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In the fall we made cider in an ancient press, raked huge piles of leaves to play in. Thanksgiving afternoons several families hiked through the woods to a lake, taking a good two hours. Every summer my father would have a load each of sand and loam delivered to "touch up the yard" but all I remember was making roads and tunnels in the piles and playing with trucks until we were so dirty we had to undress outdoors before we headed to the tub.
Dorinda moved into the neighborhood in the early 50's and came with the first TV. Until that time, board games, reading, and crafts often kept us busy. We were honored if we got a rare invitation to watch it. It was a huge box with a tiny screen behind a large maginfying glass. In 1956 we got our first television, a big one - no magnifying necessary. It was placed in a room surrounded on two sides by a closed in porch. We were each allowed to have a friend in for some shows like the Mickey Mouse Club, but often there was a line of faces smunched against the outside windows trying to get a peek at the show.
I played the clarinet in the band in high school because we couldn't afford a piano, so when I went off to the University of Maine in Orono, using some money I had stashed to take lessons. I did pretty well, but studies took over by my sophomore year. In 1968 I graduated with a B.A. in English, planning on teaching, but the country was really worried that Johnny couldn't read. I was accepted into a Masters program at Boston University and came out a Reading Specialist able to write my own ticket for a job here and abroad. However, I chose to stay with most of my friends in Maine and have never looked back. Eventually, I developed and offered writing and Women's Studies classes where I taught. But education's downward slide took my enthusiasm with it and I retired early in 2001. My current life in South Berwick, Maine is only one hour from beautiful New Hampshire mountains or cultural centers from Boston to Portland, but best of all I am only 15 minutes from the ocean.
During all these years I have crafted when I could and read volumes since I grew up with books instead of television (but I do admit to being a bit of a TV junkie!). I never could have predicted that I would have a business of sorts doing the kinds of things I formerly had difficulty fitting into my life.
Off line, my business is Infinite Possibilities (Deepak Chopra has taken that for his web site, and I can't compete with him.)with the logo of a nautilus rounded at the top for the "I" and flipped for the "P". If I ever become competent enough to get it onto this site, it will be one more challenge I have met. I chose the nautilus because I like its design, of course, but more because it means change and growth, moving on, progress, building on the past wisely, which is what I hope I am doing. Ultimately, it means "Infinity" and the "Possibility" to create and recreate ....... for now with paper.
Carolyn