Saturday in New Hampshire

As I write it is Saturday afternoon. I simply had to sit down and write while all the memories are fresh in my mind. It really was a wild, crazy and wonderful day!

I was up nice and early and showered and dressed and made myself a nice hot cup of coffee and breakfast. The high point here was definitely the coffee. Even though my coffee is 1/2 regular and 1/2 decaf it still warms my soul and gets me going.

As I got ready to leave the house, I lamented that it was still raining. I had to leave early to stop at Mr. A.T.M. and get some cash, and then stop over at the Hardware store and pick up the Roof Rake and Salty Paws. For those who don’t live in snowy areas, we need the roof rake to get the snow off our roof, so it doesn’t build up and cause leaks. And the Salty Paws is salt that is pet-friendly to use to melt ice. There was a good sale and Jack wanted to prepare before the first snowfall.

Then I picked up Laurie and off we went. The first stop was the Catholic Church in our town. They have one of the nicest Bazaars. I was able to purchase so many gifts for Christmas and a beautiful dried floral centerpiece.

The other thing I must note is how many friends and neighbors we saw at this event. It was marvelous! There were hugs and smiles and great happiness as we drifted from room to room and stall to stall. I felt so blessed to be living in the community.

The next Bazaar was down in the next town, at the Greek Orthodox Church. I wanted to stop in, as they have all those wonderful Greek Pastries as well as a local favorite French Canadian Pork Pie!

I love going to the Greek Church because everything is made by the Greek families that go to this church and the proceeds go to their church and their community outreach programs.

We knew that there was another Catholic Church in Laconia that was having their bazaar today, and we went there next. They also had many cute things, that I was happy to purchase for Christmas.

Again, I saw so many people that I know, and hugs were exchanged. I also met the mother of one of my dearest local friends. She is quite elderly, and it made me happy to tell her what a great job she did with her family. She was very pleased. This lady, who I know is in her eighties, was just amazingly beautiful. I hope when I reach her age I can be so very lovely.

Our fourth and last bazaar was at the Belmont High School. We went there before and enjoyed it a great deal. This year we didn’t actually buy as much, but the French Club provided lunches. Different Quiches, and also my favorite French Canadian Meat Pie. It was served with salad and a roll and was so nice. The kids had gotten together and done all the baking themselves, and everything was so good.

I must also note here that all of the kids were dressed nicely. The boys in khakis and oxford shirts, the girls in dressy tops and skirts. Call me old-fashioned, but there was something in their appearance that made me have hope for the future. I know we are not supposed to judge a book by the cover, but these kids not only looked nice but followed it all up with big smiles!

As we left the High School, the sun came out! The skies were still very cloudy, but the sun gave us hope that maybe the day’s weather would improve.

Fat chance. As we drove up the hills back to our town, we could see the snow falling across the valley and up into the mountains where the ski area “Waterville Valley” are located. It was fierce and heavy, as we watched from a distance, where the sun still shone.

Then, as we reached our small town, the sky opened and the rain began to fall again, only this time much heavier and the wind accompanied it!

We have had so much rain this Autumn that our lakes are full. As I drove Laurie back to her home, we lamented that the docks were flooded and actually had cement blocks on them, to keep them from floating off.

So that was my Saturday. Fun, some sun, snow, wind, and wonderful bazaars. Some of the reasons I love this time of year.