My computer died today, so I’m writing this by hand. When was the last time you hand wrote something, at length?
We’ve become so wedded to technology, we even send out electronic invitations and text each other rather than send letters. Facebook has allowed us to let the world know every waking moment of what happens in our lives without us having to pick up a phone and actually talk to someone.
Our kids interact more with the Wiis, Nintendos and Xboxes than they do with the kind of games we grew up with. It makes me sad that they’ve never played the game of Life—and I’m talking about the Milton Bradley board game version.
Tropical Storm Irene gave us a glimpse at what an untethered, old-time life in Wilton was like. With most of us out of power, we had a taste of actually having to survive without the modern trappings and accoutrement of things you plug in.
We got so desperate, we actually played shadow puppets one night after the storm left us powerless for six days.
One of the best things about living in Wilton, though, is that it’s easily possible to access the history of what this town once was. Our kids can get a glimpse of what it was like to be a child in Wilton over the last couple centuries, and we can frequently come along for the ride.
There have been school trips to the and other events and exhibits held there, where we’ve seen , or learned how to make corn bread from corn meal that my son ground up himself. The yearly second grade field trip to the Hurlbutt Street one-room schoolhouse is always a highlight for the kids, complete with costumed parents volunteering as schoolmarms.
Our favorite day in Wilton is happening this Sunday—it’s the 11th Annual Ambler Farm Day, a celebration of traditional life in Wilton at the 18-acre jewel of a farm once owned by the Raymond-Ambler families, longtime community pillars, and now owned by the town.
Widely attended each year, the festival is a commemoration of our town’s agrarian roots. It’s a day-long revival of back-to-basic, low-tech life, with good old-fashioned fun—apple slingshots, hay rides and a hay maze, scarecrow-making, a pumpkin patch, live music and community heart everywhere you look.
There will be artisans showing skills of the past, like yarn spinning and broom making, giving an educational peek at things Wiltonians of yesteryear needed to master.
New this year, you can actually—sorta—step back in time with a vintage photo booth. So now you can imagine that you were momentarily really unplugged and part of the world that was Wilton when Betty Ambler lived there.
That might give you something to write—not type—home about.
