The Best Season of All

It's really no surprise that Autumn in New England ranges from gorgeous,at the very least, to absolutely stunning. "Foliage Season" is always tricky and unpredictable. Last year the season was endless, starting in late August and lasting well into early November. This year, the season sputtered and stalled, but eventually came through. Still, we come across pockets of color that completely take your breath away as you round a corner or look into a field of brilliant gold.


Overall what we found most surprising is that it's not so much a season, as an event that lasts for weeks and weeks. Small communities all across the region hold fairs and festivals, most, if not all based on agriculture. These fairs have been an annual event in many towns for more than 150 years. I was rather naive and believed that only folks in the south raise vegetables (the above photo shows our attempt at growing corn!) and have cattle ranches, so it was a great delight to discover that New England is mostly rural. While the ocean is what drew us up here, its actually the stunning beauty that keeps us up here - for now anyway!

Unfortunately we had a computer crash a couple of months back, and I lost all images from previous seasons, so I hope you enjoy these from the Sandwich Fair in Sandwich, New Hampshire. I hope to post more at a later date - if I can find them that is!

It's a Dog's Life

No real story to share, just a picture of Sir Guinness of Haverhill Glen, our 2 3/4 year-old chocolate bundle of fun. Also known as Roger's lap dog and very bestest friend!

Following Dreams

Recently Roger and I had the opportunity to meet a rather extraordinary family at the New Hampshire International Speedway.

Chase Austin is an up and coming NASCAR driver, whose grandmother just so happened to be Roger’s Sunday school teacher many, many years ago back in Lawrence, Kansas. What led up to this meeting was the exchanging of several emails between Roger and Marianne Austin, Chase’s mom. Roger had learned of Chase’s career several months ago and then he realized he would be racing up here in New England. We weren’t very hopeful in getting to meet any of the Austins, let alone Chase, so we were thrilled when it worked out for us to be able join them in the race car hauler before Chase’s race.

Marianne and her husband Steve were able to upgrade their pit passes and passed along the old ones to us. We were so excited when we hopped onto the back of the little gator, flashed our yellow “credentials” and zipped on in like we were really important! What was amazing was the fact that the parents of a driver had a limited pass to begin with. After all, if it weren’t for them….:)

It was a fantastic afternoon, and the family was very kind and welcoming. We hung out in their high-tech hauler for a bit, then headed over to pit road while Cup qualifying was going on. The only problem - I had on sandals and was nixed at the gate from going any further. While disappointed, I encouraged the others to go ahead and for Roger to take pictures. I was thrilled just to be anywhere near the action in the first place.

After several minutes I went back to the main gate in case they all came back. Suddenly, Steve appeared at my side with a pair of shoes! Not just any ol’ close-toed shoes, but a pair of Chase’s racing shoes. He had slipped off back to the hauler without any of us knowing. Later when Chase came down to prepare for his race I showed off my “new” shoes. How Chase really felt about a middle-aged woman dressed in pink wearing his shoes, I’m not sure. I, on the otherhand, felt like I was walking in Dale Earnhardt’s shoes!

The Austin family, Steve, Marianne, son Chase and their 2 daughters, are the true epitome of the name of this blog – “Life on Winding Road”. But they also epitomize the sacrifices that sometime come with following a dream.

Chase, who will soon be the ripe old age of 18, has proven himself to be a very talented race car driver. After a very bumpy start, his drive and talent is paying off, resulting in him gaining the attention of Rusty Wallace, and ultimately a NASCAR driver development contract with his team. This is no small feat and there are thousands of young men, and women (!), who dream of following in Chase’s footsteps. But, like so many dreams, this has resulted in a geographical separation for the family. While Steve, Chase and the oldest daughter have moved to the heart of NASCAR in North Carolina, Marianne and the youngest daughter remain in Kansas to provide a home base for the family.

We can certainly attest to what it’s like to leave behind loved ones and knowing that you’re missing out on not just the special events, but the humdrum of daily life as well. Ultimately we’ll head back south to be near Nicole and our parents and friends. And ultimately we know that the Austin Family will be able to be together again as a family, even as their children grow and they all begin their own careers.

In the meantime, we’ll cheer Chase on and wish them all of the very best of luck!.

The Smell that is New Orleans

It hits you as soon as you exit the airplane – this odorous, almost stench of a smell. It greets you outside of the hotel and can almost knock you flat as you round a corner, or when the wind whips through an alleyway. But mostly, it just hangs in the air like a persistent fog that you can’t see, but you know without a doubt that it’s there. Even on the 6^th day of being there, I could still smell it, even though the dank smell of my hotel room had finally faded.

But, what’s also very noticeable is the wonderful, outgoing spirit of the residents and visitors from surrounding areas.



