Category Archives: Connecticut

July 27, 2024 · 1:45 pm

Adventure at sea(or in the sound) – Thimble islands, Connecticut

Damsels no longer in distress

I can perhaps be forgiven for humming the theme from Gilligan’s Island as we walked along the dock, returning safely to our sweet Branford abode. The old friends from Iowa set off on a one-two hour tour around the scenic Thimble Islands in the Long Island Sound, when the weather did not start getting rough but our small motor boat hit a hidden rock way out in the water. We kept going without incident, enjoying the scenery, the houses improbably perched on narrow slabs of rock and forest, until we got near the shore and our dock.

The motor crapped out.

We started drifting until it was wisely decided to drop anchor. Then we had about an hour to figure out a rescue plan before I needed to drive to Tweed airport in New Haven to catch my flight back to Chicago. A Sea Tow service couldn’t get there fast enough.

The rescue

Just when I began seriously contemplating swimming sans proper swimsuit to shore (about a 15 minute swim…), neighbors Max Roberts and Jeff Hoyt came to the rescue, towing our boat with their’s. We quickly made it to shore, I did final packing, Nell made me a delicious sandwich, and we added another tale to tell about our storied friendship. And here I am blogging on the plane home, thankful for good friends and good neighbors too.

Thimbles

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July 26, 2024 · 1:42 pm

RJ Julia booksellers, Comomango Mexican restaurant, The Place – Madison and Branford CT

We had a classic Connecticut gals day, driving around the winding backroads of Yankee shore towns north of New Haven, past historic homes and graveyards, pretty village greens and toney shops. In Madison, we duly visited the fantastic independent bookstore RJ Julia’s , with other stops at clothing/home decor/gift shops and a good Mexican meal at Comomango., which has a beach/surfer vibe and good bowls no small tacos.

Dinner was at The Place (since 1971), which reminded me of a fish boil in Door County, Wisconsin except this was a seafood grill in Branford, Connecticut, with guys tending fires and cooking lobster, clams, mussels, salmon, and corn on the cob. We sat under a big red and white circus tent at round tables with tree stumps for chairs (we went with the green plastic chairs with backs). Nell wisely thought to bring basics like a table cloth and less flimsy paper plates. I had clams with bbq sauce, corn, and a hot fudge sundae.

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July 25, 2024 · 10:20 pm

stoney Creek, Avelo into Tweed airport in New Haven, Luce Italian restaurant in Middletown – Connecticut with friends

Nell, Laurie and I took a walk in the mist under grey sky though the lovely seaside village of Stoney Creek, past the dock for the ferry to the Thimble Islands that I took years ago when our kids were very little with our Trumbull pals! Stoney Creek has beautiful homes on the water facing a winding two- Lane road.

After picking our friend Holley up at Hartford airport, we had a late lunch at a good Italian place in Middletown called Luce. Hartford airport is way bigger than New Haven’s Tweed which I flew into on Avelo airlines.

It was great flying to New Haven, only 20 minutes from Branford. But note to self: buy seat in future. I had the worst seat – last row, aisle. There were two very large people in my row so I had to shift in my seat to face the aisle and occasionally free my left arm from under my neighbors’s arm. Then no service or drinks, even water without requesting. And people lining up for the bathroom just behind us.

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July 23, 2024 · 12:05 pm

Pawson Park, owenego beach club/Inn (1847), biking and kayaking – beautiful Branford, Connecticut

Glorious day biking, kayaking, hanging out with old friends from Des Moines and Ithaca. I’ve loved Connecticut since my mid-20s when I worked briefly at the Stamford Advocate (newspaper) in the mid-1980s. (I couldn’t afford to stay, professionally or financially.)

On a muggy morning, we biked around Pawson Park, a pretty, narrow peninsula between the Branford River and Long Island Sound, with the Thimble islands in the distance, with red cedar shingled cottages and bright purple hydrangeas in the foreground. Later, we kayaked in the still water, past large shoreline homes, large rocks in the water, the occasional motorboat, the occasional barge in the distant haze.

Dinner tonight was BLTs from The Shanty, a food truck, eaten overlooking the Sound and The Thimbles at the graceful Owenego Beach club, circa 1847, a lovely sprawling, white wooden building, with a lush green lawn leading down to gardens and a swimming area with white rafts in the seawater. It’s a refreshingly unpretentious and welcoming for a private club. Nonmembers welcome after 5 pm and the Inn offers sweet, affordable rooms for a short stay. see: https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=owenego&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5)

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August 22, 2014 · 1:41 am

Finding my way around a place I used to live: Stamford

Stew's

Stew’s

New England scene, Trumbull

New England scene, Trumbull

I easily found the house I lived in some 28 years ago, although it has clearly been restored to its former glory (before five 20-somethings, including me, rented it). There it was, all tarted up on Interlaken Road, just off High ridge Road and exit 35 of the Merritt Parkway. But I was soon lost in downtown Stamford, whose skyline has radically changed since my days as a reporter there. I never did find the Stamford Advocate. I am pretty sure it is not where it once was. Oh well. I moved onto to SoNo (south Norwalk) and it took me awhile to get my gap bearings there too although I finally remembered Washington street was the old heart of the renovated area! which has now spread beyond to several other blocks.

