New England's Narrow Road

Revisiting an Old Blog Means Lots of Organizing

Little house-misty field — The Little Red House

As I prepare to write again on this blog, I am seeing just how horrible I used to be at writing.

Blogging for me has been a huge learning experience and whenever I see old posts of mine, I cringe. Tags are horrible, links are missing, categories don’t make sense, and photos are not placed well, if they show at all. Some posts have bad links and some writing is so bad it should be deleted.

I was learning. Like anything in life that is new to us, doing it over and over usually makes us better at it. I’d like to think I have advanced in my writing and blogging skills over my years of posting at my various websites and blogs.

What I didn’t know, but do now is that links are good. Outside links and links to pages and posts within a blog are good for SEO. Bringing readers is what we want after all, right?

I suppose some people have plenty of family and friends who read their blogs and that is fine. Some photography blogs I follow have little text yet they have loads of likes and comments. Supposedly you must write good content to place well in the searches for subjects. And that content should be at least 300 words.

I’ve never been much on keywords, since I believe in simply writing about my subject matter in the best way I know how. But tagging is important and many of my posts here have horrible tags. Almost none of my posts link to each other, and I can’t even find subjects to read about when searching my own blog! That is not good.

So I’m organizing this blog just like I organized my Seashell blog not long ago. Categories can be removed, but first the posts have to be directed to other categories… but they are almost all bad. This will take time.

No one I actually know reads my blogs. I have come across some very nice fellow bloggers who run sites I truly enjoy visiting. Mostly they are photographers, artists and gardeners. And they visit me and leave comments (thank you!). I don’t have family or friends who keep up with my blogs, and that is fine. Blogging can take you around the world, where you will find nice people who show you great things. It’s partly why I do it.

Don’t just write… visit others who write about subjects that interest you. Leave comments and maybe they will become a dear online friend.

(Photo at the top is of the Anchorage restaurant on Lake Sunapee.)

What Springtime Meant and Means to Me

Springtime in Florida is barely noticed. Possibly it means the return of heat more than anything. Spring breakers and bikers (Bike Week) have gone, and so have the Easter visitors, but I’m sure there are some tourists somewhere, or should I say….everywhere.

Springtime in New Hampshire was impossible NOT to notice. Everything became suddenly GREEN!

Before the snow was gone, or the temps rose much, people would be running and walking wearing t-shirts and shorts. It was surprising to me how much people liked to pretend it was Spring, even when the temperatures were still in the 40’s!

Tulips and other bulbs would brighten the drab landscape and oh, the forsythia! I wonder how tall my forsythia has grown. I’m searching for photos, but can only find tulips. This one was especially pretty.

yellow frilly tulip — Yellow frilly tulip

At my house in New Hampshire the garden hoses would be brought up and re-attached to the house ready to water the flower beds and vegetable gardens. Freezing weather was gone… these were exciting times.

May meant planting season was coming and seedlings could be purchased at Tenney Farms and elsewhere. I would haul out my little greenhouse (which I sold for next to nothing when I moved) and set it up on the porch where my little plants could stay warm until the end of May.

The cats would love going outdoors again – Skittle likes it warm

The cats would begin to spend some real time outdoors. There was grass to chew and things to chase, but mostly there were warm sunny spots.

Haul the lawn chairs outside – so Fontana will have a spot to sleep!

My plastic “Adirondack” chairs would be brought up from the basement and placed in the front yard. I so enjoyed sitting beneath the big oak and beech trees that lined the front yard. It’s one of my favorite memories of the home I lived in for five years.

And oh yes, the hummingbirds! I kept a feeder hanging for them and replaced the “food” every other day or so. That was fun.

May means feeding hummingbirds! I’d almost forgotten….

The house I bought had a bunch of cement blocks lying around so I dragged them out to my front yard (that is where the sun was) and made an ugly raised bed. This thing was kinda small, but I did manage to grow eggplant and other things there.

While searching for photos of Spring for this post, I realized that I didn’t take all that many pictures of Spring in New England. Maybe I was too busy, or maybe it was mostly work, with little beauty to share. My photos are mostly of the months to come when the gardens were thriving and the flowers were blooming.

Maybe it was because of the Black Flies, which used to give me big welts when they bit. May weather was so lovely, and those bugs could ruin it! I was glad to see them go in June.

Think about planting in my makeshift raised bed

The people who bought my house removed this eyesore (can’t say I blame them) – but it worked for me.

