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Weather Patterns

Posted by abohan Minggu, 23 Desember 2012 0 komentar

It is time.
The first snowfalls have skirted through the Lakes Region and although there have been only a few morning frosts worthy of car window scraping, it's clear that the season has altered, that the annual lifestyle switch has begun.
Time to head out to the outdoor shed, to "retiree" the autumn rake in an annual ritual - and time to reactivating the snow shovel.

That's when you notice... Sitting in a corner are the accoutrements of "summer": folded-up beach chairs, an oversized colorful dusty umbrella, a plastic baseball bat and whiffle ball.
Looking peculiarly isolated, they call back to you: "Remember when we went to the lake together? What about that picnic in the park by the shore?"

But it's now impossible now to comprehend exactly what these objects are, or what they're used for.

"Sorry, but we have no time for the beach now. Got to get sand in the car trunk. Have to find warm winter gloves and waterproof the kids' boots.

What exactly are those things, anyway?

***

Drive around the Lakes Region at night this time of year for another foreign experience.

Once, homeowners simply put up small color lights to show their Christmas sprit.

Now giant inflated figures sit on snow-specked yards, broadcasting the "joyous" season.

Overblown Santas. Too-puffy Teddy Bears. Exorbitant reindeer... All with an eerie white light shining from within.

Last night, on a Laconia street corner, some inflatable friends some how escaped their moorings and were wishing folks Season's Greetings from a sidewalk, halfway down the block from their original residence.

But if you drive by the next morning, it's an even scarier scene.

Here lies the plastic puddle of vinyl "skin" of your holiday heroes - deflated, depreciated, demolished.

(Let's hope the kids never stumble upon this gruesome scene and piece together all the evidence.)

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In the Water

Posted by abohan Selasa, 27 November 2012 0 komentar

The Laconia Daily Sun recently reported that the state has bought land alongside Alton Bay for a "real" boat launch on Lake Winnipesaukee.
"Glenn Normandeau, executive director of the NH Fish & Game Department, Harilla Landing on Long Island in Moultonborough, the only other state-owned launch on Lake Winnipeaukee, as a 'nightmare'."
Good news or not?

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Not The Real Lakes Region

Posted by abohan Sabtu, 17 November 2012 0 komentar

The new cover photo on our company Facebook page is not really from the Lakes Region but it does call to mind the wonderful "state-of-mind" our summers create.

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The View from...

Posted by abohan Kamis, 23 Agustus 2012 0 komentar

A central New Jersey blogger offers this insight into summer life in the Lakes Region. "Here, Up North, you can disappear from the madding crowds which pretend to be a part of the civilized world."
Your reaction?

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"We Ride!"

Posted by abohan Jumat, 15 Juni 2012 0 komentar

What an amazing Bike Week!
In almost 20 years, cannot recall more perfect weather. Except for a morning mid-week, it's been fabulous. Warm, sunny, a bit of clouds... Ride, enjoy - and be safe!

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"The Summer Wind Came Blowin' In..."

Posted by abohan Senin, 28 Mei 2012 0 komentar

Why call it the 'unofficial start' of the summer?
Memorial Day weekend is the 'official' start of summer in the Lakes Region. The only day that may be more 'official' is the first Saturday after the kids get out of school because that's when some folks begin their longer vacations. (It certainly has nothing to do with June 21, which is strictly a meteorological issue.).
The good news is that we're ready this year - temperatures have been in the seventies and eighties, the windows open at night... And the bugs - ticks, mosquitoes, spiders, etc. - are in full bloom. (Sorry about that.)

"Well, it's finally here," she said as we drove home last night from a Memorial Day barbecue at our friends' house. "It really is the first day of summer. Look at the trees. They're all bright summer greens. The pale spring yellows are all gone... They just seemed to have faded away.
"Usually the lilacs are just coming out at this time. But this year, they're already gone," she sighed.

Now it's time to note some recent social changes in the Lakes Region.
Like the opening of a new AYCE pancake house called "Griddle in the Middle" on Rte. 3, halfway between Meredith and Weirs Beach. Reportedly, a slew of topping choices are available.
And the new Lakeside Famous Roast Beef, Pizza and Seafood in Laconia. It's a friendly, tasty place that's bound to grab its share of the area's 'summer food' market.

And an uncommon view recently seen in a gas station off Interstate 93 in Holderness.
A car, with its back seat filled with mounted animal heads: moose, bears, etc.
They were probably purchased at the auction held at The Balsams Resort in the White Mountains a few weeks back. The new owners of the historic property sold virtually everything in their buildings off at a public sale.
They may have no use for the mounted animal heads, but it's a sure bet that some antique dealer in Boston is going to find a profitable way to dispose of them.

You just don't see this stuff everywhere.

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Good Poochie News

Posted by abohan Rabu, 02 Mei 2012 0 komentar

More Lakes Region Seasonal Rentals Allow Pets

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A Big City Guy Comes Home to Smalltown, USA

Posted by abohan Sabtu, 28 April 2012 0 komentar

This column by Joe Kock, Sr., was written several years ago, but it's a fitting reminder of what makes life in the Lakes Region so charming.

I was born in rural Pennsylvania, where, in early June, young boys shed their shoes at one end and their hair at the other, the former thereafter to be worn only to church and the latter to be regrown in time for school daze in the fall, and where life was a series of animated Norman Rockwell paintings.

It was pure and simple Americana, free of the frantic pace of city existence, with its standoffish interpersonal relationships, competitive atmosphere, stressful challenges, coldness, cruelty, crime and commercialism. Airs were to be inhaled, rather than put on, neighbors were friends, friends were for life, and the living was easy, even when times were hard. People cared about each other, and nobody seemed to be in a hurry to tilt at windmills, slay dragons or invade the Guinness Book of Records.

