Reflections on New England

4:56 PM Edit This 1 Comment »

Part 1

My neighbor plays jazz. Well, actually, he doesn't "play;" I suppose it would be more accurate to say he listens to jazz. He listens loudly. It's the type of jazz that you listen to at full volume, or at least he does; it's the type of jazz that has a bass, not a bass guitar, but a big bass. The type of bass that goes

"THOOM, THOOM, THOOM . . . THOOM THOOM THOOM."

The bass goes on and on never stopping, thooming it's way into your core.

My husband and I were carrying some boxes out on to the patio of our apartment. The neighbor pops his head out and says,

"Hey I see you guys just moved in."

Even an obvious statement said in a New England accent can be amusing. My husband speaks I would much rather listen than talk to a stranger.

"Yep we just moved in today." "Have you been living here long?"

"Nah I been here about a week. Where are you guys from?"

"Originally Rochester, NY but we just moved up here from Arkansas. We were going to school down there. Where are you from?"

"I'm from Mass. Seems like a nice place here."

I'm from Mass. What the heck is Mass? I process that he is from Massachusetts. Now Massachusetts is a long word but it takes no more time to say than Mississippi, California, or Oklahoma. I find his abbreviated state use preposterous to say the least. I keep an ear out for him for the next few days. Boisterous Spanish speaking woman come on his patio, an odd occurrence in the white out of New Hampshire. I realize that this gentleman neighbor of mine may only be the beginning of peculiar happenings.

Part 2

Rural New England is the America that America left behind. The people are friendly, but strange. The culture is costal whatever that means. All of the towns have historic and elaborate downtowns. The barista at the local coffee/book/icecream shop said to me,

"New Hampshire is cute, that's really the only thing you can say about it. It's just so darn cute. People say that Vermont is cuter, but it's not and honestly they're the same state anyway."

She's right, the barista. Everything about New Hampshire is picturesque, from the stone houses with red barns to the sprawling creeks and rolling countryside. It's beautiful.

If the government decided the whole state of New Hampshire needed to go back to buggy use and leave the cars, I think the people would agree, as long as they were allowed to use their cars to haul their kayaks and canoes. The cars seem almost odd against the countryside that time forgot. Since I've lived here, less than a week, I have seen Lama's, Horses, Sheep, and Cows. There are wineries and places that make their own wool and yarn. Seriously, who does that.

The pace of life is different here. It's not slow like the south but more of a meander. Possessions, work, destinations, they are all important, but life is important. Being outside and spending quality time with the people around you. It sounds like a Hallmark movie, but it is all true. The barista's name is Emily; she is 24 and has lived in New Hampshire her entire life. She enjoys browsing through the books at the back of the coffee shop. How many people know that much about someone they've met once.

1 comments:

Mel said...

yay! it's fun when people find me online. hope everything is going well for you! say hi to jeremy for me.

p.s. now i have someone else's blog to keep uup with :-)

4:58 PM  

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