Category: New England

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…

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…

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…

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…

Planning Oscar

Well, it is that time of year again. The Nominations are out and I have, as of this moment, 23 days to get two big things done. 1. Come up with a quirky theme/invite for the annual Oscar party. 2.  See about 9,000 films in an effort to, this year, FINALLY, win my own ballot…

A Midwestern Crossing

Photographer David Ottenstein Stops Time in Iowa The last thing I expected to see when I went to a gallery meetup at the Ridgefield Guild of Artists on Saturday was HOME. The Radius 2008 Exhibition featured the best of their emerging artists from the last 10 years, and one of those was photographer David Ottenstein,…

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…

Steeling Myself

The good news is that I have completed a semester’s worth of teaching. The bad news is that I must somehow complete a semester’s worth of grading, if I can, in four and half days. That includes those grades that will, inevitably, be less than a ‘C,’ thus requiring these students I have come to…

Of Old Wood and Hands Made

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)…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…