I found a “Baby Book” in the New Bedlam Farm house today and I was touched by it, a formal, meticulous record of a young man from birth until his sudden death at age 21. It seemed invasive to me to read it, so I didn’t, but I kept thinking that we paid so much attention to the small details of life then. Baby books now, I suppose, are kept in digital files. I’ve never seen one like this.

Florence had a keen sense of time and place, and she kept many things that others would have thrown out. She never seemed to become a modern woman, even though she was ferociously independent and creative. She had no computers and kept old keys, matchbooks, inkjars and silverware. Florence’s life and her home connect us to time and place, ground us in a way, remind us where we come from and suggest that we go slower, take our time, live simply and treasure the small things in life. It is a good home for us, and those are good lessons.