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?