Manchester, NH City Tour

Yesterday, we spent the day exploring downtown Manchester, the largest city in NH. Among the places we visited were City Hall, the Palace Theatre, the Millyard Museum, Manchester Public Library, and famer’s market.

If you are a regular reader of The Frog & PenguINN blog, you know of our fondness for stopping into public libraries along our travels. Manchester’s main library is a massive building located on Pine Street, directly across from what is now Victory Park. Its made of Concord granite and marble. The library building was dedicated on November 1914, before an estimated crowd over 5,000 people, as the Elenora Blood Carpenter Building. It was named after the wife of the president of Amoskeag Paper Mill , Frank Pierce Carpenter, who donated funds for its construction in her memory.
We lunched at the locally famous Red Arrow Diner, which is reportedly one of the country’s top 10 diners. Since Grenville and are are natives of NJ, the nation’s diner capital, we had to check it out. We’re happy to report, lunch was delicious.
It was so good that we forgot to take photos before we gobbled it down. My lunch was the traditional burger, but with onion rings. Grenville tried a meat loaf club sandwich with fried.

There are no parking meters in the downtown Manchester, NH. Instead, the city uses a Pay to Park system, which requires that you prepay for up to a 2-hour maximum, cash or credit card. The hourly rate was steeper than Nashua by 25 cents, at 75 cents per hour.
The red phone booth in the photo above was near City Hall and it contained a working pay telephone. When was the last time you say one of these?

Located in downtown Manchester, just down from City Hall, is the Palace Theatre, an 840-seat non-profit performing arts center that hosts its own professional company.

Amoskeag Founder of Manchester, NH

We drove an hour from Nashua, the 2nd largest city in NH (pop. 90,000), to Manchester, the largest city in NH and the 10th largest city in New England (pop. 107,000).
Manchester, NH owes its founding to a textile manufacturer, the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, named after the Amoskeag Falls, which powered the mills. The company's vast brick mill yards still dominate the cityscape today.

Amoskeag Mill #11 was the largest cotton textile plant in the world in the 19th century at 900 feet long by 103 feet wide, with 4,000 looms. Its formation came during the Industrial Revolution (1760-1850) which started in the English textile industry with the invention of carding and spinning machines. Machines did the work of human hands and a product was made in one place, the factory.


The Amoskeag manufacturing mills served as a model of planning to the industrialized world. Products made in the community included shoes, cigars, and paper. Needed machines and tools were made onsite in a company foundry and machine shop;  bricks used to build the mills came from the company brickyard.The Amoskeag foundry made rifles, sewing machines, textile machinery, fire engines, and locomotives in the Amoskeag Locomotive Works.
Manchester was designed and built by company owners following a community plan, which included all necessary products and components, and a city planned parallel and perpendicular to the river with employee housing.

By 1912, Manchester’s mills produced 50 miles of woven cloth per hour employing over 17,000 employees; more than half the work force were women; children also worked in the mills. Early mill workers came from NH farms. In the early 1900s, the workforce included French Canadians, Greek, German, Swedish and Polish immigrants.
The mills thrived until the early 1920s, when it became harder for Amoskeag to compete with Southern mills which had cheaper labor costs, new factories and automatic looms. Also, cotton could be processed and woven where it grew without transportation costs to New England. Amoskeag officials increased hours, and decreased pay. In 1922, workers called a strike that shut the mills for 9 months. Forced by economic necessity, workers returned to work with unmet demands.
Economic conditions  worsened because of the 1930s Great Depression. Amoskeag management increased hours and reduced pay, especially for women. Violent strikes in 1933 and 1934 required military intervention. Vengeful strikers sabotaged machines when picketing ended and work resumed; mill buildings closed and employees were laid off when few jobs existed. On Christmas Eve, 1935, the mills abruptly closed.  In 1936, a flood caused major damage and the vast complex was liquidated. By 1937, half the buildings were occupied by other businesses. Now, the renovated old mills are home to offices, restaurants, software companies, local colleges, art studios and the Millyard Museum.

NOTE: The historic mill photos above were taken (with permission) at the Millyard Museum maintained by The Manchester Historic Association (MHA) inside Mill No. 3 in the historic Amoskeag Millyard. The museum presents the history of the mills and Manchester in a permanent exhibit, Woven in Time: 11,000 Years at Amoskeag Falls.

Thanks, We will miss you.

Yesterday we lost an Icon of the technology world. He was one of the people who made it possible for you to be reading this on your PC. He helped to put the power of technology and the vast knowledge of the internet into the hands of millions of people around the world. He will be greatly missed.

  photo from www.apple.com

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

Here in Nashua, NH

We’ve arrived in NH. After leaving the VA eastern shore on Monday, an overnight stay in NJ (our home state) and a 5-hour drive in intermittent rain, we arrived at our NH accommodations for the next couple of weeks.

