The Kindness of Strangers: In Memoriam

This post was originally published May 6, 2009. Today we learned this man, so kind, so beloved by all, died this weekend and we are saddened by his passing.

RIP PHIL KELLY
Another Cup'a Jo by cole scott images

This is a photograph of a man in our town who runs a wonderful little coffee shop. When we first moved here, our entire life savings were on hold for two weeks til the bank "cleared" it for transfer. We had, as I recall, about $110 in cash and we ran through that right away. In those first two weeks, we found office space and set up shop working in the main village. It was lunch time, we were hungry and I took a stroll down the main drag to find a restaurant and order a meal to go. All I had was my credit card.

The first restaurant didn't take credit cards. Only cash. Same with the second restaurant, same with the third. I kept thinking I was in small town hell and I wandered into this fella's place. It smelled like a good old fashioned lunch counter, thick hot cheeseburgers with grilled onions, homemade berry pies, strong coffee. He asked for my order but I told him my story first. No sense wasting his time if his policy was the same as everyone else. He looked me up and down and said,

"I don't take credit cards. What do you want to eat?"

I said "I can't pay you."

He said, "I know you're good for it."

Seriously. He took my order, made our lunch, gave it to me in a paper sack and told me to pay him when the bank transferred the money. I think it was about $11.00.

When the money came in, I was in his place like a shot. We've been friends ever since.

My husband took this photo of him recently in his new place. He is much beloved.

In all the years we've moved around, I've had wonderful encounters with people, particularly in smaller towns. This is one of my favorites.

A New Hampshire take on Massachusetts

In a crude way, this reminds me of the great Mar. 29, 1976 New Yorker cover by Saul Steinberg.  

It Was a Dark & Stormy Coupla Nights

Wildcat River   Jackson, N.H.  
January 2013 by Cole Scott

Oh, why dwell on the weather here?  It's a rough one but nothing compared to the New England coastal regions.  We've had 16-18" in less than 24 hours.  Hartford, CT had 2' as of 7AM today.  Portland was hammered with 32" and a buoy off the coast of Cape Ann, ME. registered a 32.1' wave.  

This photograph was taken under calmer conditions last month by Cole Scott.  

Nor'easter On the Way!

Northern New England Weather Forecast

I'd love to see a weather forecast reported like this, especially on TV.  

Waiting to get this party (ski season) started.  Let's hope this storm stays on track!  

Studies in Blue

Promoting my husband's continuing growth in photography.  These are two brand new works, taken in the last two weeks.  

Bending Branches version 2

September Shower

Of late, he's been publishing his work on Flickr where he and other photographers share insights, critiques and camaraderie.  

Gun Club Pond

I call this "Gun Club Pond" for two reasons:

1. It's next to an outdoor gun club in Madison, NH
2. My husband can't remember the name of it and I'm too lazy to look up

Fun Stuff We Do in New England

Every year I post photographs of the wildly popular local attraction/contest/tourist draw, "The Pumpkin People" held throughout the Town of Bartlett in the burghs of Jackson, Glen, Bartlett and Harts Location.    Restaurants, lodging establishments, shops come up with original tableaux using something we have in abundance in the Fall:  pumpkins.    These photos are from years past.  The new ones will be on display between Oct1 -21st.  For more info go here.

                                                                                              Abbey Road

Addams Family

Pirates of the Port of  Pumpkin

Pumpkin People Salute the Military

Yellow Brick Road

Dirty Crap We Do In New England for Charity

The Mt. Washington Valley Mud Bowl is held every year in Hog Coliseum the second weekend in September.  There is a parade of teams with names like Hogs of Hazzard and Mud Gumbies, Mudders and  North Country Crocs.  It's serious business for these folk.  Just good old fashion dirty fun for the rest of us.

Since 1976, the annual Mud Bowl three day event has raised over $750,000 for local charities.

VERY New England

New England frugality is not a myth.  It's the real deal.  I was raised that way by a Mid-Westerner whose roots originated in Revolutionary New England.  This distinctive trait must explain why Dad liked to "recycle" before it was called that.  He'd re-use large mailers by sticking a label over the old address with a new address & putting a postage label stamp over the old postage.  If he could unstick a used stamp without USPS indicia, he'd reuse it. 

In those days, soda came in 7 or 8 oz glass bottles.  It was common practice to save the bottles and return to the store for a refund.  Plastic, the seminal one word response about the future from "The Graduate", was not much of a presence in the 1960s.  

We had a compost pile in the "way back" ( that area of back yard nobody could see as it was screened by tall bushes.)  The compost pile began after incinerators were outlawed in the City of Los Angeles.  He saved foil and reused.  He collected rainwater under the dripping eaves of our home.  No idea what he did with it.   He saved stale bread to feed the birds.  He wore ancient wool socks, preferring to have them darned over buying a new pair.  My mother was NOT into that.   He was tight as a tick.  Thank goodness my mother oversaw the bills and the books.  She was just the opposite which balanced things nicely for us kids.  I'm becoming a chip off the old block.  I won't get a smart phone, I find myself saving foil.  I started a compost pile.  I save my stale bread to make bread crumbs for cooking.  

