New England Trip, Part 3

Day 7: New Haven Through the Haze; Visiting

Wanted to go on a hike while on vacation, something usually done at a national park. But there's a lack of those in Connecticut, though there are plenty of state parks. We chose Sleeping Giant. Again, a place we all had a vague recollection having gone, but couldn't remember any specifics.

D's pretty much covered the hike in his essay. The trail's about 1.6 miles up and back. Verdant, shady, and increasingly humid. Until reaching the "castle" at the peak, where a nice breeze accompanied the hazy view of New Haven.





Some snacks up there, then picnic lunch at the base. Stopped for homemade ice cream at a little roadside stand, 'cause you can do that in New England.

Spent the afternoon catching up with Joan, and the evening with John and Darlene. Telling stories of the move, the new house, and extracting promises to visit.

Managed to sneak in a quick look at the old library, the Cora J. Belden Library.

Day 8: Fresh Fruit; Olde Houses; More Art



Started out early-ish in the morning, off to pick fruit at Rose's Berry Farm Belltown Orchards. Had been snacking on peaches picked from there previously — and blueberries (oh, the blueberries) from M+D's plants. But it's that time of year to stock up on them and enjoy them. Managed to bring a (too-small) container of blueberries back here.

A quick walking tour around Old Wethersfield; M+D now volunteer at the Wethersfield Historical Society, so D was able to give a more historical overview of the area than I ever had. Mostly, nice stroll, again reveling in the New England-ness of it all.

We managed a quick visit to the New Britain Museum of American Art. Turned out to be a real treat; one of the highlights of the museum is its illustration collection, those folks I'd read about/studied from the golden age of magazine illustration.

We grabbed some pizza and had a farewell dinner at G's



Day 9-10: And Then It All Went Awry

Had an afternoon flight out of Bradley, with a tight connection through DFW. Minor delays getting out, but that's to be expected these days. Some more travel time added as we had to reroute; but we were assured that every flight was affected, so making the connection shouldn't be a problem. Dashed to my gate with time to spare to discover that my flight was cancelled. As was one of the two others to Albuquerque that evening. As were a whole bunch earlier in the day. Seems they had some storms and shut the entire airport down for an hour in the afternoon, delaying, stranding, and redirecting planes throughout the system.

Waited 'til sometime after 9:30 to discover I wasn't going to make standby on the 6:35. So, waited to get rebooked (and a hotel), waited to get to the hotel. Did meet and commiserate with a nice couple on the way back from the Con.

Up at dawn, after a couple hours sleep, to try my luck on standby again. And I made the second flight out, along with a whole bunch of others waiting for the first available seat. Made it into work in the afternoon, but it made for a long day.

New England Trip, Part 2

Day 5: Mystic; The Bells

M+D were up for it when, sitting around over breakfast, I said "Mystic Seaport."

And, so after getting some directions, off we went.

Can't think of the last time I've been there. It's kind of a pieced-together seafaring village, with buildings and ships from all around the region, giving a sampler of life during the heady days of the whaling/fishing industries in New England. Many of the structures and vessels were moved there from points around the area, showcasing the various methods of getting around on the water and the (not necessarily easy either) life on land. Had a great seafood lunch, poked in all sorts of exhibits, and saw the Charles W. Morgan in person (and heard stories of what live on a whaling ship was really like).



Soaking in the New England-ness of it all, with a nice breeze coming off the river on a picture-perfect* day. Caught the water taxi to round it out.

Stopped for homemade ice cream at a little roadside stand, 'cause you can do that in New England.

At home, we decided to head into the carillon concert at Trinity College, a mainstay of summer Wednesday evenings. Packed up a dinner, met up with some friends of M+D's, and hung out on the lawn. Wandered inside after a bit, a nostalgic tour of the spaces John and I used to clamber around, and ran into Classic Monica. Visited for a bit, then continued on.

Note: in the below photo, there's the resident red hawk up in the spires.



