Kathy D'Agostino

Amazing goodies always came out of our kitchen during the Easter season. This was a time of celebration, and my grandmother's influence was all over every dish.

I set out to make a light recipe this month to celebrate the beginning of spring, then it occurred to me. Who am I kidding? March in Maine is very much a winter month.

The holidays are over, all the goodies have been eaten or given as gifts, holiday decorations are put away, and once again home has some semblance of order and calm. For many, though, something is missing from all this zen: chocolate.

Now that the holidays are pretty much in the rearview mirror, it's time to look at the year ahead. A new year is an opportunity for a reset, a time to ponder changes in our habits to achieve a healthier lifestyle. Each year I make resolutions at the beginning of January that I promise myself I won't break, no matter what.

My husband and I recently upgraded our heating system. When they came to remove the large oil tank, we were informed that it had to be cut up and removed in sections.

Whenever November arrives, it reminds me of a line from a song by the late Gordon Lightfoot, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" — "When the gales of November come early."

Now that it's October, one of my yearly tasks is to take down my gardens and clean them out. I usually use compost and mulch to prepare them for the winter. The only plants I leave in place are my blooming flowers and my precious tomatoes.

Some will say the approaching end of summer is sad, and indeed it is, although this past summer was a bit too hot and humid for my liking. The only people I know who were truly ecstatic about the sultry weather were those at my electric company.

August, for me, is the best month of the year. I didn't always feel that way, because there was one part of August I wasn't fond of. It was August when my mother would say, "The start of school is just around the corner."

It all started on a sleepless night when I was in bed well past midnight and eventually resigned myself to watching a "M*A*S*H" rerun on television. It was Season 9, Episode 6, "A War for All Seasons."