Monday, May 26, 2014

Moving Again

Kingston, NY, Stockade District

No, the picture is not of Fairhope. I still visit Fairhope every winter for a month or so, but I have lived in the Northeast since December of 2007 and now am quite happily at home here.

First I relocated to Hoboken, and got very hip learning the local lore about Frank Sinatra and Chris Christie. Five years later my daughter persuaded me to move closer to her and I moved to New Paltz, NY, a fun and exciting town with a large branch of the State University and other points of interest. I love it, but the winter of 2013-14 was so brutal I was in Fairhope again for the month of February. When I returned it was still as cold as when I left, with snow and ice everywhere for a couple more months. I now own a snow shovel and a few encounters driving on ice (and the loss of a car as a result) has prompted me to supply my vehicle with snow tires.

But I love living here, and by the end of June I'll be in my own Queen Anne house in Kingston, the town where my daughter lives. I've started a blog--actually, I've had three other blogs since leaving Fairhope. For my Hoboken adventures you can peruse "Finding Myself in Hoboken," and then when I moved to New Paltz I recorded my experiences on "New Life, New Paltz" and now I've simply renamed the last one "New Life, Old House." I hope you'll check my "old house" blog and follow my adventures, or at least, now that you've found my Fairhope blog, that you'll scroll through the five years of posts about everything from the meaning of art to the history of Fairhope. I hope I continue to do as well for Kingston.

I've written two books about Fairhope, one focusing on the characters I knew as I was growing up (The Fair Hope of Heaven), and the other a novel about a young teacher in the 1920s who moves to the bohemian utopia that Fairhope once was, That Was Tomorrow. Both are available at Page & Palette in Fairhope, or online at amazon dot com.

I'm thrilled that you found my blog and I hope you'll enjoy it along with my others.

9 comments:

knightwielder said...

Mary Lois- First I want to wish you an extra-happy birthday. I am ashamed to admit I haven't yet read your books about Fairhope, but I intend to rectify that sometime soon. For a retired guy I am really busy- but I am very interested in your books and will get them. Keep blogging and I will tune in to your New Paltz musings when I can.

knightwielder said...

Mary Lois- I am David Normand and I got here from FaceBook but somehow my Yahoo chess ID of Knightwielder was used. I wanted to make sure you kew who I was. Later-

Mary Lois said...

Well, what a surprise! Thanks for showing up. Your ID had me guessing, and the message about not having read my books etc. could have been just about anybody. I know you will, though, and I know you'll like them.

To change an ID put the name you want where it says "Name/URL."

Unknown said...

Mary Lois, I know you were acquainted with Chock McInnis, of Fairhope. I don't know if you've heard that he passed away on Nov. 6. I just learned today.

Mary Lois said...

Thanks for thinking of me, Julie. I heard about his sudden death last week.

Kelly Sargent said...

Hi Mary. I'll keep reading. :-)

Tracey Dunn said...

Hello Mary,
Just wanted to thank you for my brief, but rewarding time working with you and my great and good friend, Graham Timbes, in Fairhope. I will always treasure my time at Jubilee Fish. Much admiration for creating and running a professional theatre company, in one of the most beautiful places I've visited in the US.
All the best, much love,
Tracey

Mary Lois said...

Nice to hear from you Tracey! PICNIC was one of our best shows and you were outstanding in it. I hope life has treated you well and maybe you'll get back to Fairhope one day. Graham is still there but I have moved to Kingston NY where I'm involved in amateur theatre. I've written a couple of books about Fairhope under my maiden name of Mary Lois Timbes which you will find on amazon.

Tracey Dunn said...

That's very kind..... I think it may have been that really good director!
My email is harper98@hotmail.com
Would you send me your address; there's a little something I'd like to mail to you, if you don't mind.