Live Free Or Die

"Live Free or Die" is the official motto of New Hampshire, adopted by the General Court in 1945. It is probably the best-known of all state mottos, partly because it speaks to an aggressive independence inherent in the American dream, and partly because of its contrast to the mild sentiments usually found in such mottos.

The phrase comes from a toast written by General John Stark on July 31, 1809. Poor health forced Stark, New Hampshire's most famous soldier of the American Revolutionary War, to decline an invitation to an anniversary reunion of the Battle of Bennington and to send his toast by letter:

Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.

The motto was enacted at the same time as the state emblem

This all leads to my next crazy idea!

I have been assessing where we should be in the next 3-5 years. Originally, I thought Italy was going to be a 5 year adventure, but as I see the kids picking up the Italian and the culture, I think it only fair to give Subasio a chance to have some schooling here so that puts us out atleast three more years. Then the plan was to possibly move to Alaska so the kids could get a bit of outdoors exposure. My dream of Shaolin immersion for all of them might have to be reduced to a year or even less.

An alternative to Alaska and a place that can offer substantial outdoor adventure as well as a rigorous academic environment would be Hanover, New Hampshire, home of Dartmouth and CNNMoney.com's Second Best Place To Live In America.

To spice it up... why not live in a converted barn? Helen, the good sport that she is, says I can build another Container House !!! so I look in to see how the state of the art Container House architecture is doing. Not Bad. But who am I fooling? This is New England. Better to stick with a barn. So I contact www.mainebarncompany.com to see what they can offer.