Catching Up

Spring was definitely not in the air this past weekend, when we work up to this scene.

Outside our living room window early Saturday, April 12

As lovely as this scene might have been a couple of months ago, it was neither expected nor welcomed in mid-April. The parking lot in the top photo is from the Lofts 34 apartments across the river from Clocktower Place, where we live and park underground, lucky us.

But, it was over within a couple of hours and then the melting began as a light rain followed. 

Now, a followup to a fellow blogger's question. Last week's Friday Funnies post about a chair sculpture brought a question from Nick who queried: Is the sculpture meant to relate to the chairs in some way?

The answer is that I didn't know the how and why about the sculpture and the high and low seating relationship. On a recent river walk, along which this sculpture is placed, I checked if the piece had an identifying name. Nashua hosts an annual sculpture symposium. This most likely was a prior year's sculpture.

Success, sort of, about the sculpture, which is titled Between. It was created by sculptor Vasilis Vasili in 2016, a Greek contemporary sculptor whose work has been characterized by concepts like entrapment, restriction, escape, gateway, separation and partition. 

Vasilis Vasili

Vasili's sculptures are displayed in various cities in Europe, USA, Canada, China, India, Taiwan and Turkey. However, despite several online searches nothing was located about the sculpture, other than the artist information.

This year's 18th annual Symposium will take place May 8 to May 31 with the theme of In the Making and the four participating sculptors are all women: Casey Schachner (U.S.), Valerie Funk (Germany), Danaë LeBlond-Joris (France), Yunmi Lee (South Korea/Italy).

Top Row: Casey Schachner, Valerie Funk,
Bottom Row: Danaë LeBlond-Joris, Yunmi Lee

The artists work outdoors at the Picker Artist Studios which are within walking distance of the mill apartments where they will be working for three weeks from May 12 to May 28. The public is invited to observe and interact with the visiting sculptors. We will be walking there a few times to watch the works being created. And, future blog posts will highlight the progress of the sculptures.

Nashua is unique in being the only U.S. city to host an annual sculpture symposium. Since 2008, guest artists from around the world have created 52 sculptures which have been gifted to the city of Nashua as part of its permanent collection. These large, stone or metal outdoor sculptures have been permanently installed in various public spaces in downtown Nashua, schools, parks, neighborhoods, walking trails and riverfront paths. 

Top: Getty Images; Bottom: Atlantic Productions/Magellan

Today, marks as a sad anniversary. I was 113 years ago when the RMS Titanic sank with the loss of an estimated 1,500 lives in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. The 46,328 ton pride of the White Star Line sank on its maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic about 400 miles off the coast of Canada. 

A new National Graphic documentary, Titanic: The Digital Resurrection, presents the most detailed digital reconstruction of the wreckage ever created allowing researchers to challenge long-held theories about the disaster and that the ship didn’t split in half, but was torn into two pieces. The project took some two years to finish using cutting-edge underwater scanning technology capturing 715,000 digital images of the wreckage which were then transformed into a full-scale digital image of the Titanic.

Bloggers who have the National Geographic channel, Hulu or Disney+ will be able to stream the documentary. Since we do not subscribe to any of these, I'm hoping it will be released to other channels later. I've watched online previews, it's a fascinating documentary.

And, for those of us in the U.S., this is the day the tax man cometh. There will be longer than usual lines at the local post office. And, the USPS has filed notice with the PRC (Postal Regulatory Commission) for a postage increase, effective July 13, 2025, new rates include  increase for a First-Class Mail Forever stamp, from 73¢ to 78¢ — stock up now 😲.

Finally, the knee pain is lessening with abstinence from the elliptical, steps and vigorous walking plus the use of prescribed anti-inflammatory meds (ibuprofen). In speaking with others who have had similar muscle strain, it can take up to a few weeks for complete healing. Thanks to all asked how I was healing.

Just wondering 🤔 — Does the city you live in host any unique events?

