thanksgiving in connecticut and sunday night dinner

 on our way out of the city we passed this mural along west side highway, "women are new york's strongest."

 it was such an incredibly clear day with a purple and blue sky.

 setting up for the feast . . 

 making the gravy . .

 i had to share the turkey's liver with toby the cat . . 

afterwards, we headed out for a walk along the lake . . mr. jack o'lantern was still hanging around from halloween.

 norwegian gloves . . 

 and hat.

setting sun . . 

 and a birthday celebration back at the house for chanda.

 for dessert we had pumpkin pie and raspberry pie . . 

and then it was time to play a game we call "bowl," as we put all our phrases or titles or sayings into a big bowl and then pick one to act out and have the others guess. we divide into two teams . . every other person around the table is on your team. a timer is set for one minute and you keep picking out papers from the bowl for as long as the members of your team can guess correctly.

it was a fun night . .

----

friday . .

 the next day we decided to visit gillette castle in east haddam as it was the first day it would be decorated for christmas.

 a cozy corner at the entrance to the living room . . 

  with a sherlock holmes nutcracker. william gillette was famous for portraying the character on stage.

dried hydrangea blossoms as christmas tree decorations!

  the conservatory . . 

 the dining area with the table on runners so it was easy to move in and out . . 

 a guide explaining the sliding doors . . 

 and the woodwork in the shape of a train.

 the kitchen . . 

everything in the kitchen was original to the house, except for the stove.

 villeroy and boch china, from germany, taken especially for eva.

the cat bell which was rung by the cook to call the cats to dinner . .

 a maxfield parrish painting . . my sister and i have always loved his work.

 a view from upstairs . . 

 the blue room which was used for guests and in which actress helen hayes stayed when she visited.

the bathroom of the blue room . .

william gillette's room . . 

 with a photograph of his wife (who died when 28 years old of a ruptured appendix - he never remarried).

 a view of the connecticut river from the top floor . . 

 which housed an art gallery . .

 i loved all the seascape paintings . . 

 and the books . . 

 and the letters; the one above was written by william gillette to his niece on her birthday . . 

 and this one was written to him by sir arthur conan doyle, congratulating him on his stage performance of sherlock holmes.

 outside the castle by the conservatory . . 

 i was happy that they offered hot cider for a dollar a cup, around a warm fire . .

 a last small hike to the hill . . 

 for a view of the river . . 

 the essex steam train went by while we were admiring the view, and we could see the steam from it's stack and hear it very clearly. i think my parents took the girls for a ride on it many years ago, but i don't think i've ever been. perhaps one day i'll go.

 william gillette had a love for the theatre since he was a young teen. he attended yale, his father's alma mater, but never graduated; deciding instead to leave and learn the craft of acting. one of his first roles was in a mark twain production called the gilded age. he was also interested in writing and directing, and had a success with a play called the professor, which ran for 151 performances.

 he first portrayed sherlock holmes in 1899 at the garrick theatre in nyc, and it was he that introduced the deerstalker hat to the character, along with the curved pipe, which was supposedly easier to talk with in his mouth on stage, rather than the straight pipe.

 heading home on the chester hadlyme ferry . .

 a view of the castle from the connecticut river . . 

 toby in her customary place and position . . 

leftovers for dinner . .

 hoping for more turkey liver?

 dinner with sparkling cider . . 

----

the next day . .

 saturday morning dawned nice and sunny for heading home . . 

two of the books i've been reading: pushkin's onegin (which i'm really enjoying) and madeleine polland's to tell my people. polland is an author from my teen years whose historical fiction books i've always enjoyed, however, i'm not as enthusiastic about this one as the ending is very dark and sad. yes, i like happy endings.

my nephew's iron bat has been put up on it's pole again . . it had fallen down during a storm over the summer.

so then we headed out on the road . . however, there was so much traffic from people heading back before sunday's storm that it took us five hours (normally it's only 2 1/2).

----

this evening . .

 we celebrated the first sunday of advent with a delicious dinner with our friend victoria who has been in town for a week.

we caught her up on our escapades (showing her the few photos i had of morgana's summer play) and heard more about the movie she is making in paris. along with thanksgiving, it was a happy and peaceful beginning to the christmas season.

----

here's thanksgiving from 2016 when charlotte and jonathan celebrated with us. i had never posted it.