Letter from Pete

 

Hi Marcia,  Last month, Vice President JD Vance gave a speech laying out his view of American identity, and it’s been on my mind ever since. In his address, Vance suggested that what truly makes someone American isn’t anything to do with our shared ideals and values, but instead comes down to how long your family has been here. It’s a completely backwards understanding of how we have built America, and it totally misses why so many generations of people have been able to contribute to the vitality of the country we love.  The values of this country do matter – deeply – to who we are and what it means to be American. The kind of “blood and soil” nationalism Vance is espousing cuts against exactly what makes America special – and it’s not just wrong, it’s dangerous. America has always been more than a land mass, and we have never been defined by a single ethnicity or religious denomination. What binds us together is a commitment to the freedoms and ideals laid out in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Belonging here isn’t about ancestry, but rather has to do with striving for those ideals. I don’t believe that my father, who immigrated here in the 1970s to further his education and then chose to become an American citizen, was any less American than my mother, who can trace ancestors back to before the Revolutionary War. What unites us with our neighbors isn’t bloodline – it’s our fidelity to the American project: the ongoing experiment in self-government, liberty, and equality. Right now, that project is under attack by those in power who are turning their backs on the freedoms that define us. That’s why I’m working to support leaders up and down the ballot who believe in an America that includes all of us – and why I’m asking you to join me.

Change in the Works

 Here is a before, during and after post. 

The former store next door is in the process of becoming our new library. Money has been raised by a non-profit to renovate the space creating a library and community room. The owner of the store will be giving it to the non-profit and once the renovation is complete the non-profit will give it to our town to replace the current library which in inadequate in so many ways.

Before the first transfer happened the owner paid for trash trees to be removed.  These are box elder trees which grow fast and with lots of trunks.  Two of the trees bordered our property and at least 8 or 9 bordered the property on the other side of the store.

In the center of this photo is one of the box elder. To the left are hemlocks and to the right are arborvitaes that are on our property.

Here is the take down.

Gone!

The other tree is that dark spot in the center behind the two trunks of maple.

Here's another perspective - dark green in background.

Here is the take down.

Some days later after clearing the trees on the other side, a crew returned to grind the stumps.

Before above and after below.

Here is looking from one former tree stump down our property line.

Notice the stone? It's likely a former fence stone or property line marker that was encased by one of the tree trunks.

Here's where the other tree stump was ground out.

We expect construction on the library to begin in September.

But that's not the end of trees being removed. Our north side along the driveway is marked by these hemlocks and spruce trees on our neighbor's property.  Some are not doing well and we've been concerned about them falling our way.  The two that have fallen since we arrived here, fell in her yard, thankfully.

She told us last spring that at least one would be removed. However on Sunday, five trees had ribbons tied on them.  I called her Monday morning to ask about the timing for removal but she wasn't even aware that the ribbons had been placed there.  She thanked me for letting her know. I guess we will wake up one morning to the sounds of chain saws again.

Home Again

Vacation with family ended today.  We arrived home mid afternoon Saturday.

It was a wonderful week and consensus was we should repeat at the same house next year.  It just was the right layout and on a beautiful lake - Union Falls Pond in the Adirondacks. 

Came home to a very dry yard.  In fact I just spent an hour watering.

Here's a glimpse of where we were.

5 bedrooms over three floors. A great kitchen and dining area. A deck on the back and living/play areas on all three floors.  Even the dog was welcomed this time.

My goal was to swim every day which I did until Friday when there was thunder as we arrived at the shore.  We gave up chancing it when the thunder got closer.  It never did really storm where we were that afternoon. Wednesday night there was a storm and we lost power for about 3 hours.

And here are middle two granddaughters, 3rd graders in the fall, walking to the lake.  Rule for all four girls was they could only go down there if an adult was present.  Obviously I was the adult because I took their photo.

Lots to catch up on including all your blogs!

Looking Back to Summer 2021

  [This is a repost from 2021 - our first summer in NH.  A lot has changed in that time, including the color of our house!]

Here's a picture I shared before of the backyard, really the side yard.  There is a huge deck there. I've starting to think about where I want flower beds.  Vegetable gardening is on hold for now though I may put a vegetable or two in a pot on the deck.

[Compare these photos to the ones on this post from this year.}

Coming out of the slider to the left is this bed that had a raised bed frame in it on two sides only.  Dan pulled that up, put it on the side of our road, and it disappeared to someone else's yard.

There are day lilies there, two kinds judging from the leaves.  The daffodils came up at the bottom right corner as did irises.  The strange "asparagus" like plant came up there on the bottom left corner.

There was mint showing itself too so I dug it up and potted it.  The green pots have gloriosa daisies from Emily. The steps down to the deck make the perfect spot for pots.

I will be adding more potted flowers once we're passed the frost date here.

Looking right are steps down too.  Once those old lilacs are removed I want to make this a flower bed with stone walkway though to grass.

I moved some of the irises to the front edge of the deck.  There was something in this bed I remember from when we first saw the house. I thought I'd come across it in digging and I did.  One bulb of some sort.  I wondered if it was gladiolas but Emily says they don't winter over here.

In the bed on the other side there are Shasta daisies that were here.  I added one lupine volunteer from Emily's garden.

We have this fence separating us from the road.  I was thinking it would be great for a perennial garden but again Emily advised me to slow down as the leaves are not out yet and I can't know the shading until that happens.  There are some perennials there and weeds of course.

I did transplant some day lilies, lupine and Columbine there and later Dan helped me move rocks to form a border.

Eventually these scrubby lilacs will go too and I should be able to extend the bed there.

Out front are two narrow beds on either side of the step.

Even though this faces east it's heavily shaded by the house except in the morning. Emily planted tulips here that are just now setting buds.  There are hostas on either end and Siberian iris I think too.  I also rounded up rocks to temporarily define the beds.  The house will be painted in July and the front porch and lattice work will be stained.  If I plant anything else there I wonder if it will survive that July activity.

On the north side of the house is this strip with the worst color mulch on it.  Slowly there are hostas showing in spots.  It would be a good place for some shade annuals but again what happens when the power washing, scraping and painting happens?

No flower beds planned for around the barn but wanted to share this huge bed of Siberian iris that's there.

Behind it is a clump of ferns, though I don't know what kind yet.  I managed to dig up some of the ferns and move them to the fence bed but couldn't get under any of the iris.  With the work planned for the barn and driveway, Dan says these plants will likely go.

So lots of planning, mostly in my head at present.

If you want to see what kind of garden I once had go here.  The D.P.P. I refer to in that early spring post was my Deer Prevention Plan.  We moved from that house in June 2016 and I thought I'd given up gardening.  I guess not because I'm looking forward to doing beautiful things here in NH.

[It's good for me to look back and see the progress I've made transforming the gardens in the 5 summers we have had here.]