Writer's Notebook - James Rafferty Blog

Connecting - Crossing to Safety

I recently returned from a unique trip to one of my favorite places, Asheville, North Carolina.  Despite all of the obstacles, my wife Cindy and I took a road trip to get there and helped our oldest son Jason pack up both his art studio and the apartment he shares with his fiance as they made plans moving to a new locale to attend graduate school in the Fall. The trip doubled as a vacation, though with lots of constraints. 

Here's a picture as we crossed the border into Tennessee and checked out their wonderful Welcome Center a few miles before we crossed into North Carolina through local mountains:  

After a 3 day ride to Asheville, we settled in at our Airbnb in West Asheville and started planning the month. Both Cindy and I had decided to do some reading during our stay and I'd brought along a couple books to read, but was open to getting more. Early on, Jason took me to one of the few bookstores that was open during this pandemic period, Mr. K's, which sells used books and CDs. The title of this post mentions connecting and here we go. In early June, A.O. Scott  published a wonderful profile about the writer Wallace Stegner, introducing him as a writer who had profiled the American West and influenced other writers, notably one of my favorites, Robert Stone. So, in Mr. K's, I went looking for a book by Stegner and found Crossing to Safety.  

Later in the month, I began reading the book and brought it back with me to Massachusetts. The novel was simply superb. Stegner published the novel late in his long career, in 1987, but the writing still felt fresh and contemporary. In the book, we meet a young couple, Larry and Sally Morgan, who are beginning a new life in Wisconsin, where Larry has gained a teaching position in the English department. Larry is also a writer and is in the early stages of getting his stories published.  They meet another young couple, Sid and Charity Lang, and the two couples find that rare experience of meeting people with whom they connect very well. Stegner writes the book from Larry's point of view and we bounce between these early scenes and others that take place some 40 years later, but the shifts aren't difficult to follow and we gradually learn so much about each of these characters and how their lives are intertwined.

I can heartily recommend the book to virtually anybody who enjoys well written prose and deep character development. But my own connection was deeper than that. The novel reminded me of why I fell in love with both reading and writing, and the aspirations many of us have when we are young to make a mark in the world and do things that matter. In this novel, all of the characters wrestle with what they want and could be and we get to see these perspectives at multiple points in their lives. There's also a remarkable chapter where all four of them journey to Florence during a period when Larry has a sabbatical and hopes to take this time to write a novel, yet they also all take some time to see the country and gain unique experiences in the Tuscan countryside.  The novel also speaks to the present moment -- the year of the pandemic -- in a sense as one of the characters falls victim to a disease common to this period, polio, and we see how this changes the lives for all of the characters.  

Noting the theme of connections, the article I read in June led to my selection of this book in July at Mr. K's and then I connected deeply with this novel during the past few weeks. Crossing to Safety is a powerful story and quite inspiring as well. It serves as a reminder to remember our dreams and what we truly value, both in our worldly or creative goals and in our relationships, and then act upon them while we still can. I look forward to reading more of Wallace Stegner's works, but he also has pushed me to carefully consider my own way forward as I continue to wrestle with life's challenges during a time of transition.       

Here's a glimpse of a rainbow that we encountered one day when we were returning to Asheville during a rainstorm, one of many inspiring moments during this one month vacation.  

 

Excursion to Squam Lake

This week my wife and I returned to an area we had enjoyed in the past -- Squam Lake in Holderness, New Hampshire.  Squam Lake is part of the state's Lakes Region, but not nearly as well known as Lake Winnipesaukee, the large body of water which is a bit further south.  

The main reasons why Squam Lake is less well known are due to its mostly private nature. We got to hear that story while taking a 90 minute boat ride on the lake.  Here is what we saw where the inlet opens up to the broader expanse of the lake:

 

Squam Lake is massive -- about 10 square miles -- running about seven miles from south to north, and about four and one half miles in width.  We entered at the northwest corner, adjacent to the small town center of Holderness.  By contrast, Lake Winnipesaukee is about seven times as large as Squam, but Squam is still the second largest lake in New England. However, Winnipesaukee is a mish-mash ranging from crazy over-development in some areas to tightly zoned sections in towns and villages such as Wolfeboro and Melvin Village.  

Squam Lake is totally different. There is virtually no commercial development on the lake, with the exception of a few hotels and a couple of restaurants in Holderness. Over 100 years ago, 4 families owned most of the property around the lake and they set in motion a set of agreements which has kept the lake lightly developed. Squam also has rules governing color schemes permitted for lakeside houses -- earthtones and similar shades please -- and has a strong focus on preserving the natural character of the lake.  As a result, the lake is home to a thriving loon population -- about 15 nesting pairs -- as well as hosting Bald Eagles.  We saw several loons and a pair of eagles during our boat ride.  

Here is another view which we saw looking north toward the White Mountains. The nearby peak is West Rattlesnake and is accessible via a hiking trail which our family had enjoyed on a previous visit.  

Squam is also dotted by numerous islands, only a few of which have amenities such as electricity. For example, our guide drove us by one island which is set up with pews and is used for non-denominational services during the summertime.  All attendees need to arrive by boat.  We also saw small islands that included features such as an eagle's nest and a loon breeding area.  Some islands also had houses, but more typically, all one saw were pine trees. One surprising fact was that there are enough residents without electricity so that a local business provides and transports fresh ice to load up ice boxes at some island homes.   

