"Okay, I admit it -- I'm a flatlander." Duffy says. "I lived in the suburbs of Westchester County, New York after moving from Brazil as a toddler. But New England has always tugged at my heart. Perhaps it's what Scott and Helen Nearing used to say, -- that New England is the closest you can get to the ‘old country’ without leaving the new."

So far, the ezine content is mostly standard New England lifestyle fare – food, black flies, crafts, travel tips, homes and gardening. The most impressive departure is an article in this month’s issue about mountain lions. The feature sections are neatly arranged. The navigation is clean and simple. Duffy, who lives in Keene, NH, focuses on the top three upper New England states – Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The "heart" of the region, it appears, has migrated north as the bottom three states are increasingly sprawling and urbanized.

"I believe that there is much more to northern New England than covered bridges, ski resorts and fall foliage," Duffy says. "There is a definite sense of ‘place’ that is sorely missing from much of America today. It's also a great (and safe) area to raise a family – which is what brought us to New Hampshire in the first place."

Running a regional New England web site is no bed of roses. We know. The editor, in most cases, is also the key author, page designer, photographer, secretary, salesperson and marketing director. Duffy is an experienced freelancer with an extensive clip file, so the writing here is good. Content is updated monthly as if this was a paper magazine and readers are notified by an electronic newsletter.

I had a little trouble with the scripty italic font and the pastel background. The tone is nice, but the readability suffers. The layout comes apart in a super-enlarged font which my bad eyes require. But a number of features, like the calendar, are very well done and arranged nearly by state. The editor has made choices – which is what editors are supposed to do – and the reader gets just enough material at a time, and is not bombarded with a million choices.

For now, Duffy says, she is concentrating on getting more and more content online, pumping up her Google ranking, building advertising relationships and expanding readership to her free weekly newsletter.

"Creating this online magazine from scratch has made me truly understand the phrase ‘a labor of love’. This is FAR MORE work than anything I've ever done in my freelance career," she says. " I do it all myself, oh, and I have two kids, a husband, a house, a dog, three cats, a leased horse, a guinea pig and six fish."

New England lifestyle publications are read, for the most part, by people living outside the area. Duffy has already seen her audience expand from local to national to international readers. The trick is to stay alive online while building a large enough audience visiting enough web pages daily to capture an advertising base. This trick, I’ve found, is not unlike simultaneously spinning a couple dozen plates on poles while writing 12- hours a day.

If not yet profitable, Duffy says, her online publication is definitely the most satisfying work she has ever done. Open since February 2004, she has, so far, continued to produce a quality e-zine while holding body and soul together – and living in the heart of New England.