Tag: Smiles

Don’t take my word for it

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Early praise!

“Quaking Dover is a delightful and informative read. Thanks for your good work!” Beth Collea, Dover

“Truly interesting. I truly appreciate all the work and careful thought and interpretations you put into it.” Canyon Woman, New Mexico

“I really like your voice. It’s engaging, light, and easy to read.” Jim Mastro, science fiction author

“Love it!” Susan Wiley, Sandwich, NH

“I enjoyed your conversational writing style – sharing the research that you did — and confidentially whispering (in your writing style), ‘This is what this finding means and how it should be interpreted.’ … To ascertain what really happened you checked primary documents, read previous accounts of Dover, New Hampshire – triangulated your sources and showed us readers how you reached your conclusion. A very enlightening read — well researched, well written.” Joe Clabby, author of A History of Eastport, Passamaquoddy Bay, and Vicinity

Among our best guests in Dover

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Once the renovations are finished in our old Cape, we’ll be looking to pick up where we left off in Dover, back before Covid interrupted travel and entertaining.

In no particular order, among the guests we remember fondly:

  1. Primary election volunteers who often slept on our floors, including a Congressional chief of staff, a British journalist, an authority on smallpox and anthrax, and Muslim college students from Detroit.
  2. Chinese college students doing volunteer internships.
  3. The quirky, queer, Quaker comedian and performance artist and Bible scholar. Seriously.
  4. The retired economics professor and Friends committee colleague.
  5. My usual roommate at Yearly Meeting sessions.
  6. My best friend from my high school year, despite my living on the wrong side of the tracks.
  7. My former landlords in the Happy Valley.
  8. The other Quaker among Baltimore Mennonites and his wife.
  9. The Passamaquoddy traditional healer and his apprentice.
  10. My goddaughter, most recently from Germany, and any of her friends, including the one who grew up to become mayor of a notable Maine city.

Who have been among your favorite guests?

 

Signs we’re reverting to ghost-town status

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

The indicators started showing up by the last week of August but are inescapable now. Eastport’s locking up for the winter.

As evidence?

  1. The passenger ferry to Lubec has already been hauled out of the water and is up on props in the boatyard for annual maintenance.
  2. The Tides Institute Museum is closed for the season, with the Eastport Art Gallery set to do likewise at the end of the month.
  3. I trot down to Horn Run Brewing and find it closed today. Gotta check the new schedule. Not that I expected its popular deck to be open all year. And other restaurants have curbed back as well.
  4. Nobody’s out on the Breakwater.
  5. Rosie’s hot dog stand is closed and its sign thanks us for a good summer.
  6. I haven’t seen a super yacht for a month, much less tied up at the dock.
  7. Most of the out-of-state license plates are gone, along with the luxury car models. It’s mostly Maine and New Hampshire now, and soon it will be about all Maine.
  8. Well, there is a sole convertible stubbornly zipping about – but just one, with its driver bundled up.
  9. There just aren’t as many folks around, period. At least the dog walkers are holding up their end.
  10. There’s an uptick in the number of houses for sale as some Summer People realize they can’t keep up with another year. And the places are staying on the market longer.

The glory of the wizardry of a skilled short-order cook

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Trying to get only three items to the dinner table at the same time had me thinking of this the other day.

It wasn’t like I had eight or nine tables awaiting some miracle, this was only me. The mathematical probabilities became rather staggering.

Quite humbly, it’s something every household more or less expects at least once a day, and it’s much more demanding than most of us assume.

My wife, bless her, is a wizard at this, as are our daughters.

But now, back to the rest of the universe.

This is one more case of where timing is everything.

It had me recalling my first visit to New Hampshire, where my traveling companion and I had to await breakfast on a one-order-at-a-time prepared by an amateur.

Next time you venture out to eat, please remember this.

There may be no excuse for much of the overpriced mediocrity that emerges after you ordered, but please, please, be aware of the skill when things do come together seemingly as expected. And do react appropriately, when the check comes.