TURN, TURN, TURN, March 2017 | Notes Archive »

First things first, March 1 is Maddy’s birthday. We celebrate, as we do every day, our beautiful 6 year-old Australian Shepherd. We had chosen another from her litter and when we came home that day, we reviewed the photos we had taken at our breeder’s house. All of a sudden, we saw Maddy, among the others and immediately knew her destiny...

And now... everything begins to change.

Snow melt, warmer temps, longer days.

I’m not sure how people manage without the change of seasons. It seems so natural to move along guided by the light. Everything changes in outlook. We look longingly toward the awakening of the little garden and the return of birds. The squirrels have had it all to themselves during winter, what meager pickings there are. Soon they will be vying with the warm weather critters for space and food.

Instinct takes over and we begin to think of spring and summer pleasures, after weeks and weeks of huge snows and bleak atmospheres. Those precious minutes at the end of the day begin to add up and the heavy coats languish on the pegracks. Eno arrives home from Acworth every weekday at 4:30. I notice how daylight is lingering, so noticeable because of that routine. Tempus fugit.

One can’t help at our ages to think of limited time left.

This will be our 5th summer in Walpole. We are well acclimated to the joys of village life and never forget how much we love it. It’s not just convenience; it’s the daily interaction with all the people and dogs in town. It’s a wonderful rhythm we all share. It’s so interesting that one hardly needs a “social life” when one has the day-to-day encounters with neighbors. They begin to emerge as the sun seems warmer. Village life is a balm for us. We don’t need retirement places when we can walk outside and engage with kindred souls, and then seek our solitude in our tiny 18th century home.

Our next door neighbor, Dick, lived well into his eighties and died a few years back. His big old house finally has new owners and they bring two children to Middle St. Yeah. Empty houses are sad. Life is there again and I think Dick is resting more peacefully.

Soon the “snowbirds” will be back — and not just the avian variety. Our neighbors, Nancy and Roger, have been in Florida all winter and we miss them. Nancy is Nancy Prince, Maine dealer and former President of the Maine Antique Dealers Ass’n. Imagine such a happy coincidence. They live right across the street. We have a lot in common!! And we laugh alot. She has a great outdoor collection of birdhouses (inspired by her son-in-law, Rick Reynolds, who lives around the corner with Nancy’s daughter, Martha), which we get to enjoy almost more than they do. A dealer with great taste, directly across the road; now that’s serendipity. Nancy’s husband, Roger, is a talented sculptor, and the owner of one of the world’s driest senses of humor. Come home, you two! Walpole synchronicity.

Our friend, David Howard, the genius behind First Day Cottages, a design company for build-it-yourself small houses, came up with a great idea for an exhibit in Burdick’s, Walpole’s iconic restaurant, calling it “Walls of Walpole”. He scoured his friends’ homes for contributions and what is developing is a truly engaging look into who we really are. What we choose for our walls shows an intimate view of our lives, and we have learned some fascinating things about our friends. One artist friend painted a landscape which can only be called a bit murky, calling it “The last thing our dog saw before he died”. Wow. There is a darling book called “Matilde” which is captivating. The Howard’s housekeeper kept all the envelopes David gave her through the years — each bearing a hasty but charming sketch of something familiar, and for a gift her daughter and David’s wife, Pamela, made a book of them - carefully photographing each one and filling the pages. Here is soul!! Each piece has deep meaning for the owners, and so we know our neighbors in a new way. Before you jump on the idea, David is getting a patent so that he can create these exhibits elsewhere.

The wanderlust to find antiques awakens with the change of seasons. It seems even inanimate things wake up. We continue to go through boxes of things we have found it too hard to part with, and reality bites. They should move on out into the light of someone else’s life. Possession can be memory too.

Please check my site at digantiques.com for up to date discoveries.

Springtime at Mt Monadnock