Nashua Veterans Day

Veterans Day in Nashua, NH, was a low-key celebration in comparison to observances in  other U.S. states and even in other countries. This week, fellow bloggers included posts of commemorations in neighboring Canada and these seemed much grander than here.

In Nashua, there was a downtown parade on Main Street with participants representing various civic and community groups as well as ROTC members. There was also a couple of vintage vehicles.

There's always a large participation by bands from the several high schools and middle school and these youngsters were wonderful to hear. 

Although not representative of World War I veterans, this group of colonial soldiers marched along the route and fired their weapons several times.

The parade ended with a fleet of the city's fire trucks and emergency vehicles flashing their lights and blaring the horns.

Afterwards, there was also a brief ceremony at City Hall, which we missed. It was a sunny day, but windy and cold and we headed home. 

Remembering Veterans

Today, November 11, is Veterans Day in the U.S. but the date is celebrated tomorrow, Monday, that's because it falls on a Sunday. This year's observance is significant in that it's the Centennial Commemoration marking 100 years since the end of World War i on November 11, 1918.

Courtesy U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

The theme for the 2018 Veterans Day Poster is “The War to End All Wars” and it depicts the familiar remembrance poppy and a barbed wire fence. The poppy was inspired by the World War I poem “In Flanders Fields” and has been used since 1921 to commemorate military personnel who have died in war. The barbed wire represents thousands of miles of wire that spread by both sides in WW I.

Grenville is a U.S. Navy veteran. As part of the holiday observance later today, we'll join others in Nashua, NH to view a parade downtown along Main St. It's typical of many local parades with honor guards, marching veterans, school groups, high school bands, and, of course, local politicians. In the years we've been going to the parade, the parade viewers have steadily increased.

Across the border, Canada will observe November 11 as Remembrance Day which honors veterans who have died in service to their country. This observance is similar to the U.S. Memorial Day holiday celebrated in May. 

Also in our thoughts are those killed or injured in recent mass shootings in Pennsylvania and California as well as their grieving family members. Also, those who have lost family, homes, and communities from the destructive fires in California.

Autumn Window View

One of the best things about our mill apartment is the window view. This view includes the Nashua River and downtown Nashua, NH on a spectacular fall afternoon.

Former wood frame windows in the Clocktower Place mill apartments were replaced with thermo-glass aluminum frames.

The year-long project updated 326 apartments in the nearly 1/4 mile long, 5-story mill building complex.

Enjoy Your Weekend, Everyone

Time for a Change?

Folks living in most U.S. states changed clocks to "fall back" an hour this past weekend on Sunday, Nov. 4, at 2 a.m. for Daylight Savings Time (DST). There' s lots of pros and cons (mostly cons) about this twice yearly process.

I wondered how many timepieces, fellow bloggers had to manually change last weekend. 

Former homeowners, we now live in a converted mill apt, where we have no shortage of clocks. Out reset tally was just over 20 clocks which included appliances, clock radios, cordless phone, wall clocks, wristwatches and vehicles. Thankfully, the smart phones, tablets, desktop PCs, and Fitbit updated themselves.)

Here's our breakdown. 

There were 4 kitchen clocks reset: stove, microwave, coffee maker, and wall clock (the oldest in this group at +20 years).

The living room (top ↓ image) included 4 on our "wall of clocks" a reference to living here at Clocktower Place. One in this group is from my late mother's kitchen; one was a recycle rescue and the others were bought new. The clock on the bottom left is on the outer porch; the firefighter's clock in the PC room was a retirement gift from Grenville's years in service.

In the bedroom, there were 3 more to be reset: an alarm clock on each nightstand and a cordless phone on mine. 

Almost finished, but couldn't forget 2 small mantel clocks on shelves in the dining room and guest bathroom. (The clock on the left was a gift from almost 20 years ago; the one on the right was a thrift store "find" 2 years ago.)

