Author: Theophanes Avery

Theophanes Avery is a whimsical travel blogger that is hopelessly in love with New England and all it's weird places, people, and things. Besides running way too many blogs they are the author of three books, at least one of them good, and they also enjoy raising aquarium fish in Walsted tanks, sculpting, Sharpie doodling, knitting, tattooing leather, homesteading, and whatever other hobby tickles their raging ADD. Less fortunately they are a hopelessly impoverished spoonie yelling to the world, "WE NEED MORE COMMUNITY!" but alas no one's listening. Make sure to find them on the FaceBook. They love new oddball friends. Fly the freak flag high my darlings!

Driving Around Northfield MA

Yesterday I got the wonderful opportunity to go to a farm in Northfield MA and take a bunch of adorable photos of cows, goats, and Vizlas. It was an amazing experience. Totally worth the sunburn! Afterwards I decided I was in the area anyway, might as well drive around…

I turned off my GPS and took my own instruction, turning down any road I thought might turn into a lingering dirt road. I was immensely rewarded. This are was in the middle of nowhere, a bubble of pristine wilderness between civilization. These roads brought deeper and deeper into the forest and farther from any kind of settlement. It went from houses to hunting camps to absolutely nothing. And then I found a derelict of some sort aside the road. No one was around for miles so I decided what the hell, let’s take a few black and white snaps and maybe poke around a bit. It was a shed, an ordinary shed, filled with ordinary crap you’d normally find in a shed but clearly abandoned for many many years and bizarrely not near any house anywhere. I was slightly concerned I might find a hobo in there but I didn’t, instead I stumbled upon something that made my whole week – it was a river just behind the shed. I decided to explore. I knew this was probably someone’s property but they’d never know and I wouldn’t go far…

This river was only a few inches deep and easy to climb across. There were all sorts of rocks and fallen trees and it was just absolutely gorgeous. Being as it was a VERY hot day it was a wonderful detour as I splashed about and cooled down. The lighting was just right and it threw dappled reflections of the water back onto the trees. It seemed that no matter where I looked there was something even more beautiful with the next blink of my eyes. I must admit I stayed down there playing in the river for quite a while! In that whole time not a single car drove by. In fact upon leaving I didn’t pass any other cars for the many miles it took to get away from this decidedly gorgeous forest.

Eventually I found civilization again and found myself staring into a cemetery. Well, I couldn’t just drive by… so I stopped in. I have no idea what the title of the cemetery was but it was small, had very ordinary marble stones, most from the late 1800’s and was fairly unremarkable except for the gorgeous view of a mountain behind it. As I was driving out I noticed one monument at the entrance and for whatever reason I read it… Somehow I had stumbled upon the grave of a man of science who died in the late 1800’s and was responsible for finding dinosaur footprints in the nearby area. Dinosaur footprints?? I had no idea there were any… and I was super into fossils growing up! Shocked and delighted I wanted to know more. Google said there were more around but where I could see them remained a local mystery. I drove around at random but didn’t find any parks or trails as I went along. Pity. I would have totally found one…

From there I ended up driving by a jungle of some sort so of course I had to pull over and take a few shots of what I can only describe as a sight more befitting of Georgia than New England.

And upon entering Rindge again I decided to stop by yet another lake to take this pretty little snap as well… All and all it was a wonderful day filled with a lot of happy surprises!

***I apologize for any missing photos and galleries as I continue to work getting Catching Marbles fully migrated to a new host. Please come back soon for restored photos and thank you for your patience!***

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!

