This New England

All hail this lovely new book by retired scientist and now artist Kathryn Kleekamp, of Sandwich. Stock up now for summer-visitor gifts.

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New England did okay in the government's list of 50 counties or municipalities in the U.S. with the highest average per-capita income. But it's not as high as the tax collectors might have hoped or claimed.

Fairfield County, Conn., at $81,576, was sixth. (Investment banking/hedge fund center -- those numbers might fall in the next report.)

Norfolk County, Mass., at $62,129, was 23rd. (Baby Fidelity executives? Bio-tech?)

Nantucket County, Mass., was 44th, $55,884. Would it have been first (in the world?) if they just included summer residents?

Overall, needs improvement.

The Jackson Hole area of Wyoming, by the way, was the richest, at $132,728 --all those venture capitalists from Southern California, Seattle and Cambridge, Mass., looking for low taxes and clean air, though you can bet that they're not there 12 months straight a year. More like three months.

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The sun burst out on the sodden, green landscape of southern New England today, some of it less green than the day before because of frost. How disorienting it all is.

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Many thanks to Bryan Marquard of The Boston Globe for his lovely May 16 obituary of Bill Waldron, public servant, lawyer and charmer.

It's tough to be properly recognized if you live to a really old age like Bill -- 95. Most of your friends have died and even quite a few of the people you mentored have exited. But Mr. Marquard made sure that many, many people were properly introduced to the contributions of this gentleman.

 Tags  50 counties or municipalities Bill Waldron Bryan Marquard Fairfield County Kathryn Kleekamp Nantucket County

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