Hiking the McCann Family Farm

On Thursday, August 29^th, my friend, Jon, and I hiked the three mile yellow blazed trail at the McCann Family Farm in Somers, CT. The blue blazed trail is two miles. The McCann Family Farm is “a working farm/nature preserve, owned and maintained by the Northern CT Land Trust.” A not-so-easy-to-see sign on Route 190 indicates one should turn here and drive down a short dirt road into the parking lot with space for six to eight cars.

I picked up a map and info brochure at the trailhead and off we went…up, up, up, up and up some more. The trail is a combination of smooth and rocky. The rocky parts were, for the most part, solidly planted and not loose. I still had to watch my step so I didn’t turn an ankle. I would classify the yellow blazed trail as easy to moderately difficult. Take into consideration both Jon and I are in our 70s…I’m further into my 70s than he is, but we are both quite agile and the walk took us 2 hours to do 3 miles. We had to stop and rest a couple of times…my request. Some of those endless hills were a bit much for me, but I didn’t let them stop me.

The worst part was, it kept going up. According to the brochure, “About one third of the acreage (84 acres) is used to produce hay. The rest exhibits a wide variety of habitats.” One of those habitats is hills!

Not too long into our hike, Jon calls out, “Moos sighting!” I looked expecting to see moose. It was a herd of beef cattle. So much for Moos sightings!

I’ve picked out the best pictures from this hike. There were mushrooms all over the place…all kinds, in all different arrays and colors. Also, the rock formations were of great interest. Along the way we identified kettle ponds (or holes, as some were just dry depressions) left over from the last glacier retreat.

Note, I finally got the date stamp on my camera corrected and now the time stamp is way off. We hiked from 10 a.m. to noon.

As you begin your walk on the blue and yellow combined blazed trails, you come to the bird sanctuary.

These were the reason for Jon's Moos sighting.

This is Happy Hiker #1...me.

Happy Hiker #2...Jon.

This was the only place to put the trail. Above it and below this spot just wasn't conducive for walking. Call this between a rock and a hard place! 

The photo above shows a tree that looks like it's wearing a skirt of mushrooms. Below is a cluster.

For My Cousins

Cousins Tour Ware, MA

It was at least a year and a half ago when I suggested to my cousins Carole and Claire that I would love to take a tour of the Ware, MA of my childhood. It wasn’t until this summer when cousin Art, and his wife Mary Lou, came up from Florida that the tour actually happened. I have to credit Art for making it happen. All of my efforts were for naught.Thursday, August 15^th, was cousin Claire’s birthday and it was chosen as the day three of cousins would join Claire and her sister, Shirley, tour the Ware, MA of our childhood.

Our parents were all born and brought up in Ware as were cousins Claire and Shirley. The rest of us, Art, his sister Carole, and I, spent a lot of time visiting as children. Art’s wife, ML, came along for the ride and she was a good sport, since all the places we visited and the stories we told were foreign to her.

At the end of the tour, we dined at Theresa’s Restaurant capped off with the most delicious cake with fruit filling for Claire’s birthday.

I had hoped to post before and after pictures for several of the sites, but I cannot find the “before” picture of Mt. Carmel church. I tore this place apart looking for them. Nothing. I’m really heart broken about that. It was such a beautiful church.

Speaking of churches, Mt. Carmel was the French church. All Saints was (and still is) the Irish church. There is a Polish church (St. Mary). As a kid I always thought it was strange that Ware had a church for each language speaking parts of its population. My rural, farming town (in CT) didn’t even have one church until 1941 and everyone who was Catholic went to it.

Missing picture aside, for me, it was the most wonderful day, to be with my cousins sharing stories of our childhood. As with most families, we had some colorful characters, and some not so colorful. That’s family, and I love them all!

Following are the best of the pictures I took that day with narrative. The date on the photos is off by one day…it should be 08/15/13.

 The top photo is Sherwin St. today. Claire and Shirley used to live here. The bottom photo was taken in probably 1940 or '41. It shows my family car, my mother, my brother Paul, Claire, Shirley and me.

 The front of the house on Dale Street where Clare and Shirley lived on the second floor and my cousins Gloria and Yvette lived on the third. This is the house I remember most.

 This doesn't look like a store any more. It was just down the hill from the house on Dale St. where we would be sent for milk, bread and candy (if we had been good).

 This empty lot is where Mt. Carmel (French Church) used to be. How sad that it had to be torn down.

