Hancock II, July 31, 2009

Here is another report from New Hampshire. We have been here nearly two weeks and are having a good time visiting friends and relatives, as well getting in a few short hikes. The weather has been quite wet -- raining about every two days out of three, so any serious walking is a little difficult. Also, this is not "Verizon Country", so our cell phones are quite temperamental , and we have not been in contact with many of our kin as much as we would like!

I have included a few pictures. As some of you may know, my parents had a cabin, really a small somewhat primitive house, by the shore of Sunset Lake in Greenfield. This is a small lake about a mile long, and a quarter of a mile wide. We lived on what was then an unnamed spur off a gravel road running the length of the lake. My mother's nickname was Hebe. We discovered that the small spur to our cabin has been named, "Hebe Lane". (See picture.)



I have also attached a picture of the cabin. The shed, on the right is still there. That used to have the privy -- I wonder if it still does. As far as I know there is no running water or sewers available to the cabins by the lake. The land there has very little topsoil, so a tile field would difficult if not impossible to install.

While there, I met a descendant of a man who was our family dentist in Peterborough, when I was a child. He was in Rotary club with my Dad; my brother used to sell him worms for fishing. I remember being terrified of him -- the only dentist I have ever been afraid of. I mentioned this to the lady who was related to him -- and she laughed, and said, "That is probably because he never used Novocain --- he did not believe in it."

On one really nice day, we took a hike up Crotched Mountain. It is pronounced "Crotch-shed" with two syllables, or some times as ,"Crotch-it".

Anyway, it was a nice hike. We did a bit of geocaching on the way up, but we missed a couple of caches and planned to get them on the return. We got pretty tired, so we passed them by on the way back. It is amazing how trees and forest have replaced the fields and scrubby pastures I remember as a boy. Most of the mountains are covered with trees on the top. There is not much a a view, because of all the trees. We used to be able to see the town of Greenfield from the top of Crotched Mountain, with the church and cemetery as prominent landmarks. Now they can not be seen.

In the few open spaces there were quite a few flowers, but less to be seen in the woods. The woods are rather dark and, with all the rain a little damp and gloomy. There were afew interesting plants, however. Below is a picture of what we used to call bunchberries. I was always told they were inedible, and were not to be confused with checkerberries, also know as wintergreen berries or teaberries.

The other picture is of Indian Pipes. I always thought this was a fungus, but I just looked on the Internet and discovered it actually is a plant that parisitizes a fungus, which in turn is in a symbiotic relationship with tree roots! The Indian Pipe is apparently a true flower that is pollinated by bumblebees!

Hancock, NH July 26, 2009

There is not too much to report this week. We are actually camped in Hancock, NH in a private campground. It is fairly nice, but our site is fairly close to another RV on one side, and next to a driveway on the other side. We are at a bit of a disadvantage camping in NH, because we are so big (40 feet long) and our plans are often made at the last minute, so in this busy season, the choice sites have been long reserved. In fact, we were quite fortunate to find a camping space at all!

It continues to be a bit on the chilly side with a great deal of rainy weather. It is OK for visiting and catching up on household chores; not so good for hiking, something I wanted to do.

I have had a chance to spend a lot of time with my cousin Ginny, and this has been great. I also visited my boyhood best friend, Jerry. We had a very nice visit, and I hope we will get together again, this week.

The day before yesterday we went to Concord, NH to the Department of Vital Statistics. I got copies death certificates of family members, which also have information on the deceases" parents. Since it is a rainy day again today, I will update my genealogical records on the computer finally, at last!). Next week we may visit my cousin, Horace, in Maine and look over the places my mother was raised.

In spite of the cold summer, we are having a good time.

Greenfield, NH July 19, 2009

We are in new Hampshire now, arriving last Friday. Yesterday we spent most of the day in Greenfield, my home town. There was a celebration there in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Greenfield Fire Department. There was a parade with several fire trucks, some current and some antique from many of the surrounding towns. (See one of the antique fire engines on the photo on the side.In addition, of course there were marching bands, horses, a few floats. For those of you from Greenfield, you should know the parade went from the East Road and ended at the Fairgrounds, now known as Oak Park.Today there will be additional festivities with some competitive fire-fighting events. We will probably pass on that.

