They left a life of easy living in the desert of Arizona. They owned a 20 year old house with great air conditioning, two bathrooms, a half-dozen citrus trees and a swimming pool in a well kept upper middle class neighborhood. He was studio potter at the time and former owner of two Art Galleries. She was a Primary Grade Teacher. They had four children in the beginning.
The recession of the late 70’s and early 80’s took the galleries and many of their long time patrons and clients. They decided to try a rebirth of the business back east where the family Mother had lived and worked early in her adult life. Way, way back east and a bit north.
So we are told what happens when a young family of sun-worshippers from the wide open spaces move to the cold dense forests of the northeast and make a new life in a true piece of historic architecture. The house was cheap, the heat was expensive and day-to-day life was never-ending work. Every member of the family learns to make do with less and how to live richer lives because of it.
They had to learn to adapt and fit in with a culture totally different from what they had known. A place nearly closed off because of the climate and a rugged distance from the lower States. A place where the language was the same as the one they spoke, but could be completely different in meaning from what was spoken. A place where everyone had to rely on their neighbors, but did not necessarily feel the need to be neighborly.
They learned that when you understood -- “You can’t git there from here”-- and knew it could be completely the truth, that that you belonged. That you were truly a “New Hampshire Yankee”.