The extended stay rooms include a refrigerator, stovetop, and microwave, but no oven. We’re planning to prepare breakfast and dinner here and dine out at lunch time during our daytime road trips.

Today’s first stop was grocery shopping. We found a Market Basket, within a 5 minute drive with a greater selection than in our Food Lion grocery store at home.Market Basket is headquartered in Massachusetts and operates a chain of 64 operating supermarkets in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.Today, we went in search of the Nashua YMCA, since before leaving home we found out that we could use our home YMCA membership there. This YMCA, which was dedicated in May 2011, is so new that it doesn’t display on our GPS.
This YMCA was dedicated in May 2011 and it’s so new that it doesn’t display on our GPS. We called for directions and eventually found our way there. We ‘re going back to use some of this equipment .But, today was a day to explore downtown Nashua, which was built around the now-departed textile industry. Nicknamed "The Gate City,” it’s the second largest city in New Hampshire.
Since it was a rainy morning, we decided to find the library and wait until it cleared before taking a walk around downtown. Whenever we’re travelling, the local library is a favorite destination – there’s usually free wi-fi available, plus it’s a good place to be on a rainy morning.
The library’s children’s section was half of the total floor space.
As of the 2010 census, Nashua had a total population of 86,494, making it the second largest city in the state. It was twice (1887 and 1997) named the “Best Place to Live in America” in annual surveys by Money magazine.

The downtown offers a selection of restaurants. Our choice today was Martha’s Exchange, built in part from the former 1872 Merchant's Exchange building, which was the Victorian equivalent of a shopping mall.
Grenville and I both ordered one of the lunch specials – haddock quesadillas. There were no leftovers – on either plate – these were very good.

We’ll be taking day trips to cities in and around the Nashua area. Tomorrow's destination is Manchester, the largest city in NH and home to the Currier and Ives Museum and a house designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Photos and story to follow.

Final Blooms ?

In between packing for our fall road trip to New England, paying bills,  and putting things put away in the yard, I checked out the wildflower jungle garden this weekend. It’s still producing lots of flowers, but the weather turned sharply cooler this weekend, so their bloom time may be short-lived.

These colors are perfect for the fall weather.Honey bees were gathering pollen or napping.

Other insects enjoyed a Sunday afternoon – in several ways, sunning, waiting for lunch or “keeping company.”

By the time we return home, most of these colors will be gone, so it was nice to get a last look at nature’s beauty.

Following Foliage

Our Jeep won’t be quite as loaded up as this car, but it will be plenty full inside because – we’re off on a Road Trip.

Yes, we will be leaving the Frog & PenguINN and heading out on what has become our fall road trip.

Last year, Maine was the target destination. We had a great time exploring from Bangor to Portland and places in between. So, we decided to return to New England for the fall colors once again. This year we will be touring throughout New Hampshire for our first-ever visit.

Original  plans included travel in Vermont as well. But in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, which left many roads severely damaged or closed, we opted out this year. But, we may still try to see a little, since we will be close by.

Of course, just like last year, we’ll blogging along the route whenever we have internet access. There will be lots of places to explore and learn about, and share.

If any fellow bloggers have been through these states, please post any comments on suggestions. We’re spending the first 2 weeks at an extended stay in Nashua, NH and will be taking day trips from that base location.

In mid-October, we’ll be going to RI for the christening of new granddaughter born in July. A benefit of being in NH is that we’ll be a lot closer to her home then traveling from the VA eastern shore, a 10 hour trip.

Did I Mention

Perhaps a little backtracking is necessary to explain the title of this post – without repeating the entire rant post. You can easily do that be reading about it.

Over a week ago, I posted ranted how Grenville had tried to sell the deck boat he bought a couple of years ago by advertising locally. Lots of tire kickers, but no buyers. So, I posted it on eBay and we got of views, some “watchers,” then EUREKA a winning bid.

If you read the previous rant post, you would understand WHY I wanted to scream vs. celebrate initially. The buyer IS the guy who won the bid and YES he lives in Alberta, Canada as noted earlier. YES, we did get the deposit FINALLY way past the 48 hours it was required after auction end.

It was deposited into PayPal – but that was just a start.

More emails requesting how and when the balance due would be paid. Lots of details to work out before we leave on an extended road trip tomorrow.

Biggest one – HOW to get the $$ payable in USD. I learned about the ins and outs of international sales (cause even though Canada is neighbor to the U.S., this is still considered international). FINALLY, payment was made through PayPal with the buyer agreeing to pay the necessary fees, cause PP always gets a cut.

END of story? Not quite, cause then it’s a series of email exchanges over HOW the boat will be picked up before we leave, if possible, and if not what are the arrangements. Ben emails us that he’s working on that, then another emails to tell us that shipping deal fell through, but he’s working on another one. FINALLY, late Friday night Ben, we get another email to let us know he’s lined up another one.