By midday on this day, the temperatures were in the range of 80 degrees F (27 degrees C), but a light breeze and low humidity kept it comfortable. Our tour guide told us stories about the prominent families who founded and still own property here such as the Coolidges (former President Calvin is the best known).  The lake also gained a bit of notoriety in 1980 when a film crew arrived and shot On Golden Pond, starring cinema legends Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn.  Our tour included several spots featured in the movie and our guide told a few tales of how Hollywood adapted the natural features of the lake for the purposes of the story.  

As we returned, it became clear that the northwest corner from which we departed is much more dense in housing than the rest of the lake. New Hampshire now has laws prohibiting boat houses that extend onto the water, but older structures were grandfathered in and we saw numerous examples of the older style boat houses as well as the boats which they protected.  

At the end of the tour, we slipped under the roadway and entered Little Squam, a smaller body of water which is connected to the larger lake only by a narrow causeway, and our tour came to an end.  The tour was conducted by the nearby Squam Lake Natural Science Center, which is located just north of the lake.  The science center conducts a variety of lake tours and also has its own outdoor attractions.  On this day, we opted only for the boat tour, but our family had a good experience at the science center itself several years back.  

Afterward, we settled in for sandwiches at Walter's Basin overlooking and weren't disappointed. Soon after that, we took a leisurely ride back to Wolfeboro -- our vacation spot for the week -- with a few stops along the way. Our day trip gave us a fresh taste of one of New Hampshire's most unique and charming locales - Squam Lake.        

Vacationing in the Footsteps of a Candidate

My family enjoys vacationing in a small village adjacent to Lake Winnipesaukee.  We discovered the area during the late Nineties when we were looking for a less crowded alternative to Cape Cod.  The town of Wolfeboro has everything we like for a vacation spot:  lots of options for outdoor activities, good places to eat in the evening, evening musical concerts and best of all, an area that conducive to relaxing.  The typical family coming for a week's vacation in this town has been coming for a generation and has handed down the tradition to their families.  On that score, we're relative newcomers, but we've established our own family tradition up here in Wolfeboro during the past decade.  

So this year, when we arrived, we dove into our favorite activities -- swimming at the beach, riding on the bike path and kayaking on a quiet lake.  But there were a couple changes.  The hotel we've staying at has been partially refurbished, so there's a new look to several of the rooms in a separate building near us.  Some people like to bring their boats to the region, but this time, there were also two large boats in the parking lot with bright orange pontoons equipped with dual, aggressive looking Honda 225 VTEC engines situated in the parking lot.  It turns out we were sharing our vacation digs with the Coast Guard.  

Mitt Romney, candidate for President, has been in town at his summer home on the lake several weekends this year.  He's been coming here for years, including during his tenure as the governor of Massachusetts, and he's sometimes been in town at the same time we were, but this is the first time  it's been noticeable.  Even during the weekdays when he isn't here, the Coast Guard has been staying at our hotel and occasionally taking their boats onto the big lake.  The guys have mostly kept to themselves, but seem to like hanging out by the beach and having a cookout, just like the rest of us, at least during their down time. 

The nice thing for our family is that this is still the Wolfeboro we know and love.  The bike path starts at the edge of town and the packed, sandy path extends along railroad tracks onto causeways crossing the lakes, past beaches and deep into undeveloped wooded areas.  There are several different places to park and access the trail, and the number of people encountered is reduced as one rides several miles away from the town center. 

Our crescent shaped lake -- way too small for those Coast Guard boats -- is quiet in the morning and very well suited for swimming and kayak rides.  We like to explore the nooks and crannies of the lake, and observe the local flora and fauna close up.  There are neatly spaced homes and cottages under heavily wooded canopies of deciduous and tall pine trees, and several areas remain totally undeveloped.    

Wolfeboro does not have any large, name brand hotels and the typical visitor has booked rooms or rental houses many months in advance.  I like to say that the you won't end up in Wolfeboro unless you really intend to come here, since the nearest interstate highways are about an hour away and the roads into town are all two lane state roads or smaller local roads. 

There is a fine little park by the water, Cate Park, and musical groups play in its gazebo twice a week.  On Wednesday nights, the local community band plays and it's open to all musicians who are willing to come early for a one hour rehearsal, so my wife has played clarinet with the band several times over the last few summers.  The music is not spectacular, but fills the evening with sounds of pop tunes, marches and lots of brass.  The park itself has a fabulous view of Lake Winnipesaukee and its surrounding hills.  While the music plays, families arrive via cars, on foot or on large motor boats. 

Wolfeboro offers a taste of summer life in a small New England town at a cross roads between the waters and the woods.  The absence of brand name stores and chain restaurants contributes to the ambiance and the patchy cell phone reception helps to keep the emphasis on summer vacation.  So, we may be in the footsteps of one of this year's presidential candidates, but so far, Wolfeboro has retained its unique character and it's not too hard to find solitude amidst nature's bounty up here on the eastern reaches of the Lakes Region.