Chillin' in the Small C State

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Family Time

My time in Connecticut was very relaxing, with very limited driving. My friend lives in a nice home shared with his sister's family along a small river, from which we could paddle in a canoe (a very relaxing, although hot, activity) but was not recommended for swimming (because the bottom is very gushy and the water is cafe au lait brown...alligators, piranhas, or something devious surely lurks below in the depths). We had the small dog Milo with us, who had gone for a swim previously, unintentionally, of course. I though we should put the doggie life jacket on him since he is notorious for going after the squirrels along the bank, where the meager shade and cool plants, like water lilies and their pads reside. A few turtles ducked into the water off their log perches as we approached while some Canadian geese families swam by.

One thing I noticed is that the houses here are huge! They were big along the Hudson River Valley, and also here in the Shoreline area of second or summer homes, and they are equally huge. One neighborhood is called Fenwick, and is very exclusive; in fact, Katherine Hepburn's home is along the waterfront.

Another oddity (compared to California) is the concept of a private beach. So Fenwick had a beach that was for Fenwick residents only. And the Old Saybrook residents could by a sticker that allowed them to park in a special lot for their private beach. Each beach has a fence between every two houses, or so, spoiling the beach front. This exclusivity is way too weird for this California girl, where even the celebrities in Malibu have to share the beach with plain folks like me. Thank goodness for the California Coastal Commission and the State Park system, who allow access to the ocean for all.

We also visited a few other small towns, picked up food for dinner, including Hallmark homemade ice cream (yum), and cooked dinner both nights. It was so nice to be in a home with friends and eat fresh veggies and other homemade foods. That was just the ticket I needed after all the packaged food I'd been eating (despite trying to pick up produce at farmer's markets, but only 1-2 days' worth so it wouldn't go bad baking in my car as I hiked or hung out during the day).

American Flags Rule Here

One last item of note: American flags and related Americana fare are everywhere. I couldn't get over how many flags on power lines on the main drags, on porches, bunting over doorways, little Uncle Sam's on the lawn proliferate. It has been like this since, oh, about Iowa. Why do the folks outside of the West seem to wear their patriotism on their proverbial sleeves, while the folks in the West seem to talk about it more? Any takers on that one?

One shocking thing that happened is that in a neighboring town, a brutal murder of a family had taken place. The perpetrators were captured (more like they ran into the cops, literally, with the murder victim's car). No real word on motive, since they didn't get much money, and the husband survived with many injuries, but the wife and two teenage daughters died and the house was burned. So horrible. We talked about it quite a bit because it seemed so brutal and local.

The drive to Massachusetts took longer than I anticipated, since Connecticut is bigger than I thought (as opposed to its NE neighbor, who I will not write about since I just drove through it, and didn't see anything of real interest from the toll road).

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