WHERE is he coming from? – are you ready – Texas !

We spoke to the shipper (John) today who told us that while his transport business is based in Texas, he lives in – ready or not – Los Angeles, CA. He’s picking up the boat and towing it with his pickup to Montana, where Ben or his designee will pick it up for transport across the border. We’ve signed all the necessary papers and prepared Bills of Sale after learning two separate ones were needed for the border crossing: one for the boat and motor, another for the trailer.

Coincidentally, our homeowners insurance is due this month. It was with much happiness that we called the insurance company to say:

We SOLD the boat – take it off the policy!

I may have mentioned once or twice many times in the earlier post that we really wanted to sell it.

NOW, we can have fun on our road trip to New Hampshire this week. We liked Maine so much last Oct that we’re going back to New England and we will be posting all about the adventures.

Sometimes things turn out best when least expected to do so.. 

(Aside to fellow blogger and Canadian , Anvilcloud, you won’t have to pick up the boat.)

Butternut Squash Bread & Muffins

We had an LOT of butternut squash this season with at least 5 remaining, some turned into butternut squash soup. This weekend, a local group that Grenville is involved with – The Society for the Preservation of the Onley Train Station – held Autumn in Onley, which included train displays (of course), pumpkin decorating, scarecrow making, and a bake sale.
What a perfect chance to try a NEW butternut squash bread recipe. Unlike one posted last fall, this one has no butter (vegetable oil); brown and white sugar, and cardamom not ginger or cloves.

Butternut Squash Bread

• 1 C butternut squash puree
• 2 eggs
• ½ C vegetable oil
• 1/3 C water
• ½ C brown sugar
• 1 C white sugar
• 1 ¾ C flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ½ tsp cardamom

Note: Add whatever other ingredients you would like such as chopped nuts or dried fruit.

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 91/2x5-inch loaf pan or use cooking spray (my preference).
2. In large bowl,mix together butternut squash pure, eggs, oil, water and sugars.
3. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom.
4. Stir dry ingredients into squash mixture; mix until blended.
5. Pour into pan and bake at 350° for 55-60 minutes until tester inserted into center comes out clean.

I made two variations of this recipe, adding chopped pecans to the first and dried cranberries to the second. Half of each was wrapped for the bake sale (see below). We got to keep the other halves.
Grenville was happy that there enough butternut squash puree left over for some muffins this morning – with leftovers – which will go great with coffee on our road trip to NH (foliage time).

Butternut Squash Muffins

• 1 1/2 C flour
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 C packed brown sugar
• 1 C butternut squash puree (about 1 3/4 pounds)
• 1/4 C applesauce (cinnamon flavor or plain)
• 1/3 C fat free plain yogurt
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat muffin tin with cooking spray or use cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, spices, baking soda and salt.
3. In another bowl, combine sugar, squash puree, apple sauce, yogurt, honey and egg. With an electric mixer on medium speed, mix for 1-2 minutes (or mix by hand).
4. Make a well in center of dry ingredients; pour in liquid mixture and gently form to just combine; batter will be lumpy.
5. Pour batter into muffin pan about two-thirds full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.

IF you are using LARGE muffin tins, be sure to double the recipe. These new ones we bought were too large for the amount of muffin batter in the above recipe. The muffins, while small were wonderfully moist.

Glory of Morning

As in Morning Glories, which really live up to their name.

Because their beauty and glory are short lived – about 1 day (24  hours) to be exact.

Yesterday afternoon while walking along railroad tracks near our home, I found lots of morning glories in bloom.

After more than a week of rain, the sun had finally come out, even if briefly, but it was enough to set off these blooms.

Morning glory vine forms twining vines with bell-shaped flowers, and its varieties have also become intertwined botanically under the name "morning glory." The species is native to the U.S.

These rapidly growing vines  produce flowers in red, purple, pink, white  and multicolored. are related to the sweet potato. There are even double forms. They climb quickly and are often used to decorate trellises. Since they are quick growing and dependably colorful, morning glory has become the most popular annual vine.

The vines grow quickly to 10 feet or more only two months after seeds sprout. Leaves are heart-shaped.

The flowers are normally open from dawn to midmorning, but new varieties will stay open longer, especially on overcast days. Some types of morning glories reseed prolifically to the point of becoming invasive by crowding out and covering over other plants. When this happens, morning glory becomes an invasive problem. However, unlike kudzu, it’s an annual that dies each year.

Morning glory flowers unfurl into full bloom in the early morning hours. Flowers start to fade a couple of hours before the petals start showing visible curling.

Morning Glory trivia . . .

• The line”"What's the story, morning glory?” is the opening to “The Telephone Hour” from the musical Bye Bye Birdie.
• On the once popular TV series Bewitched Samantha and Darrin lived at 1164 Morning Glory Circle, Westport, CT.

Friday Funnies

Never knew He was in this business.

But then times are tough all over.