Spring at my New Hampshire home meant no more shoveling snow, lugging wood, or dealing with the snowblower (ugh – a man’s job which I hated). It was almost time to shovel dirt – my favorite thing (sort of).

Ahhhh… the memories.

Now I live in Florida. Here is my backyard at the end of April (photo below). The weather is very warm, and hot in the sun. I have summer squash, green peppers and tomatoes already growing, and some are ready to eat. Imagine that… in the North the gardens won’t be supplying fresh vegetables for months yet.

Still, I like gardening in the North much better. My Florida garden gives me something to do, but it doesn’t compare to having a yard full of wonderful flowers and vegetables. My photo shows my entire garden area.

Dig in the dirt in New Hampshire and you have worms and good stuff for growing. Here I have to “build” my own dirt.

Ah well… no sense in complaining. I will simply take trips down memory lane to be reminded of what I had. With all the photos I’ve taken over the years I still have many to share.

There is a saying I like to remember which goes, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 2.44.35 PM — Reality… Spring in Florida means heat and that’s about it.

Keeping in Touch With New England

I have to keep reminding myself that in many areas of the country summer is almost over. September brings fall colors to my old home town and the New England area, but I am not there. I find myself missing all the things I knew I would miss. I miss the fresh air, cool breezes, cool anything. I sit in front of a fan, in an air-conditioned house to find my cool air these days.

I miss the quietness of my front yard. I’d sit under the big oak out front and just drink in the peace. I knew that not everywhere was that nice, and I sooooo appreciated every minute of the five years I had it to enjoy.

I miss my gardens and wonder how my hydrangeas are doing. They would be blooming by now, and in fact my elderly neighbor in the north has told me how lovely the white flowers by the front door look. Those would be the Limelight variety. They always grow long branches with big heavy flowers. The Pinky Winky hydrangea was one of my favorites and I hope the buyers of my home are appreciating their loveliness.

I miss sleeping with the window open, and snuggling up under my blankets. I used to sleep so well. I miss my big kitchen and my little back deck. I miss all that storage space in my basement! No more basements. Florida homes don’t have them. That’s a whole floor full of space that is just gone! So I’ve had to downsize. Nothing wrong with that. I have way too much stuff anyway.

Fall is coming and I won’t be there to see the colors. I won’t crunch in the fallen leaves or see the tour busses pull into the shopping center so flatlanders can get their photos. I won’t be pulling on a jacket any time soon, and I certainly won’t be raking leaves. That part of my old life I won’t miss. I loved my trees, but boy did I have some autumn raking to do.

But what I really miss is something I’ve never had at all. A peaceful, normal life where I am not constantly moving or thinking about moving. A life where I can think about living and doing things that normal people do. I will be moving out of this rental and into a new place soon. There are no vegetable gardens there, so I will start from scratch once again. It seems that life will always be difficult and full of strife, but I never count on anything. I have no idea what lies ahead.

I’ll always miss fall in New England, but I knew I would.

Saying Good-Bye to New England

I grew up in New England. I moved back for eleven years, and recently I moved away again. I started this blog to share my adventures in the northeastern US, but alas, I didn’t have many fun adventures.

I moved 5 times, and dealt with a lot of unexpected difficulties during my time in the north. I only stayed as long as I did to see my son graduate from high school.

The truth was that I was too poor to do much of anything while I lived in New Hampshire. I could hike – which is free – but I had no friends living near me. My daughter and I used to hike, but then she got sick. (She is better now.) She also works a regular, full-time job, like many people, and was busy on her days off. I don’t like to hike alone.

Picking blueberries along Gregg Lake was also one of my yearly traditions. I moved too soon to enjoy that this year.

I work from home, so my hours are flexible, but there was little reason to take time off. I would have loved to vacation on a lake each summer and have the kids join me. We did that once in the 11 years and it was wonderful.

I love New England, but it has become a place for the wealthy to live. Or at least the ones who are wealthier than me. I certainly enjoyed my summer gardening and the fresh, clean air that is always available. But I did not appreciate the unpredictable winters and heating oil bills. Taking care of a house all by myself had become quite a chore as well.

When things are not working, they must change. So I made the change. I no longer live in my beloved northeast, so writing a blog about the area makes little sense. Now it’s time to get back to living life instead of watching everyone else live it.

My focus will now be on my Florida blog: Seashells by Millhill. Pop on over there if you care to read more of my posts.