NELSON SCHOOL BOOK PAL PROGRAM ast year the Nelson School had its first Book Pal Program. This program is when people from our community volunteer to be a pen pal with a student at the Nelson School. The volunteers and students read a book and then discuss the book and other topics through letters. The Second Annual Book Pal Program will take place once again this year at Nelson School. This is very exciting news to those who took the opportunity to participate last year. If you missed out, be sure to let us know that you want to be a participant this year. We would love to have you sign up to be a book pal to one of our students. Last year we were treated to the classic The Secret Garden. It tied into our school theme of gardening. You may have noticed our beautiful flower beds in front of the school and bouquets of flowers distributed around town. (continued on page 8)
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FRANK’S KITCHEN By Karen Tolman rank Upton’s gone now, along with his kitchen. But it wasn’t long ago that Barry often went down the road to Frank’s farmhouse to sit around his kitchen table. As Frank got older, Barry said that he was just checking up on the old man who then lived alone, but there was clearly something more. Something that not only enticed Barry, but enticed a host of friends and neighbors to gather around Frank’s scruffy old drop-leaf table. And, it certainly wasn’t the smell of the kerosene pot burner or yesterday’s fried liver (Frank liked it well done). Nor was it the stale and overflo w ing a s h t r a y hand-crafted by his good friend Boo Doore from Harrisville, or the sp are floatp lan e propeller propped up in the corner, or even the Remington pump-action deer rifle that hung in the spider webs over the kitchen window, under which a toaster fire had once charred its butt end. And it probably wasn’t the wind that howled off the lake through the north end of the house, often accompanied by mini-drifts of snow blowing into the kitchen.
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“What it was,” Barry says, “was that the kitchen door was always open – that old door scratched by generations of dogs – it was always open and everybody was welcomed in by Frank. Mismatched mugs, chipped cups and tarnished spoons (even some sterling silver ones whose worn family monograms spoke of times past) were scattered among the paper clutter and the jar of instant coffee – perhaps a metaphor for the people often sitting around Frank’s kitchen table – some as mismatched and chipped as the mugs. That was the allure. You never knew who was going to be there. And there was always somebody there – an impressive c r o s s - s e c tio n o f humanity. Perhaps it was yesterd ay’s social media, but news got passed along around Frank’s table – the good with the bad. Stories that now make up a large part of our local lore were told (Frank was a master storyteller). People laughed and cried. This was a true gathering of community vitality where things were shared and ideas were born. Frank’s kitchen was a “happening” place, where a kind of grassroots democracy thrived. (continued on page 6)
S AVE THE D ATES
N EW H AMPSHIRE P RIMA RY J AN UARY 10, 2012 Town Meeting Warrant Caucus February 7, 7:00 p.m. Nelson School District Meeting Friday, March 9 Nelson Town Meeting Tuesday, March 13