“Life’s burdens fall, its discords cease, I lapse in the glad release of Nature’s own exceeding peace.” — John Greenleaf Whittier Bear Island mornings belong to fishermen, polar bear swimmers and natural world philosophers. Lake Winnipesaukee breezes carry the scent of pine to solitary figures holding cups of coffee on docks, and loon calls are the only sound to pierce…
More to Love In the April issue, one of the letters suggested a future article about the use of stone. I concur with the writer’s solid suggestion. On a recent visit home to the Granite State, I came across the stone wall depicted in this photo (below). Obviously, this is the work of a modern stone mason. This wall is…
One-of-a-kind designs come from fresh and imaginative glasswork. It’s called Jackdaw Glass, an odd name for a glassblowing company until you remember that the crow-like jackdaw is attracted to shiny objects, and the signature work for glassblower Adam Noga is a shiny glass pendant. He makes his quarter-sized pendants by super-heating clear and colored glass rods to a molten state,…
Seven years ago, Lisa Muskat and her husband fell in love with a farmhouse in Bedford that was built two centuries ago. But love affairs inevitably have challenges and so did this one. Most of the house had to be gutted to, as Lisa says, “get to the bones” and bring the house up to today’s standards. The majority of…
Northern Exposure I have been tardy in commending you on your recent attention to things north of Concord. New Hampshire Magazine is really taking a look. That is great. The features on the Flower Farm, the Old Man and the Lupine Fest in May were all well done. I also enjoyed reading the trip from Lancaster to Franconia and the…
Pastel is a great medium to take into the landscape, says Barbara Danser, president of the newly formed Pastel Society of New Hampshire. The vibrancy of the medium — each stick is almost pure pigment — and the transparency of the stroke make it ideal for rendering in plein air. Pastel artists lay in their values from dark to light,…
James Rundlet was a precise man, someone who carefully laid out the plans for his Portsmouth home and gardens using his considerable knowledge of geometry and trigonometry. Two hundred years later, the results are still pleasing. He started life as a farmer’s son, but soon amassed a fortune as a merchant and investor. When Rundlet built his Federal-style house in…
Fireworks have been used for celebrations a very long time — 2,000 years to be exact. But just imagine if the ancient inventors of fireworks (whether it was the Chinese or Spanish is a matter of dispute) could see a fireworks display today, especially a particularly spectacular one that takes place in New Hampshire each year. It even amazes the…
When King James grabbed a little bit of coastline from the Massachusetts Bay Colony so New Hampshire could have a seaport, he unwittingly added to the state’s culinary horizons. Lobster was hard to transport inland, and wasn’t even on the coastal menu back then unless you were a prisoner or couldn’t afford anything better. Now, our blatant love for lobster…
Every spring I watched with a mixture of admiration and envy as my neighbors’ yards transmuted from snow-covered mud flats into stunning gardens. By summer, our quiet little street looked like a horticultural block party, a festival of color. Until you reached my yard, that is. A yard filled with islands of brown dirt and stubby clumps of yellowing grass,…
