Spring?

It's that beautiful time of year when nature bursts forth and we all delight in the sun. Oops! This is New England where Spring struggles to come into being and we all go stir crazy waiting for flowers and warmth. This year is no different. I took this picture this morning looking out the window at Sandy Pond. We had only 3 inches, much better than the 10 predicted! Lingering winters reminded me of my grandmother saying "Cape Cod has two seasons - winter and August."

The Romance of Travel

I am in love with the art of travel. Trains, ferries and hot air ballooning give me the thrill of exotic places and watching the world go by at a rate that I can savor. When I see trains stations like this one in Shirley my travel blood rises and I'm ready to hit the road. I may have inherited the love of trains from my grandmother's cousin, Little Bill (not to be confused with Big Bill or Microscope "Mike" Bill), who set his watch to railroad time (whatever that means) and as an adult would go down to the train station to watch the trains go by. (I've also been told he would stand at his mailbox and watch the cars go by, clearly a sign of Yankee inbreeding). While the train that stops at Shirley will take you only as far as Fitchburg or Boston, my dream is of the Orient Express and Istanbul. By the way, the other day I was passing this station when the commuter rail was arriving from Boston. Yup, I pulled over to watch the passengers get off the train! Thanks, Little Bill, and all the other eccentrics in my family tree.

Ayer

This is a shot of downtown Ayer, my new home. You can see how March in New England is oh, so gray. Downtown is a group of mismatched businesses with no real identity. I'm so used to living on the coast where tourism defines the towns and they work hard to create an identity.

Ayer's identity has been formed around two historical entities - Ft. Devens and the railroad. Ft. Devens was an army base that was decommissioned in 1994. My father told me he "froze one winter" at Ft. Devens when he was training for WWII. The base began as Camp Stevens where Massachusetts volunteers were trained for the Civil War. The loss of Ft. Devens was a blow to the economy of the region and the towns, like Ayer, which serviced the army.

The railroad still operates here both commuter rail and freight. Once Ayer was a major commercial railroad junction. We hear the freight trains still where I live so I know train transportation is alive and well. I read that this area is on the freight route to Maine from the Southern states. The commuter train, while convenient for me, runs far less often.

Local Vista

I took this picture overlooking the grounds of Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, the town next door. Fruitlands is the site of Bronson Alcott's commune. The grounds are beautiful and typical of the views in my new home area. Somewhere out on the horizon in Mt. Washucett. I don't even know how to spell it yet! My physical trainer calls it simply "The Mountain". They all look like hills to me and, after most of my life at sea level, a complete novelty.

Farm Country

The countryside out here is dotted with farms and orchards. I've gone from the rugged survivalists of the coast to the gently farmers inland. While housing developments are moving into the former farm land, you still can see the outlines of farms or find real working farmers. This picture is of Great Brook Farm in Carlise which is a couple of towns east of me in Ayer. Great Brook is a working dairy farm. The owner leases the farm from the state who also operates the land as a state park with walking, cross-country and equestrian trails. This farm has a really cool 21st century robotic milking system for its cows! Hot stuff. I want to go back next winter and ski at night on their lantern lit trails. Did I mention they make their own ice cream?

Where's Jan?

This picture of Harry between the pillows illustrates my life. I am happy living in my new home and am simply hiding from winter that still has a punch. This is not the season or year to take on discovering my new environs. I either go to my desk or the gym or walk the dog. Perhaps this is the "recovery" stage of the stress of the end of 2010. I'll be back on the case of living life to the fullest as soon as I'm rested!

Guys' Guys

You've got to be hearty to endure a day of ice fishing when it's cold and windy. There was a whole crowd of guys fishing in the morning. By the time I got there there were only these two guys'guys left. They were checking their traps (rods ?) and then crunch, crunch, crunching across the ice to the next hole. When they saw me, they stopped and posed for this picture!

Wildlife

Poor Benji. The neighbor's black lab had a run in with a local porcupine. 22 quills! While I haven't seen any porcupines, I saw a group of 9 deer standing on the ice on the next pond over the other day. The next day I counted 11 wild turkeys strolling down one of the streets towards the pond near my house. I also saw a running fox the other day. It's only been a month since I moved here. I wonder what other wildlife I have yet to discover.

