I have been living out on the Seacoast for the past week and 1/2 while I work the new gallery in Portsmouth. I have been staying with my brother and his family in Newmarket- a town I lived in my freshman year in college. It is much changed from the year 1980. I can't remember what this building use to be but now it is Rocky's Burgers which makes fabulous burgers AND sweet potato fries on site.
Newmarket was home to some large manufacturing companies- Timberland shoes & textile mills. It was peopled with the immigrants who came here to work in the mills. The mills are fairly empty but the Newmarket Community Development Corporation has been working for many years to find someone to fill it with housing, retail, restaurants and art space.
I have been walking around every morning with my dog, eating at the restaurants, enjoying the many pocket parks and seeing the regular comings and goings of the residents. It is my favorite way to travel- to stay in one place and inject yourself into the daily ebb & flow of a community. (Ask Michelle- I announced that I was taking a bus NO WHERE once we arrived in Rome for a 9 day stay.) This is a photo of my brother's sneaker store LOCO (shameless plug).
I have also been attending the Spoken Word/Poetry night at Crackskulls Book & Coffee Shop. Walking into a poetry reading in a town of 5000 people sounds like it could be dreadful, but it is not. There are some pretty good poets, amusing conversation and lots of laughs. I believe this happens every Wednesday night.... I give it two thumbs up.
The town is loaded with historic buildings, such as this old firehouse. It looks to be re-purposed into apartments. I think I could live in such a funky old building. As a matter of fact I find myself looking at a lot of the buildings trying to decide which would be the best one to relocate my home and business to. I love little cities like this.
And Henry has also adopted Newmarket as a second home- where he has found a fine selection of fire hydrants and he is King of the Road.
3 comments:
I do believe even I could get myself around Newmarket without resorting to a bus, or to commadering your shoes off of your feet for the last half mile.
Hahahaha... doesn't it kind of crack you up when the dogs find fire hydrants? I always chide Miss Coco (who learned to "lift her leg" from the doberman across the street at the old house!) that she's being, "Way too cliche!" when she does that. *grin*
Blackswamp Girl- I owned a female dog before Henry. Males take a little getting use to- all process and little product. He mostly sniffs, spins, lifts his leg to dribble out two drops- enough to say "mine." I mentioned that he has claimed the fire hydrants, but he has also claimed the trees, the fences, the telephone poles, the shrubs, the granite markers, the....
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