Please forgive my taking so long to reply. Between my full-time job and work on my mother's farm, I don't check email as often as I should.

No, I certainly don't mind being your imaginary childhood friend. Perhaps, we can become grown-up friends!

Your article was very sweet and I appreciate your sending us the link to it. I am printing a copy of it now for our 'archives'. There were only two corrections I would make - Clarence was the cook (as well as household 'king') and Mama and Papa are spelled with the second m and p in lower case.

Thank you for writing the article.
Frances Nash Smith, Granddaughter of Ogden Nash

I really enjoyed all of this month's articles and especially the one about the Ogden Nash home.

Great job!
Jan Bernarducci, Hampton, New Hampshire

I liked the story about the Ogden Nash house. Great photos and fun facts.
Joan Holden, Aurora, Colorado

I enjoyed this article. It brought back memories of when I first met the Nashes around 1958. For several years I would fly to Cross Keys, Maryland, to pack them up and drive their car to Little Boar's Head for the summer and in the fall would drive back to Cross Keys. On trips into Boston for visits with his publisher Little Brown and Company, I found Mr. Nash a very engaging person. Mrs. Nash was a lovely lady who always made you feel at ease in their presence.

They treated their help, Beatrice and Clarence, as part of the family. Oh, the good old days!
John W. Moynahan, Rye, New Hampshire

I just finished reading the wonderful article on the Ogden Nash house. I felt like I was there with you and Frances.
Karen Bonfield, Cincinnati, Ohio

I really enjoyed reading the article on Ogden Nash house. What an interesting visit it must have been. I grew up with Ellen and remember fun visits with her at Rye Beach.

I also remember sleepovers with her at her parent's home and the silver napkin holders and egg cups we would have for breakfast. How fun that was especially as I had not seen them before.
Mary DeAngelis, Concord, New Hampshire

Congrats on the piece on Ogden Nash. I knew him and his house overlooking the bathing beach about as well as a pre-teen could. I recited my poetry to him on occasion. Also knew his daughters Linnell and Isabel. He had a delicious sense of humor: Candy is Dandy but Liquor is Quicker! I particularly liked his Seaside Seranade.
Nicholas Daniloff, Cambridge, Massachusetts

I just happened to go on the Rye Reflections Web site as it always has something interesting to read. Low and behold I found the article about the Ogden Nash house. It was really cute and very interesting.
Polly Hawkins, Nashua, New Hampshire

Thank you for the article.

I would also like to add that Jim Cerny's photos in "Putting seals on a duck" are marvelous. We get seals in our harbor, too.
Gayle Sweeney, Hampton, New Hampshire

Nice article on the goldenrod so I took your advice. I ordered Summer & Fall Wildflowers of New England.

To stay with the goldenrod theme: September 30, 1851, was Levi and Celia Thaxter's wedding day 158 years ago, and from Sandpiper:

...dawned radiant. With characteristic lack of convention, Levi, suddenly and on the spur of the moment, decided he would wait no longer to be married... Celia, in the bright September sunshine, gathered armsful of scarlet huckleberry leaves, bright rosehaws, wild asters and beach goldenrod to fill the room where she would be married. For her bouquet, she stripped the garden of its last, fragrant sweetpeas... The wedding, a simple one but beautiful, took place in the gaily decorated front parlor of Appledore House...

P.S. My favorite picture though is of the sailboat with star spinnaker by Whaleback. A beauty of a shot!
Priscilla Chellis, member of the caretaker group for Celia Thaxter's garden, Berwick, Maine

Jim Cerny's articles and photos of the Shoals are marvelous! Whatever you're paying him, double it! In fact, triple it!
Julie Tiebout, Exeter, New Hampshire