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October 14, 1982 - A Preview of Fall in New HampshireI I October 14, 1982 TIje 6uffOlt Mmes I Page 13 A Preview of Fall in New Hampshire Seven years ago our family helped a group of exciting young people build a summer camp up in New Hampshire. Last weekend I revisited the area with the same group. Much has been added for this camp is now used almost year round. Yet there are those little things still to do that remind you there's work yet to be done. We left Long Island about 12:30 p.m. and arrived at camp just at dusk. As I stepped out of the car, the forest coolness and damp grass beneath my feet quickly brought me back to the years before. We unpacked and inside the cabin soon started a fire in the old Franklin stove. Its flickering yellow flames and radiant heat immediately started to penetrate our chilled bones. Everyone seemed to fall into a needed job. Boxes were unpacked. Blankets were handed down and doled out while Art and I headed out to get water. This and an inside bathroom were the `little things' I mentioned that were still to be done in the camp. Plastic jerry jugs have taken the place of the old metal G.I. cans used years ago but the artisian pipe coming out of the side of a bank down the road still poured forth its pure cold spring water. As it spilled over the filled jug and I lifted them up, I wondered how come they'd gotten so heavy. Could it be that two five - gallon jugs of water were showing my age? I never remembered them being so heavy. Cabin Snug and Warm Back at the cabin where it had now become snug and warm we talked of old times, of the world today and, of course, birds and flowers that each of us held so dear. Then, of course, each had his favorite joke that had us all in high spirits. By 11:30 heads started to nod as the heat of the fire captured most of us. A down comforter over me in the top bunk soon had me asleep even before the last light was out. Next morning turned cloudy with periods of drizzle but no weather could dampen our enthusiasm. The fall colors came through as we all knew they would. Whole hillsides and mountains were patch quilts of yellow, reds and greens. There was a bounce in everyone's step. As we drove from one starting point to another, we passed the neat white houses of the natives close to the road. Most were older homes and most painted white. All seemed to have wood piles of one sort or another nearby. Some were so large they seemed almost to swallow up the little houses. Already we had seen the forerunner of winter in the morning when we had to scrape the frost from the car's windshield. Everywhere in the low spots the ferns and other sensitive plants had been painted brown by Jack Frost. By evening, after a hearty meal, we were ready for the sack early. Having no facilities in the cabin each would take the flashlight with little disturbance and head down the muffled pine - needle path to the outhouse. Familiar odors and cold seats took me back to my early childhood, when these trips were a way of life. Few stayed long and those who returned always seemed to find comfort backing up to the stove to chase away the chill. Freezing Temperatures Our second day rose clear and cold. The temperature dropped to 30 degrees. Sausage, French toast, homemade syrup and hot coffee started us off with extra gusto. The world was ours to conquer. Everything was fresh and exhilarating. Water tinkled from unseen rivulets along the trail and a kaleidoscope of colored leaves was always underfoot. Occasionally we'd pass through a grove of evergreens and the fragrance of pine would awake old memories of woodlands. We walked to waterfalls, old swimming �OGN16> Cllr holes, abandoned mines, beaver dams, a lookout tower atop a mountain and miles and miles of trails that glowed from the splendor of fall color and brilliant sun. At the lookout tower we were invited to view the distant panorama. Atop, our puffing bodies rested as we took in great sweeps of rolling mountains all tinted in bright fall colors. Some seemed to be out of reach of our eye, yet through our glasses a hazy image of 90 miles away showed up. To us we were at the top of the world. The tower was located along a long ridge that made a perfect place to see an occasional hawk fly by. The big migration of hawks had passed sometime ago but FALL WALK - -Some areas like New Hampshire have almost lost their fall color and frost is common each morning. Our show of color has just started. Photo by Barbara Stoutenburgh �t Wild Beach Plo dam V$111 Pare Vermont Maple Syrup White Samp Local Honey A le Butt &A- Apple Fresb Peanut Buffer V011 Strawbeny- Bltdiarb Jam ORT Nil -4-44 COU y snm R Main Rd., Jamesport, 722 -8048 Open 7 days a week 10 -5 P.M. there were still a few stragglers. Red tails, red shoulders, Coopers hawks and ospreys sped by on the brisk wind of the mountaintop. Down on the ground as we leisurely wound our way back to the car, a piliated woodpecker flew overhead. This crow - sized woodpecker is always a treat to see and then there were the ruby and golden - crowned kinglets that played