Do you think it's genetic?

A Girl and Her Dog

Five miles or so from our home flows the Swift River, a winding, rocky, snow fed rush of cold water coming down from the mountains.  Unsuitable for canoe or kayak, due to huge boulders and low levels, it has picturesque scenic vistas, rocky outcroppings on which to sun, and deep swimming holes if you know where to look.  

Our dog Dewey and I on the steep banks looking down at my husband, standing on a river rock, taking the shot. Note the second photo, taken from the river upwards, shooting level.  Those trees are reaching out over the river then arching to the open sky.

Geese In A Row

No kidding.  This is was taken today or yesterday on the main street of our little resort town.  I mean, I thought it was from somewhere else til I recognized the church signs.  It was posted to Facebook by a local.  

More of the Crap We Do in New England

                                             
                                                    

The Kind of Crap We Do in New England Part 3

I work for a niche television station in the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire.  We are surrounded by ski areas, resorts, fabulous old hotels and granite mountains with waterfalls unsurpassed except by Yosemite's.  

One of my co-workers is a risk-taking wild man; a climber who fell one hundred feet from a rock ledge two summers ago when he became dehydrated, dizzy and inadvertently released his belaying rope.  He survived with a broken clavicle & a few ribs.  It was a minor miracle to say the least.

A few months ago, he ascended Mt. Washington, tallest mountain in the northeast at 6288', via the Mt. Washington Auto Road, on stilts.  Yes.  Stilts.

Last weekend, he ascended the Auto Road again, all 8 miles of it, walking backwards, barefoot, jumping rope.  Swear to God.

                                                                      Top of the Summit Finish

                                                              (Mt. Washington OBS in background)

                                                        Storm Trooper Guy Finish

                                                                         (Clouds descending)

People up here are die-hard, rough and ready competitors.  If they're hardy souls, gifted with athletic ability, they'll try anything.

                                               Pre-race participants  Alton Weagle Day  Mt. Washington, N.H.

Inotherwords, they're crazy.

How New Englanders Act Out West

After living anywhere for any length of time, in this case New England for 14 years, I love to share the idiosyncrasies of each region, warts and all.  You saw a typical New England sports fan peculiarity in this post.   

Today is crucial for New England sports fans who, by the way, are RABID.  If the New England Patriots defeat the Denver Broncos aka "Orange Crush", they will clinch the AFC Eastern division. 

As you can see, rabid Patriot fans are tailgating at Mile High Stadium.  This little lady (l.) is holding up an about-to-be-cooked Maine lobster...or, as they call 'em here, "Lobstah".    Now THAT is tailgate cuisine at its best. 

I have no love lost for the Broncos.  This California girl spent many many years living in San Diego, the fiercest rival the Broncos have.   I hope Tom Brady kicks Tim Tebows' butt which, for more than team loyalty reasons is a priority.  Tebow, an avowed pro-lifer at the tender age of 24 is vocal about his position on pro-life. Sorry but, I just don't think men's opinion on this subject should count.  They don't carry the baby, deliver the baby and many never take much responsibility for the baby.  Yes, this is a gross generalization and there are plenty of men who take total responsibility and are terrific fathers but... this kid isn't a father, he isn't married and he's a Denver Bronco.  But, I digress.

I assume this is a cake.  I cut and pasted these photos from the Twitter site, realpatriots.  They were posting lots of twit.com photos.  The descriptions are not always enlightening.

This photo needs no explanation.  Our troops in Iraq came home today.  Did you know that?  The last troops left to come home today.  10 years, 4500 casualties later.  Our men in uniform are celebrating at the season's biggest game of the year.  

God bless them.

Whoopie pies are HUGE in New England.  dThis appears to be an actual whoopie pie with a stirring slogan on it to "whoop the Broncos".  Why it would be made by the Mile High Whoopie Pie Company, I'll never know.

Enjoy the game.  It's now 3rd qrtr and the score is 27-16.  This writer may just have predicted the final score correctly.  Hope he had some money down.

East Coast Travelin'

September has been a surprising month of travel for us. I say "surprising" because we didn't plan it this way...it just happened, making it all the more fun.

We visited The Balsams in Dixville Notch, N.H., famous as the "first in the nation" location for each presidential election.  We attended a wedding in the mountains nearby.  The resort, one of the oldest in the country, opened its doors in 1866 as a small roadside stop for travelers.

photograph from thebalsams.com

Five days later, we left for New York.  It was go, go, go the only thing you can do in the city.  I covered that trip in this post.

After New York, we were home four days then off to the Coast of Maine near Boothbay Harbor to an island called Southport.  We stayed in an old time resort, the Newagen Seaside Inn on the tip of the island.  

Their gardens, sweeping lawns and 240 degree views of the water were joyous.  Fall garden decor is big in New England.

No beach but a typical, rocky Maine shore.  The ocean is too darn cold for swimming. 

So we relaxed.

By the way, these are my photos with my new camera bought for me by my husband for my upcoming trip to New Orleans in October. (I think he's tired of my asking him to upload his photos to the web so I can use them  :o)