Friday, June 27, 2008

Unexpected scavenger hunt

We got an invitation to attend "Lizard Bowling" at 6:45 in Hanson - so off I went with Jamie and Joe, having no idea what "lizard" bowling actually is. When we got to the bowladrome at 6:30 the only person there was the attendant at the desk. The old man assured I he also had no idea what Lizard Bowling was but because they never do that sort of stuff here, we must be mistaken and we want to try the Hanover Alley's. 15 minutes drive later, we still did not find what we were looking for - only another virtually deserted facility. Dissapointed, yes - but determined to salvage something positive I decided we are close to Building 19-1/3 and I need new sandals. I found my new footwear, and a couple of those collapsable camping chairs (although we call them "bunny show chairs") - one a rocker and one a recliner! Joe and Jamie also found a couple of cheap prizes, and away we went. While cutting through Bryantville on our way back, I recalled that we would be going by the Mt Pleasant Cemetary where many Everson ancestors are buried - including the elusive Erastus Everson. Having never been there before we decided to try to find some ancestoral gravestones so we could let Mary know. I promised a dollar to whoever found my ancient uncle. After finding everybody BUT Erastus (and I knew he was there because brother-in-law Scott told me he's seen the stone there) it occurred to me that we should be looking for American Flags because of course Major Erastus W. Everson was a Civil War veteran and would be marked with a flag. Now the boys could run from flag to flag until Jamie yelled "FOUND HIM!".





Thursday, June 26, 2008

The Garden - 2008

Our garden is of course a living growing entity, but it seems that our patio is also growing. Scott noticed it right away when he arrived for our annual "Friends of Youth Ministry" cookout, but in case you are not in a position to view it up close and personal I'll gladly show you.


This is circa 2005


















this is circa 2007



















this is 2008









Monday, June 23, 2008

Just in case you want to get jealous

usually we want summer to stay as long as possible, but this year I (we) can't wait for November! Eat your heart out!

http://www.sandals.com/main/lucia/lu-home.cfm

But I found out today that the resort is about 60% full as of now, which means there are openings if anyone wants to meet us there.

Ya.

You will be getting the ol' "My friends went to St Lucia and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" tee shirt.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

CELTIC'S PRIDE - My Kind'a Team


Most kids develop a love of sports early and forever bond to their favorite teams from their childhood. I was born in the perfect time and place. The Patriots came into existence when I was 5. They were never the favorites, always the underdogs, but had colorful personnel (offensive lineman Lenny St. Jean owned a seedy bar in Hanson back in the day). The Sox had the Impossible Dream team when I was 12 and went from lovable losers to colorful lovable underdog World Series losers. The Big Bad Bruins - always underdogs to les Canadiens - had Orr and Espo and a working-class team of lesser known under-rated players in my prime teen years. But it was the Celtic's who taught Boston how to be winners. They were built to win, expected to win, and they did - in historic fashion. Red Auerbach mastered the concept of "role players" blending with stars who didn't act or think like stars. Everyone knew their role and knew that success depended on them accepting and fulfilling their roles. And succeed they did - when I was 2,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11, 13 & 14 (and more again later). "THEY" (the opponents) always had the nationally recognized prima dona superstar. They liked Wilt better than Russell, Magic better than Bird, Anyone better than Havlicek (heck - he wasn't even a starter half the time but invented the "6th Player" concept and turned it into an annual award) We always had the "defense first, just doin' my part" stars who understood that the guy coming off the bench and doing his job was equally important as the starter doing his job. The 2007-2008 Celtics "got it". They had the stars who didn't care about being "stars" and they had the role players who played their roles with pride and tenacity. Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and House and Posey et al became champions last night. Paul Pierce became a series MVP and a "Celtic Legend" last night while being his teams 4th highest scorer of the game. He was happy with the points he scored but was proud of how he minimized Kobe's impact -totally not the thoughts of a typical superstar, but totally the thoughts of a "Celtic Champion". Garnett and Allen will someday be "Hall-of-Famers" and be forever associated with a great Celtic's championship. Pierce became "rafter-worthy", earning an undeniable place alongside Russell & Cousey & Havlicek & Bird & all the others.

