2006 Blog Archives

Doing this before midnight Saturday, so I can go to bed earlier than normal. I need sleep.

Tried to take some pictures of the moon and then tried to play with the images to get a close-up shot. Ended up with pictures of glowing eggs.

Sooooooo...........

Went digging through my stuff and found a couple days worth of pictures.

These of the quarry were taken back in 2001. Anthony and I were going to Thunder Roadput his Mini-sprint on display during the go-kart races. We stopped at the quarry on the way.

I turned the photos over to make sure of the date and found a processing date of September 12, 2001, the day after the infamous 9/11. I cannot remember if we went to Thunder Road the day before the final race at Coaticook, Quebec, or if it was the week before.

What is even more interesting was that I did not go up to get the mail on Sept. 11, as I was glued to the TV. I must have dropped the film off at the Pharmacy on Monday, because that is when I found out that Betty Bellows had passed away.

A side note. I went up to Betty's wake the day after 9/11 and as I was walking up Hunt Street, Fairfax Rescue was flying down Main Street Hill with lights and sirens. Freaked me right out. After the day before, I couldn't imagine what the hell was going on. Just a regular call. No terrorist attacks up here.

I'm guessing we went the week before. I probably finished the roll up in Canada.

The quarry is an intersting place. I believe the water is that color because of all the minerals in it.

I'm not sure how kids view the world today, but back in the late 60's, Fairfax and Vermont were the center of my Universe. I had seen maps of the United States and figured that was pretty much it.

I remember one Apollo launch and Mom said the astronauts could tell it was raining in London. I figured London was somewhere near Cleveland. What did I know? The farthest I had ever been from home was maybe the World's Fair in Montreal.

A world traveller I was not.

So back in June of 1969, Mom and Dad were talking about this big accident that one of the Kennedys were in. It was in the paper. He drove off the bridge and somebody drowned. It was quite the story.

Hmmm.

So I went down in the pasture below the house and looked over at the iron bridge to see if the car was still there or if I could see where the accident took place.

Couldn't see anything.

The way Mom and Dad were talking, I thought it must have happened down here.

Guess I was wrong.

Dummy me. Try a few hundred miles south of here.

It makes me wonder how worldly kids are these days. Kids are more apt to travel great distances to see relatives, or go to the Great Escape, or Disney World, or Washington D.C., or Boston or New York to see a sporting event.

Do they know where everything is?

Or do they think London is somewhere near Cleveland, too?

OK, I didn't have to work late and watch Supernatural like I did last night, so I can talk more about the picture.

I played with the scanner and got some closer shots of BFA and the surviving covered bridge.

I also have added the original aerial shot on the right and will leave it there for a while. Click on it for the big blow-up.

Check out today's Pic of the Day. I did a blowup of the center of the village. Find what is now the Food Venture, for some of you, the old Parsons/Simon's store. You can see the old Post Office across the street(now bakery). Move left to the apartment building. Left of that, you can make out Mill Brook. On the left bank is this huge building.

That is where the very old Post Office used to be. There was a jeweler there as well. Upstairs was a roller skating rink. This according to Clip Stewart in the old interview tapes. That was a rather large building. Must have been quite the rink.

Click on the original shot to see the following:

You can make out a baseball field in back of BFA.

There is a triangular median at the corner of Fletcher Road(Mill Street back then) and River Road. Head down River Road and there is a big barn that sits on the right aways off the road. That is not there anymore.

Head around the corner on Fletcher Road and there is the sawmill with lots of lumber around it. ALMOST NO HOUSES ON FLETCHER ROAD!!

Some different than today.

Look across the river at where Swansons have their Farm and Nursery.

The road used to hug the river, then go in front of the house and farm.

The next time you head up the hill toward the hardware store/post office/ etc. notice the layout of the power poles. I'm guessing the road ran parallel to the right of the poles and then jutted left and up the hill.

Also, down in the pasture below my place, you can see the toll house cellar hole. The house had burned previous to the flood and the water washed away the remains.

What do you people see?

One final thought, compliments of Al Daniels-

Makes you wonder what kind of plane was used to take the picture.

Sure wasn't a satellite shot.

In 1928, work began on a replacement for the double covered bridge that washed away during the flood. Today and tomorrow will feature the building of the old iron bridge and the completed work.

What I always find interesting in these old photos is what's in the backgrounds. Pictures are always of something specific, but if you look closer, you see things in the background that can prove to be just as interesting.

The Picture of the Day has the foundation of the bridge. Look on the background. You can see the road heading up the hill as it does now. You can see the hillside where all the houses are going up now. Not very many trees.

Amazing to think what some of the hillsides used to look like. I know how trees have really sprouted up around my place. And the pasture-soon to be rec path- grew immensely since the horses stopped being down there.

Still wish someone could invent a time machine so I could go back and see Fairfax 100 years ago, or 125 years ago. See the village before the fire. See the New Hampton Institute. Walk through the double covered bridge. Or the Maple Street bridge before it got turned around.

Till then, I'll look at the pictures.

What a nice day today.

Went up to the United Church Craft Fair and got some baked goodies.

Mmmmmmm...........

Continuing with photos of the aftermath of the Flood of 1927. Monday I will have pictures of the old iron bridge being built.

St. Luke's Turkey Dinner today. I can call it that this year.

During an election year, I refer to it as The St. Luke's Liars' Luncheon.

It is the last Sunday before Election Day and all the politicians and candidates show up. It is also the day Vermont ETV has their Super Sunday Debates and all the candidates show up here before going there.

What a circus it is. I have done building coverage for the dinner before and the whole thing is quite a sight. The candidates fawn all over the electing public and the public fawn all over their favorite candidate. The only thing missing is the TV camera crews.

Everyone's belts are unbuckled so they can take turns pulling their pants down to give each other a kiss on the cheek.

That was not very nice.

But it's true. It does happen. I've seen it. It's not a pretty sight.

It's called campaigning.