SUMMER 2011

After the grueling storms of winter we set aside the woolen clothes and joyfully trade the boots for as close to barefoot as we can get.

The progeny of the Robin return to reuse and restore the nest in the little white basket on the back porch pegrack  

The Chickadee family sets up housekeeping in the dear bird house on the front porch. This year a Catbird built a twig nest worthy of a degree in advanced architecture in a lilac by the back door. All this settling in results in the humans taking “long cuts” around the new residents to avoid disturbance. 

Then...the babies come.  We are deeply affected by the care both parents dispense, and the chorus of chirps when food arrives becomes background music to our life here.

Of course, the baby foxes bouncing up and down in our side yard are pretty engaging too.   They actually compete with our new Aussie pup, Maddy, born March 1, 2011, for attention. 

It is a happy home.  “Our house is a very, very, very fine house, with two cats in the yard, life used to be so hard, but now it’s easy...” to quote Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Summer means preparation for the NHADA Show in August  ( 11, 12, 13) at the Radisson Center of NH in Manchester.  We all get the jitters - Do I have enough new stuff ?  NHADA prides itself on the unexposed antiques which surface there every year.  After a season of show-hopping, one can get pretty bored with the same old, same old which shows up regularly. 

I have a neat plan this year, involving some wonderful cloth dolls I have unearthed for the show.  Trust me - You’ll want to see the wall of dolls at Booth #31.  Of course, the show is an event in so many ways : friendships renewed, dinners in the eateries in Manchester, so many beautiful things to tempt the budget...

For us, it is the jewel in NHADA’S crown, and a wonderful celebration of the business we all love.

The garden somehow survives under giant heaps of snow.  One of the most pleasant surprises about life up here is the dedication to gardening. The cultivated flower and vegetable plots are fabulous, and the native wild plants are breathtaking. The ferns are gargantuan  and lush. They thrive all summer in borders with no weeding necessary. 

A ride to do an errand turns into a little vacation.  The mountains  and rolling hills are so beautiful, with a patchwork of green, green fields accenting the thick forest growth. 

After almost 11 years we find that our love for this place deepens and solidifies.  We like to say that we live in the place people love to visit.