After the parade, at the fair grounds there was a concert by bag-pipes and drums. This was all fun to see.

On the way home, we crossed a covered bridge on the Hancock Road. this is a pretty bridge --- see the accompanying photo.

Kathleen and Sean

This is a better picture of Kathleen and Sean (taken a couple of week ago in Virginia).

Visiting Friends and Cousins

We have spent a lot of time the last two weeks in Ithaca, NY, a place where we have a lot of friends, and Madeline has numerous relatives including many cousins. Some of you may recall these people, so we took a few pictures that you will enjoy.

On the left are Ken and Doris Abbey. Gloria used to work with Doris as a waitress at Willard Straight Hall some fifty-plus years ago. Later when we lived out in the country at Dousenberry Hollow, we would stop at their house in the winter to warm up before the long ride up the hill on the way home.

The couple below on the left are Susan and Jonah Maine. Susan is Madeline's first cousin. She bares a remarkable resemblance to Madeline's mother, and has that same sweet disposition.



The couple below on the right are Charlotte and Carlton Plunkett. Charlotte was one of Madeline's best friends in High School. Carlton is another one of Madeline's first cousins. Gloria and I also knew Carlton and Charlotte well when we lived in Ithaca.

The couple on the left are Gil and Ellen Stoewsand. They were very close friends to Gloria and me. Gil and I were graduate students together at Cornell.

Well, it nice to see old friends and relatives again. This is in some ways like a reunion, as we have not see many of these folks, quite literally, for decades or even scores of years.

Washington, DC

While in the Virginia area, accompanied by my daughter Diana, we visited Washington, DC. We moved our RV up to a campground near Fredericksburg, and then took the car to the Metro Station (about a 1-hour drive) and then took the Metro into the City. We got off within walking distance of the Mall and the Smithsonian museums.

The Smithsonian Museum of American History has been redone. I think this used to be the Museum of Science and Industry. However there is to be a Museum of Industry that is being refurbished and is now closed. It is nearly impossible to go through even one of the Smithsonian Museums, in one day, and absorb everything. We spent several hours reviewing history of transportation, or at least most of it -- canals and railroads. One of the exhibits was named something like the "GM Hall of Fame" -- a somewhat sad thing after all the terrible times people of GM are encountering.

This is the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth. In recognition of this, there was a special exhibit on Lincoln's life, with a lot of memorabilia from his presidency and also from his early years in Springfield, ILL. It is amazing how a man with so little formal education, and a reputation at the time of just a politician, became one of our greatest presidents. I suppose the lesson is that when the times demand it, people can rise to accomplish what has to be done.

Later we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Again, it is impossible to view all the exhibits in a day, let alone in an afternoon. I did go through an exhibit explaining the use of forensic analysis on the archaeological examination of burials. There was a lot of attention to ancient graves found in Jamestown, yielding information on the hardships these early settlers experienced.

On another day, we returned to Washington. We walked by the White House, where there were demonstrators asking that Obama intervene in favor of the recently deposed "Tiger"regeime in Ceylon (Ceylon has a modern name, that I cant recall.) They were not getting a very sympathetic reception. The area on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the white House, as most of you probably know, is now closed to traffic, so it is now filled with tourists and demonstrators. The wide street between the White House and Lafayette Park is noisey, and not particularly attractive. I guess the tawdry nature is the price we pay for free expression, as well as enhanced security, needed now. I recall how dignified and peaceful the same area seemed fifty years or so ago, I visited the area as a teenager, when I came to Washington with my brother.

We spent an afternoon at the National Portrait Gallery. Again, it is impossible to go through the whole museum in just an hour or two. We did look at the portraits of all the presidents. This also gave us a chance to review a little presidential history, as there was a brief review of the accomplishments of each president. Buchanan and Pierce did not accomplish much, so there was a little difficulty saying anything nice about either of them. (My mother always used to complain about Franklin Pierce, the only president from New Hampshire.)

