connecticut trip

 it was a lot cooler in connecticut than in manhattan! it really felt like fall and the leaves were starting to turn. 

 we went on a few really nice bike rides along the rail trial.

 everyone was out and about . . walking their dogs . . running . . and biking.

 there hasn't been a lot of rain here either and the creek bed was rather dry.

 we celebrated my sister's birthday.

 she chose to go to a local thai restaurant and it was really nice . . quiet! we were the only patrons wednesday night and it was so wonderfully warm inside. we had pad thai and chicken curry and then went home for dessert.

 we had brought her favorite cookies from rocco's bakery, and my brother-in-law had picked up cannolis from mozzicato's bakery in hartford.

 a feast!

 (the candle didn't want to stay lit)

 the next day we brought nana and nonno over for lunch and enjoyed sitting out on the deck in the sun, which still felt wonderfully . . . hot!

 it was their 65th wedding anniversary . .

 so of course we had to have more cookies . . 

 and another dinner out on the town at one of our favorite local restaurants . . (my parents' anniversary card from my nephew says, "sixty five years!!!")

 we had scallops, crab cakes and salmon at the ordinary.

 and then back home again for more cookies and a beautiful basket of mums.

 the anniversary card . . 

 toby . . 

 here's a pic from saturday's walk along the riverfront . . 

 and a visit to a frozen yogurt shop.

 it's nice because you can also get sorbet. i like to top mine off with walnuts in syrup and hot fudge.

 what's this? onion rings, french fries and clam strip rolls . . it sounds like it was the traditional summer trip to . . 

harry's place!

 we still had ice cream even though it wasn't hot summertime, but we were all freezing after drinking a lot of shake and root beer float.

 we managed to squeeze in two rounds of "may i" before bedtime. i didn't want to to stay up too late as we had to be up early the next morning.

 we were at my parents' apartment at 9 am for breakfast (with the car all packed as we had to leave early to get home for chanda's nutcracker audition) . . 

as my childhood friend, maryann, whom we hadn't seen in fifteen years came to visit. it was incredibly joyous and moving to see each other and we all wondered how we could have let so much time go by . . ?

biking in olde wethersfield

today (after chanda's swimming lesson) we traveled to "ye olde auncient towne" of wethersfield, connecticut. it was founded in 1634, 14 years after the landing of plymouth, by several puritans, two being john oldham and nathaniel foote. the wongunks were the native americans who had been living there at the time for centuries. wethersfield became the first permanent settlement by europeans in the new world.

in wethersfield, there are about 50 surviving houses build before the revolutionary war, and about 100 built by the time of the civil war. it resides north of hartford and alongside the connecticut river.

we had a picnic before exploring the town.

aunt kathy took us to the webb-deane-stevens museum. silas deane, a lawyer who had graduated from yale college, was a diplomat in france during the revolutionary war along with benjamin franklin. he signed the treaties of alliance and commerce that franklin negotiated with france and he lived in wethersfield from 1761 to 1780.

silas deane designed his house for entertaining. the front door opens into a spacious hallway with a staircase leading to a musician's gallery and a ballroom on the second floor. this is a small parlor off of the hallway, and i found it's intimacy charming and cozy. i'm sure it's smallness helped keep it warm in the winter!

this is the other side of the room with a pianoforte and music stand. silas deane had many step-children from his first wife's prior marriage and one child with her (mehitabel webb). she died early and he married elizabeth saltonstall evards from new london. she was the granddaughter of a former connecticut governor. i can easily imagine the family gathering for sing-a-longs and holiday parties.

the garden outside the deane house was beautiful and reflected what was grown in old-fashioned flower gardens of the early 20th century.

in may there are irises and peonies; in june there are many climbing roses; for july and august there are hollyhocks, phlox, delphiniums and daisies.

this time we had ice cream before biking around town!

the town is beautiful and i really enjoyed riding around.

afterwards, we met our friends (donna, bob, natasha and viktor), uncle warren, and cousin adam at one of our favorite summer places: harry's!!!

it's a summer tradition. we usually have onion rings, fries, clam strips and then ice cream cones or root beer floats. two servings of ice cream in one day! it must be summer . .

harry's

we probably would have biked all the way to the end of the trail if it hadn't been for several bikers getting very hungry. we stopped at harry's for lunch . . a place we visit at least once every summer with our friends (donna used to work here as a teenager). i had fried clam strips . . one day i'll splurge and get them with the bellies.