Massachusetts and New Hampshire!

We took a weekend trip out of the woods of New Hampshire and into the major city of Boston. It only takes about ninety minutes by car, but it is a total transformation of surroundings. We usually enjoy a walk through the Common and the Public Gardens and then a stroll down Newbury Street in Back Bay, a fashionable high end shopping street. Where we buy nothing except maybe a coffee. This time, in the heat, we bought ice cream. The brick row houses from the late 1880s are on filled land. It was once part a bay in the Charles River. I love the slate roofs.

To get this view, we sat on the stairs of an empty business space now up for rent. We were below street level, thus the railing. The modern era building in the rear is called the Prudential Center, named for an insurance company.

We drove into Boston to go out onto one of the islands in the harbor. We waited here along the granite quay for our boat. I like this view for the difference in scale. I could see where each chain link was welded; I could appreciate the window patterns on the tall buildings. The sun was warm, the air cool. I could smell donuts and coffee. All the senses were going full steam here.

On the lower far right is part of a steam boat named Samuel Clemons, the actual name of the writer Mark Twain.

And here we are on Lovells Island, with the skyline of Boston on the horizon. The many islands in the harbor are a National Park, and there is public transportation to reach quite a few of them. We were doing a service project of eradicating invasive species. I have drawn the sumac, the thistles, and some, unfortunately for us, unripe blackberries.

We had planned to view the exhibit of glass by Dale Chihuly in the Museum of Fine Arts, Back Bay, Boston. The line was around the block and the heat intense. So I drew the building and the crowds, and we never went in. We plan a return trip tomorrow.

Two weeks ago we drove up along the Connecticut River to draw a few towns. The Brick Store, the oldest general store in the United States, is located in Bath, N.H. I have never seen a general store in brick before. They are usually white painted wood clapboards, or weatherboards as they are called in the U.K. The columns were a touch of grandeur in the wilderness. I included the war memorial in the foreground, and the small yellow smoke house attached to the left of the store. I bought smoked cheddar. It was wonderful. When can we go again to Bath?

We used to live fairly close to Bath, England. There is no resemblance at all.

To add to our collection of New Hampshire Opera Houses, we stumbled upon this one in Woodsville, a part of Haverhill, dated 1890. It’s now divided into apartments, in contrast to some of the other opera houses in the state that are still used as performance space. We sat under a tree, with a small picnic lunch. And I drew this corner building. For fun, I included the digital sign of a local bank, giving the time and the temperature of 90 degrees F.

I do have a penchant for conical towers, I admit it. These three are part of the Maplewood Golf Course in Bethlehem, NH., built c1905. (And of course, the mountains echo the shape.) There was a grand hotel here too at one time, though it succumbed to fire in 1961 as have so many of the others. I was thinking that these summer resorts were built just before the invention of the automobile. That changed people’s vacation habits. But it is still a beautiful town in a lovely location.

The town hall, 1923, in Landaff, NH is on the top of a hill, surrounded by hills. The tiny settlement was very peaceful. No one came out to greet us, as we thought they might.

Now we are at the Riverwalk in Littleton, N.H. (Those people in San Antonio have really started something.) The Ammonoosuc River once powered the old grist mill, and the yellow building is now home to Fiddleheads Artisan Gift Shop and Miller’s Cafe.

I suppose there are covered bridges in cold climates worldwide. The roof protects the floor from heavy snows. But that having been accomplished, the bridge keepers then had to spread a packed down layer on the bridge’s roadway in order to provide a running surface for sleighs and sleds.  The pines are getting very tall and skinny here, a sign we are getting way up north. The row of cars are parked along the main shopping street.

This is the view from some senior housing. Very pleasant indeed.

June 2013 update: The grist mill is being converted into a brewpub.  What a great location!

I did a quick sketch of this rail road station in Lisbon NH because I just loved the roof line and the unusual windows and trim. The yellow flowers are called black eyed susans, such a fun name.

The station has recently been wonderfully restored, and is open to the public. And can be rented for private events.

And we will end this colorful journey with a view of cornfields, and some oddly shaped hills and mountains. They are very blue because of a heat haze.

It was the unusual shape of the hills that caused us to stop here in North Haverhill, N.H.