New England's Narrow Road

The Shed Is Gone

One of the few things you can count on is the fact that life is always changing. It changes more and faster for some people than for others, but change is inevitable.

I was looking at my banner on this page and remembering the old man who owned that little shed that is shown at the end of the road in my photo. I only met him a couple of times and he was hard to talk to because he was very deaf, but the last time I spoke with him was on his birthday and he was 92 (I think he said). Shortly after that he had some sort of medical problem and ended up in a nursing home and later died. His little house went up for sale and was bought up quickly.

I never knew what that little shed was used for but it stood in a small grassy area with lots of blackberry bushes behind it and a bear once startled the neighbor kids when they were picking berries there for their mom. One day when I was out walking I noticed that it was gone. So the shed is gone and so is the man who owned it.

I’ve been renting in this area for almost three years and many of the houses on the road have changed hands. My son’s best friends who lived at the Girl Scout Camp for one season left to go back to Tennessee and I’ve never met the new family who took over as caretakers. Another family split up and lost their home and it’s now up for sale. Two other very nice homes on the this dirt road have also sold.

Anyway, things are always changing and soon I won’t be living here any more. I’ve taken lots of photos of the area in all seasons and it is a beautiful place, but I never felt like I belonged. That is how renting makes me feel. I will miss the lake and my walks in this wilderness, but I won’t miss the beach traffic of summer and the logging trucks in winter. We will come back so my son can swim this summer with his friends and I’ll bring a bag to pick the blueberries that grow along the lake road.

We’ll have all the changes to deal with in moving to a new place like meeting the new neighbors and finding new places to take walks, but I am looking forward to those changes because I will once again be a home-owner and that is what I’ve been waiting a long time for.

Hike A Little Mountain With a Big View

view of mountains — View From The Top of Pitcher Mountain

I don’t remember how I learned about Pitcher Mountain, but it is one of my favorite places to hike. It’s not a long way to the top from the parking lot, so most everyone would be able to do this hike. It does get a bit steep, with rocks to navigate near the top. Follow the trail to the right, which is a dirt road until you reach the edge of the pasture, then you will be on a steeper trail.

The pasture area is part of the Pitcher Mountain Farm located in Stoddard, New Hampshire. You will pass it on Rt. 123 heading west toward the small parking area for hiking. Blueberry bushes cover the top and it can get quite busy during July and August when berry picking is best. There is a money box in the parking area for donations at that time of year.

fire tower on Pitcher Mountain — Fire Tower at the Top

There is a fire tower on the rocky top and other trails to follow back down through the woods. They won’t have the nice views you’ll see by the pasture, but if you want to extend your hike, follow the trail markers out across the blueberry field toward a pole and then go down that path that leads through the woods. It comes out at a road where you will turn left and walk back to the parking lot. It’s a cool walk down after a hot day of picking (and eating) berries.

Companion Planting For an Interesting Garden

It seems that I was just getting started in my New England garden when I had to leave it. I still visit it in pictures I took in the summer of 2006 and this is one I came across recently.

When we moved into our new home in the northeast we had some of our old schoolmates over to celebrate and one of them brought a Rose of Sharon plant. It was so beautiful with the variegated leaves that it didn’t need to bloom to decorate the garden landscape, but when it did, it produced little pinkish purple flowers (I think).

At some point I added Morning Glory seeds to the garden and the vine wrapped around the Rose of Sharon and when the Morning Glory bloomed it gave the impression that the Rose of Sharon had blue flowers. A pretty effect.

Morning Glory flowers can be beautiful shades of blue, just like the hydrangea, but their flowers only last a day. They will have to be planted each year after the danger of frost – which isn’t until June 1st up here in New Hampshire, so starting them indoors is a good idea. I didn’t realize the importance of starting seeds indoors when I first moved here from Florida.

The vine of the Morning Glory will climb just about anything so plant it near shrubs or even a dead, branching stick stuck into the ground to add interest to the garden.

Help Me, I Have A 7th Grader!

I have been parenting longer than anyone should have to. In 1988 my first kid hit middle school. He was in the “gifted” class and that meant all kinds of craziness was accepted. I was young and could handle it. It is now 2011 and I am still dealing with a middle school age child and it is not fun. I’ve done two others in between – a boy and a girl – and quite truthfully I am tired of school. Tonight I am listening to a long list of my 13 year old son’s issues.

“The teacher doesn’t like me”, ( Eight times now I’ve told him to get a new piece of paper and get to work.) “This is all stupid”. (He’s been dragging this on for hours). For two days in a row I’ve had calls from his social studies teacher saying that he is way behind all the other students with this project. He is grounded and can’t play video games or go to the lake with his friends. It doesn’t seem to light a fire under him.

I can’t even begin to explain all that has been going on, but I am tired. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought that I would be doing this in my mid- fifties! Oh, I did picture time for myself and going out to eat and traveling in my mid-life years. I pictured myself doing adult stuff, watching adult shows and hanging out with other adults, not making cookies for the end of year school parties (for the 100th time it seems) and dealing with teacher conferences. As I write this my son is flipping his pencil around with his leg up on the chair (he can’t seem to write with his butt in a chair) and mumbling about some reason that his teacher hates him – once again. Anything to waste time. He could have had these pages written hours ago. Now he is drawing on a penny, next he will HAVE to pat the cat, and on it goes.

I’ll do what I usually do, tell him to finish and leave it on the table for me to view in the morning, and go to bed. It is exhausting.

I have long believed that every couple should start out with a teenager. No baby, just a teenager. It would be great birth control.

I don’t know how I will survive the next five years of school with homework and drivers ed! I know what is coming and I am dreading it more than ever. My other three kids are grown and they turned out to be great kids. My child rearing was suppose to stop there, but nothing in my life seems to go as I plan and when I ended up pregnant at 40 the one thing that depressed me most was thinking about all the years of school I would have to do again. That nightmare is here.

Well, we do what we have to do and if we are lucky we have help. I have no help.

Walking the trail New Hampshire outdoors — Walking with my daughter

Skip Ahead to 2021

Yes, time has flown by and now my 7th grader is a grown man. He lives with his girlfriend and is a kind and caring young man. As I have re-read this post I realize I’ve forgotten the tough times, thankfully. My son has turned out well and I am still relatively sane.

I’m still alone, and no one will ever give me credit for all the years I nearly lost my mind raising kids by myself, but the job is finished. My own peace in knowing that I did my best and my kids are okay to go on into adulthood well-equipped is thanks enough, I guess.

Life goes by pretty fast. My kids will be fine without me, and I can go on to wherever we go next knowing that.