Out and About – Page 2 – This Old House 2

Enders Island

There is a little island jutting off another little island (Mason’s Island) just a causeway away from the towns of Stonington and Mystic here in Connecticut that is open to the public year round. I’m surprised it’s taken me all these years to discover it, but here we are. It is described as follows: Enders Island is an 11-acre island off the coast of Mystic, Connecticut and the site of St. Edmund’s Retreat, an independently owned and operated Catholic Retreat Center. The ministry of Enders Island is dedicated to the work of spiritual care, recovery from addiction, and education in a variety of fine arts within the Christian tradition—both in-person and online.

Mom had cataract surgery last week and I had a few hours to spend during her procedure. Enders was nearby so I went exploring this lovely, serene place. I had the place almost to myself and it was indeed a cold winter day, but the wind was gentle and the sight of it all was warming in a way that is hard to describe. There are some memorials scattered about, I don’t know whether there are remains on the property or if these are just stone testaments to the love people had for them. The little chapel at waterfront is full of messages and little gifts for the deceased who are dearly missed…

I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking here…

This little chapel is obviously a place of great solace for many.

Standing out on the rocks in front of that little chapel, I felt the power and the calm of the sea, the air, the solid footing below me that has been there for eons. There was the peace of the many souls who created and embelish this sanctuary, the peace of those who visit this place along their journey, both among us and beyond…. a peace this weary soul needed.

Till soon, friends –

Holidays during Pandemic times

How were your holidays? Scaled down like ours? We managed some smaller gatherings and I’m grateful we’re all still here and relatively healthy. We even did a weekend at The Woodstock Inn, a favorite place for us. Last year’s trip was cancelled because Vermont was basically closed to outsiders, and this year still looked different but was enjoyable, regardless.

Christmas came early while in the Woodstock village, the Mr. obliged my obsession with these boots as we kept passing them in a store window and they whispered to me every time, I’m not even kidding.

The Inn was magical, the depleted staff did a fantastic job with a difficult scenario.

Christmas rolled around and we did what we thought was best – smaller gatherings, and some of them cancelled.

🎄 Mom holding a delicious refreshing Christmas Drink – the Poinsettia – Prosecco, Elderflower liquor and a splash of cranberry juice, with some frozen cranberries thrown in. Mix together according to taste – pretty and yum. I’m not a big drinker but I like a refreshing one now and then and this hits the spot. And kills the germs, right? LOL

We’ve decided to scale back down the restaurant dining since the new Covid surge, but we did get out to our favorite cafe in Stonington, the Dogwatch. Their “power bowl” is my favorite – packed with healthy eating. the Town of Stonington is beautiful any time of year, but especially during the holidays.

The kids and I have done some hiking and that is the single most awesome thing that happened to me this year- upon the adoption of Kai, my spirit dog as my mom calls him, I knew he needed a lot of attention and trust building and hiking was a good way to do it. That also gave me the opportunity to tone up and get in better shape, and my adult kids don’t mind hanging out with mom to do it. I’m not a gym rat, I hate being stationary to exercise. Treadmills, elipticals, blah blah blah. Get me out in the scenery and I can go for miles, and so I do. It’s been a win for all of us during pandemic times and my goal is to continue exploring trails long into the future.

Yesterday’s hike at Hammonasset State Park on Long Island Sound, Madison, CT

Wishing us all good health and much joy in the years ahead.

Nature, the ultimate recharge, my cathedral

… has always been nature and the animals. In my quest to keep this aging body moving and in good working order, I’ve been walking and hiking more… my newest rescued dog Kai as my faithful companion. He is such a joy because he loves the outside time and he doesn’t pull! That’s a bonus I have not had before, not even with little Sally with the twisted front legs, which don’t slow her down one bit.

The biggest bonus is.. my kids actually like hiking with mom! So now and then I am accompanied by some of my most favorite people, too. The only nuisance are the damned ticks. I have found the all natural Cedarcide spray does help repel them. I buy it on amazon.