July 18, 2017 0

Church’s Field Trail – Rochester MA

First off – I had an amazing day photographing all sorts of critters for Clover Creek Farm in Rochester MA. It was well worth the two hour drive! And I was already glowing when I got back into the car and decided to go on another adventure. I had driven by Fall Rivers to get here so I decided on my way back I’d swing by and see if I could get a photo of the Lizzie Borden house. I’ve been by it before (though I couldn’t tell you why) and I figured it was possibly interesting enough to merit a blog entry so off I went… but while I was still driving through Rochester I saw a tiny sign aside the road and a three car parking lot promising there was a trail nearby so I stopped on a little detour…

I had ended up in the Church Fields Trail in Rochester Massachusetts. Upon getting out of my car all I could see was a field. Where was the path?? I might not have figured this out if it weren’t for a guy coming up it, across the field, with his adorable boxer puppy. After the usual greetings of, “Hey! Another living soul knows about this place!” I was on my way. It’d been a long time since I had trekked across a grown field. This is a fun activity if you’re a kid but slightly terrifying if you’re an adult as it’s very disorienting and probably absolutely infested with ticks. Still, this path was worn enough I knew I wasn’t going to get lost in the proverbial cornfields.

There was a sign at the actual entrance though it didn’t inform me of much. I walked by and into the woods where immediately my breath was taken away. This place was magical. Though the path was wide and well groomed the vegetation around it was wild and untamed. This was a dense forest for sure! I bounced a bit as I walked because I almost felt as if I was on a quest for King Arthur. The only thing that would have made this better would have been a horse to ride and I guess I am not the only one to think so as hoof-prints were clearly visible in the mud. I delighted in taking photos of every gnarled fallen down tree before continuing onward. This path started to break off into other paths and with every Y I became a little more confused. Nothing was marked, at all, but I figured as long as I could remember which way I had come I’d be OK. I left a few breadcrumbs just in case. And then I came across something wonderful. Here in the middle of this enchanted forest was a row of rustic benches overlooking what I think was the entrance to Avalon. It was a sandy-bottomed river, very odd in New England, that had ice tea colored water that got darker as it got deeper until all you could see was the dancing reflections of trees on pitch black water. Immediately I hopped down the shore and splashed about like a small child. It was over eighty degrees out and my hands were greasy from petting a stallion a few minutes before. This little wash-up was perfect! And it was QUIET out here. Despite being very close to a busy roadway you couldn’t hear a single car going by or any people, just the occasional birdsong. This place was absolutely enchanting. I wanted to build a hobbit home on the other embankment and stay here forever. Since I couldn’t do that I instead took out some marbles and started snapping a few photos. I must have been playing out there for quite some time before I decided to make my way back – something I managed to do by remembering various rocks and trees. I also found an adorable mushroom along the way! By the time I got back to the car I felt refreshed enough for the two and a half hours of driving ahead of me (and no.. I never did manage to take a photo of the Lizzie Borden house although I did drive by. Traffic today was utterly insane!)

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!

July 18, 2017 0

Playing Under a Random Bridge – Townsend MA

So today I was supposed to go to a couple farms to take photos of horses and livestock but it rained all day, everywhere. Still after having a migraine for three days and being unable to move or look into any kind of light, I was crawling out of my skin to go somewhere. I thought it might be fun to re-visit Trap Falls in Ashby, this time with props. I thought with it being raining no one would be there to witness my… creative outburst.

I was wrong. Apparently it wasn’t raining hard enough. I drove by Trap Falls three times, circling it like a vulture over the course of an hour while exploring the local roads near it, and there were people there each time. In fact one of them I think was there with each drive by, staring at my recognizable car and wondering what was wrong with me. Oh nothing, I just didn’t have the gumption to throw a gargoyle under my arm and head into the woods with the grin of a Cheshire cat. I’m eccentric but not that ballsy. Yet.

Still I found a little bridge just across the Townsend town line which wasn’t that far up the road. It had a turn off with some picnic tables so I figured why not check it out. What I found was so much more perfect than taking my gargoyle for a walk in front of a waterfall. It was a stone bridge that looked so castle-y I nearly bounced with the idea of whimsy. Today I had come prepared, not just with my garden statue, but with a whole knapsack full of totally random objects I kidnapped from the house. My intention today wasn’t so much to explore as it was to play. I don’t know what I am doing with my whimsy shots just yet but I am keeping them under my belt, just in case I need them for something, and in the meantime I am really enjoying taking them!

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!

