martha Sherrill He was so huge, the biggest green frog I’d ever seen. And he was sitting – utterly motionless — on a stone [...]
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