If you've been counting along, the total is now at 15 with 4 more added to include my wristwatches and Grenville's (not shown). One of these watches had a dead battery, no resetting needed for that one.

Finally, there were 2 digital dashboard clocks reset in each of our cars which are older without auto updating. We use a pen tip to reset both.

Earlier, I made reference to our current residence, called Clocktower Place, which is a former textile mill now converted to "apartment homes." The building has 2 tower clocks, which are maintained and manually reset twice yearly by the maintenance staff.

Your turn — How many timepieces did you manually reset in your home?

Halloween Ladybug

Our youngest granddaughter, Lilliana, enjoyed trick or treating in her Pennsylvania neighborhood last week. She was a ballerina ladybug. (Who knew they could dance?)

She gathered an assortment of goodies as shown in these photos sent by her mom.

Fall Drive on the "Kanc"

Recently, we took a Sunday drive along the Kancamagus Highway or Kancamagus Scenic Byway. This 34.5-mile scenic drive along Route 112 in Northern NH is considered one of the best fall foliage viewing areas in the country. The route has been designated an American Scenic Byway for its rich history, aesthetic beauty and culture.

The roadway is named for Chief Kancamagus, The Fearless One. who was the last leader of the Penacook Confederacy, a union of more than 17 central New England Indian tribes, first forged by Kancamagus' grandfather, Passaconaway. In 1627. Kancamagus tried to maintain peace between his people and encroaching English settlers, but war and bloodshed forced the tribes to scatter and most retreated to northern NH and Canada.

While the Kancamagus Highway is famed, it’s a relatively new road as New England scenic byways go. Some old logging and town roads edged into the rugged National Forest, which was set aside for conservation by the federal government in 1911, but a connection between Conway and Lincoln was not completed until 1959. The road was paved in 1964, and in 1968 it was plowed for the first time, allowing for year-round traffic.

The highway is referred  to "The Kanc." The name is misspelled and/or mis-pronounced as Kangamangus Highway, Kangumangus Hiway or Kancamangus Highway. The correct way pronnunciation is "Kank-ah-mah-gus."

In addition to being labelled New England’s prettiest drive, the Kancamagus Highway is also one of the easiest driving tours on Route 112 west from Conway to Lincoln, NH or vice versa. It cuts an east-west path through New Hampshire’s 800,000-acre White Mountain National Forest with views of the White Mountains. The highway climbs to nearly 3,000 feet at its highest point at Kancamagus Pass on the flank of Mt. Kancamagus near Lincoln, NH. 

Rain or shine leaf peepers, like us, annually drive the Kancamagus Highway to view the brilliant foliage. The drive through this forested area offers no comforts of the modern-day world.

You won't find any gas stations, restaurants, hotels or other businesses along the Kancamagus Highway route. And you won't miss seeing any  power/utility lines, but you might miss using your phone as there is no cell service as well. Those luxuries are left behind at both ends of the scenic byway. 

Our weekend drive was a bit late in the season. Recent rain and windstorms had blown leaves off many trees. Our destination was a stop in Jackson, NH to see the Return of the Pumpkin People. We drove and walked on the Jackson "Honeymoon Bridge" (not sure why it's called that). The covered bridge was originally built by Charles Austin Broughton and his son in the mid-1870s; it's a popular stop for visitors.

The bridge spans the Ellis River and is located along Rte 16. Originally, the trusses were more exposed than now. The sidewalk was added in 1930. It's another popular stop.

Despite the colors not being as vibrant late in the season, there were some very colorful spots along the river banks.

We found another nearby covered bridge with great fall colors and this scenic view was on a local golf course.

We had a great time day tripping along "The Kanc" and then in Jackson, NH. Flossie's Emporium was located within walking distance of the Honeymoon Bridge and it was a fun place to explore and shop.

We're expecting another rainy weekend so we won't be going on another day trip, but we have one planned later this month. We're setting clocks ⏰🕰⏱⌚️back an hour since Daylight Savings Time (DST) ends on Sunday, Nov. 4. (Yes, we have many wall clocks in our aptly named Clocktower apt).

