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Category Archives: Connecticut

The South End and The North End

My friend Bonnie wants to know what is wrong with our town. Well, I have an opinion about that. Here it is.
The Pieces
First, there are a bunch of us liberals that live in one area of town, up North here. We are mostly white, Judeo-Christians, or has-beens like me who jumped ship and became a [...]

On the Meaning of Chex Mix…

My sudden craving for Worcestershire sauce-and-butter- encrusted cereal is a hint about my heritage. Maybe in techno-America, the idea of “heritage” is almost obsolete, except that it isn’t. My iPhone 3G will be nostalgia in a year or two, so hearkening back to the “old days” of baking Chex Mix with my sisters for the [...]

Dreams, canned and stuffed

“So tell me your dream
Lay your head on my pillow
Tell me the things that you hide away
Your pain
Your pleasure
Your sorrow
Tell me the things that you hide away
Your pain your pleasure your sorrow.”
–Blue Rodeo
If you are looking for the less fortunate, you can find them waiting in long lines outside the St Charles rescue mission on [...]

Your Government, Your Lemon

I overheard my brother-in-law refer to our current President as a “c*cksucker” during a recent stay at my parent’s house. This sparked a political dance/conversation on Facebook between myself and an old friend from high school.
The curious bit about this conversation is that I haven’t seen this women since high school. I have no idea [...]

It’s No Secret…

… that Colin and I are NOT YET with children. I mean, you can look everywhere around our house for kids and all you will find is one very strange cat who will not, for any reason, allow you to pick her up.
The curious thing about being married in the suburbs in Connecticut and being [...]

Spring, in Wings

By this time of year in London, I’d be stir crazy and ready for the end of winter’s short grey days.
One big difference between Connecticut and London, in winter most especially, is LATITUDE.
Stratford is on the 41 degree parallel and London is at 51 degrees. In terms of quantity of sunlight, that makes Stratford about [...]

Why We Gave Up

So Colin and I were going to do The Master Cleanse. Which is a great way to lose weight, but not the reason why one should do it. It’s a cleanse, after all, designed for clearing out toxins and getting you healthy.
Day one was yesterday and as mentioned in yesterday’s post “Hungryland”, I spent the [...]

How We Love Long Beach

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 School, [...]

Pumpkin Carving Party– Here!

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 favorite [...]

For the Love of Jonatha and Woody

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

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 (who [...]

How to Spot an Old Soul

The Universe sent me a message the other day. It said:
“You can always tell an old soul, Elizabeth, by how friendly they are to trees…

“…and dogs.”

The Greatest Circus Showman on Earth

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 Bridgeport, [...]

Dusting for Exercise

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 starts tomorrow [...]

The Company of Songbirds

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 running always, [...]