There was an interesting exhibit of art by Jean Shin.This is modern art, that some might not think is art at all. For example, one presentation, titled Untied consisted of hundreds of neckties hanging over a twenty-foot length of chain link fence. ( The exhibit has an interesting history. At one time it was on a street in new Haven, Connecut. At that time it was named, Fringe. It was supposed to show the divide between wealth and poverty in the city. Over time, pedestrians from a near-by bus stop would take and exchange neckties,. Also people would pull the ties through the mesh to face the street rather than the vacant lot. So now the piece of art has changed from being a barrier to -- in the museum --- so we are told, as giving us a chance to see life on both sides of the fence. Hmmm.

Another interesting piece, titled TEXTile , consisted of thousands of keys from discarded computers arranged on piece of fabric about six feet wide and perhaps twenty feet long draped over the floor, although elevated on each end. The keys are arranged to spells out Email messages between the artist, Shinn and her project staff. A large presentation ---- not something you would put in your living room. Is it art? one wonders, but still it is a presentation depicting emotions and ideas, so I suppose it is. There were other interesting presentations, involving thousands of discarded lottery tickets made into huge houses of cards, and one of towers made from discarded pill bottles.

For a look at the Shinn exhibit, see:

http://americanart.si.edu/pr/library/2009/shin/shin_key_images.pdf

Diana and I also went out to visit Mount Vernon one day. Again there is much to see, and there is a new exhibit (new to me anyway) depicting the life of George Washington. There is is also a nearby grist mill and distillery that Washington operated with his plantation. For anyone visiting Washington, I would recommend spending a day at Mount Vernon. it is set up well for tourist, and has a lot that would be of interest to school-age children as well as adults.

Family in Virginia, continued, II

A poor picture of my grandson, Sean.

Family in Virginia, Continued III

Daughter in law, Beth and Granddaughter, Kathleen

On the Road Again: Family in Virginia

We finally hit the road again, June 16. Our first stop was in the Richmond, VA area to visit Tom and his family. Above see a picture of Madeline and me and our three grown children: Debra, Tom, and Diana (aka DD). It is always a special time when you can have a family get-together -- and this indeed, was a special time. Tom and Beth and their two kids were hosts. Diana drove up from Louisville, and Debra flew in from Boulder, CO. We had a wonderful weekend sight-seeing in the Richmond area --- more about that later, barbecuing, and playing games.

One day we went into Richmond, and visited the James River District. There is a canal along the James River, which at one time ran all the way to Lynchburg, a small city nested in the Blue Ridge Mountains. At one time there was a plan (instituted by George Washington) to run a canal all the way to the Mississippi River, but it never got further than Lynchburg.Once, there were a series of locks circumventing the extensive rapids at Richmond, which unfortunately were destroyed by the Highway 95 Bridge over the James River. Even so up the canal remains, up as far as that first lock, and our family took a sight seeing cruise down the old canal in a modern canal boat.

Following that we went to a City Park in Richmond, which was formerly the estate of the James Dooley family. Dooley was a self-made millionaire, who built railroads after the Civil War and built a Victorian House on his estate. He gave the home the name Maymount. This wonderful home has been preserved --- with almost all the original furniture and is a prime example of luxurious living in the late 1800's and is termed a "Gilded Age Estate". It was an interesting tour with a well informed an engaging guide. The house is furnished with fussy Victorian furniture -- lots of scrolls and curly-ques -- well-gilded, I might add. There was a room where Mrs Dooley received visitors for tea. I was surprised to learn that visitors were not expected to stay much longer than 20 minutes. We were told these visit were way for Mrs Dooley to keep abreast with her neighbors since at that time there were no telephones or texting. The house was one of the first to have electricity from a facility not -too far away.

Following that visit, we went to Maymont Nature Center, where Kathleen is working as an intern this summer. Kathleen gave us a very nice behind-the scenes tour.

We had a wonderful time visiting Tom and Beth and their family. Tom loves to play games (also Debbie and I) so we spent a lot of time playing games the next few days.