Lost Lake at WestWoods, Guilford, CT – my boy introduced me to these awesome trails –

A train occasionally blows through on the tracks – I look forward to hiking these trails when the snow lands, Polar Express comes to mind.

This is an old quarry area, hence the large blocks of stone, and below is an old horse watering station.

The trails of Parmelee Farm are close to home and we go there often. My son was hired to enhance the trail system and he and crew are doing a beautiful job.

When I’m not out in the woods or mucking stalls or editing for work on this computer, I try to get upstairs to sit at the easel – newest painting I’m working on is a scene from a recent hike on Barn Island, such a glorious day and fun new discovery for nature walks, I decided to try to capture it on canvas. Still much to do with it, but here’s where I’m at ….. with Michael Bolton on Amazon music – I may be 3/4 deaf, but I remember the nuances, and the beat tells me where we’re at in the song. The Brain is an amazing thing, this I know for sure, and in this way I can still enjoy music on a whole different and definitely less satisfying level, but still, there’s joy in it. Grab it where you can!

Some good advice and humor for you as we head into the weekend –

We’re all just walking each other home – Ram Dass

Till soon, friends…

Barn Island

Yesterday was so gorgeous we decided to get out with Kai and explore a new-to-us walking area – the 1,013-acre Barn Island Wildlife Management park in Stonington/Pawcatuck, the State’s single largest coastal property managed for wildlife conservation. The property provides a diversity of ecosystem and habitats, including hilly uplands, agricultural/open fields, mixed hardwood forests and salt, brackish and freshwater tidal wetlands. The property is very popular for hiking, cross country and snowshoeing, mountain biking, wildlife observation and hunting.

The Barn Island Loop is approximately 3 miles long, easy walking, and the scenery is beautiful. The only issue were the ticks, which I found several of on both myself and Kai when we got home. I got in the shower and he got a tick bath shortly after.

I downloaded a great app for hikers/walkers of the great outdoors – Alltrails. We tooka detour and it came in handy to get us back on the main loop.

I do see my next painting in one of these images. just a glorious day 🙂

So much beauty out there in the world, helps wash off the grime in the headlines, you know? Hope all is well in your neck of the woods –

Catching up…

I miss my blog friends! Go grab a coffee or a tea or water, which is better for you anyway – we’ve got ground to cover! I finally have a little time to sit down and read some of your blogs, that’s next, and I sure hope I find you are all well and staying sane. I stay away from the news more often than not in recent months, just hate to see all the division that continues, all the fake news that flourishes, makes one long for simpler times. And so I’m trying to make my times… well, simpler.

The kids living nearby on the outskirts of this farm in their own homes is truly a blessing. We all stay out of each other’s way enough so that we’re not tripping over one another or wishing to move elsewhere, and yet we chip in together to keep this place running and enjoyable for all. The farm animals are always a source of joy, and also a source of work!

We all benefit from the chicken coop and the gardens – this year the raspberries and blueberries were more than abundant, we’ve got a freezer full. Potatoes and onions are also stored in crates downstairs – (the purple potatoes are DIVINE!) and we discovered this year all the produce loves to live and grow on the hill behind the house, better than the two garden plots we have down AT the house. So.. that’s where we will garden from now on, up on the sunny hillside.

Kai, our newest rescue dog, is doing super! He went from two years of feral living to completely well behaved house dog in a matter of months, smart as a whip, and just a joy to be around. We take many walks together, kai and I… and sometimes my kids with their dogs too. Speaking of which – my son’s rottie, Leo, has grown into a bull, a big mush, a little bit of a bully, a LOT of dog to be sure, but a love just the same. At just a year old, he’s still growing, too.

Stella by the Sea – Welp, as much as we said we were going to spend a lot more time down there, like maybe even LIVE there a few weekends at least this summer, it just didn’t happen. The farm and work demands keep us busy throughout the year, but my mom does get to live down there for short spirts of time and we all congregate for dinners, swims, kayaking, the occasional lounging around. Soon it will be time to pack it all in and close up Stella till next year. I dread the emptying of the refrigerator – just sayin.

