Robert May was painfully aware of the distance between his dreams and his reality.

The 34-year-old Dartmouth graduate had long fantasized about writing the great American novel. Instead, he was working a mediocre job as an ad man for Montgomery Ward, cranking out forgettable copy about silk sheets and white shirts. He lived in a tiny apartment with his ill wife and young daughter.

It’s become a four-generation tradition to head south of the cities and take in a small-town celebration of fall. Our route winds between soaring bluffs and a shimmering lake. It feels like a narrow passageway, a tunnel back in time.

I was a sophomore in college when I received the little blue book, a gift from a friend who also wanted to be a writer. At the time I was editing the student newspaper, poring over buried leads and dangling modifiers.

Business was good. So good, in fact, that the family company had become one of the largest breweries in New England, producing 300,000 barrels a year and supporting two generations of Geisels in Springfield, Mass.

There is an art and a science to slow living. This summer I’m trying to learn both.

In music you can measure it. The tempo called largo — Italian for slow and broad — clocks in at 40 to 60 beats per minute. (Allegro, by contrast, doubles that pace, while presto races up to 200.) 

More than 19 million people tuned in to watch the final episode of “Game of Thrones” May 19, making it the most viewed show to ever air on HBO.

Yet many were dissatisfied with what they saw, hurling gripe after grouse online. The finale didn’t fit the ethos of the show, they insisted. It was overly sentimental. It tarnished the show’s legacy. More than 1 million people signed an online petition to re-make the show’s final season.

It all started with a lost birth certificate. The Holy Spirit was at work that day and hasn’t slowed down since.

Roxanne Loper was almost home.

Her journey had begun 15 months ago when she spotted a picture of a baby girl on the World Partners website and sensed something special.

Janet Easter is experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions as she arranges a bouquet in her backyard, and she is unfazed.

“I’m having contractions, which is hilarious,” she says, stripping the leaves off a hydrangea in one swift stroke.