I am a knitter, a drawer and eraser, a collector of rocks, grower of flowers, and an admirer of textiles, gardens, and art.
I
live at Herb's end with Mr. Fix-it and our 90+ year old mothers. We
call the place Herb's end in honor of Herbert who lived here before us.
Herb's twin brother, Hermon bought this place for his family when he and Herb were both attending Massachusetts Agricultural College (MAC or "Mass Aggie" - now UMass/Amherst). Herb took over this place when Hermon's wife died and he moved back to the Cape, in 1952.
Herb did graduate work in Wildlife Management which involved counting grouse on Mt. Toby until the hurricane of 1938 destroyed his research-site. He never married and lived here alone for 34 years. Eventually, in 1984 he had a fatal heart attack while out mowing the grass one summer evening. The lawn mower ran into the night until it ran out of gas. Neighbors found him lying in the grass beside his old mower the next day.
Herb's nieces and nephews came through the house before we bought it and they took the things they wanted, but they left a lot behind. "Bits and bobs" were scattered and stacked all over the house when we moved in. In the yard were abandoned chicken coops, boats, cars, and stacks of rotting lumber. The barn and sheds were falling down and grapes and bittersweet weighed heavily on the old apple trees.
There was a lot to weed through and recycle. We didn't keep the old wooden skis with the bear-trap bindings or the catgut tennis rackets, or Edison cylinders. But we still have boxes of old pictures, letters and ledgers. We kept a box of ivory veneers, ebony keys, and the four giant legs from an ancient piano, heaps of old magazines and sheet music, ball jars, and a favorite of mine -- a box of fossils that Herb had labeled with the date and place of discovery--they were all from Western MA.
When weeded through this stuff, thirty years ago, we hoped to find something to help us pay off our new mortgage. We found so many things that suggested a life well lived, but no rare coins, bonds, or hidden money. We would have just cashed that stuff in. The things that really mattered to them, somehow matters to us, and we still have it.
From the stuff that was left behind, I am quite sure that I would have liked Herb. I know that we both like reading, gardening, birds, and rocks. And I know we both care about this little plot of land and this old house. Herb's end.
... And Now, opened at Herb's end, The All Day Cafe.
Last year our 91 and 90 year old mothers moved in with us.
Pause here to let that sink in.
This wasn't something we had imagined or planned for ourselves, but it was the right timing for our mothers and it is working out pretty well for all of us. We are doing our best to give them a warm, healthy and happy home. An added bonus is that they also have each other and are now good friends. They reminisce about where they came from and the people they knew in the NH town they both lived in before coming here.
Dear Mr. Fix-it and I still find time to do the things we love to do. Last year we took up fly fishing and it gives us a chance to be away by ourselves for a few hours in beautiful settings. I have some of Herb's old fly fishing paraphernalia, and I think he would approve.
Why write about it?
This blog is a place to record, organize, expand on ideas -- to bounce them around and keep my head from exploding.
Herb's twin brother, Hermon bought this place for his family when he and Herb were both attending Massachusetts Agricultural College (MAC or "Mass Aggie" - now UMass/Amherst). Herb took over this place when Hermon's wife died and he moved back to the Cape, in 1952.
Herb did graduate work in Wildlife Management which involved counting grouse on Mt. Toby until the hurricane of 1938 destroyed his research-site. He never married and lived here alone for 34 years. Eventually, in 1984 he had a fatal heart attack while out mowing the grass one summer evening. The lawn mower ran into the night until it ran out of gas. Neighbors found him lying in the grass beside his old mower the next day.
Herb's nieces and nephews came through the house before we bought it and they took the things they wanted, but they left a lot behind. "Bits and bobs" were scattered and stacked all over the house when we moved in. In the yard were abandoned chicken coops, boats, cars, and stacks of rotting lumber. The barn and sheds were falling down and grapes and bittersweet weighed heavily on the old apple trees.
There was a lot to weed through and recycle. We didn't keep the old wooden skis with the bear-trap bindings or the catgut tennis rackets, or Edison cylinders. But we still have boxes of old pictures, letters and ledgers. We kept a box of ivory veneers, ebony keys, and the four giant legs from an ancient piano, heaps of old magazines and sheet music, ball jars, and a favorite of mine -- a box of fossils that Herb had labeled with the date and place of discovery--they were all from Western MA.
When weeded through this stuff, thirty years ago, we hoped to find something to help us pay off our new mortgage. We found so many things that suggested a life well lived, but no rare coins, bonds, or hidden money. We would have just cashed that stuff in. The things that really mattered to them, somehow matters to us, and we still have it.
From the stuff that was left behind, I am quite sure that I would have liked Herb. I know that we both like reading, gardening, birds, and rocks. And I know we both care about this little plot of land and this old house. Herb's end.
... And Now, opened at Herb's end, The All Day Cafe.
Last year our 91 and 90 year old mothers moved in with us.
Pause here to let that sink in.
This wasn't something we had imagined or planned for ourselves, but it was the right timing for our mothers and it is working out pretty well for all of us. We are doing our best to give them a warm, healthy and happy home. An added bonus is that they also have each other and are now good friends. They reminisce about where they came from and the people they knew in the NH town they both lived in before coming here.
Dear Mr. Fix-it and I still find time to do the things we love to do. Last year we took up fly fishing and it gives us a chance to be away by ourselves for a few hours in beautiful settings. I have some of Herb's old fly fishing paraphernalia, and I think he would approve.
Why write about it?
This blog is a place to record, organize, expand on ideas -- to bounce them around and keep my head from exploding.