The Mr. and I did manage to get away in the first week of August, to one of our most favorite places, Martha’s Vineyard. We rented a cottage on South Water Street in Edgartown, an older home with loads of Vineyard Charm. It was just the two of us, which is unusual, but the slowed pace and not having any particular agenda was nice. We both came back feeling rested, a much needed reprieve.

With this season comes a renewed interest in fall recipes… this one I haven’t tried yet but I think I’ll give it a go for the Thanksgiving table instead of the traditional Pumpkin Pie, which some of us don’t even like. (I do!)

Pumpkin Tiramisu from Taste of Home

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, divided
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
1 cup strong brewed coffee, room temperature
2 packages (3 ounces each) ladyfingers, split
1 carton (16 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
Additional pumpkin pie spice

Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat cream until stiff peaks form; set aside. In another bowl, beat the cream cheese, pumpkin, brown sugar, 1 teaspoon pie spice and 1 teaspoon vanilla until blended. Fold in whipped cream.
2. In a small bowl, combine coffee and remaining pie spice and vanilla; brush over ladyfingers. In a 3-qt. trifle dish, layer a fourth of the ladyfingers, angling some up the sides of the dish if desired. Top with a fourth of the pumpkin mixture and whipped topping. Repeat layers three times. Sprinkle with additional pie spice.
3. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 4 hours.

Wishing you all good things this fall, Lord knows we all deserve it! – Till soon, my dear blog friends –

Breaking things Up A Bit

I have several things to share with you today, but this…. this…. well, sometimes you just gotta laugh out loud, the bust a gut type of laughter, to get past a certain thing. Which is what I did yesterday morning when I tried on a few of my bathing suits and asked my husband’s opinion regarding which one he thought looked OK. We’re going on a family beach vacation in the not too distant future, I’m a water bug and I’m trying to plan. After the third try-on he says… “THAT ONE… that one is good, it breaks things up a bit. ”

Right there is when the peals of laughter coming out of my own mouth went rolling down the hall, bounced off the walls and fell flat on the mudroom floor.

(Fucker)

So… anyone looking for me this morning will have found me in the gym… Breaking things Up A Bit…

The day did get better – we went treasure hunting at Brooklyn Restoration in Brooklyn, CT, where 90-something year old Rudy still presides over an acre of outbuildings packed with old house stuff. I’ve blogged about this place before, when we restored Gracie (this old house) we visited often for old hardware and other odd stuff our restoration guru Jeff and my husband needed to bring her back to life.

My son was looking for a mantel for his fireplace and a door for his kitchen pantry – he and his GF did find a door, no such luck with the mantel.

Oooh, the old treasures in these sheds.

That’s Rudy – just before he took advantage of our ignorance/Kind nature/stupidity and did not give us one iota of a deal, but that’s OK, I’m still very happy with my finds.

These items below are my new treasures – old hand forged kitchen gadgets that now hang over the kitchen sink on either side of our farm sign… a ladle, a strainer, and what we are assuming was a grater of some sort.

Our good friends Jeff and Raven met us there to help sort out what we’d need for my son’s house, and we should have let Raven negotiate with Rudy. He has a fondness for her, they are long time acquaintances due to Jeff’s line of work (restoration), he knows they know what he knows, and he is more kindly to her in the price department. Live and learn.

After the treasure hunt we went to a local restaurant, The Court House, which I believe used to be the actual Court House in the town of Putnam, where we enjoyed nachos and burgers in abundance.

I hope all is well in your neck o’the woods –

Karen

Vitamin Sea

When I find myself running low on faith in humanity, I’m often refueled while out observing nature.

He comes every day to feed his friends. They are wary of others, but not him, it’s clear there is trust between them. After I observed for a while, he motioned me into his circle, spoke softly and encouraged the birds to take a cracker from my hand, and eventually they did, trusting him next to me.