July 14, 2017 0

Deering NH – Appleton Cemetery & Audobon Wildlife Sanctuary

I apologize for taking so long to update this blog after the fact but it’s just been a whirlwind! Followed by three days with a migraine that had me within inches of scooping out my own sinuses with a sharpened spoon… but I am back! And in full swing!

Last Sunday I found myself in Deering NH working on yet another project of mine (this time expanding my photographic chops.) It went well and I met some really nice people along the way and even learned a new bit of superstition. Apparently if pennies are found in old houses, tales side up, it’s supposed to be good luck left by whoever is haunting the place, preferably your ancestors. I have known pennies have a special place in our strange New England mythology but this was new to me!

I was told the Franklin Pierce Homestead was nearby and I figured it might be fun to drive by. Franklin Pierce used to be the worst president ever… in fact in New Hampshire our schools teach us, “Franklin Pierce was the only president from the state of New Hampshire.” Then they stop talking about him. Can you blame us if we swept him under the rug? Still, it seems as if he wasn’t a bad guy, in fact he was a very likable fellow…. he just would have been utilized better in a job that didn’t require politics… and who is to say his homestead wouldn’t be kick ass? You never know!

I drove down the road and was distracted by a cemetery. It happens. There was no parking as it was an old cemetery, not many new stones to speak of, and cars probably weren’t considered in its location. I parked aside the road in a little ditch I found and headed in. Turns out this was the Appleton Cemetery of Deering NH which seemed to have mostly stones from the late 1800’s. It was fairly small and none of the monuments took my breath away at first but it was still a lovely jaunt in the summer air. And I did find some stones which had an interesting collection of moss growing on them which harvested their own sort of beauty. As I explored further I found some oddly carved stones, even one which seemed to be signed??

I got a call just about then, from a friend claiming to be in the area. Can she drop by in half an hour? OK… but I don’t know where I am going from here! I wandered back into the cemetery and found a stone with flowers growing next to it. This was weird as it was the only stone to have live flowers anywhere near it. It didn’t appear anyone was still visiting this place – certainly not long enough to plant flowers. I decided to use the opportunity to take a few tinted shots from an odd perspective. I had the time, why not? After sharing this image with a few history buffs I was given this delightful link on the 17th Maine Infantry. I can’t say I have spent much time thinking about the Civil War in regards to Maine. I mean really, why bother fighting it if you’re living in Maine, which is as far from the conflict as you could possibly get! But hey, got to hand it to them, they were there, marching with the rest of the North. Good for them!

I waited in the cemetery for two hours. I called and texted my friend to no avail. This was a nice cemetery but not that nice. I left. This time I decided to meander down a few completely random roads nearby. I am always so happy to do this because the views you can find just lollygagging about can be spectacular! I was not disappointed! Just look at this roadside shot of a typical New England stone wall edged with flowers, trees, and a mountain in the background. This was someone’s farm. Another car creeped slowly by probably wondering what I was doing just parked there with my camera. Sorry!

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And then I turned and started to meander down another long dirt road where I was delighted to find a big sign in the middle of nowhere directing me to a trail probably no one’s heard about. It was the Deering Audubon Society’s Wildlife Sanctuary. I was still pretty annoyed so I set off into the woods at quite a clip, didn’t look at the map. Who looks at maps? Certainly not me!

It was a pretty rough trail in the sense I don’t think anyone had been by to keep it cleared aside from some deer. Ferns grew over the path in several sections and for quite a while it seemed.. unspectacular. That is until it turned direction and led me past this gorgeous pond. I tried to snap a few photos but then after just a few shots my camera’s battery died. With the camera dead I realized I didn’t get my characteristic marble shot. I couldn’t live with that so I took out my broken cell phone and took this oddly awesome photo which totally looks like it’s supposed to be all hazy! I sat for another hour on this rock, just enjoying the gentle breeze coming in off the water and listening to the song birds. It was amazingly peaceful. I calmed down. A full three and half hours from when I got the first phone call I got a second, “Where are you?” “Fuck if I know. Not like I have an address.” I headed back down the trail thinking it was probably a loop trail and the car couldn’t be much further but by now it was getting dark and I hit an intersection which literally pointed the trail in three different directions. I could have just guessed… hoped for the best… and I probably would have if I wasn’t trying to get back to the car before they found me. Instead I went back up the path where I came, probably doing the majority of it twice, this time at an even faster clip and in squelching heat. I was a sopping mess and exited the forest just as they drove up…

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!

