New England's Narrow Road

Peterborough New Hampshire Celebrates 275 Years

scenic Peterborough foliage — Peterborough Downtown October 3, 2014

This weekend, October 11th, Peterborough, New Hampshire is celebrating 275 years from the time it was first “discovered”. It’s not a celebration of the official founding of the town, but the town prefers to follow the lead from the time the residents recognized the centennial year in 1839. I suppose they celebrate every 25 years, but I am not sure. I haven’t lived in this area very long. I managed to get these fall foliage photos as I was out driving one recent beautiful day.

The celebration is for the 275th year from the time the first settler came to the area. Thomas Morison is the man who traveled north from Massachusetts to find his own special tract of land in the area of what is now called Noone Falls. He came back later to build his house, but the anniversary is counted from the time of his first visit in 1739.

The celebration will be a big deal with lots of visitors expected. Shuttle busses will be transporting visitors from area parking lots, since downtown parking spots are at a minimum. It seems to me that the best place to park would be the Peterborough Shopping Plaza. From there you can walk the path that leads around the back of the Shell station (it goes under the road, so crossing traffic is not a problem) and then follow the sidewalk into town. Click here for a Bus MAP, where you’ll see the other two parking spots are at the Conval High School and the Community Center on Elm Street. You could also walk into town from Elm Street if you so desired.

There are ongoing events during the day, with a parade in the morning, at 10am, that will travel down into town from PES (Peterborough Elementary School) and the day will end with a fireworks show around 7pm.

This information was taken from the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript newspaper and the link will take you to the entire 275th special section, which includes lots of old photographs as well as aerial town views. Read more about what will take place at Peterborough’s 275th Celebration this coming weekend of October 11th.

If you can’t make it to Peterborough this coming weekend, maybe you will be free to enjoy the yearly event, Peak Into Peterborough, with more festivities next weekend, October 17th and 18th. That celebration includes free hay rides, food, music, demonstrations and a rummage sale. I hope the foliage hangs on, because it’s quite beautiful right now.

The yellow signs advertising the yearly fall event are up along all the major roads in town, as seen in my photo.

peak into peterborough celebration signs — Peak into Peterborough signs

Awesome Animals in Nature Photography

bear cub in a tree — Photo by tpsdave at Pixabay

If you’re in the market to view, or use, cute animal photography, I know a place that has many useful images. The photos on this page all came from the Pixabay site, and I think they are some of the cutest animals in nature you’ll see anywhere. And the best thing is that you (or anyone) can use these photos for any purpose. They are in the public domain and can be used for personal or commercial projects / designs.

The photographer who goes by the name “tpsdave” is one of my favorites and he provided this bear cub picture, and the one of the moose. He also offers an array of other types of images which are just as stunning.

LoggaWiggler is another of my favorite photographers with many useful and super cute images at Pixabay, like the one below of fluffy baby geese.

The site is growing with more images added every day and if you are a photographer, why not add some of your pictures to share with the world?

fluffy baby geese swimming — Photo by LoggaWiggler

And last but not least, a cute squirrel photo submitted to Pixabay by yours truly (dustytoes).

Little Cabins and Cozy Homes

This little cabin photo was taken near the Girl Scout Camp in Antrim. In fact it’s one that sits on their land and I suspect that visitors sleep in during the summer. It’s away from the main camp area, so I’m not sure. I think it would be a little creepy to sleep here, with nothing between me and the bears and moose but a screen wall! (Click to view more photos of Camp Chenoa.)

On my Pinterest board “Cozy Homes” I have pinned some cute little places to live which have grabbed my attention. My idea of a cozy home is a small house with some character to it. I plan to live alone one day (may not ever happen, but I’m dreaming) and I don’t want a lot of house to take care of. It would be wonderful to have a bunch of land, or to live in a place with a view, but the house must be small.

If you don’t do anything on Pinterest, I’ll say that it’s easy to figure out and it’s fun to gather things together that you like. Some of my boards have to do with my work, but many of them hold information in one easy-to-find spot. I have a board (or section) with garden ideas and information and another with recipes that pertain to using fresh garden veggies.

The fact that many women end up alone these days, I would think that builders would keep in mind that not everyone wants some big 3 bedroom / 2 bath home. It’s difficult to find a small, cozy home on nice land. Everyone seems to want a big, showy house.

The Fall Foods Help Keep the House Warm

Fall is a great season for the obvious reason of viewing bright leaf colors, but it’s also a time to cook some great fall food that helps warm the house.

I’ve let the kids turn the heat on upstairs these past two nights, but I am cringing at having to burn oil in September! Downstairs it stays a balmy 60 degrees 😉

I’m a little distressed at my lack of fire wood this season. I had some dead trees cut down on my acre of land which I planned to use in the wood stove. It turns out that much of that wood is too old to be of much use. I had some wood left over from last year, but I don’t have a whole lot. If the power goes out, and we all worry about ice storms, I will burn through my supply pretty fast. No worries, I have coats and hats. I’ve made it through power outages before.

I haven’t had the money to finish siding the back of the house, so already it’s cold inside my wall microwave. My kitchen cabinets could double as a refrigerator in winter and I guess it will be this way for a while to come.

But with autumn nearly here officially, and the temps overnight in the 30’s, I’ve started to enjoy cooking again, as it warms us up. Winter squash is such a fabulous food and it has to bake for a while. I cut mine in half and bake it cut side down for about 45 minutes or more. Then flip it right side up, add some butter and continue baking until soft. Scoop it out and add brown sugar, salt and pepper. It’s yummy and healthy.

The apple picking season is also upon us, or nearly. The peaches come first and then certain types of apples, and I’ll take a trip to Norway Hill Orchard to gather a big bag of macs soon. Then I can further warm my home with pie baking and crisp making.

Once the pumpkins are carved and the guts removed, I will dig through the mush and pull out the seeds to crisp up. I look forward to that too.

I see the oven being used for more than just meals for a while to come. And maybe I won’t need mittens when working in the kitchen.