Revisiting The Golden Girls

My mother has always had a wide circle of friends, whether it was within her long career as a public school teacher, as a neighbor or a volunteer (Snug Harbor, Staten Island, Democratic Town Committee, to name just a few). Unlike so many friendships of my generation, they have remained close despite moves, retirements, etc . These four in particular are what I’ve always referred to as The Golden Girls. They have a comfortable friendship that spans decades, still going strong. They’ve each known personal trials, moves to different cities, illnesses, and in one case the worst form of grief. None of these things has frayed the ties that bind these women, and I’m grateful to bare witness to it all. Below is a piece my mother wrote this fall after one of their trips together.

** Mom’s version is spaced properly. For whatever the reason, my tech incompetence, perhaps? I haven’t been able to fix the spacing.. my apologies.

✨ Autumn’s Golden Girls✨

I am picked up at Metro Park by my friend with a sandwich in her hand

for the drive to Cape May

Never at a loss for words the chatter begins there and continues in Dawn’s driveway

Hugs all round and cookies from Staten Island’s Cookie Jar

Soup, talk, and cookies from the Cookie Jar

Gracious Thomas grinds coffee beans for tomorrow’s breakfast

Chattered out, sleep beckons

Plans for the next day revolve around cloudy skies and the threat of rain

A visit to Stone Harbor with the movie “Downton Abbey” in mind

And shopping, of course, clothes today

Autumn colored blouse for Roseann and tailored coat for Dawn

Necklace thrown in there somewhere

Diane and I literally sit this one out in the store’s comfortable sitting area

(Probably meant for bored husbands)

Walk through the boutique hotel The Reeds at Shelter Haven

Menu there for Thanksgiving Dinner

Not bad price, Dawn

Movie theater for snacks—nice set up

And then a reunion with Lord Grantham and other old friends

Whether upstairs or down, Mr. Carson greets us still as Violet raises her brow at the intrusion of the hoi polloi

Dining out at Ebbitts after drinks by their fire

Good food, good drinks, more good chatter

And home to those wonderful cookies

Ball game on, Tommy keeps us posted as we catch up on pretty much everything

families, the state of the younger generations,

old friends, new homes and a LAP POOL , trips enjoyed and those planned

It’s pretty much all good

And now everyone of us is in our seventies (at least until next May)

Where did all the decades go?

The lesson there: Seize the day, every damn day!

So we seize a shopping day, you knew that was coming

For the first time I spend the most, in a Christmas shop no less!

Even need to mail stuff home.

It is the proximity of Rosie egging me on I think.

So yeah, Rosie’s fault.

Lunch at Congress Hall

and more shopping

How do you spend $37 on Birthday cards in five minutes?

Easy at the Whale’s Tale

Diane and Dawn are the most restrained shoppers this go round

Dinner of sandwiches and left overs and cookies

Earlier to bed for tomorrow’s trip home

Breakfast and chatter

Pack up and head out

Train is not missed, Diane is home before it leaves station

Another visit of friends, a little creakier and grayer

But just as happy to share time together, a glass of wine together,

A walk through an iconic town center together

The Cape May of a golden October afternoon

A few thoughts found and cherished about friends and friendships

“Life is partly what we make it,

and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.”

Tennessee Williams

“Friendships multiply joys and divide griefs”

“Friendship can’t be a big thing. It’s a million little things.”

Til next time, my friends. While we get grayer the friendships remain golden. And that’s a fact.

A Glorious Fall Foliage Day in Vermont

On Saturday the Mr. and I woke up at our usual time, 5:00 am ……why? We have no idea, but it’s just always been our way, to be up at the crack of dawn. In that way we are well suited for each other. With perfect temps and sun on the horizon, no big obligations for the day we decided … Let’s go to Woodstock.

With K living right next door now, a simple text ….. can you feed and turn out horses and dogs today, etc. so we can take a day trip?… and because she also gets up at the crack of dawn religiously, the answer was immediate.. sure thing!

And off we went. The colors are so glorious this year, conditions must have been just right. We hit our favorite places along this route – Scott Orchard first in Dummerston where I grabbed a few bags of heirloom apples you don’t find anywhere else, and their delicious heirloom apple cider. I love their farm buildings, too… hundreds of years old. The slate roofing.. just beautiful.

