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Christmas was in the air on November 23, 2006 when the little town of Littleton, New Hampshire celebrated the beginning of the holiday season with a downtown parade. A marching band, bedecked in red, looked and sounded very festive. Also marching was a junior ROTC unit, a fine looking group of young people in uniform, standing straight and looking very professional.

A float carried “Mary and the baby Jesus, and Joseph,” accompanied by a crowd of other youngsters and “shepherds.”

The brass band above did a great job and seemed to be comprised of the senior crowd.

The “Grinch,” probably waiting to steal Christmas again, could be seen on the back of the neatest little red car I’ve ever seen in my life. It looked like a miniature dune buggy, and he was able to stand upright on the back of it.

Several politicians were walking the route, accompanied by vehicles, and they warmly greeted the crowd.

Another lady was walking along with bags of candy and every time she saw children, she reached in her bag and threw a handful of candies their way.

The parade was over in a flash but it had been adequate to draw a crowd downtown. Afterwards, people were seen entering stores and restaurants, and going to a craft fair at a downtown church. Everyone appeared to be in good spirits.

We often eat at the Oasis Restaurant, whenever we are in town. However, on this particular day, we were not in the mood for Italian food. We decided to try “Topic of the Town.” We found the food there to be excellent and priced right.

After that, we stopped by the Grist Mill to pick up some muffin mix and a bag of Balsam. Jim took some great pictures of the Amonoosuc River behind the mill, looking both upstream and downstream, from a covered bridge that has a walkway and is just for people.

The day warmed up, and as we got into the car to leave, I noticed some Box Elder “bugs” on the side of a concrete wall, in the sun. They were grouped together closely, and I’d never seen so many altogether like that. Luckily, those were the only “bugs” on our day trip.

Small town life in New Hampshire is great. I am not sure what the population of Littleton is. It is certainly a smaller area than say, Portsmouth, Manchester, Concord, Nashua, or Keene.

We like the flavor of the north country. Littleton’s downtown area has some very upscale shopping such as a superb cooking store, a terrific bookstore, and many other little specialty shops.

Thought you might enjoy the photos.

Pat and Jim

I am very lucky to have such a supportive and artistic husband. On the index page of our website, you will see the current result of a collaborative effort of ours, this past summer. If you can imagine it, I was sitting in the sweltering heat of last August, hand embroidering on, all the bricks of the fireplace scene, and needleturning all of the flames.

The resultant “mini-quilt” took far more doing than I’d originally planned. However, Jim and I both like the final result and we hope that you enjoy the miniature vignette we created.

Keep happy thoughts.

Pat and Jim

I was born in New Hampshire and I’m proud of it. The state has been home to some pretty remarkable people…even quilters!

In the many years I have lived here, there has not been an earthquake, a tsunami, or a tornado. We did have a three foot high snow in March recently, and we did experience the “Flood of 2006″ which caused major devastation in parts of the state, including our own backyard.

A lot has been written about New Hampshire and its people. There will be more chapters to write, as people flock into the state because we have no sales tax, or general state income tax. The wealthy are charged interest on their investment income. The result of virtually no shared taxes is that the burden of paying for the infrastructure of the state, its roads, and its schools, falls to the property owner.

I am pretty amazed when I see how developed my old neighborhood in Manchester has become; and I am equally in awe, when I drive through Deerfield, where my parents owned a farm. New homes stand, or are being built, where there were once trees or fields. There is not a cow in sight, in that once booming, small farm community. The farm’s fields where I once rode horses now sport a luxury home with a four car garage and a surround porch.

Such is life. It changes, and not always for the best, although we usually try “to grin and bear it.” What else can one do? At the same time, we long for the “old days” because they seemed to be simpler times.

As a friend pointed out recently, and I agree, all of life is a trade off. If you have “this,” then chances are you cannot have “that.” Or, as the old timers would say, “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.”