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July 13, 2017 0

Old Woods Road Trail – Rindge NH

Today I decided to take the longer path in the Betsy Fosket Wildlife Sanctuary, the Old Woods Road Trail. I guess a hundred years ago it was actually a real road and not just a tiny deer eaten path in the forest. It’s not a long or difficult path but it is very quiet and pleasant. It leads to a dam with a sweet little bridge. I felt like I fell through the looking glass here. I can’t believe I have lived in Rindge almost my entire life and had no idea any of this was here. In the spirit of whimsy I took a lot of the photos today with the “dramatic” filter – because I couldn’t find the black and white option… As you can see it was raining but I still had a great time in peaceful reflection.

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!

April 30, 2017 0

Dunn Park – Gardner MA

Took a little stroll through Dunn Park in Gardiner MA today. I have been to a lot of little city parks and most are fairly sad in what they offer. This park however was pretty decent! It had numerous trails, a few hills, lots of trees, and a pond that had a swimming hole and many little spots to fish. It was just enough of a walk when you have a three year old in tow! All in all I had a very nice afternoon here… and I found some marbles!

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!

April 29, 2017 0

Betsy Fosket Wildlife Preserve/Trail Rindge NH

The Betsy Fosket Wildlife Sanctuary is a nature area and trail that starts at the end of Emerson Lane. You have to walk half-way up someone’s driveway (which is a twelve foot right of way) and you’ll find the entrance to the trail on the right where there’s a mailbox and a bunch of signs. It is mostly used as a preserve and breeding ground for various wild birds but the trail through it makes for a nice low-impact walk of 0.6 miles.

I walked this trail a lot when I was just a little thing, before a house got built right next to the trail’s beginning (which seems to scare most people away these days.) It’s a nice winding woodsy path that allows you a decent view of Crowcroft pond. It’s more damp than most trails I have been on but it’s nice in how few people use it – you’re not likely to bump into anyone else here. It’s been a favored spot for much contemplation over the years and if you’d like a longer hike this trail attaches to the Old Wood’s Road (follow the red markers when you see them!)

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!

UPDATE: I have returned to the Betsey Foskett Preserve many times, mostly for the scenery and the exercise but sometimes my creative spirit needs more. Today, 5/30/2017, I headed out into the woods with an assortment of seemingly random props – a purple crystal goblet from my kitchen, a sack of marbles, a broach, and two crystal balls which were gifted to me with a smile and a wink during one of my gender bending escapades. My friend looked me up and down dressed in full regalia as The Goblin King, and said, “Well you got the c*** part down [with a codpiece] Now you just need some balls.” And with that anecdote I have completely ruined A VERY PRETTY PICTURE.

April 26, 2017 0

Birthplace of Johnny Appleseed – Leominster MA

Well, since I was in town anyway, a mere two miles down the road if my GPS tells me right, I decided to swing by the birthplace of Johnny Appleseed. I must say this is the most underwhelming roadside attraction I have ever witnessed. It’s a little ditch, with something that looks like a gravestone marking his birth and right next to that there is a bulletin telling you who he was and a dollhouse replica of the cabin he was born in. All these are under a No Trespassing sign but if you turn a blind eye to that you can walk around the dollhouse and find an immensely underwhelming diorama! Seriously, this is not worth driving to but if you happen to be there anyway….