 A movie theater, the Casino, used to be in this space. We saw a few movies here. We could walk to the theater from Dale St.

This parking lot is where our Grandfather owned the Royal Hotel and Cafe. The Cafe was originally down on Main St. and he moved it to a hotel on Parker St (that he bought) and the two became one. The Phoenix Cafe took over the spot on Main St., but that had nothing to do with Pepere (pronounced Pepay).

 This the Hotel Royal and Cafe after a snow storm.

The Royal Cafe parade float.

 The alter at All Saints church (the Irish church)

The windows above the alter at All Saints are by Tiffany.

Quabin Res. This is the water supply for Boston. Claire and Shirley's father (my Uncle Jeff) and his brother, my Uncle Kaiser both worked on this. The 5 MA towns of  Enfield, Dana, North Dana, Greenwich, and Prescott had to be abandoned to accommodate the water.

I don't remember this bridge, but Claire wanted to show it to us. It was recently rebuilt and it spans the Ware River. The Gilbertville Covered Bridge, built in 1887, carries Bridge Street over the Ware River between the Towns of Hardwick and Ware. Hardwick is in Worcester County and Ware is in Hampshire County. The bridge you see has been recently rebuilt. It only took eight years to make the new bridge happen.

The actual origin of the name, Ware, is thought to be derived from a translation of the Native American word "Nenameseck," meaning fishing weir (pronounced Ware). The weirs were used to capture salmon that were once abundant in New England waterways.

 Starting with the picture above, was the most emotional for me. This is what my grandparent's house looks like now. Claire arranged for us to tour the home and when I went upstairs, I was upset because I couldn't find the room I had slept in as a small child. The upstairs has been changed quite a bit.

 This is the side of the house next to the driveway.

 These trees hide the place where most family photos were taken when our parents were kids.

Note the cellar hatchway and the bay window. You will see them in the picture of our grandparents.

Our grandparents house after a snow storm. Look at the "gingerbread" detailing on the peak.

 My mother, age 15

Our grandparents. Notice the hatchway and the bay window.

 Happy Birthday, Claire...with Shirley looking on.

 Apparently Art was questioning what Carole was saying. Is that what big brothers do?

Here's the whole group. Carole, Claire, Art, Shirley, Me, Mary Lou

As we parted, I read this poem to my cousins:

Next Generation

The last of our parents is gone.

The High Priests and Priestesses

of our youth are no longer here

to guide our footsteps

with stern or gentle words,

or soothe us with strong arms

or ample bosoms.

And so my cousins,

we proceed—

their memory echoing in our hearts.

Where they were, we are now.

Are you up to the task?

Beverly R. Titus

08/09/11

Call Me Great Gramma!

I am pleased to announce that I will be a Great Gramma in early February 2014.
Congratulations to my granddaughter, Jessica, and her husband, Matt.

More on Cape Cod Erosion

Back on March 9^th, I posted “Cape Cod Becoming Four Islands.” If you care to go back and read that (see the left column for an easy way to get to that article), you will see that the latest news from the Marconi Site was predicted. Not just by me…(that’s a little egotistical for me to think that), but by environmentalists and Cape Codologists for some time now.

In this morning’s Cape Cod Times online there is an article about the “Seashore tears down Marconi exhibit.”  In the past eight months the amount of erosion…40 to 50 feet of land…has been chewed away by recent storms.

I will be on the Cape in mid-September to see the damage for myself. I expect I will have pictures. I have so many pictures from past years that I might be able to post before and after.

Until then, I would like to get in touch with the retired science teacher living in Chatham who emailed me after the March article. I have had a computer meltdown since, and lost all my email addresses. I hope you still read my journal and will get in touch. I would love to meet you while I’m on the Cape in September. I'll only be there for 3 days, and will be visiting family and friends while I'm there, so I'll be very busy.

Bike Riding Between Heat Waves

The last time I was out on my bike was three weeks ago.

On Friday of last week it finally was cool enough in the morning to consider a bike ride. It turned out to be a perfect cool morning. However, I had an eye doctor appointment at 10:30, so riding was not going to happen.

And along came Saturday. Cool morning with cloudy skies. That I like. I can’t take much sun or heat. I was going to ride the Canal pathway, but, decided instead to do errands…mostly go buy a birthday card for my oldest son who turns 50 on Monday (that’s tomorrow as I write this).