on the side of the trail. Hermit Thrush Most Beautiful Song We also saw a hermit thrush along this and many of our other walks. How I remember their beautiful song years ago when we were up here in early spring. I still have a tape recording of that song and to me it sounds like magical musical running water. We're told it is the most beautiful of all bird songs but none of this song would we hear at this time of year. Later in the day we'd come back to this mountain and see the sun put the world to sleep. By then the early morning cold had left and the wind had died down. You could see forever. How peaceful it was. My only wish was that the troubled world could see the peace I saw from Pitcher Mountain. Monday morning the temperature was even lower than the day before -- 28 degrees -- and frost had covered everything with what looked like a miniature frosting of snow. The car bristled with tiny grains of white and the water in the bucket outside held its place as I turned it over with my foot. Surely we have time for one more hike before we leave. So we jumped in the car and headed off for a hidden pond amongst the last of New Hampshire's fall color. Half way up the trail a breeze started to stir and it rained the leaves of fall all about us. We walked in a fairyland of slowly drifting color -- time passed quickly and we soon had to head back. We all had had the companionship of true friends in nature's last splurge of color. The busy highways home with their long lines of traffic seemed anti to the way the world should be -- yet we were part of it too. It felt good to be home. Our own wood stove sprang at the chance to warm us. Our fall colors are just beginning and I venture to say we'll enjoy them just as much as we enjoyed our weekend in New Hampshire. PAULSTOUTENBURGH Car Insurance Paying too much for too little? eiw-W6 LIFE HEALTH I HOME BUSINESS Call on us for all your insurance. PAULA J. ALBIN 5 Second Street, Riverhead, N.Y. 11901 Phone: 727 -3065 NATIONWIDE INSURANCE o Nationwide Is on your side lIff - M(RIIN RMS N •CRR•RRSIMSSS M+finn-iRf Mulunl lntu.fnn1 CnmR +n, U11—de MuluM (Ile Imurmu Cfny+n, N+tinn -df lilt Inwl+nu Nnmf Oh" CIIYTIuI, Rain Everything in the Sale Room Price Saturday Only ThE 14IDDLE MAY S HOP MAIN P.D. SOUTIHOLD L.I. 516- 76�-162� ALL ISLAND Giam EQUIPMENT ORIGINAL TRACTORS mice - 50via - Jental WEST BABYLON, N. Y. 11704 THE POWER BOX OR" ( 516) 643 -2605 FUSELF? HKUBOTA Turf Equipment 1P ACi (DR S 1 there were still a few stragglers. Red tails, red shoulders, Coopers hawks and ospreys sped by on the brisk wind of the mountaintop. Down on the ground as we leisurely wound our way back to the car, a piliated woodpecker flew overhead. This crow - sized woodpecker is always a treat to see and then there were the ruby and golden - crowned kinglets that played on the side of the trail. Hermit Thrush Most Beautiful Song We also saw a hermit thrush along this and many of our other walks. How I remember their beautiful song years ago when we were up here in early spring. I still have a tape recording of that song and to me it sounds like magical musical running water. We're told it is the most beautiful of all bird songs but none of this song would we hear at this time of year. Later in the day we'd come back to this mountain and see the sun put the world to sleep. By then the early morning cold had left and the wind had died down. You could see forever. How peaceful it was. My only wish was that the troubled world could see the peace I saw from Pitcher Mountain. Monday morning the temperature was even lower than the day before -- 28 degrees -- and frost had covered everything with what looked like a miniature frosting of snow. The car bristled with tiny grains of white and the water in the bucket outside held its place as I turned it over with my foot. Surely we have time for one more hike before we leave. So we jumped in the car and headed off for a hidden pond amongst the last of New Hampshire's fall color. Half way up the trail a breeze started to stir and it rained the leaves of fall all about us. We walked in a fairyland of slowly drifting color -- time passed quickly and we soon had to head back. We all had had the companionship of true friends in nature's last splurge of color. The busy highways home with their long lines of traffic seemed anti to the way the world should be -- yet we were part of it too. It felt good to be home. Our own wood stove sprang at the chance to warm us. Our fall colors are just beginning and I venture to say we'll enjoy them just as much as we enjoyed our weekend in New Hampshire. PAULSTOUTENBURGH Car Insurance Paying too much for too little? eiw-W6 LIFE HEALTH I HOME BUSINESS Call on us for all your insurance. PAULA J. ALBIN 5 Second Street, Riverhead, N.Y. 11901 Phone: 727 -3065 NATIONWIDE INSURANCE o Nationwide Is on your side lIff - M(RIIN RMS N •CRR•RRSIMSSS M+finn-iRf Mulunl lntu.fnn1 CnmR +n, U11—de MuluM (Ile Imurmu Cfny+n, N+tinn -df lilt Inwl+nu Nnmf Oh" CIIYTIuI, Rain Everything in the Sale Room Price Saturday Only ThE 14IDDLE MAY S HOP MAIN P.D. SOUTIHOLD L.I. 516- 76�-162