Our Farm Table, by David Ellison of Lorimer Antiques We recently had our “new” dining room table delivered to us. It was the last piece of the renovation puzzle in our “green” family room. It really is green… the walls are not only painted green, but were painted with low VOC paint (low harmful fumes)…
Category: What’s Called Home
In which I discuss places around this place we call home, in various stages of undress.
How We Love Long Beach
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If anyone is wondering what I was doing on election day, have a look at this photo… This is LONG BEACH, an image taken from the air a few years ago, of one of the beaches owned by my town, Stratford, CT. On election day–all but about two hours, anyway–I spent the day at Wilcoxson…
The Perfect Marriage: TiVo and Netflix
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My husband, maybe to mock my attachment to my typewriter, or maybe just to give me the good news, sent me this article, today. It breaks the much-awaited news (at least around our place) that two of the greatest entertainment inventions: TiVo and Netflix, are going to join forces. This is akin to the Wonder…
Pumpkin Carving Party– Here!
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Colin and I are carving our pumpkins tonight on Hilltop. I bought them from the little farm around the corner from us. They didn’t grow them there (their crop got whacked by the hailstorm in August too), but got them from Hamden up the road. I am going through all the motions of my favorite…
For the Love of Jonatha and Woody
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The Genius on my iPod might as well just say “Awesome Singer Songwriters Need Only Apply.” It is constantly shuffling around Chapin and Lyle, Pink Martini and Tom Waits, Emmylou and Patti Griffin, Catie Curtis and the Tragically Hip. And, of course, Jonatha. I’ve got other music dappled on the lists, but it is just…
The Smell of Mums
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My Romanian dentist gave me a bouquet of pink mums today! Why would a dentist do that? I was admiring the vase of flowers on her front desk and she said “Would like like some to take home?” I blustered and said “Oh no really, I couldn’t” but she took me directly outside, to her backyard…
The Greatest Circus Showman on Earth
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P.T. Barnum creates the “Original Family Entertainment” With the Circus blogtour at MomCentral.com underway, I wanted to make sure I took time to visit the P.T. Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, CT. Ringling Bros. circuses are touring the nation right now, and in just a few weeks, the Ringling show “Bellobration” will be coming home to…
Dusting for Exercise
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Knitting is very conducive to thought. It is nice to knit a while, put down the needles, write a while, then take up the sock again. — Dorothy Day I feel as if I have disappeared again. This was the transitional week, the time I had “free” to get ready, to get things done. School…
The Simple Life
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Straightforwardness and simplicity are in keeping with goodness. — Seneca Colin and I went to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin this weekend for our friend, Andy’s, ordination. Andy is married to Aimee, my best friend. Aimee and I were maid/matrons of honor at each other’s weddings. After years in London and our life now on the hectic East…
The Company of Songbirds
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Something in the new birdseed has songbirds clamoring at the brass cage around my feeder. Wild songbirds– sparrows, chickadees, blackbirds, nuthatches, purple finches, tufted titmice, cardinals– they have come to visit me at my back window. When my family was here these past weeks, it made me tired. Feet on the floors above, the water…
Tree versus the Tide
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I got trapped out on my screened porch the other day during a very bad storm. I locked myself out of my house. My neighbors on both sides were home and they had keys but my trees were casting their branches off into the wind. I huddled in the corner of the porch and hoped…
Post Script from Elizabethtown
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There are two green metal boxes in my attic. I am not sure, but I think there were once used for gun cartridges. They are Canadian military issue. They don’t hold anything deadly anymore. Just old love letters, none of mine. It’s early, grey morning. I’ve made tea, and now it’s cooling on the counter.…
Hiking at Weir Farm, Wilton
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I went hiking at Weir farm National Historic Site recently with some friends from a hiking meetup. The site includes old farm buildings and a huge acreage of gardens and forest. We hiked around Weir Pond and into the woods. it was early evening in the summer and the light was very pretty coming through…
Spider Web on Hilltop Drive
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(Colin and I are away… Here’s some good things to keep you busy in the meanwhile)… Look what spun a lovely spider’s web on our deck recently!
The Madness of Queen Betty
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Since Colin and I returned from London, we are able to indulge in having animals again. Our first feline acquisition is BETTY (seen here), who is completely bonkers. Betty is a rescue kitty, who was feral for the first 10 weeks of her life. But that doesn’t explain her madness. Nothing could explain her penchant…
