New Hampshire!

This month’s theme is verticality. As you drive around the state of New Hampshire, mostly you see trees. Sure, you also see mountains and swiftly moving waters, but they are covered by or surrounded by trees. (OK, three major exceptions in the largish cities of Concord, Manchester and Nashua. But the water is there.) Hardwood forest, evergreens, mixed woods.

Recently I have been thinking that the architecture wants to be vertical as well. Towers and turrets abound. Maybe it is to echo the shape of the trees, or perhaps to get a view up and over the foliage.

New Boston is a town that I glimpsed often in my childhood, if I looked to the right at just the certain moment as we traveled from our house in Massachusetts to my grandmother’s in New Hampshire. We never stopped, nor made the one block detour to view the main square and wonderful Victorian buildings

One of the wonderful aspects of my project of drawing every town in NH is the part where I stop the car, park, and get out. I read historical markers, and I walk around to see what’s what. The lay of the land as they say. Sometimes I find nice shops and I wish I lived closer. Sometimes I do shop, or have a snack. I almost always see a fast moving stream and mills, or signs telling how many mills were once along these waters. Sawmills, gristmills, tanneries, cooperages (barrel making) woolen and cotton mills too. Mills that made toys, clothes pins, and yokes for ox teams.

In New Boston, where I at last stopped and got out, I was attracted to this old fire station. It is so ornate that I got all bogged down in the details in the complex woodworking. When I returned home to finish my drawing I couldn’t decipher all my notes and color coded charts and arrows. (I often finish some of the color in my studio.) So I returned a couple of months later, all determined to capture the energy and essence of the building including the tower, and let the minute details go hang. The second time, the small parking lot in front was full. So I drew the cars (as only I can draw them) and was much freer about the tower part.

As soon as I finished, all the cars left! But I think I captured the feel of it. The blue sign says New Boston in white letters. I do need to buy a white ink pen so I can fill that in.

It was a dark, gloomy, rainy day when I pulled in to Wilton. But I liked it there. Along the main street was a yoga studio, small restaurants, and a shoe discount outlet. (It is a sad thing to have size 7 feet, the most common size. They are usually sold out.) Along the Souhegan River was a mill with a sheep as a weathervane, some mills repurposed as housing, also artists’ studios and a bead store. I bought some beads.

And then I stood under an awning to draw this enormous building across the street. This is a side view of the Wilton Town Hall. And this is the door to the theater that was there in the building from day one, 1886. Travelling shows stopped here as well as vaudeville entertainment. Then it was converted for silent films. Now it is sort of an art house theater. I wanted to go in, and if I lived closer I would surely go to the films there! The little sign out on the sidewalk indicates the upcoming film.

Since the towns in New England are governed at the most local level, it is the town that does the work of record keeping, and taxes, not the county as in most of the United States. Every town, no matter how small, has a library, a historical society building or museum, and a town hall and town offices. As well as schools, and most often police, and fire and rescue.

This is the town hall in Greenfield in the southwest part of the state. I am impressed with large old wooden structures, especially in places where the population is very small. According to the 2000 census there are under 2,000 residents here. It is just a lot of upkeep...think of all that white paint on the wooden clapboards. I drew in a little figure I saw leaving the building. Maybe he was paying his taxes.

This town is well known for its Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center, initially started to help children with the residual effects of polio.

Ooh, I loved the looks of this small town, Temple, near the border of Massachusetts. Again, we are looking at the town hall. A white wooden building. The white birch trees in the town common add to the charming effect.

In addition to the town hall, circling around the town green are: a church, a general store and post office, a pub, an inn, a restaurant, and a graveyard.

Acworth was the one hundredth town that I drew in my Draw-NH project. This project takes a lot of drive. Ha! Here is the elementary school. And another tower, of sorts.

It was so cold when I sketched this. The snow was crunchy, the air still, and I had forgotten my gloves.

The first time we tried to get to this town, we drove in a circle and never got there. That was before we bought our atlas. Even then it was a challenge, as the atlas doesn’t have a special symbol for narrow dirt roads that look like they could just peter out into nothingness.

Mason is the name of this town. I was curious to get there as it is a family name. I have drawn once again an elementary school. It has a new wing addition to the right. The two doors have beautiful windows surrounding them. It was dusk by the time I got here, so they were all aglow with interior light. You’ll have to imagine it. A sign of an old building here in NH is two front doors...one for males and one for females. A long abandoned tradition of course.