I was traveling solo, so perhaps I was a bit more attuned to my environment than usual, but I also truly believe that New Orleans is just a great place to be.

The highlight, by far, was being invited to dine with 3 ladies from Mississippi. They realized I was dining alone and invited me to join them at their table. I'm sure I should have refused, but completely out of character as it was for me, I took them up on their incredible gratiousness. I was so nervous though, I was chattering on endlessly. I'm sure they'd had their fill of me by the time dinner ended!

Finally, this last note on the Crescent City is to encourage others to go there as well. To help you out, here’s the list of all the restaurants I went to over a course of a week, all in or near the French Quarter, and all highly recommendable.

Near the Convention Center & Harrah’s Casino:

* Emeril’s – posh and delicious http://www.emerils.com/restaurants/neworleans_emerils

* Gordon Biersch Brewery – chain, but lots to choose from and lots of activity
http://www.gordonbiersch.com/restaurants/index.php?pg=location&sub=loc&location_id=5

*Lucy’s Retired Surfers Bar – got the feeling this place is a great late night hangout. http://lucysretiredsurfers.com/

* Mulates – traditional cajun food – live music every night www.mulates.com

* Riche by Todd English – way swanky and pricey. I stopped in for the Friday afternoon seafood boil. Huge shrimp, tasty oysters, great gumbo at a fantastic mid-afternoon price.
www.harrahs.com/casinos/harrahs-new-orleans/restaurants-dining/riche-detail.html

French Quarter – locally owned (I think):

* Tujagues – 2^nd oldest restaurant in New Orleans, and the 1^st stand-up bar in the city. Causal atmosphere with a set menu with choice of entree. www.tujaguesrestaurant.com/

* Gumbo Shop – wonderful Cajun cuisine, reasonably priced. www.gumboshop.com/restaurant_menu/restaurant_menu.asp

* Crescent City Brew House – best oysters and cocktail sauce I’ve ever had! www.crescentcitybrewhouse.com/history.html

* The Market Café – great place for breakfast. Stand in the long line at Café Du Monde to quickly eat a beignet (aka as donuts) or keep going a couple blocks further to my very favorite spot! There’s almost always live jazz, the bloody marys are excellent and the pace, very relaxing!!!

* Pat O’Briens - www.patobriens.com – more of tourist tradition than a local tradition is my guess, but it’s well worth the stop. Maybe one of these days I’ll actually eat here.

French Quarter - chains:

* Landry’s Seafood House – New Orleans boasts the original, thought the chain actually began in Houston. www.landrysseafoodhouse.com/images/LSH-Menu.pdf

* Bubba Gump Shrimp Company – where the movie "Forrest Gump" plays all the time. I thought the menu was rather limited, but a fun place to hang and listen to the music www.bubbagump.com/locations/new_orleans.html

A New Orleans Icon

Recently I had the opportunity to spend a week in New Orleans to attend a conference. Naturally, I was unsure what to expect after Hurricane Katrina.

Reports state that the population of New Orleans is now only 50% of what it used to be. That, in itself if really hard to imagine, suddenly your own city or neighborhood reduced by half. But then add to that, all the lives that were lost.

I took the above photo at Pat O'Briens in the French Quarter, famed for the gazillion Hurricane drinks, and other libations, they serve every year. Okay, so I hear they also serve food, but I myself can't attest to that fact.

If you've ever gone to the piano bar, you would have seen Mr. Eddie perform. Using thimbles on his fingers, tapping away at a silver serving tray, working the crowd so patrons could toss coins and bills on the tray, making his "music" even livelier!

Sadly, he was lost in the floods, at the age of 95. A lifelong resident of NOLA, he began working at Pat O'Briens in the 40's. Rumor has it that he was never officially hired, he just showed up one day and began bussing tables. What is true, is that he never missed a day of work in his life. He worked until 3am every morning entertaining the tourists. In fact, he had worked the night prior to the hurricane and was too tired to try to evacuate. His wife was rescued from the roof of their home, and the last thing she remembered of her husband, was hearing him pray. It would be 4 months before his grandson was able to track down his body.

I was happy to find out that inspite of his tragic death, he received the send off he deserved - on what would have been his 96th birthday, a crowd gathered at Pat O'Briens where a jazz band led everyone in a second line jazz funeral and the celebration continued through the night.

From what I've found on the internet, Mr. Eddie was not a poor man. He had acquired homes and a couple of businesses over the years, but his main love was Pat O'Brien's. So much so, that the eve of his 2nd wedding, off to work he went.

Next time you're in New Orleans, stop in for a hurricane at Pat OBrien's as a way to pay homage to all the lives that were disrupted. Because in New Orleans, the party never stops and they wouldn't have it any other way!

