Tag: Out and About

A forgotten village

 My camera made me do it!
I trespassed today, but I also happened to stumble on
one of the heirs of this quite literally deserted village while trespassing (dang)
 and he did graciously give me permission to take some pictures.
 
The incredible story of Johnsonville
can be read here…
no need to reinvent the wheel.
I did take better pictures though..
so…
here you go.

 Disregard the “c”… it was BUILT in 1899.
This picture was taken today –

The heirs are still mulling over how they’ll proceed
with this,  their inherited charge..but for now, she sits empty.
Strange feeling, walking among these buildings.
Ghosts? Depends on what you want to believe..
but one definitely feels something… a longing perhaps.
A palpable heavy sigh whispered from every shutter, every eave…
the lonely village awaits rebirth.

She wants to sell sea shells by the seashore

 We’ve packed up the few things we brought to
the little cottage by the sea..
Water shoes, books, kayaks and paddles, towels, food…
It was a wonderful reprieve, this little place..
Mom called it home for a week but we visited often enough.
I sat on the dock one more time tonight, feet in the cool water..
a blue crab just two steps below
and the salty breeze on my face.
I gave thanks for this wonderful night..
for this time together in such a beautiful place.

Farewell for now, my seaside dream…..
Perhaps we’ll meet again.



Come with me….

….my love…
To the sea…
the sea of love…
I want to tell you..
Just how much..
I love you.
Which of you knows this song?
No googling!
Visiting the tiny seaside cottage of a friend
just a hop, skip, jump, and 20 minutes down the turnpike
from This Old House.
To maintain their privacy I’ll not mention where it is..
but I had to share with you this charming.. charmed.. little oasis.
If I win the lottery someday…this is what I’ll seek.

The Lieutenant River

The Lieutenant River is a 3.7-mile-long tidal river located in Old Lyme, Connecticut. It joins the Connecticut River in the estuary, just above the point where that river flows into Long Island Sound.The river has a popular public boat launch and is a popular fishing spot.  It’s probably most notable for its continuing popularity among artists and photographers. A number of noted American impressionist artists, including Childe Hassam, painted views of the river while staying at the Florence Griswold House in Old Lyme.

The guy and I took a paddle up the Lieutenant River this morning – perfect overcast weather without the sun bearing down on us, and a gentle wind.  I had my pocket camera with me, as I don’t dare bring the big guns out in the water.  Too bad, though… because the Osprey, blue herons and other shore birds were in abundance and I would have loved to do a decent job with pictures.  We’ve spotted bald eagles here too. 

 

     This particular river is an easy paddle and there are beautiful old  homes along it’s shores… Not to mention some incredible old trees…    

Paddling directly under I-95, which runs up the east coast start to finish….
I bet many of you have traveled it…

We noticed wild – hibiscus?-  along the shore almost everywhere…

This is the back of the Florence Griswold Museum…
The house below has so much charm…
can you see the gazebo shaped room at the left?…
What a perfect place to sit and take it all in…
This guy was very pleased with his blue fish catch.
We knew the bluefish were running, because there were smaller
fish running from them, jumping out of the water right in front of us at times.
Call me pathetic if you will,
but I felt sorry for the damned fish.
Just hush.

He did it again!

I haven’t looked up at the sky yet this evening,
but when I do I’m sure I’ll find a blue moon up there
and three unicorns out in the fields
with purple and green  good karma waves buzzing all around us…
…because the Mr. agreed to another kayak ride,
yes he did, no foolin.
..and on a WORK DAY!
OK, it was early evening,
but still.. this is an accomplishment, folks.
I’ll take what I can get.
For those of you who live near the shoreline,
we started at the little launch area near the base of 145(the bridge) in Westbrook
and paddled all the way down to the marina area
 next to Bill’s Seafood and the singing bridge.
This is himself, all still and zen-like…
 enjoying the osprey and blue heron viewing along the shore… 
It rained hard this morning, making the brackish water murky.
There were hundreds of fiddler crabs on those muddy banks.

This is the railroad bridge….

We went under it…and looking back you can see the train coming across…
Now if I had my GOOD camera, this would have been an awesome shot.

In certain areas the water was smooth as glass…
hard to explain the peace I feel out there. 

 An Osprey nest.. there were several..
this one had baby birds peeking over the side and mom and dad
flying in and out with fish.
 It’s a beautiful thing.

Brownstone Quarry, Portland, CT

This place is just a hop, skip and a jump – literally!..
from where we live.. can’t believe we’ve never been before…
What a great place to take the kids for a day of water fun.

Our Quarry Crew 🙂

You can rent the gasebos for the day for a fee..
They have picnic tables and benches on each one.. a floating “home base”
for your group. I love the idea…
wish we had known that before the day was half over.

A tip:  Bring your own food.. it’s allowed.. and it’s much healthier and
more affordable!!  Cheeseburgers were small and  cost $5.75.
to give you an idea.
We went yesterday ( Monday) – not crowded.
I hear the weekends are mobbed. 

Who’s gonna jump in first?
In some places the quarry is 100 feet deep!

There are walls to scale…

..and then a big jump if you’re so inclined…

Trampolines and pyramids, slides and walk-on-water balls…

Most exciting of all are the zip lines…..
You start way up there….
These are our three big kids….
And skid into the water…

You can bet these kids are still sleeping this morning.
For information on visiting the park … click HERE
A little history on the quarry itself…
The Portland Brownstone Quarries are a set of historic quarries in Portland, Connecticut. The brownstone mined from these quarries was an important source for construction in the latter half of the 19th century. The stone from these quarries was used in a number of landmark buildings in Chicago, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, New Haven, Connecticut, and Hartford, Connecticut.

