Adjusting

 If we were still living in Maryland this would seem like a cool day for the end of August - high of 82º.

Here in New Hampshire these temps feel more like October than August.

What will winter be like?  Will we be able to adjust?

Boston Lot Hike

Today marks 6 weeks that we have lived in New Hampshire. We are getting acclimated and liking this climate a lot. Yesterday was a cool day with highs only in the 60s.  Hard to imagine that happening in Maryland in August.

We took advantage of the lovely day to explore the Boston Lot, an expanse of woods north of us owned by West Lebanon. It gets its name from a failed granite quarrying company based in Boston. Quarrying never happened but the name stuck.

We parked at that green rectangle on the left side of the map above and walked up the access road - the double red line.  That was quite a climb. We walked then around the lake on the Lakeside Trail.  That was a misnomer because the trail continued to climb and though we could glimpse the lake through the trees it was not a lakeside trail at all.

The ferns were lovely.

Roots and rocks to clamber over.  The soil must be shallow that's why the roots are so much on the surface.

Here's a view of the lake near the end of our walk.  There were two camping sites at this vantage point.

A lovely day for a hike in New Hampshire.

We had lunch from the food truck parked on the Lebanon Green. First time we'd tried it. We'll be back! It was good.

A Quick Trip

 Friday we drove to Buffalo.  Sunday we returned.  It's over 400 miles!

The reason for the trip was to return granddaughter home.  She returned with the NH family from the family vacation at Oneida Lake to spend a week with cousins and two nights with us.  It was time for her to return home to start "school" (Daycare) again so her parents can have uninterrupted work at home.  Today is her first day!

I'm impressed with NY State!  Mask wearing is the law and just about everyone we've seen in very public inside spaces complies. At the parks, in open space, not so much, but that's okay.

Our return trip from Buffalo was by the long way.  We skirted the Adirondacks and drove along the St. Lawrence River in upstate NY.  Then crossed Lake Champlain into VT and then south east to NH and Lebanon.  It was a long day.  I was expecting better sights along the river than we had.  The prettiest section was through VT.

Here are the few photos I took.  You'll laugh!

The park we visited Saturday to view the falls.  Not much water going over this falls. It's in the town of Akron where the hexagonal house is.  (We drove by the house, Tom, but took no photos.)

Sarah, William and granddaughter masked.

Dan masked.

Me masked.

Sunday we stopped at Paula's Donuts.  That operation was really impressive - controlling customers entering, spacing them out, and two clerks at each register.  Oh, yes best doughnuts!

Stopped in Waddington, NY along the St. Lawrence for lunch.  Again everyone masked until seated.  Wait staff well masked.  This flag was flying over head.  Never seen one like it.

Only photo of the St. Lawrence.  Other than the tourist parts to the west in Clayton and Alexandria Bay this part of the drive was a bit depressing for the amount of poverty visible.  We wondered what the job opportunities were in these small towns.  One bright spot: very few tRump signs.

On Vacation

Though it really seems like in moving to New Hampshire we are on vacation all the time, that's not really true.  

But this week we are on vacation at Oneida Lake in NY State with both daughters and their families. None of us has Covid though we will avoid too much extra close contact just in case.

I don't recall if there's a hammock there, but Dan will find spots to take his nap.

This hammock is in daughter Emily's yard and was her birthday gift in June.

Lebanon - Our New Home Town

Today marks three weeks since we arrived in New Hampshire.  It seems longer than that I guess because we have done so much already to become residents.

Here's a brief tour.

The center of town is formed around this green called Colburn Park.  A very large rectangle of grass, trees, pathways, benches, tables, a bandstand and playground.  This is where the Farmer's Market is on Thursday afternoons.

Here's Dan buying us spring rolls at the farmer's market.

On the north side of the park is this Civil war statue.  Made of wood surprisingly and just coated to look bronze.

It stands in front of this building, the Soldiers Memorial Building.  

Next door is the Opera House and Town offices currently under renovation.

The Lebanon Mall is next on the west side.  Three Tomatoes is a good restaurant there.

On the southside of the park is the Congregational Church.

On the east side is the library (below) and post office (no photo).

A lovely cemetery is behind the church and comes out on School Street which is one of the spokes of streets exiting the center of town.

In one section all the memorials were these obelisks.  Must have been popular then.

Lebanon has the start of the Northern Rail Trail.

The trail is very popular on weekends.  We see the cars parked at the Recreation Center lot with the bike racks.

On the other side of the Lebanon Mall is the Mascoma River Greenway.  This will soon be connected with the rail trail once the tunnel under the mall parking is completed.

The Mascoma River at the start of the Greenway.

We used it to walk to the auto repair shop where our car was inspected.  We needed a new muffler.

Looking back the way we came.

That's a brief intro to our new home town.  Much more to come.

Day Lilies

I must share these photos as the day lily season is almost over.

Our apartment complex has lovely landscaping.  Day lilies are planted all over and not just one variety.

See what I mean.

Reminds me of the garden I once had.  

In other news both Dan and I got weather alerts on our phones yesterday at 3:00 pm.  Tornado warnings.  At first we thought it was because our numbers are from Maryland though we knew the hurricane had already passed through Maryland.  We turned on the Weather Channel and sure enough it was here in New Hampshire.  As we watched the chyron announcing the warning it showed our daughter's town as being in the path.  No tornado happened thankfully but last night they lost electricity.  Was still off this morning.

Here we had lots of wind and rain.  Lights flickered only once.

Sunflower Season

The sunflowers are in their glory period around here.

My daughter's garden has lots of sunflowers, some they planted and some that volunteered.

Friday evening they came for dinner and brought me two bouquets.  I think some of these sunflowers in the arrangement are ones I photographed the week before.

They also brought these zinnias.

Next door to our apartment complex is this organic garden area.

The sunflowers are in bloom there too.