What’s that saying – “You can never go home again” – I hope that’s not the case. Later this month I’m headed for New Hampshire. On June 21, I’ll be doing a book signing and reading at the Toadstool Bookstore in Keene at 6:00 pm and on June 22 at the Peterborough Toadstool at 11:00.
I haven’t been in Peterborough for several years now and I do miss living there, but that was a different place in time. When I first visited the Toadstool Bookshop it occupied the last storefront in the plaza across the river from the library. Books filled every nook and cranny of the tiny shop. In time the shop moved to its current location, a much larger building, next door to the Peterborough Diner. It grew to several shops and now there are two, Peterborough and Keene. Never did I think that one day I would be a presenting author there and yet, that’s just where I’ll be.
It’s a funny thing about home towns, it usually refers to the place where you grew up. In my case that would have been Maplewood, New Jersey. At seventeen I left to go to college in Boston and except for vacations (including the summer I worked as a camp counselor – but that’s a story for another day) I never lived there again.
For nearly thirty years I lived in Peterborough, New Hampshire. That seems more like home in a lot of ways. I think back on those years with a great deal of fondness. We raised our kids there, fixed up a couple of houses, Rick coached Babe Ruth baseball, I served on the school board, and worked at the local newspaper before moving on to BYTE/McGraw-Hill. All of it made great memories and I am really looking forward to going back.
So, given all that I’ve posted some pictures of Peterborough. I tried to touch on the different facets of the town that make it so special, history, natural beauty, peacefulness, and a nice place for kids to grow up in.
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