35 Love Songs

April 8, 2025 — Day 3

Northwoods Brewery, Northwood NH — Spacious Skies French Pond Campground, Henniker, NH

We had a very slow morning, not because we slept in but because we only had a 45 minute drive to the next campground and we couldn’t check in until 2pm. Plus, it was snowing, not enough to cover the ground, but we didn’t know if they’d be salting the roads.

And it was still snowing lightly when we left around quarter to 2.

(susan here: The the cool thing about Harvest Hosts is that you roll in and you’ve got 24 hours to get gone. We got in at dinner time so we had until 5. And as you all know by now we had great pizza. A win for sure.)

We split up a few miles down the road. The Jeep needed gas and we wanted to buy a small space heater to put in the water/sewer bay to prevent freezing. The bay is heated but the forecast is for 23-24Fº tonight and winds gusting to 50mph. A second source of heat isn’t a bad idea, lots of people do it because belt and suspenders, you know? Paul took off in the Jeep to Home Depot only to find that they had put away the space heaters for the winter. Don’t they understand the 12 seasons of New England’s winters?

We just left the Spring of Deception so of course we’re in Third Winter. Anybody knows that!

So what does Home Depot do with stock that is up away? They get it for you!

Of course it was on the very top shelf.

We met up at the campsite. Susan had checked in and had just about parked Clifford by the time Paul arrived. She told me that the dog at check in needed pets and treats!!! And that’s what took so long for her to get to her parking spot We started setting up, water, electric, sewer and trash (small trash can gets filled in 2 days). What fun. We noticed that one of the slides gaskets had gone a bit wonky with some parts of it pointing in and other parts pointing out — not ideal as wind and rain could possibly get in. Paul was able to reach the seal by the door and fix it, but the one towards the rear of the RV is far too high. Susan dashed inside looking for something that could flip the seal to the out position. Then we had to tackle the big reach. It was decided that Susan would drive the Jeep to the spot and with him being taller he got the reach job. (susan here: This is Paul. Triumphant and ebullient and basking in the glow of his victory of flipping an RV seal.)

That might look like a kitchen spatula. However, it’s actually a Tiffin branded gasket fixer-upper which only cost $50 plus $300 for shipping. (inside Tiffin joke, they’re known for crazy parts & shipping prices.)

Paul goes to plug in the space heater and it seems that that GFCI outlet has failed. It has power because the yellow light is on, but it is on yellow, not green. Pressing Test and then Reset doesn’t make it work. Oh well, we’ll just have belt tonight, or suspenders, we’re not sure but we are sure it isn’t both.

Off to the concert. Yes it was brutally cold and windy. It’s normal for April, right? April freezes bring dead May flowers?

The Magnetic Fields are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their landmark 3 album, 69 Love Songs. The concert will be doing all three Volumes spread over 2 evenings. In album order of course! If you’re not familiar with the band, their Tiny Desk concert from November 2024 is a great introduction.

The players above were not all at the concert tonight, the banjo/guitar player wasn’t there and to their left was their manager who wasn’t on stage tonight. What strikes us both is that these look like ordinary people, not famous rock stars. Ok, they’re not that famous and it isn’t rock, but they’re playing in a band. Oh, Susan just told me the cellist graduated Magna Cume Laude from Harvard and is also a lawyer. The woman in the black blazer is their manager. Definitely not a rock band.

Paul had no choice in the seats and was disappointed when he found out what we had. Don’t get us wrong, 3rd row is fantastic, but it was way off to the left side. When we got there we were beyond happy with the seats. Here’s our view from one of the songs.

(susan here: when the show started the person in front of Paul was blocking my view of stage right, aka the guy with the ball cap on. There was an intermission and people between us and the stage got up and left. I thought they’d gone off to do things like use the restrooms, grab a drink or a snack and they would be back. That didn’t happen! Our 3rd row seats became the equivalent of 1st row! I could see the whole show. Sweet!!!)

This band holds a special place in our hearts. The song, “The Book of Love” was played at our wedding. Our friends Jon and James sang that for us.

The book of love is long and boring
No one can lift the damn thing
It’s full of charts and facts and figures
And instructions for dancing

But I, I love it when you read to me
And you, you can read me anything

The book of love has music in it
In fact, that’s where music comes from
Some of it is just transcendental
Some of it is just really dumb

But I, I love it when you sing to me
And you, you can sing me anything

The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It’s full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
And things we’re all too young to know

But I, I love it when you give me things
And you, you ought to give me wedding rings
I love it when you give me things
And you, you ought to give me wedding rings

Right before the last song before the intermission, Stephen Merritt, the lead, told us that they were going on an intermission of “indeterminate length.” He then told us, that if we came to the 2nd night’s concert they would be sure to ask how long the intermission was supposed to be. They didn’t know!

So of course, right before the last song, he told us after the song there would be a 22 hour intermission. Too funny, we can hardly wait to get back tomorrow.

Daily: 34 miles.

Total: 168 miles

Driving miles/Day: 56 miles/day 

Overall miles/Day: 56 miles