Then into Woodstock, were we walked on the green, visited the Woodstock Inn, inquired to see if there was possible just one room left so we could stay overnight – nope. Bummer. This is the weekend we usually come with the family and stay for a few days, booked way in advance. With other travel plans next spring, we decided to forgo the expense this year, with just a day trip for the Vermont Fix we crave.

We had a delicious lunch at the Mountain Creamery – a lovely old shop that retains it’s simple farm style charm (they raise their own livestock for their signature meals and ice cream) A better sandwich or ice cream float you will not find in Woodstock, I can attest to that. Their mile high apple pie is so good, I took an entire pie home in a box for later enjoyment, just a slice would not have been enough.

Turkey Bacon Cheese Pesto sammy with a side of potato salad like no other (shredded veggies in it, what a perfect addition)

Then we headed over to Billings Farm to visit our cows. I say our cows because I’m hoping one day to convince the Mr., who loves them as much as I do, that our little farm needs two cows, and two cows need our farm. I’d like to buy two bull calves who would otherwise be sold most likely for veal and let them live their lives out on our farm the natural way, as pets. If you have to be a dairy cow, the Billings farm is a good place to be, as they take excellent care of their herds. But.. the realities are still what they are – any boy calves born are not needed unless you’re one of the lucky few who are kept for breeding purposes.

Our Woodstock trips aren’t complete without a stop in the old Gillinghams General Store, not much has changed here either in many years, and we’re so glad of it.

This good dog did not move one inch, didn’t gaze anywhere but directly into the store where his mom was right inside the door for just a few minutes. I loved his intensity of duty.

Till soon, friends…

Welcome Fall in Connecticut!

Connecticut has become an expensive state to live in, and it’s also suffering financial woes. The current government is trying to fix those woes but unfortunately is applying tactics like tolls on highways and tax on foods that will only hurt the people who have already been leaving the state in droves – Young people, families, blue collar workers, businesses big and small, all important members for the health of an economy and communities. So, there are a lot of complaints about the state by residents. Those added taxes and tolls are getting pushback, and rightfully so in my opinion, so we can hope the men and women in office will find solutions and make this state affordable again. This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue alone, because the problems have been roiling for many years under both parties.

That being said, we do live in a truly beautiful area of the Country. Steeped in history, the beautiful old homes, the quaint New England towns, the shoreline and rolling hills, the woods, the lakes and streams and stone walls are not something I take for granted. I love the seasons and the “flavors” each brings to our lives. The weather is finicky, this is true… saw this recently on FB and it’s SO true of our region…

This past weekend we were in the Second summer faze, as it was actually warm and humid! Beautiful weather though – and so the Mr. and I took a drive to browse antiques – found a wonderful antique shop whose owner is going out of business, retiring to his original home town (bummer!). The following photos were taken from his actual FB page because I neglected to pull out my phone, that almost never happens. Black Whale Antiques at Rattleberry Farm, owned by reknown painter and muralist Thomas Rose, is indeed for sale. A link to an article and photos of the property HERE.

We did come home with a few books – Normal Rockwell’s autobiography of which I’ve just started reading, and an old Bread Baking book, of which I plan to bake from this afternoon. The Mr. bought a small end table for the mancave and I found a charming, if not at all antique, chicken picture to hang in our country kitchen. We had a lovely discussion with Mr. Rose, sad to have met him as he exits stage left. We wish him a very happy retirement.

Across the street is an old and beloved deli that makes gourmet sandwiches – we grabbed a few and drove up the road to Devil’s Hopyard and Chapman falls to take in the beautiful day –

Someone’s Prince perhaps?…..

The Civil Conservation Corps worked here and the stone walls, roads and bridges stand strong… The story of the CCC is very interesting, click the link for more info. The parks in our state benefited greatly from this program and I’m often reminded of their impact when out walking the trails.

We headed home after lunch with a stop at a roadside farm market, where I grabbed some fall treasures…