bathtub mary

MARY IN FAIRIELAND

Found Mary in this position, in the back yard of a house in the back woods of upstate New York.

I pulled over and knocked on the owner's door and asked if I could take pictures. He thought I was a bit loony but said OK.

Looks like she is waiting for someone. You? Me?

She is located outside the Village of Croghan, somewhere near Soft Maple.

How It All Began

Northern New York.
Cow country.
Deer, bear, beaver country.
Gun country.
"Moose and Squirrel" country.
and Bathtub Mary country.

I have been in love with her for years. I have taken a gazzilion photos, always swearing I would write a book.

I decided that before I lose all my pics, and before they all disappear so I can't replace the pics I have lost, I better get them put up somewhere, and here seemed as good a place as any.
There used to be so many more when I was growing up.
Slowly but surely tastes have changed, rust has set in, and Marys have gotten up and walked away.

Can you imagine the effort it took to haul that cast iron bathtub out to the garden? Dig down at least three feet? This is the land of rock. Some places worse than others, but most of the adirondack foothills are full of stones. There is a saying about the crop you can always count on is the rocks.

On the road I grew up visiting, every summer of my life, there used to be at least three or four now I know of one well kept one, one faded and hiding in a shrub, and one bathtub in search of a Mary. I have those photos somewhere, but I have to dig them out of my shoeboxes.