Artichokes!

What's so exciting about an artichoke, you may ask. Well, when they're going in a flower pot on my patio in New England it's very exciting.

Last summer I came across a local nursery with artichoke plants for sale so I added 2 to my vegetable garden, but no chokes were ever borne. I attempted to transplant them into pots to bring indoors but they weren't in the least bit happy. Maybe because they were sitting right above a space heater?

This year I came across them again and just had to give it another shot. But this time, knowing they need lots of room to grow, and probably much better soil, I put them in my patio pots, with marigolds for good measure in case of another failure. Well lo and behold this past weekend we have not one, but two chokes on one plant! The other plant is just beginning to produce a tiny choke that should be in full view in a few days.

I'm looking forward to boiling and eating these with the best butter I can find. And afterward I'll do my best to save the plants for next year, as according to the California Artichoke Board, plants will continue to produce dozens of artichokes for up to 7 years.

Summer in New England means lobster! Make that LOTS of lobster! These 2 critters were picked up in Kittery, Maine at the Seaview Lobster Company (a brief 30 minute drive from our house) for a very cheap price. By lobster standards that is.

When Roger and I moved up here, I seriously thought lobster could be bought for prices similar to chicken. But that’s not the case. Due to an abundant crop this year (over-sexed lobsters maybe?), the prices have dropped. These 2 beauts we bought at $7 a pound, and they usually would have been $11 a pound. But still, multiply that by their weight – 5 lbs total – that’s still quite the chunk of change out the pocket book.

Unfortunately, the guy who sold us our dinner, though as incredibly young and handsome as he is, with his mouth shut – is missing several teeth! So I feel it’s my duty as a New Englander to buy more lobsters so maybe this guy can afford to go to the dentist.

We’ve learned quite a bit about lobsters in the time we’ve been up here. One, you can go scuba diving for lobsters. We haven’t done this ourselves, but that’s how friends who own a boat have been known to spend their summers. Two, I can make a mean lobster chowder – southern style! Cajun spices and Tabasco make all the difference in the world.

Third, and most important, don’t even think you can just move to Maine and start up your own lobster business – you will not make it. Not because there aren’t enough lobsters per se, but unless you’re born into the business, or have had long-standing ties to a lobstering community – your traps will be sabotaged. That’s pretty much a guarantee.

Not to completely disparage Mainers, but I also read not long after moving here about a couple who moved north and started an orchard business. Seemed harmless enough to me, but for some reason the neighbors burned down the orchard – apparently because they weren’t locals and they had the nerve to try to start a business. These people not only refused to move, they also replanted their orchards. I hope they’re still there, but it’s certainly quite a hill to climb.

Overall though, our experiences with Maine have been very pleasant, though they are very much their own people, but then again, they know we’re spending our money in Maine, then heading back home to Massachusetts.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

The above bible verse was provided by my cousin, Steve Garrett, in 2002 for a compilation of memories provided by all 17 Garrett cousins of our grandparent’s home in Amarillo, Texas. This verse strikes a chord in me today, as not only a testament to how he lived his own life, raising 4 daughters, but the values that were instilled in all of us that truly beckon back to generations of Garretts and Johnsons raising families. We were all far from perfect, but we always had the strong values built on Christian faith to get us through difficult times, whether the hard times were a result of our own actions, or simply dealing with what life throws at everyone.

In looking around at my relatives, I believe most of us married into families that were a direct reflection of our own families. Afterall, what were the odds of me finding a man who knew, not only what Wahoo is, but also played on homemade Wahoo boards?

At age 51, on July 20th, 2007, Steve lost his battle with ALS, probably better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The following was taken from his obituary and I wanted to pass this along:

“…Stevie Ray, stepped out of this life and into the presence of the Lord. There he received a crown of righteousness and is now dancing before the Lord in his new body, which is no longer incapacitated by the Lou Gehrigís disease he fought so courageously for the past three years.”

Some of you have dealt directly with your own immediate familty members who have had ALS and can provide a first-hand account of how truly horrible the disease is. Steve was always vibrant and a very strong, physical person and when diagnosed with ALS, he and his wife booked a trip to the Holy Land to truly walk in the steps of Jesus.

In addition to ALS, there are so many conditions today that are in need of money to help aid in the discovery of cures. I know we all give in our own ways, but I wanted to point out a website, Charity Navigator, which provides data on hundreds, or maybe thousands of charities, detailing what percentage of monies donated is actually used for the intended purpose. Their list runs the gamut of health, environment and education, just to name a few. So if you’re leery of donating to a foundation, please check out their website for more information.

And in the meantime, may be peace and goodness dwell in the hearts of the immediate family Steve left behind.