This is the main drag in Dublin, NH. I had a compositional problem: how to draw the lovely church steeple on the right, and also include the horizontal sprawl of the red building on the left. Which is the headquarters of Yankee magazine. My solution: cut off the street and have lots of sky to play with. I have to say that it looks OK to me now. An artist’s lament...no one knows the trouble I’ve seen. Said with a twinkle in the eye.

All the buildings are constructed of wood. The middle building is an unoccupied house, with signs that it may become a community center soon.

I had a little trouble connecting with Grafton. Since it is located close to New London, two towns away, I could turn around and come home again if I didn’t feel sufficiently inspired to draw. But this time, I spotted a sign that said Grafton Turnpike Road. When you see the word ‘turnpike’, you know it is one of the older roads in the town. The word means a private road where a toll was collected. When you paid your money, the wooden pike was lifted or turned aside so you could pass though.

So I turned a sharp left and ascended the hill. On my left was a swiftly moving stream, so I knew mills had once been here. A lots of mills went into decline in the late 1800s but still hung on until the hurricane of 1938. Then they were washed away by the floods. One mill remained here that I saw, a building in poor shape with a sign that said ‘Carding Mill’ - a mill that dealt with the early stages of the textile manufacturing process, preparing raw cotton or wool to be spun into thread. That indicates that there probably was once a weaving mill nearby as well.

I turned around when the road became dirt. But as I went back down the steep hill, I saw this church, with the sun glinting off of the white shingles.

The entire building was covered in white wooden shingles. Where I have drawn the zigzag lines is where the shingles went into an even more raised and crazy eye catching pattern. And the late afternoon, early winter rays of the sun were caught too and had a mesmerizing effect. Think of wind ruffled dove feathers.

I am very sure that when this building was shingled, it had a fashionable brown stain. Somewhere along the lines of time, it became even more fashionable to have a white painted edifice. Sunlight on natural colored shingles would have a more subdued effect.

I read that this church was moved twice. Such expertise that takes.

This very long brick building is the Monadnock Paper Mills in Bennington, NH. New England used to be full of paper mills, but this is one of the few left. It has over 300 products and an excellent history of green practices. And I discovered that the paper we use to print my designs onto notecards is made here. The Contoocook River flows under the bridge.

Monadnock is the name of a nearby mountain, and in native language it means an isolated single peak.

We are looking at a canal in Somersworth, NH., built along side of the Salmon Falls River. On the other side of the river is the state of Maine. When the mills were first built, most of the workers walked over the bridge from Maine. As more workers were needed, they were hired from Ireland and from Quebec Province in Canada.

The yellow mill in the background is the General Electric Company, which manufactures electrical meters.

It was a salmon colored sunset on the Salmon Falls River.

These last two drawings don’t fit in with the vertical theme, but they are seasonal so I shall toss them in.

Early in December we took a ride north to Meredith. It took us a while to find the holiday shoppers, free food, and general gaiety. This drawing was done in a little kitchen supply store called “So Little Thyme”. This shop was formerly an old time pharmacy. I do like to draw a street scene looking through multi-paned windows.

The yellow wooden house across the street now belongs to a cafe with its wavy red awning. This may be the only time I get to draw 3 ceramic roosters all lined up in a row.

This stone horse trough sits on the town green in Mont Vernon in the south central part of the state of NH. In the background are 2 granite benches, and an unusual looking bandstand.

I was really taken by this winter arrangement, made for public enjoyment. It showed real style, solid design, and fine knowledge of plants. The three purple rose-like plants are kale, which loves cold weather. The grey is dusty miller and the yellow-green is a golden cypress. The rest is evergreens and berries.

I added this image from last year, in case you thought no one lives in New Hampshire. It is our town skating rink, set up each winter on the green here in New London, NH. In the background are the skaters’ warming hut, the town offices, a college building, the gazebo or bandstand, the brick town hall, and the Baptist Church. Set out of the way at the far corner of the rink are a couple of plastic milk crates, used for support by the little kids just learning to skate.

I saw that many kids and families were out there today as we drove past.

Happy New Year!

New Hampshire, British Columbia, and Maryland!