Fortunately Stew Leonard’s, the mega supermarket/ kids funhouse is much the same and the place still makes me smile with its kitschy Chuckie Cheese-like figures dotting the food displays. fortunately the food looks as good as ever and my suitcase is full of bagels, bialys and a Cronut or two (part croissant, part donut). oh and two cans of bumblebee tuna, which I can’t seem to find anymore in Iowa. Myra and I had a good lunch at Valencia lucheria, a taqueria  in Norwalk…I had an arepa with pork (sort of a deep I ate is called. it’s Venezuelan.

Ye olde house...Stamford

Ye olde house…Stamford

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August 20, 2014 · 10:44 am

Good eats in New Britain, Fairfield, Monroe Connecticut

Fairfield beach with Myra

Fairfield beach with Myra

Work brought me to the central Connecticut city of New Britain but I arrived hungry and in a hurry after an early morning flight from Iowa. Looking for a place to grab a quick bite before a 2:30 pm meeting, I was prepared for something like Subway. Instead I got lucky and stumbled upon a terrific homey deli called Angelo’s where I had an excellent tuna sub, a safe and dull option given all the other good options (Stromboli sandwiches, loaves of bread slathered with pesto etc) but it did the trick.

In Monroe last night with BFF Myra and her lovely daughter Emma (shout out to Shane, are you reading?) We had a delicious meal on the patio of Tula...good sandwiches, pasta, salads, flat breads.) I had bucatini alla amitriana (sort of a red sauce version of carbonara with out the cream but with the bacon.)

The next night we picked up salads at Chefs Table in Fairfield and had primo seats, on the beach in Fairfield. Perfect night with old friends.

Beach picnic with Myra and David, Fairfield.

Beach picnic with Myra and David, Fairfield.

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November 7, 2011 · 9:21 pm

The connection between Cornwall, Connecticut and Hawaii’s Big Island: who knew?

In preparation for our upcoming trip to Hawaii, I’m reading Sarah Vowell’s book  Unfamiliar Fishes which traces the history of the U.S. annexation/Americanization of  Hawaii  in 1898, which began with the efforts of  New England missionaries in the 1820’s to Christianize the islanders.

To date, I’ve learned that some of the Yanks who arrived, full of Christian fervor, in 19th century Hawaii – first landing their boat on the Big Island’s western shore, where I will be landing in a plane in January –  had spent time in Cornwall, Connecticut, a sleepy little village in the state’s bucolic northwest corner where my husband and I happened to stop en route to the Berkshires in September.  Small world.

There’s even a plaque in  Cornwall marking the former grave site of  Hawaiian Henry Opukahaia – credited with helping bring the Yankee missionaries to his homeland – who was originally buried there in 1818.  An orphan, he found his way to New Haven where he converted to Christianity, got swept up in the missionary fervor, and went to a school run by missionaries in Cornwall. He ended up dying at 26 in Cornwall before he could return to Hawaii to spread the Good Lord’s word. His remains were transferred to Hawaii in 1993 where they’re in a vault facing the seat at Kahikolu Church in the town of Nao’opo’o, Kona on the Big Island. (Might be worth a visit.)

Overall, I’m finding  Vowell’s book a good preparation for Hawaii (both in understanding Hawaii’s  history and culture and in figuring out what to see  there) and a good read, although it is definitely not your typical historical tome, punctuated as it is by Vowell’s  rambling digressions, oft-witty asides and commentary linking the past and present, plus her apparent disdain for organizing her dense copy into chapters.  (I’m half way through and so far the book is one very long chapter.)

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September 14, 2011 · 7:56 pm

Williamstown Mass – where to stay, eat, what to do

It rained most of our day in the Berkshires but we still enjoyed the scenery. First stop Great Barrington where what Rubiner could resist a visit to Rubiner’s Cheesemongers – an artisanal cheese shop in an old bank on the main drag owned by a cousin of mine.  The cousin wasn’t around – and there wasn’t any cornbeef for the “Rubiner Sandwich” (no joke) served in the Rubi cafe behind the cheese shop but we enjoyed our visit – eating two sandwiches in what appeared to be the former bank’s boardroom, now the cafe. Also dropped in at a clothing store I liked last time I visited several years ago – and bought a few things on sale.

In Williamstown, we stayed at the River Bend Farm B&B, a very unique place located right beyond the Williams College campus. Run by two free spirits, it’s a meticulously restored 18th century house – plus modern day amenities like plumbing and heat. There are only four rooms, only two occupied and we had the place largely to ourselves – staying on the ground floor in what was the parlor, a lovely room with plastered ceilings, old moldings, wrought iron chandelier, fireplace. Next door was the kitchen – which looked like something out a living history farm with a big stone hearth with iron implements and dried herbs hanging on the wall. The bathroom was unique too – dark wood with big old pots on shelves (and a well-functioning shower.) Breakfast was good – homemade granola, muffins, jams. Definitely would return!

We splurged at Mezze for dinner, a white- tablecloth restuarant whose chef is known for his locally-sourced ingredients. We had a very good pork dish and pasta with a pork, beef, sausage ragu.Another keeper.

En route to the Berkshires on Highway 7 in Connecticut we stopped briefly in the pretty village of West Cornwall – where we crossed a covered bridge above a raging river (truly – the rivers were all raging thanks to Irene and causing havoc in many places.)

 

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