* Somewhere in here, realized I'd forgotten the cable to connect the camera to the computer to download images, limiting me to around 42 shots for the trip.

Day 6: Thwarted at the Wadsworth; More Old Stomping Grounds



Into the Wadsworth Athaneum, the site of many "forced culture" outings in my youth. Now, it's all remembered fondly, and a kind of magical place where galleries opened into other galleries and you never knew what was around the corner, though it all looked vaguely familiar.

Since I've moved away, I've realized what an amazing collection they have. So I wanted to explore it more — but mostly I wanted to see one of my favorite paintings, Max Ernst's Europe After the Rain II.

It was, however, removed to make space for a temporary exhibit. So I strolled the (reconfigured) galleries, visiting some old "friends," sometimes newly recognizing the names attached to them (hey, John Singer Sargeant, no wonder I always like that one).

M+D were off on some errands, so I headed to the local comic shop I used to frequent, Heroes & Hitters — still around after 15+ years.

For dinner, rounded up with some Les and the kids, Amanda and Will, and G for dinner at a Chinese buffet M+D are fans of. Got to visit some and fill up on (guaranteed MSG-free) "traditional" Chinese food, something I haven't done for ages.

New England Trip, Part 1

Day 1: Traveling to Logan Airport

Uneventful and close enough to on-time. Met at the airport by Andy and the girls, back to their house. BBQ dinner.

Day 2: Makin' Comics with Maddy; Wegman



Slept in, joined the familly for a big breakfast. Then spent the morning working with Maddy on making her comic, The Angry Squirrel (I had nothing to do with the naming, but I suspect there was some coaching beforehand).

Josie dressed up in shiny clothes and hung out with us.



Then, loaded everyone up and headed to the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy, where there was an exhibit of mostly recent work by William Wegman.



A lot of paintings and other non-photographic work, but also a number of the Weimaraner pictures for which he is so well known — including a room of the large-format Polaroids, which featured a few of his Man Ray images. It was interesting to see such a broad range, but best to see some of those dog photos up close.

A good permanent collection of American Impressionist and other American art, so spent some time walking through those galleries. And then there was a gallery of tall ship models, with insanely detailed rigging. Below, that's the Charles W. Morgan; you'll be seeing more of that later.



Stopped for homemade ice cream at a little roadside stand, 'cause you can do that in New England. Then continued on to dinner.

Day 3: Closed Mondays; On Freedom's Trail



After reading this article about the Institute for Contemporary Art, I had to go see it. Andy was going to suggest that for Monday, so off we went.

You know from the title where this is going.

As we parked, the gray turned to gray and rain, the wind picked up. We dashed to the amphitheater area to check that, and the view, out.



I actually kinda liked the gray and rain. Looking out over the Boston Harbor, a stiff, but not cold, breeze. The rain quickly tapered off to a driving mist. It was all just so New England-y.

We grabbed some seafood at a shack on the pier for lunch, then headed over into the city.



We picked up the Freedom Trail and followed that through historic Boston. Just strolling, catching up. Rain stopped, and it started to get a bit warm.





At home, wrapped up The Angry Squirrel and made travel plans for the next day.

Day 4: To Hartford and Stew's

Hopped the T with Andy in the morning, continued on to the bus station and got on the bus for Hartford. Finished off Wonder Boys — having enjoyed it a great deal — and then just listened to music and watched the landscape go by, as I would do back in college, visiting Andy at spring break.

M+D met me at the Hartford station. And immediately took me off to Stew Leonard's — for groceries for the week, but also to show it off.



Fun place; lots of samples, good fresh food. Kind of like Wegmans, with more of a farm theme and with animatronics.

Met up with G in the afternoon, and she treated us to a Polish dinner at Tatry. Oh, the bigos. Everybody's meal was egregiously large, but I couldn't stop eating mine.

New Photos at Chamisa

Monica's posted 48 (!) new photos at Chamisa.

Zombie Party

Last night, Serena, Jett, and Poualie threw a zombie party. Why not?



We were in the unzombified minority.