New England's Narrow Road

Rain Seems Right for This Christmas

winter Christmas snow — White Christmas?

The day before Thanksgiving this year (2014) we had 13 inches of heavy, wet snow (as seen in my photo). We had a white Thanksgiving, but it seems that dreary rain will be the visitor on Christmas day here in New Hampshire and I suppose most of the northeast.

We have to accept what comes, and I have no young children who will whine about not being able to go outdoors and try out the new sled. I do feel bad for others who have children who will whine. At the moment the left over snow, from that one and only big storm is hard and frozen. I guess most of it will be gone once the rain finishes with us. I hope the winter won’t be filled with rain and ice and mush.

Christmas will be practically nonexistent at my house anyway. It will be pretty much like every other day. I will work. Make some food and possibly build a fire – just for the ambiance. My son will spend the day up in his room playing guitar and my daughter will visit her boyfriend. My Christmas meal will be a simple turkey and stuffing bake (no big turkey – ugh), with cranberry sauce and gravy. I am planning to make a cheesecake, which the kids will enjoy.

Joy for the holidays is missing. The country is a mess, with those who are supposed to be leading us, at all levels, lacking in decency and moral beliefs. When people can march through the streets in the USA and chant that they want “dead cops”, there is something seriously and frighteningly wrong.

Christmas is the day we try to leave that behind and just enjoy family, and the reason behind the celebration. But I will be glad when all the talk of the importance of family is over with. Anyone who is alone at the holidays knows how I feel. There will be no big meal created by relatives all pitching in. No waiting for special people to show up at the door, or traveling to see family. No fabulous desserts made by Auntie, or cookies baked by grandma. No long table filled with loved ones sharing stories and laughter. Festive times are a thing of the past – the far away past.

In my own heart I celebrate the birth of Jesus every day. I depend on him always, and pray for his help throughout each day. Christmas makes me wonder how well Jesus really likes the fact that we do the holiday the way we do. I suspect it does not please him as much as many would like to believe.
This year, rain is the perfect accompaniment for the holiday.

Fall Photography 2014

Now that Fall is about over and the beautiful foliage has mostly blown away, I have time to get my Fall photography, 2014 ready to share.
These photos were taken by me and some of them were taken as I was driving. So they are not perfect, but they capture some of the nice color we were blessed with this Autumn season.
Some photos were taken along Route 202, and some were taken as I walked around a local lake. Then I drove out through Antrim and Hancock for some more rural photos.

pictures of fall 2014 — Gracie’s Grain on Rt. 202

fall road — Along Rt. 202 heading to Peterborough, NH

fall foliage by a lake — Lakeside Foliage

fall foliage, trees in a field — Seasonal Field

fall season photography — Foliage Along the Water

Adjusting to The Time Change

Time ticks away and we never seem to get ahead, until Fall, when we gain an hour. Then part of that extra hour is wasted changing the time on all our clocks.

Although the time change has screwed up my sleep even more than it was, I have felt like I had extra time over the past couple of days. I even took an hour off work yesterday to sit and watch The Walking Dead episode I missed. I couldn’t stay awake until 9pm to see it on Sunday night.

Now I go to bed at 8pm and get up at 3am and I guess that is how it will be for a while. I’m glad I don’t have a baby in the house. Their schedules get all messed up, and I remember how tough it was to get my kids on any kind of sleep schedule (they didn’t like to sleep), and then the time change would happen. It was like starting over again.

Now the mornings are brighter, but they will get dark too. Our shortest days are ahead, and that is a tough time. I’ll be going to bed earlier and earlier as winter closes in. It’s a form of people hibernation I suppose.

But nice days are in the forecast for this week, and there are a lot of leaves out there to rake. I see backaches in my future for sure. My workday will have to be cut short so that I am not raking leaves in the dark!

If the weather is not too cold this morning I will go downtown and vote with my daughter and then walk home, while she goes on to work. It should be sunny and bright, and there won’t be many more days for walking. Most of the leaves have blown off the trees, but there are still some beautiful colors on the stragglers.

Today I am happy about the end of political ads and phone calls! Whoo hoo…..

Seasonal Photos of a Rural Life

colorful fall leaves — Autumn Leaf Collection

I collected these leaves while on a walk along a dirt road one day. I used to live in a very rural location and I didn’t own my own place, so I had a lot of time to walk. Fall and winter were always my favorite seasons to take landscape photography around the nearby lake. I walked alone mostly, but sometimes I took my landlady’s dog with me for company. The area was full of dirt roads and paths to follow through the woods. It was fun to find moose tracks (never saw one though) and spot wildlife.

In winter I got out early with the camera to capture the morning sun glinting on the tall pines. When I was a kid I always wanted to be the first one to go out in a new snowfall and make the first tracks. There is just something about a landscape of fresh smooth snow that calls to me!

Although I knew it was not my true home, that area where I lived for a few years made an impact because of it’s beauty. I enjoy solitude, and my rental years near the lake gave me plenty of that. The change of seasons was especially pretty there, and I always looked forward to the leaves changing color in fall. Many of the houses around the lake are seasonal, and are empty during foliage season. During summer the place is buzzing with visitors to beach and boat ramp, but once the kids go back to school the place becomes mostly deserted.

Since I work from home, I could take time during the day and get my photos without any people getting in my way. So here I share some of my photos.