Congratulations to the Celtic's on becoming Champ's (again).

Congratulations to Paul Pierce on becoming one of the "All Time Celtic Greats".

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Thank You Mr Bush

Don't get me wrong. I'm very glad that Mr Bush is giving us some extra money back - but if he thinks that the average American is going to splurge on frivolous toys instead of paying bills or filling their gas tank, he's stupider than we think (and, as if every taxpayer buying $300 worth of stuff is going to fix everything - he's a total Dupe who thinks WE are total Dupes).

Sue & I are actually lucky in that we are getting about as much as anyone possibly can. I could wipe out most (but not all) of our overdue bills with it - or I could get some car work done and pay for Julies driver Ed - or I could partially pay for any one of a number of house maintenance projects long overdue. In the end, lots of these items will be left as they have been for years - still pending. We will pay off some debt, we will pump the septic tank, we will help Julie, we will fill three vehicles gas tanks, and I hope stop the leaky bathtub. We will still need a new roof, windows, doors, tires, and ball joints. Honestly, some of it will pay for our campsite and gas to get to North Conway for the 4th of July, and some of it has been put towards our fall St Lucia trip - but honestly, we were going struggle but still do those even without the "Stimulus Refund" so you can't actually say that it helped the economy. It will help us accomplish these things a bit easier though. My to-do list will be slightly shorter for a month or two (maybe). The economy won't be the least bit better, gas prices (all prices) will still be climbing much faster than my paycheck, but I will still say "Thank you Mr. President for your misguided, misinformed and foolishly optimistic game-plan. I really wish I could buy a new guitar or laptop or big-screen TV - but I'm grateful for the help in avoiding bankruptcy or forecloser or credit card debt or repossession or any of the many financial disasters that so many Americans are facing". Now if only somebody could think of a plan to fix the economy so we can get a raise so we can buy cool stuff.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

A feeling of entitlement


As kids growing up we simply felt that the world around us was ours to use as we saw fit. The fields in Hall’s Farm, the woods behind Casoli’s, the river behind the Colley’s & Hannigans, Urrans Pond, Grampa Mac’s Pond (actually his land on Maquan Pond), and all points in between – we understood that other people technically owned this land but “why shouldn’t we be allowed to play there unconditionally?”

Now as a grown-up parent, I try to teach my own kids respect for other peoples property and privacy, and I hate it when they act as if they are entitled to anything. I then of course feel guilty (I can’t believe we were so self-centered as kids) and hypocritical (why should I deny them the same sense of freedom that we enjoyed?).

Part of my dilemma has been somewhat resolved (or at least rationalized for me) recently. Mary’s love of – and now career in – genealogy has prompted me to research my own family’s local history. Combined with brother Wes’ collection of old family anecdotes and history, it has led me to know why we as kids felt entitled to free reign of our environs. It’s because of the Everson’s! Back in the 1800’s around the time that Pembroke’s West parish became the separate town of Hanson, the Everson clan was apparently omni-present – there were tons of them and they multiplied with great success. They apparently lived all around the east and south sides of Hanson. My great-great-great grandfather Barnabas Everson owned a large parcel between what is now Indian Head Street and Wamputuck Pond. It included all of what is now, the Little League Field complex, the Hanson Town Forest and further south along the road as well. He married into the Howland/Bates family who owned land across the street and extending back to Maquan Pond (ring a bell?). At some later point in time he purchased and moved to a large tract of farmland along side of the railroad tracks by the South Hanson Station. This would be the farm we as kids knew as “Hall’s Farm”. The house I grew up in at 30 Phillips St was built for my great-great-grandmother Imogene McClellan (Barnabas’ daughter. It stands to reason that all of Phillips St was once part of the larger Everson Farm parcel. I never knew until very recently that our neighbor (3 houses up the street) Mr. Ford was actually Grampa Mac’s cousin. Our neighbors 2 houses up were Howlands, and the house next door was my great-grandfather Roddy McClellan. I never realized it before but it’s all starting to make sense now – it was all a “family compound”! And we don’t have to travel far to see the reach that the clan had. 300 yards east on Main street is where Barnabas owned a saw mill and hired George McClellan (who married his daughter Imogene) to build the huge chimney which still stands prominently today. George and Imogene’s grandson Edgar (Grampa Mac) married Sally Annis who eventually lived at 30 Phillips St. Her parents lived for awhile in a house tucked away behind Urran’s Pond. Great-grandfather Billy Annis was found dead in the woods behind the Plymouth County Hospital (where now is housed the local 4-H extension office) on High St – geographically about halfway between Phillips St and Maquan Pond. So you see, without knowing it, we WERE entitled to having all of South Hanson as our playground. It was genetically and historically pre-destined and all of our neighbors were aware of our connection to this corner of the world even if we kids weren’t. That must be why they never complained (not out loud anyway) much if we short-cutted through their yards and built forts in their woods.

