Blogging on the Powwow

My 40th birthday turned out to be great. I planned what I hoped would be a wonderful day for myself and indeed, it was! When I was 29 and about to turn 30, I attended a conference in San Diego. I spotted a colleague, who I had only briefly met back at the research center at UNH, at one of the conference sessions. I wasn't as practiced at making friends back then, but I pushed through whatever hesitation I had about approaching this colleague and was greatly rewarded! I discovered that Wendy and I had so much in common: we loved rural areas, mountain hiking, similar foods, exercise, and were both partnered with men much older than ourselves.  Wendy and I had both, independently, planned to leave San Diego on the same day at similar times; in fact, we shared a taxi to the airport very early on what was my 30th birthday. Wendy and I have remained good friends, hiking together in the White Mountains, sharing marathon strategies, and having dinners together with our husbands. Thus, it s...

Neil and I love to visit northern New Hampshire. As not only a woman of routine (see my previous blog on this topic), but a couple of routine, we've been staying at the same place for 12-13 years - the Town & Country Motor Inn . We love the T&C - on the Gorham/Shelburn line - modestly priced, reasonably quiet, an aging facility with exercise equipment that is 10 years too old, sink and tub drains that are slow to work, and dining room food that meets Neil's rating of " B-flat."  They also allow pets for a mere $6/night while other competitors charge up to $25/night. From what we can tell, the T&C - a family-run business - has been a staple of the social and economic activity for over 50 years in Coos County. It is the kind of place where generations of families have held weddings, class reunions and other "corporate functions." Neil first learned of the T&C because in the 1990s they hosted the "Kinder Konzerts" of the Portland Symp...