One early Fall day we drove to the southwestern part of the state, and I drew this bridge in Gilsum, NH. Bruce, my engineer husband, marveled at its dry-stone (mortarless) construction. It has been holding steady since 1863. The Ashuelot River rushes along 36 feet below. The hillside was very steep. I made sure my footing was very secure before I got lost in the drawing process.

In Greenville, NH, it is the Souhegan River that powered the cotton and woolen mills. The textile industry went south a long time ago. Literally. The New England mills lost the industry to the southern states when water power became less important in the manufacturing process. Most of the mills are now reused for other purposes. They were built to last, and are structurally strong. It was misting heavily when I drew this. I was forced to draw quickly as soggy paper is no fun.

On with my water theme of the month. This is the view of Lake Okanagan from the Summerhill Pyramid Winery in Kelowna, British Columbia. The grapes are pinot noir, and they did look nearly black. There are 120 wineries in this lake valley in Canada. How lucky we are that our daughter and her family have just moved there.

During our visit in late October and early November, the grape leaves were turning yellow, and people were on the steep hillsides harvesting the fat clusters of grapes. We had a tasting of 4 whites and bought a bottle of Riesling. There is a real resemblance to the Mosel valley in Germany here, minus the castle ruins.

On the far left on the lake is the floating bridge, the Bennet Bridge. This leads to the west side of Kelowna, and is the highway to Vancouver, four hours and one mountain range to the west. It is very rugged terrain getting to Vancouver. We did it once in the winter. And only once. Don’t ask.

Most places in the Okanagan valley seem to include a view of the beautiful lake. Okanagan Lavender Farm is no exception. It was our first visit, and the herbs had been harvested for the year. So we didn’t walk through the gardens, and I had to use my imagination to ‘see’ the pale purple colors. I added a bit into my painting in the distant hills. I’ll return in a different season. The gift shop was lovely and the products first rate. The complimentary lavender tea was refreshing too.

Here we have the view of Lake Okanagan from our daughter’s (and family) home in British Columbia, Canada. It is new to them, and was built eight years ago. They are fortunate to be able to peek between the houses across the street where the public walkway leads down the very steep hill. It is a semi-arid climate. So the many wineries, orchards, and home lawns and trees are all irrigated. It is magically beautiful. I spent a lot of time watching the weather roll around the hills, canyons and play with the water surface.

Our other daughter and her family live in Baltimore (Maryland, USA), so that explains the existence of the next five drawings. Baltimore is located just north of Washington, D.C.

The water theme continues with this drawing from the Baltimore Inner Harbor, and the National Aquarium. In the background is the partial sign to the Legg-Mason building. I was sure to include this sign as a very special branch of our family is the Masons. (Think grandchildren.) The neon Domino Sugar sign is famous in the area as a long time part of the scenery. As a major port city and the terminus of the first railroad to the west, Baltimore has always been engaged in industries that process raw materials into finished products--be they coming from the west and heading out worldwide, or coming by sea and heading into the heartland.

I just couldn’t resist drawing the dragon paddle boat. There perhaps 50 of them circling around on the warm sunny November day. I did not investigate the submarine with is docked next to the aquarium. It’s a historical exhibit, no longer in active service.

The Inner Harbor is very popular with tourists and locals alike. It was redeveloped from a scene of rotting piers in the early 1980s by the Rouse Company and kicked off the revitalization of the whole area. This company also redid the historic Quincy Market in Boston, the South Street Seaport in New York City, and others around the country.

This is the former Rouse Company headquarters in Columbia, Maryland. We lived in this town from 1973 to 2008. But I don’t remember drawing this building before. I was asked to draw it by the town archivist. It was designed by renown architect Frank Gehry in his early days, about 1966. It may be ‘repurposed’ by the new owners. That sounds bad, and I’m glad I got it on paper. The metal sculpture is by J. A. Benson.

James Rouse founded Columbia and lived here too for a long time. He has died now, but his best ideas live on.

My daughter and I went to the Sunday market under the Jones Falls Expressway (JFX in Baltimore terminology). There is not a lot of traffic rumbling above on a Sunday morning. I sat on the curb and drew this. Mercy is the name of a hospital. I love this market. All manner of humanity go there, and the prepared foods smell so good.

I felt like I could have sat there for hours and drawn a 360 degree view. Another time, a bigger sheet of paper.

Part of Baltimore is called Little Italy. There are too many restaurants to count, but this is one...the Gia Ristorante. Other members of our family have eaten here, and they say it is excellent. So far, I have just admired the paintings all over the exterior walls of the place.