After a 3.5-mile ride I arrive at the card store in a fine mist. That’s ok. The card is bought and signed and I head on over to my son’s house to deliver it. I know he’s not home. He’s at the Rhode Island shore the weekend. I let my self into his house and put the card on the table.

While I’m there, I water some of his plants on the porch; use the bathroom; and turn on the TV to the Weather Channel to catch the weather radar. Well, that didn’t look promising. The mist I had been feeling was going to turn into light to moderate rain in about five minutes and last about an hour or so. I decided I wasn’t going to hang around for an hour.

I had not gone far when it started to rain…as I knew it would. When it started coming down a little harder I had a flashback to the time my daughter, Kathy, and I rode the Erie Canal Pathway in 2008 when I was 72. The day we rode from Rome, NY to Little Falls (50 miles) we rode in torrential rain for the last 30 miles. Soaked to the skin. But this was not the Erie Canal trip and my time in the rain would only be 20 minutes or so…so suck it up!

Even with the rain it felt good to be out on the road.

And now, today, we will be starting another heat wave. This one looks like it will last all week. How long will it be this time before I get to ride again? Hopefully I won’t have any appointments scheduled when that day finally does arrive.

NOTE: Should you have an interest in reading all about the Erie Canal adventure, you can go to my on-line journal at: http://eriecanaladventure.blogspot.com.

Hot and Humid

Here we are again…another heat wave. In the northeast, it takes three days of 90° or more to constitute a heat wave. Today is day four and should be the last for several days. The humidity is expected to continue. As grateful as I am for the portable air conditioner I have in my bedroom, I really look forward to being able to sleep with my windows open.

You might have heard the saying, “it’s not the heat it’s the humidity!” That is the truth. When the dew point is in the 70s day and night after day and night one’s store of good humor begins to get shabby around the edges.

If I need to go out, I make sure it’s early in the morning before things get too hot. This morning, I went out in the little garden at the back of my condo to weed as much as I could before the heat set in. First I put on a long sleeved shirt that I had treated with bug spray, then sprayed my shorts and legs. Having done that I set about to try to figure out what was a weed and what was not. There are a couple of things growing out there that I know are weeds, but it looks like they will flower. I’m not picky about where my flowers come from. If that weed wants to flower, I’ll be the first one out there admiring it!

It doesn’t look like my morning glories will blossom. Maybe it’s because I planted them on the back side of the condo where they don’t get sun until 11 o’clock or so. Next year I will plant them out front and plant from seeds…not wait until the plants are ready in the garden shop.

I have 15 tomatoes of varying sizes. When they first appeared, they grew quite rapidly and then they seemed to stop. I’m just hoping they will ripen. Right now the biggest one is about the size of a plum and they go down to grape size from there. I was hoping to have so many ripen at one time I would have to freeze what I couldn’t use right away. Not sure that is going to be a concern.

But it is July after all. And this July is so very different from last July and I’m sure next July will be different, too. It is quite possible that the jet stream will do something different in the next few days and the northeast could be switched to a cool and comfortable rest-of-the-summer. Please, God!

Weather (or not)

Northeast Heat Wave

The northeastern US is in the grips of a heat wave…three days or more of 90° heat. Today will be day three. It probably wouldn’t be that bad, except the dew point has been in the mid to upper 60° range which is quite humid. And, it seems we could head for downright uncomfortable 70° dewpoints.

Rain

I heard on this morning’s news that northern California farmers are scrambling to bring in their crops fearing the forecasted rains could encourage fungus growths that would destroy crops in the fields.

Fires

Seems like there are wild fires all over the west and southwest. They sure could use some of the rain other parts of the country had received.

Floods

And who would ever have thought that Calgary, Alberta, Canada would have severe flooding? Certainly not me. Maybe I’m the only one who would not have thought that. Perhaps is just that here on the east coast of the lower 48, we don’t get much news of Canada’s weather…unless it becomes extreme.

Fire and Water

Keep a good thought for all those folks who have been devastated by the brutal lack of rain or the brutal abundance of rain.

Mother Nature

We know Mother Nature is upset with us for not doing more to prevent global warming. Remember how murky the skies used to look before auto emissions laws. Now look at the clear blue skies we enjoy. It is not arguable that auto-emissions was the cause of the murky skies. Now we have a larger problem. We must reduce carbon emissions across the board world-wide. Can we do it? Of course we can. Will we do it? Ah, the answer to that question scares me.