Quarrying on this site began in 1690.  Commercial quarrying started in 1783 when the Brainerd Quarry Company began operations. During the peak of the brownstone era, more than 1500 workers were employed by the quarries, which shipped stone on their own ships for eight months out of the year.
Proceeds from the quarrying business were deeded to Wesleyan University from 1833 through 1884, and stone from the quarries was used to build many campus buildings.  As tastes in buildings shifted, and concrete became the material of choice, the demand for brownstone declined. A flood in 1936 and a hurricane in 1938 flooded the quarries, ending their operations. All efforts to drain the flooded quarries have been unsuccessful; one theory is that the floods opened some underground springs, making it impossible to effectively drain the quarries.
The town purchased the historic quarries and 42 acres (170,000 m2) of adjacent land in 1999 and 2000.
They’ve been leased for development as a recreation center and are currently being operated by Brownstone Exploration & Discovery Park, with the hope that awareness of the historic landmark will strengthen the local economy.



Scenes from an Italian Restaurant

Hey locals!
I bet you’ll remember the old Marty’s Seafood Restaurant in Westbrook on Route 1.
When I was a  young’un it was my favorite place to get breakfast
(good coffee!)
or a hotdog on a summer afternoon.
Their actual Seafood  (mostly fried) was just OK…
but it was a staple around these parts for many years.
I missed it when it was gone.
I bet some of you have been to their car shows in the parking lot…
Marty’s changed hands a few times…
it was Rays for a while…
but I guess Ray gave up the ship.
Welcome SOPHIA’S…
http://sophiasrestaurant.net/about.html
What was once a sea chanty is now an Italian Restaurant..
and a pretty good one at that.
What’s even better is that the prices are reasonable
and the portions are big…
the bread? DIVINE coming from New Haven…
Which is a real bummer for this gluten free girl.
oooh, the fried Mozzerella and fresh bread….
…and Rosemary infused olive oil for bread dipping….
pitcher of lemon water…

Chester Sunday Market

   Not too far from here is the charming New England town of Chester.  On Sunday mornings from 10am-1pm there is a wonderful farmers/artisan market among the quaint shops and restaurants on Main St.  For those of you who are local.. check out the link for more info…

I brought home a bottle of this delicously fresh Connecticut milk,
along with a bottle of Belgium Chocolate milk…
YUM doesn’t begin to describe it.
and.. I love the glass bottle!
I’m a sucker for good soap..
and so I also bought a bar of Strawberry patch
from this goat soap artisan.
Dog Days women had a booth there too, to raise money for
the next shelter dog adoption event, also in Chester next weekend…
I’ve got some exciting news about that – a really cool t-shirt
that Frasier and I designed to raise money for shelter dogs…
 The little guy on her shoulder is a rescued shelter dog.
We volunteers tend to take home “souvineers”… as we call them.
The produce and flowers were beautiful….
all grown by CT farmers…

…and what I love most about this market…
is the community vibe… it’s everywhere!
Dogs welcome!
 I’de say half the crowd had a dog on a leash.
Very cool indeed. 


 

Up the creek… with paddles

Me:  Come on.. lets go kayaking..
He:  (who doesn’t DO water.. or small watercraft that has the potential to tip)
OK.
Me:  What?… ok?…
He:  Yep. I’ll be home in half an hour, lets go.
Holy crap.
So I had the boys help me get the boats off the racks in the garage
and put them out on the lawn just so he couldn’t change his mind.
Well he could have, but it woulda looked bad in front of the others.
So, off we went with the boats in back of the old longbed  truck.
We came to the boat launch at Cedar Lake and unloaded the boats.
I told him his feet wouldn’t get wet but I lied just a little.
He got into his boat… oooh sooo tentatively..
and it immediately began filling with water because as you can see…
it’s a sturdy sea kayak that doesn’t want to sink…
 it has holes that fill  up the boat according to your weight, and then
let the water back out as you relax and float on.
He wasn’t buying it.
He: Oh, no.. I don’t think so.. I’m gonna sink!
Me:  You’re not gonna sink. The holes are there for that purpose! No sinking! I promise!
He:  Yeah, ok.. you go have fun, I’ll wait for you here..
(paddling ever so slowly back the five yards to the waters edge)
Me:  GET OUT HERE.  You’re not gonna sink!… and the lake is so shallow
right here you can stand and be up to your knees.  if that!
He:  DON”T YOU TAKE PICTURES!!!
Me:  I’m not taking pictures.  Let’s go.
*click*
 To his credit – He got the hang of it pretty quickly…
learned to use the paddle efficiently and turn.
Me:  Can you take a picture for me?
He:  NO!  I like staying upright! Don’t come near me!
GET AWAY FROM MY BOAT!
Okay.. give me the camera.. STAY STILL!!!
and let me come to you.
DON’T MOVE!.. I’m coming over.
(Me not moving one inch)
He takes the picture with my phone and doesn’t even drop it in the water.
Good man 🙂
This is me making damn sure I’m not gonna hit his boat
because we’ve made progress.
Once he was really comfortable we had a great time…
a relaxing, sunny, warm day on the lake
and then
…up the creek.

I think this is one of my most favorite things on this earth to do…
Truly your boat becomes one with you and being so close to
nature in this way, on such peaceful water.. is soul soothing.

 This is where we stopped and turned around. I noticed our paddles were wider than the tunnel and I wasn’t sure we could navigate through and back.
You don’t think I was taking THAT chance on this day, do you?

Tonight daughter asked…
“Dad, will you do it again?”
He turned to me and said…
“How long have we been married?”
That could mean I might have to wait another 24 years.
I’m not asking for clarification.