There are so many, that I felt a little overwhelmed. I chose to draw this back door, the door to the kitchen. To the right of the door is the painted iron fence and the painted tree. Another time I will tackle the more complex front side of the building. It has a faux-collage of family photos.

Everything in Little Italy is human scale and has a real charm. It is an easy stroll from the touristy Inner Harbor.

Believe it or not, the name of this Baltimore landmark building is the Bromo-Seltzer Tower. It says so in letters around the clock face. Count them--there are 12!

The tower was built in 1911, by Captain Isaac Emerson, the inventor of Bromo-Seltzer, a head ache remedy. Originally and for 25 years, a 51 foot (15.5 meter) high blue-lit replica of the namesake bottle revolved on the top. World travelers will recognize that the tower itself is an accurate copy of the Palazzo Vecchio tower in Florence, Italy.

I’m glad that the bottle atop the tower was judged unstable and removed in 1936. The tower now houses artists’ studios. The former factory space on the ground floor is a fire house.

I’ve always liked the tower (and the real one in Italy!) and drew it from this angle to emphasize the difference in scale with the other buildings on the street. When it was built it was the tallest building in the city.

In a ninety degree turn from the last scene, is this one on Baltimore Street, pretty much at the intersection of Little Italy and the Inner Harbor. From left to right, the St. Vincent de Paul Church, the shot tower, a red cast iron building, and the Charles Carroll 1840 House. The latter, formerly owned by the city of Baltimore, is now a 13 room hotel and inn.

I just read online that the cast iron building was built a couple of miles west, where the Baltimore Convention center is now, and it was unbolted, moved and reassembled here in a vacant space. How great is that! Now it houses a restaurant and Latin ballroom.

If you are a history buff, read up on Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who owned the house on the corner. Since the Maryland colony was founded by Catholics, I had always thought that they were at the top of society, or at least a part of it. But I read that the Carrolls, being Catholic, were not allowed to vote, or practice law. No wonder Charles Carroll was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was later elected to both the Maryland State Senate and the US Senate in nearby Washington D.C. When forced to choose, he chose the State Senate.

Here are the dogs that happily inhabit the Baltimore home of our older daughter and her husband. The peeking pug is Edgar, the nonchalant pug is Chuck, and the gentle giant great Dane curled up with her back to the viewer is Roxy. They are napping in the home office.

New Hampshire and Wisconsin!

There are certain things I find I must draw. One of them is eagles. This is a bronze statue mounted on a large granite boulder. It is a war memorial next to the Fuller Public Library in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. Someone put a dried plant stalk in his beak. It seemed appropriate and I liked the look. As I’ve said before, I admire sculpture, and I enjoyed walking around it. And it’s about at eye-level which is nice.

I was driving through the small town of Richmond, NH, unsure of what to draw. I noticed all the flowers growing along the roadside. And I smelled the sawdust of the pine boards in the lumberyard in the rear. Something about the scents of the pines and the blooms brought me back to my childhood. The flowers are orange day lilies, white yarrow, wild grapes and wild roses. I don’t remember what the blue ones are.

I liked the architecture of this church, the United Congregational Church in Orford, NH. It is in the Gothic Revival Style, but all in wood. Originally grey, it is now white with grey features.
The architect is Moses Gerrish Wood. The architectural exuberance was enchanting. Orford is 2 towns north of Hanover. It is a charming place with homes stretched out beside a long town green.

I was driving through Hillsborough, and I stopped at this graveyard. I like the ornate cast iron and wrought iron gate, mounted on granite. Two thoughts went through my mind as I hurriedly drew this: I have never seen a beautiful gate like this, and I hope I can finish this before the electrical storm comes any closer. The thunder was loud. I just had pencil and paper with me, so it was easy to run for the car.

The grey stones are slate and older than the white marble monuments. I am the granddaughter of a stonecutter.

I found another eagle to draw! This wooden eagle is atop the Francestown, NH Academy building. This was a private school from 1801–1921, and it’s maintained today as a community meeting space. I plan to learn more about the many preparatory schools that abounded in New Hampshire from early on. Many still exist. The students came from quite a distance and boarded in the town.