Friday Funnies

Snow fooling around this post is about ❄️ which, many folks except ☃️may be tired of now

Last weekend, Nashua, NH, like so many other states, had a winter storm with snow, rain and then very cold 🥶 temps this week. Everyone is tired of winter weather.

"Familiar" winter scenes taken from safely and warmly indoors 

Folks familiar with this blog will recognize the above locations — the view from our mill apt window and roadways visible from a 5th floor hall window. We weren't going anywhere during and shortly after the weekend winter storm — temps have stayed in the single digits overnight and 20s daytime all week. Main roadways are clear, but many side streets and city sidewalks have areas of solid ice, including the local library.

One thing that abundant snow is good are sculptures like these on display at the Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center in Gorham, NH, where we went for my SnowCoach birthday trip.

There were about a dozen of these sculptures behind the outdoor center. We were told that they had been completed a few days before. Several were quite complex, not to mention unusual, but none identified the creation or the snow sculptor. These had been created during the Jackson Invitational Snow Sculpting Competition on the weekend prior to our visit.

Patrick with his favorite sculpture, which was also the largest one. It's the closest he wants to get to a moose. Despite seeing Moose Crossings signs on the highways, we've never seen a moose actually crossing the road, thankfully.

Meanwhile, these snow folks are staying indoors outside residents' entry doors.

This truck was seen on Main Street yesterday with a load of snow and Do No Follow. 

Maybe, it's going to a secret snow location. (I know that's not really true, but just maybe?)

Enjoy Your Weekend, Everyone 

Warm trend coming here, weekend temps in the 30s

Here We Snow Again !

Nashua River snow scenes from our living room window

This past weekend, NH had several inches of snow Sunday overnight into early Monday a.m. Official tallies place the amount here in Nashua at just over 6 inches and due to temps that plummeted from the 40s to the teens, this snowfall was very fluffy. By mid-morning Monday, most area roads were down to blacktop, but roadway traffic was light as it was a federal holiday celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr and federal offices, including the postal service, schools, banks and some business were closed. 

Instead of going outdoors to walk on snowy or icy walkways, my exercise was walking inside the very long mill building hallways. The main floor or 3rd floor, is a 1/4 of a mile, there are five floors in two connected buildings. In addition to exercise, the walk provided a look at displays outside the apartments of other residents.

These figures were the size of a small child

A campaign to create Martin Luther King Jr. Day began after the civil right leader's April 4, 1968 assassination. (A date that coincides with my brother's birthday.) In 1983, the holiday was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan, yet wasn't officially observed until 1986. 

Why? there was resistance from groups and some states who questioned whether King deserved a federal day of commemoration. Since 2000, MLK Day has been recognized in all 50 states. It's always observed on the third Monday in January, which falls near King's January 15 birthday.

Other displays were quite smaller

Yesterday, celebrations for MLK Day and Inauguration Day coincided for the third time. (Please refrain from comments about this irony; it's not a political post.) Each time this has happened for a U.S. President's second term of office. President Bill Clinton was sworn in on January 20, 1967. President Barack Obama was sworn in on Sunday, January 20, 2013, but Inauguration Day events took on Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, MLK Day. These two events won't coincide again until January 2053.

Besides snowman, penguins and gnomes were popular displays

Only a couple of southern states, Alabama and Mississippi, have combined the holiday with Robert E. Lee Day to honor the January 19 birthday of the Confederate general. When we lived in Virginia, Lee-Jackson Day was celebrated as a state holiday to commemorate two Confederate leaders, Lee and Stonewall Jackson. The date was celebrated as a state holiday during the dozen years we lived there. It was eliminated in 2020 and replaced by Election Day as a state holiday.

In addition to shelf displays, the entry of some resident's apartments feature floor rugs and flags that included snowmen and also a moose.

There's no further snow predicted in Nashua, NH, for the 10-day forecast, but frigid temps are already here. This snow is expected to stay around for the rest of the week at least.

