shining in your eye...

shining in your eye..., originally uploaded by Wanderin'EYE.

Come a little bit closer, hear what I have to say
Just like children sleeping, we could dream this night away
But there's a full moon rising, let's go dancing in the light
We know where the music's playing, let's go out and feel the night

~Neil Young, Harvest Moon

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Full Harvest Moon - September This is the full Moon that occurs closest to the autumn equinox. In two years out of three, the Harvest Moon comes in September, but in some years it occurs in October. At the peak of harvest, farmers can work late into the night by the light of this Moon. Usually the full Moon rises an average of 50 minutes later each night, but for the few nights around the Harvest Moon, the Moon seems to rise at nearly the same time each night: just 25 to 30 minutes later across the U.S., and only 10 to 20 minutes later for much of Canada and Europe. Corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, and wild rice the chief Indian staples are now ready for gathering.

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In the News...

N.H. artist gets $26,000 grant

September 26, 2007t

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. --A Newmarket woman has received a $26,000 grant to promote her growth as an artist.t

Kirsten Reynolds received the honor from the Piscataqua Region of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.t

More...

Canned tomatoes

Canned tomatoes, originally uploaded by LisaNH.

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2007-09-22 001

2007-09-22 001, originally uploaded by PumpUpThePixels.

(c) R.S. Glines
View On Black

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Just some leaves

just some leaves, originally uploaded by mamabrarian.

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Fall is just around the corner!

Reenactors

Reenactors, originally uploaded by cherylefrancis.

Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth, NH - Garden Harvest Festival Weekend

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Witch Hat

witch hat, originally uploaded by roxieffcc.

Come with me - my little pretty.

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Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire

Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire, originally uploaded by PHOTOPHANATIC1.

Star Island

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Yes, we have fall knocking at our windows. It is one of my favourite time of the year. It is not just the colours that are so beautiful, but the intense deep blue skies, the warm sun and cool breezes, the crispness in the air.

Ahhh...yes, Fall is here!

The last Morning...

The last Morning..., originally uploaded by americanadian_8.

Calm before the storm. This view is now just a memory in a photograph. I photographed this shot at 7:15am on the way to the site.

© 2007 Mark R. Ducharme

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Berlin's Pulp Mill Stacks Demolished
By Amy Quinton on Sunday, September 16, 2007
On New Hampshire Public Radio

A heavy rain fell on Berlin Saturday morning, but it didn’t stop hundreds of spectators from coming out to watch the pulp mill’s three smokestacks crumble.

Nestled between New Hampshire’s White Mountains and the Androscoggin River, the mill has stood for more than 100 years.

Berlin resident Colette (ca-let) Karen, whose family members lost jobs when the mill closed last year, found the rain and the grey skies fitting.

Colette “2:36 I think it’s sad, I think its a very emotional day, I think the rain is appropriate, puts a little damper on it … it’s history down the tubes, it really is.”

1035 (nat sound warning bell)

An alarm, usually meant to warn the city of forest fires, went off to mark the last minute before the planned detonation of the 300 foot tall stacks.

The demolition team, many of them former mill workers, stood huddled under tents…waiting.

One of them, Gerard (luv-vwar)LaVore, worked in the mill for 33 years.

He’s a big guy; his strong hands calloused and stained from his years of hard work.

But on this day, he had tears in his eyes.

Gerard a1 (it will be the last step here this is it, when they drop these stacks, we knew it would never be done…done up again, that’s it, it’s going to be the big blast today..this was the best part of my life up here, it was a beautiful place to work)

Stack blow (fire in the hole…sound of stack blowing up)

The first smokestack toppled over like a tree, just as planned.

While many people cheered as they felt the earth beneath them shake, LaVore called it a bittersweet ending to Berlin’s industrial past.

Gerard1 (A lot of people are happy it’s gone but there’s a lot of unhappy people too cause it was the highest wages of Berlin, if you worked here you got good money, that’s gone now, now we work at Walmart, there’s four or five guys that work there that don’t pay much money)

At its height in the 1950’s, the pulp mill employed close to 3,000 people.