Branching out

I don't really get out of my office much these days except for trips to the grocery store and the gym. When I do get out, I try to find places in the area that can become "my" places. I already love the Harvard General Store for it's exceptional coffee and scones. This shot is of Nashoba Brook Bakery in West Concord where I had lunch with a friend the other day. Great bread and a fun cafe space. It's hard to find since they have no sign on the street. In the summer you can sit outside on the deck. This time of year the Bakery was a home retreat from the bitter cold of the day. You can expect more to come of the local sites and places as the snow melts and I find my way around.

Learning

Like Maddie in this picture, I am having to learn a new maze of neighborhoods, towns, shops and roads. The snow is not making it easy. While itching to be out exploring, I am confined. The roads have not been clear and I definitely can't pull over anywhere to take pictures of the scenery.

When I was packing to move all I could see is what I was losing by leaving the coast. It's a learning experience to live in this more quiet, gentle landscape. Gloucester always had a life/death feeling hanging over the city due to the great numbers of the community lost at sea. It is something I became very aware of early in my years there. That's not true in this part of the state. Here there is a working off the land kind of vibe. I am enjoying what appears to be a more peaceful life.

Art or Retail

The Harvard General Store is the central place of business, from what I can tell, in Harvard. You can drop in for you newspaper, a copy of coffee and a ton of locally produced food and cheeses. Even the coffee is roasted in the area. As a foodie, I had to try the prosciutto and parmesan cheese scone. Tasty.

The building itself is an old community type hall. Upstairs I found an amazing array of wines and an art gallery. Over in the corner hung these wonderful outfits. I did not check out the prices. I just enjoyed the display!

Central Massachusetts

I am trying to "take in" the towns here in Central Massachusetts to learn what they are all about. Harvard, shown here, is easy for me to grasp since it is what one thinks of when they visualize New England. I recently heard Harvard described as "hardscrabble New England" filled with iconoclasts. Right now I would describe it as quiet, snow filled farms. Stay tuned for what I may learn about what's behind the pretty face!

New Toys

I was surprised to see lights outside the other night on the pond side of the house. They were angled up towards the sky. Other than alien space craft, I couldn't imagine what was up. It was a snow mobile trying to come ashore from the frozen, snow-covered pond. The driver eventually came right up and over the pile of snow. Jess says the snow mobile drivers have great fun on the ponds. I've never lived in a place where snow mobiles were common. It might be fun zipping across the pond at night.

Big Snow

This is for all my friends who aren't living in the snow belt! We got snow - bit time. Everyone has stories of disappearing fences, statues and bushes. The bigger story is where to pile the snow when shoveling. I've found driving after dark very dangerous here because I don't know the area and the narrowed lanes and low visibility make me fearful of driving on an exit ramp or ending up in New Hampshire when I should be going south. One evening I accidentally made a detour through Ft. Devens (former Army base here) because I could see that I actually turned off Rt 2 onto the exit until I was on the exit! I really don't think we can handle anymore snow storms here in the Northeast.

Is Being to Feel Like Home

Home is a moving target. Some days I think "home" is that which happens on-line. Here's a shot of my ever evolving new home space. This is the "living" part of the living/bedroom. I still haven't hung all the pictures on the wall. I like the way it feels like a converted attic. My space is very cozy and warm. I think I will be very happy here.

Maddie and Me

Here we are getting ready to head out for our evening adventure in the extreme cold weather. Jess, my friend with whom I live, broke her ankle so I've taken on the night time dog walking duties. As you can see I am dressed for the elements complete with "stabilzers" on my boots. They stick in the ice to prevent slipping and falling. The cane is my other stabilizer. We don't need anymore injuries in this house.

The headlight is one of the equipment choice of the neighborhood for lighting the way on our dark streets. It keeps my hands free for my cane!

Maddie is fun to walk. She's doing the training of me not the other way around. Last night she had enough and turned right around dragging me home. Tonight is going to be the worst temperatures yet. Time for long underwear!

The Dump

I have a fondness for dumps. The house where I grew up was across a pond from the town dump. In those days, the dump was really a dump not a garbage transfer and recycling center. I loved going for a ride in the car anywhere as a child so I frequently went along for the ride with my dad when we took our garbage to the dump.

The dump was sort of a cultural center. People picked through the piles of garbage for found treasures. Sporty types shot rats, the noise of which we could hear from our house. In Brewster in the 1950's the garbage was burned two evenings a week enveloping our house in smoke when the wind blew the right direction!