A few snowman competition entries

Currently, there's a snowman competition within the mill apartments with entry of the above creations. Residents vote online or by paper ballot. The winning entrant will receive a one-month indoor parking spot. If the winning resident already pays for an indoor space, that amount will be credited to his/her account.

Snowmen keeping warm in our apartment

While, this snowfall was less than expected, yesterday was a good day to be indoors, so a pot of homemade chicken soup was on the F&P menu. Today, Grenville is trying out a focaccia recipe, so our dinner is all set. We hope that everyone who had snow and cold temps are safe and warm — think Spring, 58 days away on March 20 !

Let It Snow (Finally)

Yes, it did, even if it took nearly two years until we finally got a major snowstorm not only in Nashua, NH, but in most of southern New England.

The first significant snow of 2024 started late Saturday night and continued into early Sunday evening, about 15 inches fell here in Nashua, NH, over last weekend. The tall castle-like structure in the bottom right image is the Odd Fellows building on Main Street in downtown Nashua. Its first cornerstone was laid in May 1891. Odd Fellow meetings were held on the fourth floor of the building from its early days up until 2007. 

The 24-hour+ storm produced a heavy wet snowfall; lot plowing continued for several hours at the mill apartments. The upper lot parking area is plowed in sections. Residents who park outside need to move their cars starting at 7:30 a.m. to designated snow-cleared areas. Cars are to be moved in an a.m. and p.m. shift. There's also paid underground parking, which is where we park our vehicles, thankfully no need to scrape off or shovel out.

This is a now familiar early morning view from our apartment windows. Similar scenes have been posted in the past.

This view shows the pedestrian walkway across the Nashua River, also viewed from our living room windows.

Sights seen on grounds around the apartment complex include the bell that once hung in the mill's tower cupola and rung out for mill workers many years ago, a newspaper box, fire box and a resident's bike. Unlike a car, the bike did not have to be moved.

Cold seating was available on the apartment grounds and with a view by the riverside. The brick building closest to the right side houses another former mill now apartments, Lofts 34.

Because this storm produced a wet snow, trees and buses remained snow-covered for several hours. We went walking in the mill yard and along the river front but kept to a street area as the river walkway had not been cleared.

This very large (and old) tree is directly behind the mill apartments close to the river.

Beautiful even when covered in snow, this bronze sculpture of a young mill worker and her son, La Dame de Notre Renaissance Française, stands in the center of an area known as Le Parc de Notre Renaissance Française (Renaissance Park) along the Nashua River.

This area is dedicated to French-Canadian immigrants who arrived in Nashua between 1870 and 1872 and worked in the city's textile mills. By 1936, about 14,560 of Nashua’s 31,938 residents were French. 

The average snowfall for Nashua is between 50 to 55 inches, but that snowfall amount has not even come close in recent years. That could change this year with another chance of snow this week. Forecasters are warning about a northeast storm starting Tuesday night, but switching to rain on Wednesday; flooding could be an issue in many snow-covered or low areas.

How about your area — got snow? ☃️

Snow❄️At Last

Until this week, winter weather in the form of any measurable snowfall was a non-event in Nashua, NH. That changed within the past week with two snowfalls of a few inches each. 

Last Friday was the first event, a wet snow that clung to tree limbs around the mill apartments.

While I don't know the type of berries on these trees, they reminded me of holiday decorations courtesy of Mother Nature.

The next burst of snow came overnight Sunday and lasted into most of Monday, ending in early evening. We went for a short hike in nearby Mine Falls Park this week.

This snowfall was also a wet one. Many tree limbs and branches remained snow-covered in early afternoon. Several trees retained their autumn leaves. We found that the trails were more snow-covered than expected, regretfully we hadn't brought snow shoes. 

There's another chance for snow again this week starting late tonight and going into Thursday afternoon. This time, if we take a park walk, we'll be sure to bring our snowshoes ☃️.

December Snow

Finally, the first snow of this winter holiday season arrived here in Nashua, NH, overnight this past Sunday evening into early Monday a.m. This was the early morning after-snow view from our apartment, an all too familiar scene to regular readers of this blog.