I’m going to borrow a line from another famous quilter who lives in the neighboring state of Maine. Please visit us…and then, please go home.

It’s not that New Englanders are all unfriendly and curmudgeonly. We are just running out of space, and most of us who have been here for awhile, long for the open spaces of the past, where deer could be seen grazing in the fields, where pheasants found food by the side of the road, and where one really didn’t see very many wild animals because they had not been displaced from their natural habitat so that someone could build a condo.

Be well and happy, and whatever you do, please don’t mention what a great place New Hampshire is!

Pat

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I prefer to live in an old house. Our home, built in 1821 by a well-to-do business owner, is still structurally sound. I like the fact that the house itself, and its inhabitants form a history of its own. Abel J. Baker, Jr., who built the house, was the father of Nathaniel Baker who served as Governor of the state of New Hampshire in 1854.

This much is certain. He studied law under Franklin Pierce, and he knew Daniel Webster who lived just up the road a piece in Boscawen, NH. I have seen photos of our street before it was paved, and when it was lined with Elm trees before an Elm tree disease wiped out that certain variety of Elm tree, around here. I don’t know if the great statesman, Daniel Webster, was politically aligned with Baker or not, but Webster would have passed by our home, on the way to the State Legislature in downtown Concord, NH. I can’t help but wonder if President Pierce, or Daniel Webster were ever visitors at this home.

We can know so much about history, and yet so many details of daily life can escape us, after the fact, and be difficult, if not impossible, to reconstruct. We wonder why there is writing in a closet that says, “Don’t spit on the floor.” For whom, exactly, was that message intended in that tobacco chewing age? We wonder how many fireplaces this house originally had, and what the hearth/bread oven looked like. We wonder why there had been a set of exterior stairs to the third floor. Someone surmised that the unheated quarters there were for the kitchen help. Where was the “birthing room?” We found a “dance card” which leads us to wonder where, exactly, the dance was held.

So many questions…perhaps we should hold a seance to try to divine the answers. Only kidding. However, did you know that seances were a popular pastime in the nineteenth century? The prevailing opinion was that people could convene with the deceased.

That aside, I stray from the point. We discovered a link to more information about Nathaniel Baker. I am proud of his accomplishments! In my opinion, anyone who signed an act allowing women to write their own will is an all right fellow. To read more about him, access this link:

http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/glikeness/bakenath.html

This year, as we give thanks around a table filled with the delectable food, please take a moment to think about the origins of the holiday. The pilgrims celebrated a Day of Thanks by fasting. George Washington called for a similar day in 1789. Our present American celebration has roots in the activism of one New Hampshire born woman, Sarah Josepha Hale. Widowed at a young age, she was “discovered,” due to her many poems and her brand new novel, at the time, Northwood.

With her five young children, she left for Boston to take the position of editor of Ladies Magazine. For years, she labored intensely to have the president of the United States declare an official Thanksgiving Day. President Abraham Lincoln agreed to proclaim such an annual holiday.

Of course, in the interest of time and space, I am leaving out a lot of details.

“N.H. Native Envisions Thanksgiving!” is an article that I wrote for Unravel the Gavel newspaper, November 17, 2006 (Volume 17, Number 10). As best I could, within the scope of available space, I have described Sarah Josepha Hale’s life.

This paper is available by subscription, and is also free to pick up at select antique stores in New England area. The article includes very special copies of colorplate illustrations from Godey’s Lady’s Book, the publication which Hale edited until two years before her death (at 91).

When I give thanks this year, I will remember my wonderful editors. They follow a long line of strong women who made a difference in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and are continuing to be the voice of women today. By their editorials and selections for content, they serve as trend setters, and the social conscience of our society.

Sarah Josepha Buell Hale: just one woman, but what an impact! Remember her kindly as you “break bread together.” The index page of our website now features a song that is appropriate for Thanksgiving, and information about a contemporary of Hale who gave us a Thanksgiving poem.

Pat