What’s Up?

Sorry for the silence. I’ve had nothing pithy to write. Sometimes one must go through the desert to arrive at the oasis. Not that I’ve been doing nothing…

Last week Hubby and I explored the border towns along the MA/NH  line. Whenever I drive through these little villages I wonder what people do for work. For example, we drove through Temple, NH, a blink-and-miss sort of place and smack dab in the middle of the place was a restaurant/B&B. Who eats there? Retired yuppies? Townies (such as there might be)? Later that night, I went online and found that the restaurant/B&B is on the market for $750,000. What a steal. (From what I can figure out, the place is owned by two Brits and their visas are being held up in red tape. Damn the Obama Administration….oops….Damn Bush!)

We also drove through Mason, NH and drove right by the birthplace of Uncle Sam. Yes…THAT Uncle Sam.

See my birthplace in Mason, NH!

And the house next to Uncle Sam’s can be yours for $750,000. (What’s up with that price?)

We ended our exploration on one of our favorite places in NH, Harrisville, a small mill town in the middle of nowhere. Brick houses for bygone factory workers are well maintained by an influx of yuppies. (I still scratch my head. What do they do for work?) I guess yuppie because the local country store sells soy milk and various organic foods. There’s nothing to do in Harrisville except walk around the mill buildings and explore the cemetery by the lake. You, too, can live in Harrisvillle if you can shell out $437, 500.

Typical Harrisville Tableau

More Harrisville pics are available at my Flickr site. The one lesson I learned while riding around the rural border towns is that homes in the middle of nowhere come with a steep price.

That’s Gotta Hurt II

Central Cemetery, New Ipswich, NH

Mr. Gilman

Spaulding

was kill’d with an ax

by an insane Brother.

Sept. 19, 1842

AEt. 38. 

“Over the river…

…and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go.”

Monadnock from Fitzwilliam

That’s exactly what I did for Thanksgiving this year. Grandma-in-law lives in Fitzwilliam, NH and just down the road from her house is a lovely view of Mt. Monadnock. (At its summit Hubby proposed to me in March ’07. Brrr.) She hosted 13 of us moochers for a feast of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and other delectibles. Since I don’t eat meat, Grandma cooked up a lovely piece of breaded fish just for me. (A very thoughtful and generous gift.)

The highlight of the day happened right after we sat down. Everyone was just digging into their meal when someone mentioned that Grandpa (who passed away before I met Hubby) would have loved this. At the mention of Grandpa, the overhead lights flickered. Everyone paused and looked up. This same person reminded us that the exact thing happened last year at the mention of Grandpa. There were nodding heads in rememberance. It was slightly spooky but oddly comforting at the same time.

After the meal, some of us walked along the public dirt road to a frozen lake with a view of Monadnock. The ladies in the group played bocce ball using small stones with the lake as the court. My childlike curiosity came alive when I noticed, in an unfrozen section, a small whirlpool doing its thing by a submerged access tunnel leading underneath the dirt road. Cool.

The frozen lake with storm clouds.

Back at Grandma’s it was time for desert. Hubby had to work until 2 p.m. but made it to NH while we Massholes were chuckin’ stones on the lake. We left as it was getting dark but the food made us grateful for family and tradition. More pictures can be found at my Flickr space.

Unscientific Poll

To my knowledge no one has done a poll about the correlation between voting outcome and political lawn signs. Do the number of lawn signs for one candidate translate into actual voter turnout for that candidate?

I was pondering this with Hubby as we drove home after Mass last night. Without going into the long story of why we do what we do, we attend a church in Manchester, NH and live in Leominster, MA. Instead of taking the highway home, we took Route 101 west to Route 13 south. So while Hubby drove, I counted the number of signs for McCain and Obama along Route 13. This road meanders through Milford and Brookline, NH into Townsend, Lunenburg and Leominster, MA.

If a lawn had duplicate candidate signs, I counted them as one. Since it was at night, I missed at least 2 spots with signs, so I believe a margin of error at +/- 2 is in order. From the intersection of Route 101 and 13 to Hamilton St., Leominster, I counted McCain: 27 Obama: 8.

Some observations: the New Hampshire side had WAY more signs, PERIOD. Since NH is a battlefield state, that’s not surprising. But I was surprised to see so few Obama signs on the Bay State side. McCain was evenly distributed. I also want to mention the possibility of other local/state candidates as surrogates for national candidates. In Leominster there are tons of signs for Dennis Rosa, Democrat city councilor running for state rep. Does that translate into Obama votes? Over in NH, Sununu has the state wallpapered but I heard he’s trailing in the polls. But the way the polls have been all over the place, I don’t trust them.

Anyway, my unscientific polling kept me awake and the plethora of McCain signs gave me real hope.