going "home"....

Last week my husband I and I traveled North ( to New England). It was a busy but good vacation. On our way up we made a quick stop in the little old town of Ipswich, MA, to pick up my sister on our way to the family BBQ. While there I managed to pull out my camera and take a few quick drive-by photos. We also had time for some gorging on Ipswich Clams (I chose steamers this time, normally I am all about the fried Clams, I got those later on!)

Above is the house I grew up in, from around the age of 6 or 7 till I left home at 18. It has changed some. It was white with green shutters when we lived there.

The backyard was huge! We were really lucky to have such a big backyard. It's hard to see it in this picture, Jay had turned around before I could get a better shot.

This is looking down the street, which seems so much smaller now?

See that little house in the background to the right of my old house? Well an old man name Emile lived there, he was a kind man, I remember going into his house with my mom to bring him things and to get things he was giving to us. I don't recall what we gave him (most likely jellies and jams my mom had made) and I don't remember what he gave us but I remember thinking how odd his house was. I think is had that old musty sorta smell and everything was vintage. We used to joke that his house fell from the sky because of where it was built, in the back and right next to our backyard.

I used to have gymnastic contests on my front yard, sometimes with a friend but most always by myself. I would start at the right side and do some sort of flippy thing, handstand. Usually I would wait for a car to drive by so they would see me. It was a busy street so I never waited long. I used to hope someone would drive by and see what a great gymnast I would make and ask me to be on their team. They never did, but I never stopped hoping.

I also remember how I go the mail everyday. I was always so eager to get the mail. I would come out of the house and swing up onto the railing all in one shot using one arm to hold the door open and one arm for momentum, one a newspaper person drove by and saw me and asked me to do it again, I ended up in the local paper...which was cool, but it wasn't a gymnastics team.

This park below was literally around the corner, it has the park and lots of baseball fields. It too has changed, a few times. The kids really wanted to stop and play but we were running out of time.
Ipswich is small, and although it has grown it is still small. There were around 13,000 people living there when I was there and I love how my mom, and I still say there are 13,000 people surely the town has grown in the last 10 years?!
It is a locals town, everyone knows everyone....and then some.
The town is very old and a lot of the homes are historic much like this red one here. I always loved these homes, the floors were crooked, lots of exposed beams and wood.
It's hard to see it since we were whizzing past but this is the elementary school I went to, one of two in town. My older brother and I went here along with my sister and eventually my mom ended up working here.
The Choate Bridge Pub, a very local hangout, with the best friend clams. I worked here in high school, my Dad, my mom and my brother also worked here, I used to go here as a kid with my Dad and order a hot dog at the bar. The owner at the time told me he grew the hot dogs in the back on a tree, Stan the man also sold hot dogs in a cart around town, they had the nubby's on the ends of them, I really like those kind....
Looking downtown....

Fire station. There is one more door here that got missed, and there is one other small station too on the outside of town, two stations=small town!
Sometimes it's good to go "home".