Now none of the Phillips St. neighbors are relatives, homes long since sold and resold. Only Nenna (Mom) and my sister Heather (the product of a Howland/McClellan Phillips St marriage) and baby Jessica remain as direct descendants on the Phillips St “ancestral homestead”. Aunt Maria, cousin Mo, and her children remain on the Maquan Pond “ancestral homesite”. The rest of us have relocated to places where it will be impossible for our children’s children to feel an entitlement to. Our half-acre in Carver will never be sub-divided into a family compound (unless Joe moves into the chicken coop and Jamie lives in the tree fort – don’t laugh, it’s not much different than the set-up that Aunt Sally and the Doyle cousins are living in right now - and on less land!).

I want my kids to understand why “The Pond” is important, so that they will respect it and revere it accordingly. Maybe this is why I maintain an unrealistic dream to someday acquire the “Pond” land (I’d obviously have to win big on the MegaMillions, offer Maria a really sweet deal, and count on the fact that she loves Sue & Mary so much!! She’s only seven years older than me, so based on MY genetics she will most likely outlive me – not that I hold any preferential standing in her list of potential heirs anyway!)

I suppose that at some point in time - hopefully not in MY lifetime - the Pond land with get sub-divided and built on, restricting access and eventually getting lost and absorbed into the rest of the bigger outside world.

So maybe I’ll start anew and spend my "bound-to-happen-any-day-now" lottery ticket windfall buying a 200 acre farm/mountain in New Hampshire where my kids can continue on after I am gone – generations of my own offspring having unexplained feelings of entitlement to the land of their fore-fathers. Maybe 150 years from now some young descendant will try to figure out who I was and what I did and why I mattered.

(if he figures it out, I hope he holds a séance and explains it to me!)

Friday, June 06, 2008

If you go to San Francisco be sure to wear some flowers in your hair



I've been singing this song in my head all day today. It was sung by "The Mama's and the Papa's" in 1967.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_%28Be_Sure_to_Wear_Flowers_in_Your_Hair%29
At the high school it's "Decade Day" and the decade is 1960's. The kids are encouraged to research the assigned decade and dress accordingly for the day.

In 1967 I was 12 years old so although I didn't drop acid and attend sit-ins or Grateful Dead concerts, I have indelible images of the times. So as I drove to the school this morning to drop off scrambled eggs (3 dozen from our own hens) for the teacher appreciation brunch, there was my beautiful Julie all decked out in sandals, ankle length earth-tones skirt, peace sign necklaces, and a hand-made daisy wreath in her long flowing slightly unkempt blonde hair. She was 100% authentic - absolutely the perfect image of the stereotypical San Francisco hippy girl with a bouquet of flowers to put in the National Guardsmens gun barrels (thankfully there were none of them there). Talk about sensory stimuli triggering flashbacks. If she doesn't win the prize for "Best Outfit", the judges obviously didn't live during those times and therefore don't recognize the authenticity of her "look".

As she climbed out of the van (shame it wasn't decked out like the Scooby-Doo van) she innocently wondered aloud if she might be able to organize a sit-in just to try to be more authentic. She is such a living anachronism! She wasn't simply imitating a hippy - she actually is one, just born 40 years too late.