New Hampshire: Top Ten List For 2010

Posted on 29 December, 2010 by Janice Brown

It has been said that the very first “Top Ten” list originated in People magazine

(although similar lists were also found in Good Housekeeping magazine about the same time).  They were made famous in 1985 by David Letterman, on his “Late Night with David Letterman” television show (NBC), and like a snow ball rolling down hill in New Hampshire, picked up weight and speed. We love to make lists, perhaps as a misguided way to organize our busy lives.

Since its popular anniversary 25 years ago, top ten lists proliferated on the internet.  Many of these lists are forever enshrined on the Ultimate Listverse of Top 10 Lists.

In the tradition of past memorable top ten lists, Cow Hampshire presents yet another, specially created to honor people, places and events of New Hampshire of the year 2010.

–New Hampshire: Top Ten List For 2010–

10. Top Trip: Mount Washington Observatory.   Where else would you want to celebrate the last day of 2010,but the top of the World–at least the highest peak in New Hampshire.  For a paltry $1,000 (per person) you can enjoy stunning scenery (well maybe), high winds, and an unforgettable dinner. Mount Washington Observatory offers amazing ‘EduTrips’ throughout the year, and is well worth supporting.

9. Top Video & Song: “Granite State of Mind,” by SSP.
Although credit may be given to the entire team of SSP, Christian Wisecarver, a native of New Hampshire, seems to be the masterMIND behind this musical parody.

8. Top Ghost Story: Ghosts of Christmas Past— Ghost Hunters Visit Christmas Farm Inn, Jackson NH (aired December 8, 2010)

7. Top Chef: NH Food Bank’s Chef Jayson McCarter, of “Recipe for Success” Where you can eat your cake and make it too.

6. Top Animal News: Bassic Rights Story. Changing the fishing rules.

5. Top Comedian: Juston McKinney—Live Free or Die! (I love this guy!)

4. Top Politician: Governor John Lynch, Democrat.  Descendant of Irish immigrants, elected to a historic fourth term (his inauguration on January 6, 2011). He’s a good guy, and even stopped to help an elderly woman whose car was stuck in a ditch.

3. Top Gift: Chinese Warrior Statue. A gift to the Merrimack Chamber of Commerce.

2. Top Sport: Winter Surfing. Better exercise than shoveling snow!

1. Top Theory: The Power of Ten.  Rich Broussard, editor of NH Magazine, expounds on how important things happen at the beginning of decades.  You decide!

Feel free to add a link to your own favorite top ten list!  Happy New Year everyone (my next post will be in 2011.

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Not New Hampshire: Connecticut–Further Away Than You Thought!

Posted on 22 December, 2010 by Janice Brown

In 1884 Christmas time was also associated with fairy folk. This must be true today.

It appears that the marketing genius at a yet unnamed tourism web site, is a far darrig, or ‘Red Man.’  No, I’m not speaking of the beloved red-clad Saint Nick, although the folks in Connecticut might be thinkin’ that someone named –Nick– is behind a plot.  A ‘far darrig’ is rather a prankish fairy, much like its Swedish cousin, the tomte.

I have it from reliable sources that the State of Connecticut recently fell off, or possibly was pushed off, a regional map of New England.  It is unknown at this time how the deed was accomplished.  People stare in wonder, and consider whether Connecticut will disappear from other maps, and what the implication might be of faulty geographical information?

“But fay, O muse! what powerful motive draws?
For this event, unfold the mighty cause?
What would induce one hundred eighty-seven men to come,
Their shops forsaken, and forgot their home,
Perhaps not e’en a marketing prepar’d,
And doubtless some good time and money spared;
What would impel the show-man to forego
The certain profits springing from his show?
….
But private interest never should controul
The vast, and nobler interest of the whole.
Hence, when disorder mars the wheel of state,
Its course impedes, or turns, by force, or weight,
If the ring burst, or if the tiring break
The Spoke is shatter’d or the hub shall crack.”
–excerpts from “DEMOCRACY: An Epic Poem,”by Aquiline Nimble-Chops, Connecticut Courant newspaper, 1776

For the record, Cow Hampshire continues to observe Connecticut as one of six New England states.  All written with cow tongue firmly in cheek.

Sources:
1. St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 21 Dec 1884, page 21, story “Christmas Time and Fairy Folk.”
2. Bowle’s Map of the Seat of War: New England, comprehending the provinces of Massachusetts Bay, and New Hampshire; with the Colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island; London, Printed for Carington Bowles No 69 in St. Pauls Church Yard, 1776
3. Connecticut Courant newpaper, page 1, published 17 March 1794 1.
4. Visit Connecticut! The Official Connecticut State Vacation Guide.
5. WBUR: Article, “New England Nutmegs Connecticut”
6. RadioBoston: “Connecticut Wiped Off New England Map“

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Graphic: The Christmas Box

Posted on 22 December, 2010 by Janice Brown

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The Christmas Box

Posted on 22 December, 2010 by Janice Brown

Come, let us, like our jovial fires of old,
With gambels and mince-pie, our Christmas hold.
from New-Hampshire Gazette newspaper, published 3 January 1766

In the 18th and 19th centuries the “Christmas Box” was an honorable custom used to reward both household servants, and merchants who provided excellent service, or perhaps to encourage them to do so into the future.  The custom possibly evolved from the Christian church's practice of collecting alms in a locked iron box for the poor and then distributing it  as “the dole of the Christmas box.”  So when you offer a holiday gift to your hairdresser or mailman, keep in mind that your action has a ancient European precedent.

In the latter part of the 19th century, the original metal or sealed clay boxes and containers were replaced with paper, and were probably the forerunners of our current day habit of wrapping gifts in colorful boxes. The 19th century Christmas Boxes, however, received contributions not only of coin, but of letters from friends and associates offering warm wishes, and playful poetry or verses. 

And so in the spirit of the Christmas Box, I offer glimpses of Christmases past.
–Great Posts of Christmas Past and Present–

I invite you, my readers, to add something to my Christmas box–a verse, warm wishes, whatever-you-please. 

Related Subjects:
— Colonial Gambling (i.e. gambel)
— Colonial Mince Pie
— Boxing Day
— Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, 1882

Drawing above from:  “The Christmas Box, an Annual Present to Young Persons,” edited by T. Crofton Croker, Esq., London: John Ebers and Co., Philadelphia, 1899

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1786 Poem: "The Grumbling Clown"

Posted on 25 August, 2008 by Janice Brown
Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. "The famous Dutch woman." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1711.

Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. “The famous Dutch woman.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1711.

Beneath an oak a rustick clown
Lay lounging in the shade,
Complaining loud of Fortune’s gifts,
And call’d her — partial jade.

The works of Providence were wrong,
And bad was all in sight;
He knew some things were wrong contriv’d
And he could set them right.

“For instance,” cries the grumbling churl,
“Behold this sturdy tree;
“Remark the little things it bears,
“And what disparity!

“Again–observe yon pumpkins grow,
“And see! the stalks show small!
“Unable to support their fruit,
“So bulky are they all!

“Now, I, if I had power to do’t,
“Would alter thus the case:
“That this large tree should pumpkins bear,
“And acorns take their place.”

He spoke; and, rising on his breech,
Strait from the tree fell down
An acorn of the smaller size,
And pitch’d upon his crown.

“Now,” says a trav’ller, who had heard
“The whole the clown had said,
“Suppose the tree had pumpkins borne,
“What would have sav’d thy head?”

Source: New-Hampshire Gazette, Portsmouth NH; page 4, issue 1528; published January 27, 1786

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