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April 24, 2017 0

Leominster MA – Historic Cemeteries

It was gorgeous out today and well worth wandering. I left the house to explore some odd corners of Leominster. I had heard a rumor there’s a stone in one of their cemeteries that belongs to a man who had it inscribed with, “Was persecuted for the beard.” Apparently he had a luscious beard. And people didn’t like that. The story gets so bizarre I really wanted to see his stone but the directions I had to the unnamed cemetery were atrocious. I turned around in many a good fellow’s driveway. And just as I was about to give up I found myself parked directly across from a cemetery that seemed somewhat hidden behind a big stone wall adjoining a park. Off I went!

It turns out the park and cemetery are adjoined. The park was once a military training ground for soldiers as far back as 1812. The cemetery was older. It was filled with absolutely pristine and ornately carved slate stones from the 1700’s. According to the plaque this was Pine Grove Cemetery and buried there were no less than ninety-four minute men. This is a Revolutionary War buff’s dream. And I will be damned! In yet another clusterfuck I forgot the camera and the pennies I like to leave as a sign of respect. So I took these photos with my broken phone and they probably aren’t great but they do show the exquisite attention to detail… even the poems are still clearly legible.

We didn’t find our bearded man here so after a nice walk I drove off and bumped into another cemetery not far away – the Saint Leo Cemetery. This was a much larger cemetery that reminded me a lot of the moneyed cemeteries you find in Lowell MA and Rochester NY. Big beautiful monuments, angels weeping, cherubs lurking behind every dark corner, Greek styled women in mourning towering over the stones, and even a huge mausoleum. I can think of no better way to while away an afternoon.

If you enjoy my blog please consider helping me fund my lifelong dream of having an educational farm and check out my GoFundMe. Thank you! https://www.gofundme.com/help-fund-an-educational-farm

April 23, 2017 0

Cemetery at Old Centre Royalston MA

If only you could read my resume. It would have a lot of life experience, a whole ton of odd stories, a dizzying collection of skills, and yet nothing you could possibly use to hire me for anything. Cemeteries are a good way of illustrating this because I have volunteered many a summer day to archive them. I know, you’re scrunching your nose wondering what exactly that means… It means I went out with a group of other women who were super into genealogy (which sadly, I am not) and we toured all the old cemeteries in the area, scribbling on outdated maps and tattered notebooks a few key details – where each stone was placed, what they were made of, what they read, and any other notes. These were being compiled for a book for prosperity – almost finished but not published yet.

I was the youngest on the crew in those days so my eyes were of more use than anything else. I was given the stones everyone else had given up on – the markers who were so worn down by wind and weather that they were virtually impossible to read. I LOVED this work. Sometimes I spent as much as forty five minutes trying to hobble together what one stone read, a task that took particularly long because old stones in New England often have whole poems inscribed on them. Often they’re beautiful rhyming quatrains, elegantly written in the vocabulary of the day, which makes trying to figure out what they say even more difficult. Luckily I had some practice in Old English and knew a few tricks (like old F’s look like S’s and words like “warbled” are nearly obsolete but real.)

I can’t tell you how great this experience was. I learned so much about local history doing this. I jotted down the graves of Revolutionary War soldiers, I witnessed in writing the lives and deaths of slaves (yes, New England had those too,) I got to see the profound effects of dysentery which killed a great deal of children under the age of ten, I also read on various stones about children dying in factory accidents, old women spontaneously combusting, and even a note to someone who had claimed to invent powdered milk. And if all that wasn’t enough I became familiar with the art – as many of these stones had intricate and eerie carvings of weeping willows, urns, bundles of wheat, cherubs, and skulls.

Imagine our surprise when we were driving to Doane’s Falls and stumbled upon a cemetery we hadn’t archived. I was thrilled, I can’t say the woman that organizes these little ventures was quite as much. This was a large cemetery and she thought she was done! We parked the car and took a quick jaunt to see if maybe she had just forgotten this place but nothing seemed to trigger her memory. I took a few photos and this is really what New England is all about – history, art, poetry, nature, and look at those stone walls in the background. I would miss those dearly if I ever left this place.

I will be writing a further entry if in fact we haven’t archived this cemetery because that means I will be back for a far closer look!

If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!

April 20, 2017 0