But like many pulp mills in the U-S, it struggled to stay afloat with global competition and cheap overseas labor.
By 2006 when it shut down for good, only 250 employees remained.

Pete Markey worked there for 33 years and has spent the last year working with the dismantling company.

“Markey1 It’s been sad to watch the mill come down, I was employed with North American so I saw it day to day what was going on, it’s an end to an era, my Dad worked here 46 years, and I’m glad he didn’t see this day.”

Two of the three smokestacks fell without a problem.

But two explosions failed to bring down the third.

Kathryn Corrigan joked that maybe her late husband had something to do with that.

Her husband Rick had worked at the mill for 32 years, but died just four months ago.

3:29 this was his life this mill, it was his other home and his family, my kids just called and I said I think Daddy is holding the stack up (laughs) you know, so it’s a sad day.

Workers used torches to weaken the rebar in the stack’s concrete to finally bring the last one down.

The final collapse surprised many, and flying debris sent seven people to the hospital with bruises, sprains and broken ribs.

But despite the problems and the sorrow, some residents also saw the day as a new beginning for Berlin.

Marlene Russ of Errol says she’s happy to say goodbye to Berlin’s polluted past.

(when I was growing up here the air was so bad it was yellow, you would get sick from it, today if the stacks were going we would have a hard time breathing, it’s outdated, it’s outmoded, this is a great area for recreation, I think we would all be much better off to have this geared toward that type of a situation..)

At least one company hopes to change Berlin from a yellow past to green future. Laidlaw Energy has proposed converting part of the remaining mill to a renewable biomass facility.

Laidlaw officials say it would bring 40 jobs to Berlin and hopefully spark more business investment in the city.

For NHPR news, I’m Amy Quinton.

Mt. Monroe

, originally uploaded by Santa Plausible.

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Neil Tillotson Bobble-Head

Neil Tillotson Bobble-Head, originally uploaded by yorkd.

Holds the distinction for being the First-In-The-Nation voter for every U.S. presidential primary election from 1964 to 2000, and every general election from 1960 to 2000. Also, the inventor of the cat head-shaped balloon.

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Mr. Neil Tillotson
From a historic page from the Library & Archives of New Hampshire's Political Tradition
NH Political Library

We are sorry to acknowledge the death of the legendary Mr. Neil Tillotson on October 17th, 2001 in his beloved North Country home at 102 years of age. We extend our condolences to his family and friends and join them in celebrating his life.

Neil Tillotson was referred to as "The Wizard of Dixville Notch" by New England Business Magazine. Their appellation does not begin to identify the eminent man who was New Hampshire's quintessential Horatio Alger. Though born across the river in Vermont, we claimed him as one of our own. Humble and self effacing, the self-styled "kid from Beecher Falls" built and operated international businesses, becoming one of New Hampshire's most successful and revered entrepreneurs. He was a stalwart supporter of the North Country, with the same granite strength of the Old Man of the Mountains.

From the myriad of his achievements, there's one priceless record no one will ever cap: Neil Tillotson, Moderator of Dixville, cast the first vote in the nation in every presidential primary and general election since 1964.

Dixville, a small, unincorporated place which has the honor to be First in the Nation will continue its oft challenged tradition, and will undoubtedly never forget its revered and respected elder statesman who was such an important part of New Hampshire's political fabric.

Dixville Notch Continues the Tradition

At Town Meeting in March of 2002, one of the items on the agenda was to determine who would carry on in Mr. Tillotson's place. Mr. Tillotson's son, Tom Tillotson, was nominated to the position of town moderator by unanimous vote. In the words of Steve Barba, President of the Balsams Grand Resort Hotel:

"It was felt by all that continuing the Tillotson lineage in this position was appropriate. Tom regularly wears a bowtie just as his dad did-so the classic image of a Tillotson poised near the ballot box, dressed in a bowtie, with his arm raised so that he can observe his watch for the stroke of midnight-that image will now continue for years to come.

