Keene, New Hampshire

Cindy, Chris, David and Jim

Today I reconnected with a cousin I have not seen in 35 years.  Jim and I toured the town that David moved to for college and ended up remaining in all of these years since.  David, being one year older than me, must have moved here in roughly 1968.  Over the course of time he graduated from college, met and married Cindy-his wife of 40 years, had children and established himself as a successful businessman.    Like my Jim, David was in the insurance business until he retired at the age of 55.  Now he owns an ice cream shop.  He makes authentic maple syrup in the old tradition with his son in the winter which they sell as well, tapping 2000 maple trees in the middle of winter during a window of only two and a half weeks while the sap runs.  Cindy is a Realtor and in her spare time she runs a dairy and farm business.  Theirs is a life many would dream of here in Walpole, N.H. with family and friends surrounding them that only such a stable life can bestow.

Door to the Episcopal Church.

Gates to Keene State College

Insurance agency my cousin was president of before retiring.

Tree lined main street of Keene, N.H.

Keene is a college town and vibrant compared to some of the towns we have seen in New England.  Broad, tree-lined streets and busy shops surround the college and there is a draw to the academic life I can feel just driving by the gates of the college.  I can easily see why my cousin chooses to spend his life here.  While I have traveled far and wide around the world and back, this town could be right up there on the list of places I could easily settle into (not withstanding the winters which I will never get my Jim to agree to deal with nor at this age do I believe I could readapt to living with snow either!  But what if....? )

The road to Walpole, N.H.

My cousin's ice cream shop in Walpole, N.H.

I ended the day with a walk to an organic farm adjacent to our RV park in Brattleboro, VT.  How easy to buy dinner selecting corn literally just picked and other items only hours from the garden.  Nothing can compare to vegetables this fresh.  I could easily become a total vegetarian if I lived close enough to this stand.  I can not remember the last time I ate a peach picked from the tree when it was truly ripe and so juicy the juice ran down your fingers.  This is the way “life (and food) should be” as they say in Maine.