This first snowfall wasn't one for the record books coming in at just about an inch. Still. it was enough to cause havoc on the roadways with numerous accidents

While a bit more snow is forecast towards the end of this week, there's but no major storms or blizzards like in western states in recent days in the forecast. Even areas in the UK have been hit with snow.

How about in your area, aside from those living in FL or other warm weather states, have you experienced any snowy weather yet?

As much as we would like to have a White Christmas, it would not be appreciated then  traveling to visit family this Christmas.

As always, thanks for your comments on the post showing our holiday decos. Several folks said we decorated quite a bit, but this really is less than other years. And to answer a blogger's question, yes, we do have a storage unit, thankfully not in the basement, but conveniently located on our apartment floor. Decorations are packed in containers and stored. 

No Place Like Home

Judy Garland, The Wizard of Oz (1939)

There's no place like home, so declared Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale in the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. She clicked her ruby red heels and hoped to return to the Kansas farm of Auntie Em and Uncle Henry.

Homesickness is an emotion shared by many,  young and old. While the American spirit has always encouraged travel and exploration. We usually are happy to return home — at least for a while.

And, so it was with Grenville and myself, maybe even more as my name is also Dorothy. However, I have never owned a pair of ruby red shoes.

After nearly 3 weeks on the road traveling from NH to FL and places in between, we were ready and happy to return home to Nashua. To be sure we had a great time and, thankfully, no bad weather, aside from rainy days which prohibited outdoor adventures. Yes, we are fair weather explorers, who do not enjoy walking around in inclement weather. While there were some indoor venues we could have visited, as luck would not have it, a couple were closed on the particular days we were there.

But as posted about earlier, the main focus of this trip, aside from Grenville's ham radio convention in Orlando, FL, was to also visit friends and family in NJ, FL, AL, and GA some of whom we had not seen in several years. It was great to see everyone again; hopefully, the next time will be sooner.

February 25 snowstorm in Nashua, NH

We arrived home last Wednesday afternoon and had timed our arrival to be ahead of a predicted snowstorm on Friday which arrived early morning as forecast. Before moving out late Friday afternoon, there was a fresh 8-inch snowfall left behind. We had the day before to get out and do some needed grocery shopping.

Clearing after the snowstorm

This snowfall was a light and "fluffy" one and by early the next morning, main roadways had been plowed and by late afternoon were nearly down to blacktop. 

Forecast for Nashua, NH, this week

Today's forecast indicates that it will be the coldest one for the next few days, and later in the week a lot of daytime snow melting will happen in the city.

Anyone who has been away from home, knows there are a myriad of tasks to catch up on, which for apt dwellers such as ourselves, are lessened somewhat. Besides shopping, there's always the laundry and housekeeping chores.

In addition, I spent several hours this weekend catching up on some of your recent blog posts. Because of time constraints, I did not comment on all of your earlier posts; but did endeavor to comment on the most recent posts. Most days, many  of my fellow bloggers are more prolific than myself in posting. I enjoy your images, views and photos, thank you.

L. Frank Baum, circa 1911

As many know, in The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy killed the Wicked Witch of the East by tossing water on her while attempting to douse fire the wicked witch induced on her Scarecrow friend. Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, instructed her to click her heels and think, There's no place like home. Dorothy says it aloud several times before waking up in her bedroom, just like she had never left.

Did you know that Lyman Frank Baum, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, did not name any of the witches in his series of 14 Oz books? (neither did I). In the novel, Dorothy simply throws water on the WW in a fit of anger.

There won't be many posts detailing our recent road trip. I still have catch-up posts about several of our 2021 New England explorations.

Before then, a future post will detail our visit to a GA town which has trademarked itself as The Hollywood of the South. 

Thanks to everyone for the reactive comments to last week's Friday Funnies. It was fun reading them. And, now, some may also be looking at commonplace items in a different (funny) way.