          🍂 Enjoy Your weekend, Everyone 🍁

Pumpkin 🎃 People Return to NH

Nashua, NH, had its 4th annual downtown scarecrow competition, but Jackson, NH has been hosting its Pumpkin People event for over three decades.

This October was the 34th year, this town of less than 900 residents has hosted one of New Hampshire's most popular fall events — the Return of the Pumpkin People.

This popular fall celebration features area businesses and residents thinking outside-the-box and instead of a simple jack-o-lantern theme, the focus is to create pumpkin characters based on popular culture, literature, or seasonal themes. 

It's more or less a free-form competition without formal guidelines. Participating business or residential properties can design a pumpkin-themed display in any fashion.

On a recent weekend visit, we took the town's self-guided tour. We didn't see all of the different locations hosting Pumpkin People displays.

However, those we did see were quite creative. The town provides a map with an icon and fun logo. Visitors can complete the ballot and cast votes for their favorite display.

The event features real pumpkins in various displays. During the first 14 days, the displays include real pumpkins. Towards the end of the month-long event, some non-real pumpkin substitutions can be made as the originals can start to deteriorate.

When we visited, the pumpkin people had been on display for nearly 3 weeks, yet most were original pumpkins. There were so many great entries. Of course, we had a favorite.

These pumpkin penguins (pumpguins) got our vote!

👻 Happy Halloween ☠️

Friday Funnies

On our cross-country summer travels, we saw this unusual towel drying rack in a hotel parking lot. 

Did you figure out that it was on a boat? 

Thanks to all for comments received on the recent Spam Never Ends blog post. It seems that I may have provoked at least one particular spammer as I had an increased amount of spam comments the past few days. They were marked as spam and removed, as always. I sincerely hope that my drawing attention to this particular spammer hasn't resulted in any retributions on your blogs. It's puzzling why spammers have nothing better to do. A search of the Blogger Support Community didn't provide an effective way to prevent spam, other than comment moderation. It seems that Blogger should be able to provide an effective spam filter, once a comment has been marked as such.

On a far more serious note, here in the mid-Atlantic area, East Coast states are bracing for the season's first nor'easter this weekend with drenching rain and gusty winds. Some states may even get snow, although none is predicted in our area. 

Enjoy your Weekend and stay safe, Everyone.

Love & Marriage (Again)

Earlier this month, we attended the second family wedding within 4 months when we went to NJ when our niece Julie married Michael. In early June, we were also in NJ for the wedding of her younger sister Jamie to Mike. 

The father of the bride was my younger brother, Tony, who was very relieved as this was the last of his daughters getting married and both within the same half year.

The groom waited at the alter as the bride was escorted down the aisle by her father.

Quiet anticipation as the couple waited for the ceremony to begin.

As for her sister's wedding, the service again took place in St. Bernard's R.C. church in Plainfield, NJ. It's also the parish church of my childhood.

When the service was over, the happy couple started down the aisle as Mr. and Mrs.

Everyone went back into the church for obligatory family photos. A professional photographer was doing the set-ups. I took shots for our family album. There were several combinations of family groupings, here's a few. 

First the bride posed with her parents, Tony and Anita, then her sister Jamie and brother-in-law Mike were added.

The groom posed with his parents, George and Mary Ann, and was then joined by his siblings (but I don't know their names).

After photo sessions, it was time for the party reception to start. The couple made a colorful Star Wars themed entrance, preceded by their flower girl and ring bearer.

The youngest wedding participants (brother and sister) shared in the couple's first dance.

Here's the wedding cake and a "traditional" bride feeds the groom moment. Julie later smashed the piece of cake in her groom's face, but I didn't capture that moment.

A few shots of family enjoying the party: Grenville and the bride's mother, recently married niece Jamie and Mike, and Grenville and myself.

All our best wishes to the newly-married Julie and Michael.