Since June 4, Travis has been in Vermont at a composer’s
workshop,
New Music on the Point (lasts through June 17
th). Toby and I have been holding down the fort
while he’s been gone, but I’ve missed him a ton!
Since Saturday was my birthday, we decided to meet halfway
in New Hampshire to hang out for the day.
One of my favorite things to do is going antiquing, so we decided to go
to
Antique Alley. What is Antique Alley
you may ask? It’s a 20 mile stretch of
Route 4 in New Hampshire that is littered with old homes turned antique
shops. MOST of the shops are really
great…there are a few that were a sorry excuse for anything close to antiques…but
that’s usually how it goes, isn’t it?
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| One of the antique stores |
We ran into some really neat things along the way! Some of the things we didn’t go home
with were an old French Horn (found in the same place we got Travis a 1-key bugle
last year)…
…one of the biggest cameras I’ve ever seen…
…and an old tricycle-looking thing…I should have read the
sign more closely.
It was awesome riding around beautiful New Hampshire for the
day – we had perfect weather! Instead of
making myself a cake, we opted for ice cream and found a really fun place that
had HUGE servings. We got “kiddie cups”
that were bigger than most shops mediums.
We ended up coming home with a “salt” sized Westmoreland hen
on a nest (which I collect) and several old postcards from NC. I think it’s hilarious we end up finding old
postcards from Smithfield, NC all the way up in NH. A few years ago we found old postcards from
FBC Smithfield (dad has it if you want to see it!) and the Trot Motel (Frank
Knott has this one). This year I found
postcards from "Johnson's Restaurant" in Dunn, NC (Toby is from Dunn!), one with the Smithfield Motor Lodge on it, and another that had
a funny poem about NC on it. I'll bet you didn't know Johnson's Restaurant was "one of the finest restaurants in the south"! (Or at least that's what their postcard says.)
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| Johnson's Restaurant top right, Smithfield Motor Lodge bottom right |
Just in case you're interested, here's the poem. It's a doozie!
No'th Ca'lina
As soon as you get to No'th Ca'lina
The roads and the towns get newah, finah,
The people walk with a brisker step
And even your motor has more pep,
The hookworm's banished, the country has
A lot more energy, pep and jazz,
The Livest Northerner couldn't design a
Livelier Sate than No'th Ca'lina.
The farms look fatter, the Hamlets ain't
Quite ignorant of the sight of paint,
They're building roads, and they're not content
With sand and clay, but they use cement.
And the schools look good, and the mills are busy
And each inhabitant owns a Lizzie
Or a big twin-six or something finah,
As soon as you get to No'th Ca'lina.
This State's not dreaming of days gone by,
There's a modern glint in each mortal's eye,
And the village belies and the village beaux
Are as smartly dressed as the crowd which flows
On Gotham's streets. You must give 'em credit,
These folks are fully awake, you said it.
You meet the "Boostah"; you lose the "Whinah,"
As soon as you get to No'th Ca'lina.
- Bertoon Braley
