New England's Narrow Road

Metal Roof and Sliding Snow and Ice Danger

Today is a busy day and although I’d love to add more to this post, I have to get going before the school day ends.
My landlord has a metal roof on the house and it becomes “fun” to try and get in and out when the edge of the snow build up begins to hang low. She says that she loves the roof because she used to have to hire someone to shovel it.
I understand that, but it seems a bit dangerous once the icy build up begins to slide off.

And it does slide off like an avalanche! You never know when, but suddenly there is a rumble and all that snow and ice gives way and falls with a crash.

When the snow builds up like this and then gets warm from the sun, ice forms under the snow. Eventually all that stuff on the roof lets go.

We stop using this back door when things look bad and go in the front.

Boys, Bikes and Changes

bikes in driveway — When the boys would visit

This photo was taken over the past summer. It’s just a bunch of bikes in the driveway but it reminded me of the fun my son had over the summer while his 3 friends lived up the road.

When we moved into our rental, I was thankful that some good friends lived just down the road and there were 2 boys who my son could hang out with.

Then the man who ran the Girl Scout camp moved out and a new family moved in there. My son and I were happy to hear that they had 3 boys around the same age as my son. Now he had 5 friends close by! It was awesome.

Those boys turned out to be an enormous blessing in my son’s life. He had been facing a lot of changes and having all these friends brightened his life greatly. The boys were at my house all the time and I would take them to the lake to skim board and swim.

I usually drew stares as I’d pull into the parking lot at the beach and six loud boys would pile out of the back of my car.

Although my son has 3 siblings, they are all grown and he is more like an only child so having great friends was the best thing for him. He had nice friends to bike ride and swim with. They played croquet in the back yard and were always in the back bedroom playing video games. Sometimes my son would go to their house and jump on the trampoline. They had a great time together and I appreciated the fact that they were such nice kids.

Then one day the 3 boys said they were going back to Tennessee for a visit. They came by to say good bye to us and my son was disappointed that they would be gone for a while, but that turned into shock when they called us from TN and said they were moving back there and would not be returning!

The family had only been here for the summer to run the Girl Scout camp and apparently didn’t like it here and missed their old home. The older boy did return with his dad to pack up so my son was able to hang out with him for a couple of weeks and then say good bye, but the whole thing was very odd. And my son was devastated to have lost 3 of his best friends. He still prays at night that his friends will move back one day.

It’s a hard lesson in life that nothing stays the same. I believe that adversity, sadness and troubles come our way to help mold us and strengthen us for whatever lies ahead in life. But my son is just sad- still.

When I came across this photo I wondered why I had taken it. But I guess there was a good reason.

The Junque Exchange of Deland, Florida

Getting off track a bit, but before recently moving back to New England, I lived in central Florida for over 25 years.

I had a friend in Florida who loved to go to the local antique shops, malls and fairs and she got me hooked on old things. One of our favorite places to browse was the Junque Exchange in downtown Deland. It was (at the time) run by an older couple- I believe their name was Wright, who were very friendly.

It was an amazing store because it was fairly small but held so much stuff! The tables held silverware, dishes, books, doilies and vases and the walls were lined with pictures and old photos. I can’t begin to list everything found there, but I did buy quite a few knick knacks and this one large piece of furniture.

I saw the hutch at the back of the store and fell in love with the shape of the glass doors and the overall design. I needed a place to keep my old dishes and this hutch was perfect.

Like all the other furniture it was covered and filled with glassware and other things and when I decided I wanted to buy it, believe me it was a job just getting it cleaned out and ready to go.

I can’t remember exactly what I paid for it, but it seems that it cost around $400.

That was in the 1980’s and I went back to the Junque Exchange probably 20 years later but it had changed and I didn’t get the same feeling, nor was I as impressed by the items and prices. That was the thing about the old place, the prices were very reasonable.

I don’t know who runs the place now, but apparently it’s still there since I found the links online. Deland is a nice place to visit and is home to Stetson University which has a beautiful campus at the north edge of town.

I visited the Red Pine Mountain blog recently and she had posted pictures of a hutch her husband had made which made me think of mine and to post the photo I had to write a story.

Funny, Water Loving Cat

One of our new kitties -Richie- seems to be fascinated with water. They told us at the shelter that he would always tip his water bowl over and then lay in the wet newspaper.
We’ve caught him doing some strange things.