"I LOVE MAN NONE THE LESS..BUT NATURE MORE!"

The best resolve to living a hectic life is to return to nature! At dawn today, with a fresh cup of brewed coffee from Country Corner I took the first exit before heading home. Foster Hill beckoned me only for me to stop at the bridge at Coy Brook. Here I sat in silence in my Honda. No lights, no radio, no kidding!

As I sat pensively the rhapsody of Mother NAture began. The pollywogs peeped as two mallards demonstrated their affections in the water. This Coy Brook is where, once, Sarah Do

ucette Potvin did her weekly wash for six young Potvins! Dad was born in 1913.. Uncle Al in 1918..and Pepe Potvin in 1883. Nature was the same then but human nature wasn't.

Electricity came in from transmission lines from Palmer around the same time and gradually their worlds changed for the better. Kerosene lamps, as dirty and smelly as they were, saw the lite from Tommy Edison's invention: The incandescent lamp. Dad always referred to WINE VILLAGE as being "Down on the Farm!"

I don't think any of us Potvins have ever left the farm in our hearts. Primative snapshots show dad with a new-born calf, Nipper his dog and Uncle Al petting the tiny cow. Everything about living down on the farm was innocent. French was spoken and the traditions of the kitchen revealed pea-soup, blood sausage  and pan fried "quen."

Clothing was fashioned from printed grain bags. Toys were few, and the simplicity of the moment revealed sophistication unimaginable in today's Smart-Phone existences.

Fast forward 100 years to the moment.. Nature remains constant. How nice. Want to return to your roots? Just take the first exit off Route 9 to Foster Hill.. West Brookfield!