I couldn't, even as a barefoot boy, wait to escape from what I then perceived to be a restrictive cocoon, yearning as I did for the excitement, adventure, challenge and opportunity that only the big city had to offer.

Fast forward seventy years or so, during which period I tasted the thrill of victory, endured the agony of defeat, sowed and reaped the blessings of a loving family, avoided the grim reaper, entered a comfortable state of active retirement and, most recently, rediscovered Smalltown, USA.

I divided those intervening years between the urban hurly-burly of Philadelphia and the emerging metropolis of Miami, Florida, which has since grown to mini-hurly-burly status.

My gradual return to boyhood roots began with a getaway home in Key Largo, Fla., where there was and is, happily, little in the way of bright lights, traffic lights, honking horns or reasons to dress up and step out, and where the lifestyle is no more frantic than an afternoon siesta.

During my subsequent retreat from the coat-and-tie life of business and the chicken-and-peas life on the lecture circuit, that second home became a first and shoes again gave way to bare feet or Birkenstock sandals - ugly as spit, but celestially comfortable. (The hair remains intact all year around, unless and until Father Time or Mother Nature conspire to remove it.)

Key Largo's laid-back atmosphere is somewhat reminiscent of my birthplace, and now feels more embracing than confining, since I have conquered or outlived most of my demons and made peace with those remaining.

But my love affair with Smalltown, USA was consummated when Firstwife and I discovered Holderness.

It all started with a leaf-peeping tour of the New England foliage seven Octobers ago and progressed through summer visits of increasing length. These hiatuses led to home ownership in the Squam Lake area, made famous as the Golden Pond occupied by Hepburn, Fonda and a fish known as "Walter, that sonofabitch!"

Holderness has a birth date of 1761, a population of 1,930, and an elevation of 600 feet. "Downtown" consists of a post office, public library, science center, community theater, country store, filling station, marina, boat ramp, restaurant, and that's about all. Surrounding towns take up the commercial slack, which "slack" is part of the community's charm.

At the heart of that charm is the warmth and friendliness of the people who live there, both the thin-blooded Southerners who, like us, flee in terror before the first falling snowflake and the hardy folk who brave the elements when the ice lake is thicker than a ward heeler's head and even the fur-coated bears have the good sense to stay indoors.

Since only some fortunate residents have home delivery, the post office is a place at which to tarry and catch up with the local news; as is the "transfer station," a halfway house for rubbish, reached via the appropriately-named "Ta Da Dump Road."

Shopkeepers, local government personnel, police officers and those who fix things are uniformly unhurried, considerate and helpful; requests for service are most often responded to with a cheerful "no problem," or the indigenous "SHOO-ah."

Then there is that glorious Autumn, when nature seems to stretch a riotous drop cloth of color between lakes and sky, making the entire region an endless kaleidoscope of picture postcards.

It's called Holderness, but we've come to know it as HolderNICE, and this country-boy-turned-city-slicker has come back home!

He will, however, find solace in the summery winter of his other beloved small town in the fabulous Florida Keys.

How and why, Firstwife and I ask ourselves daily, did we get so lucky?

Joe Klock, Sr. is a freelance writer who spends his summers and falls in the Lakes Region, and the remainder of the year in Key Largo, FL . You can e-mail him at joeklock@aol.com or call (305) 451-0079

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Great Music, Great Deal

Posted by abohan Kamis, 26 April 2012 0 komentar

Great Waters is making Great Offer: Be among the first to buy tickets for this season's program and get a free Peter Ferber poster!
Great Waters Music Festival

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Temperatures Setting Records

Posted by abohan Senin, 16 April 2012 0 komentar

The air today was delicious.

It was warm in the Lakes Region – hot even, with temperatures around the area in the mid-to-upper 80s.

But it wasn’t "summertime" hot. It wasn’t sticky. It wasn't "wet". You had to be working outside around if you wanted to work up a sweat.

It was "nice" – with a soft wind.

A good day to be on the lake.

It wasn’t like that week in March, the week when, as JP says, “Florida came to visit us this winter, for a change.”

It was but a single day. The next few are supposed to be more temperate.

But today, the sun powered down, pushing out the clouds that filled the sky most of the last week. The birds picked up their songs just where they'd left off last autumn. Windows were opened and you could hear voices of your neighbors, and the music playing in that car parked across the street.

Tonight, a half-mile from the center of our busiest town, the stars sprinkled alove on a velvety sky.

Most places, it was warm enough to go outside without your sweater.

It wasn’t quite summer.

But it was good enough.

I still remember the year, I drove up a high hill outside Gilford and saw a patch of snow on the ground – in June.

This will do fine for April 16.

Thank you very much.

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Last of the Winter Wonders

Posted by abohan Sabtu, 31 Maret 2012 0 komentar

As sure as the seasons change (which is a strange remark this year), there comes a time every “mud season” – i.e., some time between late February and mid-April – when nearly everyone in the Lakes Region wishes they could go to Florida for a week.

Well, this year, Florida came to us.

Last week, anyway, temperatures here were in the 80s. The radio reported daily “high temperature” records on a regular basis.

The official “ice-out” observers reported the earliest ever, Friday, March 23.

And that same night, the seasonal “peeping” of frogs could be heard for the first time along Rte. 140.

But now nights temperatures are back to the low 30s. We may get a coating of snow during the weekend.

Nevertheless, the “summer break” left an unmistakable impression – one that also comes along at least once a year, usually sometime in late April or May.

The seasonal shift has begun – and it cannot be stopped.

As the old Gospel song goes, “Oh, Happy Day!”

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