I often draw things I have never seen before. This is the case here. The hayfield is so steep that the man on the tractor is cutting the hay in slaloms, as if he were skiing. This hill and woodlands are in Enfield, NH. The unusually tall rural grey granite buildings were built by the Enfield Shaker community.

I was not at all sure what to draw in Alstead, NH. This is the corner of Mechanic St. and Main St. I chose this busy little triangle in the road with the multitude of signs. The building on the far left was probably an Inn. On the far right is the very front of a Greek revival building. When we lived in England, Bishop’s Cleeve was a nearby town. It had two triangles like this, very close to one another. I think this one reminds me of those.

From what I can tell, this is downtown Langdon NH. I just loved the curve of the steep hill with the buildings on the left parading up the hill. And the white one at the top was partially obscured. So here, I knew exactly what and where I wanted to stop and draw. It spoke to me. Lately, I have been pondering on what attracts me to draw certain things. Usually I ponder after I have drawn them. That way the creative process doesn’t get bogged down with too much thinking.

Harrisville, NH is a rarity. It is an old mill town that still functions in its original purpose. It still produces woolen yarn in its mills. This is a view out of a window in the spinning building. Under the building, the mill stream roars through the granite lined course. The whole brick building seems to shake, yet also seems solid and safe. I was totally and happily overwhelmed with visual stimuli here. Brick wall, beautiful woven wall hanging, wooden spinning wheel, and view through the paned glass window.

As I turned around, I spied this view out another window in Harrisville. It shows part of a bridge and the mill pond. The turreted white building in the rear is the town library.

Look, another eagle. I am standing in the common in Jaffrey, NH. (The terms common and green are used interchangeably most of the time. They refer to commonly owned land where animal grazing was once allowed.)

On the left is a WWII memorial, made out of glazed ceramic. This is highly unusual for outdoor sculpture, especially in a cold climate where freezes can damage them. The figures depict a young woman on the left and an older woman on the right. Wife and mother of a soldier. This all seemed so unusual that I looked forward to learning about the sculptor. He was Danish and his name was Viggo Brandt-Erickson. He made this tribute to the Gold Star Mothers (a son killed in the war) in 1949.

The building at the right is a former mill and is now apartments.

Nelson, NH is not far off of a major highway. But when I pulled up a hill into this town green or common, I felt like I had arrived in Brigadoon. I hope the residents of Nelson will take that as a compliment. The small square green is a clearing in the forest. I wanted to think of a way of drawing all four sides. But I didn’t.

I have never seen a mailbox structure like this. I guess the local post office does not do rural mail delivery, but requires every resident to claim his mail from an individual metal box in one roofed location. Snow plows often knock over the roadside mail boxes, so this is an improvement for a town with a small population.

In the early part of October, I visited family in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. This is the view out of the window, looking across the lawn and some corn fields. The fields looked like puzzle pieces, behind the grid of the window panes. The buttons on the fabric chair form another grid. All the buttons are the same; all the wrinkles around the buttons differ. The brain is wired to find faces everywhere. I usually erase unintentional faces in my artwork if I can. Here I am leaving the funny faces in the upholstered chair.

While in Wisconsin, we took a day trip to the town of Mineral Point. Where we live in NH, all is brick or grey granite. Here in the upper midwest of the U.S., the building material is yellow limestone. I enjoy regional differences like this. I took the time to draw this scene because it literally stopped me in my tracks. My feet stopped moving forward, and I knew it was time to reach for my paper and pencil. But why? I liked the building that wasn't yellow set against the big flat side of the other one that was. I also like the sloping roof and the angled ladder. Also appealing was the open door with the paint buckets inside, as well as the large old shop windows that hadn't been modernized in any way.

I see this view of Pleasant Lake and its bandstand in Elkins nearly every day. Yesterday I got the idea to draw the blue lake and Morgan Hill looking through the bandstand. There are a few people and a dog at the edge of the lake. We are enjoying warm sunny late autumn weather with spectacular foliage colors. It is my favorite time of year.

New Hampshire and Vermont

I wanted to do a theme of ‘End of Summer, Beginning of the School Year’ and also a nod to Hurricane Irene. At the market every Wednesday, people kept asking me if I had drawn Twin Lakes Villa (or Village) yet. Finally one Sunday I drove to this area in New London, where we live. It is a one hundred year old resort that is thriving. And owned and run that whole time by the same family, the Kidders. That is unusual nowadays. Families have been coming to stay there for generation after generation. I was glad I got there and walked around and got a sense of why so many folks love it to bits.

