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January 22, 2008

Live Free or Die

I haven't been writing because we have been busy of late. Last Friday night I played a gig with Misty Blues at Liston's roadhouse in Worthington. We played loud and long and my ears rang for two days after. There are no pictures of the event because we lost the cord that recharges our camera. But Robbi went to Radio Shack and fixed the problem. Saturday we drove north and east to Hebron, New Hampshire, home of the Connor Brothers, the manly trio who fishes up in Bristol Bay with us each summer.

Here they are in full Alaskan glory, on the deck of the good ship Charisma.

Paul, the brother on the lower right, had invited us up to visit his homestead, a house he built by hand in the middle of 60 acres of New Hampshire wilderness. Being as close to Hebron as we're likely to be for quite some time, we decided to make it a day trip.

It took about three hours to get there, the roads we traveled getting progressively smaller and snowier. When we arrived, we wouldn't have known we were in Hebron except for the post office.

There was a lot of snow on the ground, and snowmobiles are a primary form of transportation. Hence, this machine that grooms the various trails.

Paul's house is about a mile from the closest road that can be accessed in the winter, so Paul met us with his snowmobile and drove us up to his place.

The trail through the woods was steep, but Iggy kept pace.

For the most part.

Paul's house is a work in constant progress.

Situated in the middle of 60 acres of New Hampshire wilderness, the house is not on the grid. Paul runs generators to charge the batteries that run the electricity in his house. Water comes from a well. The fridge, stove, and hot water heater run on propane.

He adds to the house as need be. For years, he lacked a bathroom. Eventually, his wife Kathleen persuaded him of the virtues of indoor plumbing.

The interior is cozy and beautiful. Kathleen made us some delicious soup.

Our good friends Josh and Kay drove over from Boston for the day. Josh also fishes in Alaska in the summers.

Josh plays the banjo.

Kay plays with dogs.

Paul and Kathleen have two kids, Cian and Cullem. Cian was sick and remained understated throughout our visit.

Cullem, on the other hand, was anything but shy. Throughout our first half hour or so in the house, we were treated to five or so different personas. Here are a few.

Being the incredibly manly type, Paul is a blacksmith and has a lot of powerful metalworking tools in the unfinished barn beside his house.

Like this sucker, which adds tremendous force to one's hammer blow.

The hammers in question.

Another piece of indiscriminately masculine machinery.

This one is instrumental in heating the metal. I do not know its name.

One of Robbi's many virtues is endless curiosity.

In addition to the metalworking barn, Paul has a shed/tent structure for woodworking. Notice the open end. Nothing like subzero New Hampshire temperatures to compliment one's woodworking.

In addition to all his tools, Paul has other essentials on hand. Like a PA system for playing music.

Paul has a beautiful voice and plays a nice guitar. I brought my harps, and we played a bit.

Eventually, it came time to go home.

We piled back onto the snowmobiles and drove through the dark woods back to our car.

For years, Robbi and I have listened to Paul and his brothers talk about their homes on the lake in Hebron, NH. For years we have dreamed of our own cabin in the woods, away from it all.
And although we were inspired by the loveliness of the setting and the romance of their lives, the visit helped us feel thankful for the amenities of our barn. Our plumbing, our electricity, our well-manicured roadways.

Perhaps someday we will feel ready to truly set out into the wilderness to make a life among the trees. But something tells me that we won't.

We're home now, back from Massachusetts, looking forward now to Idiots'Fest, mere weeks away.

I have some catching up to do here that will be posted in the days ahead.

Posted by bogenamp at January 22, 2008 10:22 PM