Connecticut

Thursday 13 October

We woke to a drizzly day today and no internet access so Marion and I began putting together the blocks she had cut for another donation quilt. By lunch time all the blocks were together.

Barre and I also finished watching the DVD 'Never cry wolf'. I really enjoyed it.

I finished sewing together Marion's quilt top in the afternoon so felt as though we had achieved something positive today.

After phoning about the internet and speaking to someone in India, Barre got a phone call to say that there was something wrong on a local line and they'd call back when the problem was solved. Needless to say we discovered it was back on later in the day and have still received no phone call. I then updated the blog.

Friday 14 October – Adams to Connecticut

Marion and I left Adams at about 10 am just as rain started. By the time we were on Route 116 it was heavy rain. Then about 2 miles of the road was graded for resurfacing and had lots of washouts. We just crawled along avoiding all the potholes.

Eventually we reached Williamsburg where Marion took me to a real baker (Williamsburg General Store) and we bought some cheese bread to take to Don and Jane's. We got absolutely drenched just running to and from the car but continued our journey south on Route 91.

Soon after we were on the highway it started pelting down and we had to keep going. To slow down too much would cause a pile up and there were cars entering the highway that were difficult to see. It really needed our two sets of eyes and the GPS lady to continue. At last we reached the exit we needed and at the same time the rain eased just a little. The trip became a little less stressful and we were able to hear the GPS lady's instructions.

We arrived at Don and Jane's soon after noon and enjoyed chatting with Jane and sharing lunch together. After lunch Jane drove us to a favourite fabric shop called Affordable Fabrics where everything is $2.99 per yard – this included dress, furnishing, quilting and specialty fabrics.

On the way home we stopped at Shady Glen, an old fashioned style ice cream parlour. They make their own ice cream and their specialty flavours for October are licorice and a pumpkin flavour. Jane convinced me to try the licorice. Yum!

Home again to start Jane's first quilting lesson so she could make a block for our next quilt. This involved a trip to her attic to look through stash and choose appropriate fabrics. Just after we decided we should do something about dinner Don arrived home from work so the rest of the evening was spent socialising and catching up on botany news.

Saturday 15 October

After breakfast of cinnamon toast we all headed south to Mystic Seaport. This is a fantastic outdoor boating museum and village of old buildings rescued and brought into the site as well as some original buildings. Each building houses an activity or display like rope making, boat preservation or building, tugboats, nautical instruments, figureheads, scrimshaw and lots more. I just loved some of the patterns and huge pieces of timber and rigging.

There were also real ships, some at least 100 years old. We were able to wander on the boats. There were lots of volunteers ready to answer questions or involved in some of the building and maintenance jobs.

Rather than stay longer for afternoon tea we drove home as we were all exhausted. Our first stop was a little way down the road to find one of  Don and Barre's waterplants - Hydrilla. Once we got home dinner was barbecued prawns and scallops with rice and sauteed asparagus.

After dinner we spent some hours looking at photos of various properties, grandchildren, quilts and chooks then did a few internet searches for books and sewing machines.

Sunday 16 October – Connecticut to Adams

Up later today after we were all woken at about 3 am by the dead battery in one of the fire alarms giving its warning beeps every 30 seconds or so. Having had the same thing happen at home I knew what it was and got back to sleep easily before too long.

After breakfast Marion and I started guiding Jane through the first steps of creating her block while Don mowed the lawn. Jane actually did three blocks by lunchtime and learned quite a lot in the process. The blocks are for our next 2 Rainbow quilts and are now ready for me to take home.

After lunch together Marion and I left and allowed the GPS lady to guide us back to Route 91. Once on that, Marion knew her way. We had a short stop at the Williamsburg General Store again and this time had a little more time to look around.

We arrived home by about 5:30 pm in time to settle in and create dinner from various leftovers.