Sunday, October 19, 2014

Hello Everyone...it's been about a week since I last posted.  I have remained in Plymouth for another week and will be here for 9 or 10 days more.  Been working a bit, just a little bit, modeling for the art department just sitting having my face drawn for $15/hour...that's the kind of work I like!  Have been saving money on gas and still thanking the gods of weather who have continued to provide perfect weather for living in the van.  Tonight will be cold but it all seems to be moderate at least for the next 10 days.  I will then be gone and headed kind of south...Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and out of New England for a couple of months.  So far money is holding out okay, van is running great and Ozzy is acclimatizing himself to living the vagabond life.  He is such a good dog!


Last weekend I went to the Sandwich Fair in Center Sandwich, NH...upon reflection I think that in the last 43 years I hadn't missed more than 3 or 4 fairs.  It got me to thinking about my whole relationship with New Hampshire... during the winter of 1970, Dec or Jan 1971, Judy Watson and I traveled to New Hampshire to explore the possibility of moving there from Lancaster, PA.  We had some friends, Connie and John Freed and Jimmy Hunton who were living on Smithville Road in Center Sandwich making a go at the sand candle, stained glass lampshade business, Homestead Farm Industries.  While there we were brought to the Country Store in Moultonborough where the owner connected us with a place in North Sandwich on Maple Ridge Road.  A beautiful little "camp" which had about a 150 yard driveway down to the building which had an incredible view of the Ossipee Mountains...all for $75/month!!  Yes, that's right, no 0 missing after the 5!!  We contracted with Peter and Katie Pohl to rent it beginning in May of 1971.  During our weekend in New Hampshire a blizzard developed, there was a lot of snow that winter, the roads were banked when we got there and a blinding storm as we left.  But, what did we know about danger of driving through a blizzard...we got into my 1971 Datsun 510 station wagon and drove from New Hampshire to Pennsylvania through the storm, spinning out, facing the wrong directions, plowing through drifts feet higher than the car, but we made it.  And in May of 1971 we moved into the camp on Maple Ridge Road.  My first job in New Hampshire I worked at Amatex Corporation, an asbestos mill; now, Mill Falls Marketplace, a retail center in Meredith, New Hampshire.


What a long strange trip it's been...

1 comment:

  1. I can't believe how good your memory is...most of those years are a blur for me.
    One thing I will never forget was moving day and traveling with that crazy cat we had (I think his name was Santini) who howled the entire trip in a way only a Siamese can!!!
    How wonderful for you that you found a true home in NH. I could not take the cold or the snow or the mosquitoes or the black flies. PA suits me just fine.
    You and Ozzie are welcome to visit if you travel this way.

    ReplyDelete