The Fair

Last weekend was the Fair in our township.  It's a very big deal around here and lots of folks volunteer for different aspects: ticket taking, parking, exhibits, first aid, sales, and food.  The rides are contracted out of course but the fair entrance fee ($12 adults and $3 kids) is a big money maker for the school PTO.  

We volunteered to take tickets for 3 hours (4 pm-7pm) Saturday evening at one of the 5 entrance points.  Ours was right across for the largest parking lot which generated lots of traffic to our booth until it filled up.  There were waves of people.  I never have handled so many $100 bills!

Emily and I handled the ticket sales and Dan did the hand stamping and vehicle monitoring for those needing access to school parking lot.

We attended the Fair on Sunday.  Here's what we saw.

Tractors

Animals

Rides

More animals

More tractors

More rides

Historical stuff

More animals

And more rides

And more tractors new and old.

I would bet that before tractors became so prominent horses would have had a bigger showing at a fair. There was only one building devoted to a few horses - the rest were filled with cattle.

We are definitely in a farming community here in New Hampshire!

Anniversary

One year ago today we were arriving in New Hampshire as transplants from Maryland. We had an apartment lined up with a one year lease with the plan to learn the lay of the land, delve into the lives of our two granddaughters, and help our daughter and son in law whenever we could. We didn't know whether we would like apartment living that wasn't in a retirement community like what we had moved from.  We didn't know if we would stay in Lebanon where the apartment was or buy a house or what.

We've experienced summer, fall, and 

 

winter.

Spring was a long time coming but we learned not to push it.

Here it is one year later and we have been home owners for 7 months.  We've tackled a myriad of issues in this 1839 house that was in good shape except for those issues that hadn't been addressed since the owner moved out and rented the house.

We've struggled with getting contractors but looking back we were able to upgrade plumbing and electrical issues, put in new kitchen flooring, address the radon problem, replace the dishwasher, and replace countless broken window panes. We are the stewards of this house and still working to renovate the old barn and address clapboard wood rot issues prior to having the whole exterior painted later this summer. 

We love living here. We love the proximity to our daughter and her family.  We are loving New Hampshire. It was good decision to move.

Maple Creamees

We had heard about Mac's Maple from Emily so last Saturday morning after taking the trash and recycling to the recycling center we went to find it.  It was too cold for creamees but we did buy Canadian bacon and half a dozen doughnuts.  The doughnuts were amazing.

Mac's Maple is owned by the McNamara Dairy which sits right next door.  So combining maple with soft ice cream takes the best of both,

The store will require another visit come Christmas time.

Sunday we loaded the car and all 6 of us headed to Mac's for creamees. You can only order from the car (Covid restrictions) but can eat it on their grounds.  We unloaded three (Matt and granddaughters) from the car and three of us managed to carry six orders.  Only two were like the one below: waffle cone with soft ice cream and maple candy sprinkled on top. 

I ate the whole thing!  It was a late lunch!  Even the waffle cone had maple flavoring.

Better photos and more about Mac's Maple here.

Saint-Gaudens National Historic Park

 

The Saint-Gaudens National Historic Park in the Upper Valley of New Hampshire is open to walk around the grounds.  The buildings and visitor center haven't been open at all during the pandemic.

You get a first glimpse of Saint-Gaudens' house as you come through the hedge. 

Augustus Saint-Gaudens is a famous sculptor of the Beaux Arts period who summered at this house from 1885-1897 and then permanently from 1900-1907 when he died.  He brought other artists to the area forming the Cornish Colony. More here.

The front of the house is dominated by this honey locust that's 135 years old.  I had granddaughter try to put her arms around it for scale.

We came here on Sunday, May 2nd to stroll the grounds and see what was blooming.  And also to admire the sculptures on display outside.

An inviting front door but not open for visits.  This is a fee park so when we return we can use our Senior passes.

On the side of the house is this lovely verandah/porch.  Daughter Emily said she met a friend here last spring for coffee, socially distancing of course.

From here you can see the studio.

Looking west from the verandah across the green field is the towering Mt. Ascutney in Vermont.

Some of the spring flowers we spied were in front of the studio.

Another view of the house from the studio shows off its grandeur.

Off to visit the sculptures.

The granddaughters had fun going along the paths through the hedges. Most of these were hemlock hedges which surprised us.

We could smell the fragrance of the magnolia before we saw it above the Adams Memorial. Like many of the sculptures here the originals are somewhere else.

This one is haunting.

The Shaw Memorial.  We have seen the plaster cast for this. It is on loan to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.  The original is in Boston.  It commemorates Colonel Robert Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment of African American troops who fought in the Civil War. 

The original of this sculpture is in Chicago.

Farragut is under a protective cover since the base is the original that was eroding in New York City.

The day had started clear but quickly went to clouds and threat of rain which it finally did by 1 o'clock.  When we arrived here it was blue sky again.  All the daily showers we seem to have have turned the grass so very green.

One last parting photo of Mt. Ascutney.

And here is Saint-Gaudens mark.