Stroudsburg, Pa. or Norman Rockwell's Imagination?

It is a gorgeous Fall morning, here in Pa.! The sun is shining, the air is crisp. The colors are magnificent. It is, for this small moment in time, the stuff of great artists, and poets, and memories. As I sit here at my desk, the sun is streaming in through the window, warm on my body. My birds are behind me making all their morning noises. My coffee is still steaming. I can hear small school children walking down the street, shuffling their feet in the crispy, fallen leaves, voices and laughter part of their sounds. And I am thinking about my new friend, far away, that I want to share this moment with. I want to freeze it in time.
We have a beautiful old, brick, elementary school a half block down the street. In good weather the kindergarten and first grade teachers often take their children for walks in the mornings. And it is always a treat to watch them. I love the little ones. At a distance! When someone else is responsible for them! They are always so bright and fresh and full of quick smiles!
Sometimes I get so caught up in the daily horrors and pains of life that I forget how truly blessed I am.
I live in a lovely old Victorian neighborhood. Full of beautiful old homes and wide, tree lined streets. We have almost no crime in this neighborhood. People take pride in their yards, and many are beautifully landscaped. It is a family neighborhood with lots and lots of children. The speed limit on our streets is 15 miles per hour and most folks actually respect that. All of the streets in this neighborhood are named after the children of our town's founder. We have Sarah and Thomas, Scott and Ann, Monroe and Fulmer. It is a constant reminder, at least for some, that this is a family town. A family place. Many of the homes were built a hundred to two hundred years ago. And they were big houses for that day. Houses for big families! My house was built in the late 1800's!
A few blocks away is Main St.. Main St. is alive and vibrant. Not the desolate, declining Main St. of all the news stories from across America. We have local shops, owned and operated by local folks, that thrive. There are always people in and out of the shops. Cars parked and sounds and smells coming from the doors. We have old fashioned side-walk sales all summer long. There are restaurants and small shops, side by side. It really is very, very nice! People recognize one another on the street, nodding, and saying hello, as each makes their way along their routes. The local police walk the sidewalks. The mailman knows everyone. Often someone's dog is tied to a parking meter or light post while their owner shops, or does an errand. It really is like something off the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. It is Norman Rockwell, circa 2008.
Between Main St. and my neighborhood, lies Courthouse Circle. Our courthouse is an huge old, natural sandstone, building, with a big tower and large, stately stairs leading to the front doors. In front, separated by a narrow street, is a circle with a "doughboy" statute and an old, WWI cannon, and flower beds and benches for lunch time sitting, or for strollers to stop for a rest.All around the circle are old brick and clapboard row houses. All in beautifully restored condition. These old buildings house lawyers and small shops like jewelers, and tailors, and land offices. It is very pretty. And in front of the buildings are flowering trees. The spring, when they are in bloom, is gorgeous! In the winter, when the trees are bare, small lights are strung in the trees, giving them a twinkling quality as soon as the sun sets.
Year round, on the first Saturday of each month, we have an "artist's walk" in the evening. All of the shops stay opened, late. Local artists display their works in the different businesses. Often business owners will offer refreshments. In the warm months, musicians are playing on the street. There are often kiosks at the Courthouse circle with vendors of all sorts. And everywhere there are people strolling. The downtown theater often has open doors with some special short performance being offered several times over the evening. the restaurants have outside tables. It is very, very nice!

So...the pictures here I took about an hour ago....

I want to share my town with you. I want it to be real....

This is the front of my house. Next is looking East from my house, then the house two west from me.


This is the house three west of me and one looking from across the street going west.

If you notice, the old maple tree in front of my house is so much greener than all the others???...well, methinks it has broken into the old, iron sewer line coming out of my house....gggrrrrrrrr..........

Here we have Ramsey Elementary, the school a half block from my house. Next is the side street running along the west side of Ramsey, and then my friend Peter's house, kitty-corner from Ramsey.

Here is the house on the other corner from the school and next is the courthouse, three blocks south from my front porch. If you drew a straight line from my porch, you would hit the back door of the courthouse.

Following are a few more images of the courthouse and the circle in front of it....

All old buildings, housing lawyers and small businesses......

Now some images from Main St. Because I'm taking these pictures on a weekday morning, you won't see all the foot traffic, but by mid-day, it's bustling.....

And now, last, but not least...two pictures of McMichaels Creek, just one block south of Main St. and a picture of the Anne St. Train Station....

I hope you like the pictures. They don't begin to do justice to what a really pretty town Stroudsburg is...