I drew the main original building, but there are numerous large and small cottages surrounding this old hotel. And tennis courts and a nine hole golf course too. Don’t you love the colorfully painted rocking chairs on the porch? There is a bell above the door that rings for meals. (Or used to.)

We are looking across the golf course to Little Lake Sunapee, sometimes called Twin Lakes. There is a peninsula in the middle that nearly divides it in two. The chipmunk was eating a cracker right in front of me. So he/she got a portrait. The mountain is Mount Sunapee, a ski resort.

This is the Bucklin Beach boat house on Little Lake Sunapee. It is in New London, where we live. The sail boat arrived just as I was finishing the picture. Thank you for completing the scene.

I have many drawings from my Draw-NH! series which I haven’t posted yet. This is one of them....Hancock NH. I do love to draw band stands, and this one is of unusual construction. The brick Hancock Meeting House is on the left with its twin front doors. A meeting house means a building where any group of any denomination can gather.

Right in the center of the state is the town of Belmont. The former mill in the background is now a community center and preschool. And in the foreground is a very intricate bandstand, with lace-like white wooden trim and fancy patterns in the shingled roof. New Hampshire is full of brick mills that have been repurposed into new uses. The little children ran inside before I could draw any, but you can see their red climbing frame, or geodesic dome.

On Main Street in New London is the four year institution, Colby-Sawyer College. The most typical age range for students is 18-21. This enormous building is Colgate Hall. There is a small bookstore in the basement where I buy some art supplies. Town residents are welcome to use the gym and library as well as attend concerts and special events. Which we do. The trees are sugar maples which are tapped in the early spring for sap. It is boiled down into syrup.

About five miles away is the town of Andover. This building, Maxwell Savage Hall, is a part of Proctor Academy. It is a very well regarded private high school. Besides a fine academic program, it is well known for its ski teams.

Our town is on a mountain ridge. This town is in a sheltered valley. We go to a Fourth of July parade there. A fun but sweltering event.

The next four drawings all relate to water. Most residents of New Hampshire and Vermont do live near water...brooks, streams, lakes and rivers, and the 17 miles of New Hampshire’s shore line on the Atlantic coast. Some parts of New Hampshire and Vermont got off easy with the recent hurricane Irene of last week. And other places suffered terrible losses, of roads, bridges, private property and life.

This is my rendition of the Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge. Its 450 foot span crosses the Connecticut River, connecting New Hampshire with Vermont. Even though it is a narrow, old wooden bridge, it is a very busy one as there are few bridges crossing this wide river. Some of these bridges are one lane and you just take your turn passing through them. This one has two lanes. It was not damaged during this recent flood, but has been washed away three times in its 215-year history. There is no longer a toll taker to enforce the two dollar fine. It is just kept up there for history’s sake. Mount Ascutney is in the background on the left.

Here is an old postcard view showing one of the earlier versions and more of the length.

This is a drawing I did in the car, in the rain, of the Historical Society on the left and the library on the right in Cornish Flat. The town borders the Connecticut River. The land along both sides of the river has wide flat fields of fertile soil. These fields show where the river bed has been over the eons of time...changing course and leaving rich layers of sediment. These fields are now growing corn, or maize as some parts of the world call it.

I am very fond of brick buildings and all the fancy trimmings that talented masons can accomplish. I so missed seeing brick when we lived in England. We lived in the beautiful Cotswolds where honey colored limestone is used for the building material. I learned that there was a brick town too far away to the north named Pershore. I liked to go there.

And another water drawing, this one of the Blackwater River, in Webster, New Hampshire. It starts at Pleasant Lake, where we live in New London. I tried to capture the corner where the quiet dark water meets the drop off, and flows over the granite rocks. The water is ale colored from the tannins in the water from oak leaves.

These two large impressive 19th century buildings are on Main Street in Windsor, Vermont. This town is just on the other side of the river from Cornish. The tree in front of the brick building is much larger and prevents a proper view of the facade. I do a lot of pruning in my art. We took the train from this town down to New York City when our family members were running in the marathon last fall. It was far better than driving or taking the bus.

Residents of the towns in New Hampshire and Vermont are either starting a new academic year, or trying to rebuild roads and bridges and houses. Or an uneasy mix of the two. We wish them all well.