25 years ago this very night, Diane Lou Mariano agreed to be my wife !. Diane was doing her masters of Electronics at Southampton University while I worked at IBM’s UK Labs in Hursley. We were living in Winchester in southern England. I chose today because my lucky numer was (and still is ) 911… We were busy on Sept 11, but decided today , Nove 9th would work just as well because in england.. they write the dates backwards from us. There today is 9/11 We went to the Chessil Rectory. an old 16th century Rectory that was a really nice resturant.. After dinner we walked home along the river ..it was raining a little. I got down on my knee and asked Diane to marry me.. I slipped a ring on her finger that I had made out of steel in my blacksmithing class.. not too pretty.. it not bI ad for soemthing you made with a hammer and fire.. Tasked her to marry me.. then we traded places.. she got down on her knee and asked me.. I think she had to put the ring on my little finger to get it to fit.. We’ve covered many. many miles in the past 25 years.. a wonderful mix of love and laughter and tears.. i wouldn’t trade a moment of it. I feel so lucky to have found my mate.. ! I love you Diane.
I just snapped the last of our storm windows in place up stairs.. Each is a giant 4 foot by 6 foot plate of glass in a metal frame. They get held on by spring loaded clips. As each one goes up. a little less air and a little less noise come in to our leaky house.. byt the last window, our house is transformed.. the train that thuners by in the summer is a muted rumble.. the slosh of car wheels out on the snowy road become the sounds of waves on a beach. The smokey outside smells give way to equally smokey but more human smells from inside the house. We’re closed in to our den like some creaturreally feels like hibernation now that the time has changed . It’s pitch black by 5:30 when I headed for home.. The roads were covered with slush.. I found myself thinking of warm and sunny places. by 9 oclock we are all yawning and ready to go to sleep..
Nice slow day again.. much needed. Diane and I used the time to finish washing the windows and to put up the down stairs storm windows. All in a l, Diane and I washed 540 panes of glass in the last two days.. and we haven’t done the windows in the front.. or the insides of the windows. This old house is a ton of work come season change..
Around 3 we took a break to host the members of the Beacon Light Grange. The grange is a service organization founded 147 years ago.. I found a definition on the National Grange web site:
The
National Grange is the nation’s oldest national agricultural organization, with
grassroots units established in
2,700 local communities in 40 states. Its
200,000 members provide service to agriculture and rural areas on a wide variety
of issues, including economic development, education, family endeavors, and legislation
designed to assure a strong and viable Rural America. It was formed in the years
following the American Civil War to unite private citizens in improving the economic
and social position of the nation’s farm population. Over the past 143
years, it has evolved to include non-farm rural families and communities.
The Beacon Light Grange was founded in 1949 and met in our house until about 1970.. They called it the Beacon Light Grange because of the airplane beacon that used to be on the firetower up on Robins Mountain behind the house.
We’d invited the Grange to meet in our house at our friend Jane’s suggestion. She’s a new member. She figured the others would like to see the plavce after such a long time. 7 members of the Grange showed up . Blanche.. one of the founders (she’s 81).. Alice (used to work at our insurance agents) , Betty. Ann (our good friend Brad’s grandma) , Jane, Durselina the Grange Master, her husband Mike, and Betty. They were all so nice. We sat and tlaked for about 2 hours about the Grange,and about the house. Blanche told us she thought the place was used for a church for awhile.. we learned that there was once some sort of alter upstairs.. and that one of the stairwells up front was blcoked. We heard that there were two wood stoves up stairs. Thye told us about square dances thta were held here all the time.. and Nickel a Dip dinners. It was great hearing about all the old times here. We took soem of the grangers on a tour of the house..
Blanche even had written a poem to commemorate their visit. I recoreded as much as I could, then my batteries ran out..
here’s the full text.. I types it in from Blanche’s copy
The Old Grange Hall
This lovely old building which you have renovated to a beautiful home Originally belonged to the Church of England with it’s charming loft and dome. Later years it was deeded for use as a school to the Town of Richmond with the stipulation- When not in public use, the property reverts to the original owner -the farm owned by the Bombardiers. From 1949-about 1970 the Beacon Light Grange used the building with admiration and glee- We had more Nickle-A-Dip suppers and Chicken Bar-B-Q’s than you ever did see ! Beacon Light Grange #557 made a float every year for the forth of July Parade. A picnic ground was cleared by the river-tales and benches were made. The grass was raked, the fence around the yard was repaired and painted. I was raking one day and started burning- which I never should have done- A passerby had a fire extinguisher and quickly quenched the flames. Than Gd for our Good Samaritan No. !. , We have lost many members along the way But the couple and their baby girl buried in a landslide was the greatest catastrophe of our day. There was a ig neighbor’s night one time, inviting Grangers far and near, We had about 200 people- the hall filled to the brim. They had come by the carload to visit us. One of the new members – a bright young lad, came and was thunderstruck when he saw everyone square dancing – taking his cap – he got up an left – couldn’t understand all the fuss ! We had served so many lunches, dinners and celebrations- we take great pride in honoring all our local people for all they have done. We have a blast thanking them every fall. We thank them one by one ! This old building is a great symbol of how we started and what we have accomplished. We’ve worked with our partners all – churches, libraries, also our schools. Fire Department, Richmond, Rescue – Richmond Area Business Association, Children’s camping project, Local Food Shelves to name a few – They are all our tools !
Blanche B. Dowd 11/7/2010
It was a great visit from a great organization !
Well. that was it for today.. tune in tomorrow.. nite all.. nite sam -me
Today was a much needed peaceful day .. we spent most of it near snow. Gabe had two events…. bit rail jams. One was at MMSC.. There’s snow in the mountains, but not yet on the flats, so they used snow from the local ice rink. It was the inaugural event fo rthe team..
Several of us helped clean up some old mattresses that had been a landing mat for tricks.. they were old and wet.. ewwwwwww
The setup was a simple wooden ramp with a box and a single rail. The kids hit it as many times as they could in 3 hours.. The coaches helped them get their bindings set, etc.. I could tell Gabe was happy to be back on snow.
This year the main coach of MMSC is Bud Keene.. he’s the guy that coached Shawn White in the Olympics last year.. It’s fun to see him coaching these young kids.. Some of them are just beginners. He’s a great coach.. kind. patient and fun..
We left Stowe around 1.. came home for a bit.. then headed to Burlington around 4:30 for another rail jam. this one was competitive.. They’d blocked St. Paul street and built a huge wooden ramp and again had a box and a metal rail.. they trucked in 15 loads of snow from a different ice rink.
Gabe had some nice runs early in the night. ..
Dylan and Matt were there..
As was Luke !.. He was still in the top 5 when we left.. he was looking good !
Super nice day.. glad to be home. More tomorrow.. nite all.. nite sam -me