Tom himself suggested that a random drawing be held to determine which citizen in town would be honored with the privilege of voting first. The town's people talked it over and decided that sometime on election eve a few hours before midnight a random drawing from the ballot box will be conducted by Mrs. Neil Tillotson to determine the honored first voter. We think the media will all be in place to cover this event, and they then will still have time to interview the person chosen about their thoughts on what it means to be the first person in America to vote.

As with all aspects of Dixville Notch's voting tradition, this event is intended to enhance the understanding that voting in America is a privilege and that each of us, as responsible citizens, should be proud to participate. Who votes and for whom one votes is not so important as the fact that we are privileged to vote."


And on ballooning history:


Cheezo writes:

We did a New Year 2000 gig for a resort in the mountains of New Hamshire called The Balsams. This resort, complete with ski slope, is located on 15000 acres owned by Tillotson Rubber Company, the plant is on site and made balloons until recently when it moved operations to Fall River Ma. and formed a division called Dipco. We received a flyer on the history of it all and this is what it said about Neil Tillotson and his balloons:

At the age of 16, Tillotson secured a job at Hood Rubber Company in Boston and, returning there after a 2 year stint in the Seventh Calvary during World War I, he was the only one of 25 Hood chemists without a college degree. Yet his inventive talents earned him a place in new product development with Hood: and when the first shipment of raw latex reached Boston Harbor during the 1920's Tillotson began his lifelong association with the substance.

Hood's efforts with latex were unsuccessful at first, but Tillotson persevered on his own. At his Watertown home, he designed and produced a latex balloon with a cat's face and ears from a cardboard form which he cut buy hand with a pair of scissors. He managed to make his first sale of these balloons with an order of 15 gross to be delivered for the annual Patriots Day Parade on April 19, 1931. Tillotson put his family into production to meet the deadline while he continued his duties full time at Hood Rubber and worked at home in the evenings on the balloons.

Tillotson incorporated his latex business in 1931 and left Hood the following year. Depression tightened free money around Boston, so he bought an unlimited bus ticket which took him across the country in search of novelty company buyers for his new balloons. The great majority of those initial customers still buy balloons from Tillotson Rubber Company today. (Balloon division named Dipco)

Solitude

Solitude, originally uploaded by nana_cindy42.

Scottish Highland Games, Loon Mtn., NH

I took the gondola to the top of Loon Mtn. and found this bagpiper. He walked around in a certain pattern playing a solitary tune. It was wonderful being up there!

Loon Mtn., NH ~ 1984

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The NH Highland Games is an ongoing tradition!

This year, the festival will be:

September 21- 23, 2007

Loon Mountain Ski Resort, Lincoln, NH

Harrisville

Harrisville, originally uploaded by Marcfoto.

New Hampshire

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Soon we will see stunning foliage encompass idyllic towns like Harrisville. Fall's coming!

Sinking...

Sinking..., originally uploaded by Winged Foot.

Merrimack Cardboard Boat Festival, NH
This team showed great spirit. The dad kept pushing their tipped over boat with his sons swimming behind him after their boat sank and tipped over. They finished the race together, with much applause from the audience on shore. :)

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Merrimack Public Library
Cardboard Boat Festival

Festival is a day of fun for the whole family featuring full-sized cardboard boats racing on (or in) Lake Naticook. The event includes a used book sale, raffles, face painting, food, children's sand castle building contest, and more! Continuous entertainment starts at 11 AM. Special Festival t-shirts will also be on sale. All proceeds from the Festival benefit the Library Development Fund, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to raise money for equipment and furnishings for the new library.

groovy slide

groovy slide, originally uploaded by mamabrarian.

amazing how sunlight can transform an ordinary playground slide.

September MSH #12. Light

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The Fox and the View

The Fox and the View, originally uploaded by w7xman.

A fox enjoys an undercast sunset from a ridge on Mount Washington, NH

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End of Summer

End of Summer, originally uploaded by Winged Foot.

"Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air
The summer's out of reach
Empty lake, empty streets
The sun goes down alone"
-- Don Henley - lyrics from 'The Boys of Summer'

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