Getting to know the Neighborhood

 Well, Tuesday we didn't do much.  We swung by downtown Andover because that was where the nearest Post Office seemed to be.  (I've had some "issues" with Bank of America and wanted to put them in writing with a return receipt). 
It was a beautiful day and we were happy to find Dylan's Bar and Grill across the alley.  We had the place to ourselves except one woman who was sipping wine at the bar. 
   There was another gaggle of gals drinking beer or wine out on the patio.  They looked like professional women... who knew you could "get away" that early in the afternoon to start happy hour?!!

Yesterday, we headed to our home-town-to-be to open an account at a local bank.  I love the care and attention we got from the account supervisor at Merrimack Savings Bank!  I think our mortgage company will like that our payment check comes from a local bank rather than an unknown credit union 1800 miles away.

After leaving the bank I saw a sign I had never seen before!
It took me a while to realize why any sign would say such a thing.  Do you have these in YOUR town?
We don't have these signs in Texas!

I hope they remain irrelevant this winter.

We knew where there were chain restaurants, but hoped to find one that was local.  (I found out later that when the population of Newton was only 400 people they nevertheless had 7 taverns.  That's about one for every 60 man woman or child!)
Bucco's fit the bill.  According to the web, there's one in Kingston and one in Newton.  It definitely seemed like basic home cooking, Italian deli style.  They had a Soprano's PIN BALL machine and fan photographs.  The meatball sandwich was a lot like my mother-in-law used to make.  AND they have CANNOLI AND they deliver.
Yum.
Next door was a Wild Birds Unlimited franchise.  There have been stories on the nightly news saying to bring in birdseed after April, so I was a little surprised that the proprietor was hefting bag after bag of all kinds of seed into the display area.  I asked her about it, and like a good sales woman, she said that you only needed to bring in your seed IF YOU HAD BEARS.  I hope we don't get bears, but I would love to have a big variety of birds in the garden.  WBU also had handsome bird baths, and beautifully tuned wind chimes.  Tweeeeeeet!