First, the good. This is Beaver River Road in Richmond, Rhode Island, another one of the state’s  lesser-known neighborhoods. These gnarled, old maples, all of them tapped for maple syrup season, reminded me of Europe somehow. Nice when the trees are allowed to remain on the side of the road. They add so much to the view.

The bad: This week, a local landscaper who should know better hung advertising tags on everyone’s mailbox. Of course, within a day, most of them were littering the ground.

I wonder how many potential customers he turned off with this dumb idea.  I know I won’t be hiring him.