Been living the small town life today. Vacation at home is so nice.

I went to the library down the road to return an overdue book and buy some second-hand ornaments, and ended up browsing the archives in the company of a middle aged lady volunteer. I was looking for old pictures of our house or information about the former owner, Mrs. T. Our homesteading predecessors, (I'll call them the T family,) are related to everybody else in the area. It seems that from ten founding families in the early 1800s, there was only intermarriage or marrying "away" and very few new folks moving here until the middle of the 20th century. The names interweave: maiden names, middle names, last names are all those same ten.

My history guide showed me photos of the house's previous owner at various library functions during the past 25 years--she was a big library volunteer--but there are no pictures of our house at the library. I hope that they exist elsewhere in the town archives or county history society. A home like this built in 1832 must be recorded somehow. By "like this" I mean it has four bedrooms and is set up for entertaining. Many people must have been here for gatherings. Fortunately Mrs. T. was a school teacher and paper packrat, and I am sure that in time I will learn lots about the area thanks to her dedicated note-taking and story-preserving.

As I was departing the library I revealed that I have worked in an archive before and offered to volunteer. The library ladies were quite pleased. I left with a selection of gently used Christmas ornaments and old holiday cards, including two hand-made Currier & Ives prints for 5 cents each. One is already addressed to my very urbane friend Electra and her partner.

This evening I joined some local folks for a rehearsal of the town's upcoming performance of "A Christmas Carol," in which I play The Niece's Sister and John plays Topper and Marley. He would have been there but has study hall tonight. Scrooge is played by another Brooklyn import, a garrulous and tough-skinned man who ran unsuccessfully for town office in November. He was an emcee at the Jay Town Green Saturday evening entertainment this summer, and during the "Oklahoma!" show (I was in the chorus) he teased John and me for having brought a wicker couch to sit on. That's how we remember each other now. "Oh, yes, you're the folks who brought that wicker sofa..."

I am starting to get the impression that people here are deeply self-sufficient. I don't know if it's by choice or necessity; in a way it doesn't matter. It's hard to describe or prove by anecdote, it's just a feeling I am getting. There are not many options for anything here, from home decor to cooking to clothes. Few people ever look polished here, no tailored clothes and certainly no suits. The weather doesn't permit it. I fit right in this way, except for my short short hair. Catalogs and internet have their influence, but as far as I've seen, generally people seem simple in their tastes and energetic in their creativity. The room in which we met this evening, at the home of the proprietor of a bed and breakfast in Jay, was filled with crafts-in-progress and her seven-ish-year-old son's artwork on the walls. The walls themselves were sponge-painted and not with any great sophistication--could have been done by said child. Maybe this impression I have is due in part to MY choices to participate in local things and make friends through certain venues, like the library. The folks to whom I am drawn and vice versa are going to be similar to me. Now there's a solipsistic tautology for you.