It's time for the 2nd Annual Practical Magic Blog Party created & hosted by the wonderful Anna of Frosted Petunias ! My sincerest apologies for getting this up rather late! The adventure that is post Hurricane Irene cleanup & repairs has been taking up too much time recently. (sigh) Things are a mess; I only started decorating for Autumn yesterday and I'm missing Halloween decorations! Luckily my broom is always safe and sound by the front door so at least I don't have to wonder where it is. (Not that it hasn't been known to scamper off now and again - naughty broom). I was afraid, quite honestly, that I wouldn't even get a post up sometime today! I kept hitting dead ends with every other one I tried. But, this morning I sat here at the computer and it flowed. Thankfully! I would have been so disappointed if I'd missed this, it was such fun last year! As some may remember from last years party, while I like the movie, (and love that house!), I love the...
•Lover of words, yarn, fall, snow & blooms •Fiction reader •Scribbler •Marine Veteran's Wife •RA Disabled Life •Midlife •ESA doggo mama •Jersey Girl •Click on post titles to view in entirety. (Note: Posts from 2019 through 2021 originally appeared on my current blog, The Eclectic Spoonie, at https://tinyurl.com/mpr2n6jd)
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P.S. - Like your new blog background too.
The foliage colors were breath taking. I couldn't live without Autumn & Winter, I love them so! (Thank goodness I discovered gardening to get me through the rest of the year).
We did tour The House of the Seven Gables, which was amazing. The Witch Dungeon Museum was also good. Other than that I wasn't too impressed with Salem actually. I toured Louisa May Alcott's home the day before and I was nearly overwhelmed it was such an amazing experience for me!
Thank you both re my new background! I wanted something wintry, yet pink(ish) for Valentines and this combines my 2 fav colors, pink & orange, so I had to use it.
I did a quick trip to Boston and Salem in March (snowy and cold). We also did the Salem Witch museum. Salem didn't do much for me (it was pouring rain most of the time.) My expectations were too high - it's just a little old town. I loved doing the House of the Seven Gables though!!! I took the tour with my dad which was interesting because he is a contractor and he was into the actual workmanship/construction of the house -something I would not have paid much mind too.
I have a newfound interest in Alcott after reading March. I'd love to visit her home now.
My family is originally from the East Coast (New England and New Jersey) I'd love to take a more extended vacation there like you were able to (luck you-you're a lot closer!) The whole area is so beautiful!
Your blog is like a Valentine Winter Wonderland!!
Salem wasn't at all what I expected at all though I'm not really sure what I expected. I wasn't expecting New Brunswick (since you mentioned New Jersey, do you know of New Brunswick where Rutgers University is?). Salem to me is more of a city. I was expecting an old colonial town on the water (which it is but only in the vacinity of The Seven Gables). I was put off by the campy-ness of it too. (And I'd rather drive in Manhattan than in Salem - it was crazy there!)
I haven't read March yet (have it) and I'm still trying to finish Little Women. I'd love to go back to Orchard House! (Maybe I could sneak a pic or two (no flash of course) though I doubt it, they watch ya!). I was actually shaking and even a bit misty!
I felt the same way about Salem (I do know of New Brunsiwck and Rutgers.) I thought it would be so quaint and historical everywhere, but it wasn't. Plus, all the witchy souvenirs felt like Halloween year round! Part of me likes how the old is right next to the new in New England, but it felt like too much in Salem. I don't remember the driving in Salem too much, but I do remember that it was AWFUL in Gloucester.
I don't remember getting through all of Little Women. I do remember thinking it was too girly. I'd like to reread it now that I have read March (which I ended up enjoying very much after my slow start.) Have you read Little Men? I read it for a history class in college and loved it. Hopefully you get get back to Orchard House with your camera!
What bothered me really about Salem (other than not being that small town that it's portrayed to be on doc's) is: There's only 1 structure in all of new Salem that's from 1692 (Judge Corwin's house) and it's FALLING APART! (They need some one to donate the new roof and installation - at $8 a pop to get in to look around?!) - That most of the Hysteria took place in (old) Salem Village, which is Danvers today - The Memorial in Salem is a mess - and that whole campy, tacky Halloween aspect is making money off of the deaths of innocent people, which to me doesn't honor them at all or show that people have learned from the mistakes of the past! Essentially it was a women's holocaust (if you include the witch hysteria in Europe) and the whole atmosphere bothered me.
Do you think that since New England is rich in history people take it for granted? I was born and raised on the West Coast and something old is really only 75-100years old, and because of that I'm in awe of truly old buildings (truly old being relative considering how not old the US is.) I studied the "witch hysteria" in college and wish that their would be more information available to tourists in that area regarding the truth of what happened. More history less camp. Of course I'm all about honoring history... I'm kind of a history nerd!
There should be more history in present day Salem than camp. I wanted to get over to Danvers (old Salem Village) but we didn't have time.
2 things going on frustrate me: Lack of appreciation for our history both good & bad and this revisionist history sweeping our cultures all over the world.
If it's old, get rid of it! If we're telling of our past, gloss over the bad or leave it out altogether or better yet, make someone else the bad guy!
I don't understand that at all.