The dump in Ayer is spiffy. This picture show the machine that compacts the recycling into lumps that get loaded on to the green bins and taken away to wherever garbage goes. There's a Swap Shop, clothing and book donation bins and, of course, a building where we put our bright blue bags of garbage. All is needed is an outdoor cafe and one could make a day of it in a much different season than this one. You can see how this picture looks like a frozen tundra!

Neighbors!

I've got neighbors! I know you are saying - doesn't everyone. True. However, I grew up in isolated Yankee neighborhoods where a neighbor is someone with whom you exchange waves from a distance. When I was a child in Brewster, all our neighbors went to Florida or New York for the winter. The only light I could see was an occasional bobbing one through the trees past our 2 acre field in the back yard. It was tiny night light and very small connection to humanity.

As an adult living in apartments, the neighbors were always transient. My Gloucester neighbors were equally detached. I did run into a neighbor as I was leaving town with my last load, she told me she lived in Magnolia for 15 years and no neighbor had ever talked with her!

Now I've fallen into a real neighborhood. Here are my new neighbors enjoying a party at our house last night. This morning one of the neighbors stopped by to take our trash to the dump and another walked the dog. This is a completely new world for me. I think I will enjoy it.

Are You My Home?

I keep thinking of the children's book "Are You My Mother?" in which the lost ducking (?) wanders around asking mother animals - are you my mother?. For me, it's more - is this really my home now? As you can see I am far from unpacked or settled. The furniture is mine from the last chapter of my life on Cape Ann so it must be home! I have learned in the almost one week I have lived in Ayer that you can have many homes at the same time like having many friends or loves. For now, this IS home.

Do They Know?

I am being overly loved by my fan club this morning. Do they know we are moving Saturday? They have been huddling with me making working at my computer a real challenge today. Perhaps they are telling me to wrap up the work and get packing. I wish they would get out and shovel the show behind my car!

Change of Address

This is what you get when you tell the Post Office you are moving - coupons, a single Change of Address postcard and a lot of packaging obviously paid for by Lowe's. I was expecting something more monumental to mark the occasion of my departure from Magnolia. I guess most changing of addresses can now be done on line.

Here's my new contact information:
8 Mountain View Avenue
Ayer, MA 01432
978-391-4059 (h)
978-290-1564 (c)
jan@jancrockerllc.com

The new information is effective January 15! I can't believe I have precious little time here.

Stupid Things I Will Not Miss

Everyone has pet peeves. Mine, at this house, is the stupid ways people park on my land on the pond. They are inventive. This guy drove right up on the snow and tried to get in head first. I couldn't resist talking to the guys. They are repairing a roof on the house next door down the street. They said they wanted to get the truck off the road. OK, I said, the home owner has two drive ways. Well, it turns out the pick-up truck is the driver's "baby" and he didn't want ice to fall from the house onto is truck. I can't for the life of me figure out why he thinks his truck will be safe from falling ice from the trees! Every home owner has to have one little thing on which to focus their interest about other people. When you own what appears to be public land on a pond the activities are ripe for contemplation!

Strange Collections

What is this ugly thing, you ask? This is a memory jug. It is from my father's side of the family and was in our house growing up. It was ugly then too. It is a collection of stuff from the maker's life stuck on the outside of the jug. There are buttons, a tiny porcelain doll, little sugar cube tongs, hair ornaments and the true gross out pieces - teeth with roots. I actually read, when I was making Secrets of Aging that at some point in time it was very fashionable to make these memory jugs. A few years back my father delivered this jug to me. Am I stuck with this for the sake of history? Will anyone really care if I drop in off the back of the moving truck? The things of our history sometimes follow us wherever we go!

Jan Land

My new residence has been called "Jan Land" by my Landlady's sister. Here's your first peek at my new quarters. It's definitely a work in progress. You are looking at my living room /bedroom combo and the view of that space from my office. The bed is not mine, but a place holder until I actually move the remainder of all my furniture.

I picked a cheery yellow because I wanted to be reminded of the restorative powers of sunshine. This shot is pre-curtains. Once we put the curtains up the room feels like a soft yellow cloud. I can't wait to the rest of the room take shape as I start moving in more of my belongings.