Here at Hangman Hill

It is beautiful in Connecticut and we are enjoying some fruits from the garden!

It was Sheri’s turn to travel to the Midwest during the first week of June.  She spent several days in West Lafayette, Indiana teaching at The School of Pharmacy at Purdue University. This trip included her annual stay with the Owens-Taylor clan.  In the evenings she enjoyed time with Anja, Isabelle, Connor and Daisy.  Activities included reading books, playing hide and seek, walks with Daisy and a few games of Hangman with Anja.  She even got to do some gardening in-between games and books.

On Friday Sheri travelled with Lynne and Paul to Madison, Wisconsin to celebrate the 75th Birthday of George Zografi.  George was Sheri’s professor at UW, and an advisor to Bruno during his postdoctoral studies.  The weekend was full of activities which began with drinks and dinner at The Great Dane Brew Pub.  The weekend also included a visit with Julie (a member of the Brown House and a friend of Paul and Lynne), a trip to the Farmer’s Market with Lynne, lunch at Buraka, an Ethiopian restaurant that legendary (according to Lynne and Sheri), an afternoon drinking beer on the terrace and a celebration at George and Dorothy’s home with the extended “Zografi family”.  It was a great chance for Sheri to catch up with former classmates in Madison and many others with whom she is connected through Professor Zografi.  The weather could not have been better, and the only thing lacking was a little more time to see some other friends, and perhaps one more trip to Buraka for Misirwot.  You can also check out Paul’s post on the weekend at this link

Last weekend we traveled to Raleigh, NC to visit Sheri’s mom DiAnn to celebrate Mother’s Day and DiAnn’s Birthday.  DiAnn and Mike have recently made Raleigh their new home and have a beautiful place that seems to be near everything, including the airport!  Raleigh and surrounding area is rich with history, and has all the benefits of some great universities, friendly people and lots of green spaces to enjoy.  We explored The Duke University campus and Sarah P Duke Gardens,  and we ate BBQ at Bullock’s where Mike dined during his tenure at Duke.    There are MANY restaurants in Raleigh, and DiAnn and Mike have found great outdoor dining spots, including a great local pizza place with an excellent beer menu.  They also took us out for an Italian dinner that brought back found memories of our trip to Tuscany.  On Sunday, Mother’s Day AND DiAnn’s Birthday, DiAnn cooked roast beef filet lunch and we were joined by her friends Sue, Megan and John.  Don’t worry we helped with lunch, a little.

At HHR, this has been the winter of sprouts.  

In a quest for interesting winter salad materials we re-instated the kitchen sprouter and started experimenting.  With the help of resources on the web, we found that you can sprout all manner of things.  beans, sunflowers seeds, peanuts, almonds, buckwheat groats, rice, wheat, and all sorts of exotic grains.

If you stop by any time soon, expect a healthy crunchy salad to feast on!

As we ease into the weekend a quick update from last week seemed in order.  After a cool rainy day on Saturday, followed by extremely heavy rain and wind on Saturday night, we were happy to see blue skies on Sunday morning.  Bruno spent the day laying wire for outdoor lights, which included rebuilding rock walls.   Sheri met Joey in the middle of Connecticut to hike Ragged Mountain.  Ragged Mountain is located in Berlin, CT just south of Hartford.  The area offers some of the best and only climbing in Connecticut, and some nice hiking too.  There are great views west into hilly areas.  We chose to appreciate the craggy outcrops with both feet on the ground but accepted the challenge of hiking through some very wet areas that were flooded from the heavy rains the night before.  Ragged Mountain is a great place to hike in CT.  Let us know if you’d like to go a’wandering sometime.

More photos from the weekend here

We had an interesting weekend that began with Bruno’s safe return from Brazil, although he was a bit weary from lots of sitting and eating too much rice and beans.  It was good to have him back to share in the blooming daffodils and warmer temperatures.

On Saturday morning we visited a “Green Fair” in Westerly, RI which was held in the United Theater, which is currently under renovation.  The theater was bought by The Westerly Land Trust with the renovation is being overseen by Mr. Charles Royce who recently rebuilt the Ocean House in Watch Hill, RI.  It was fun to see the “guts” of the theater and to imagine the possibilities.  We also learned about growing native plants, the history of Wilcox park, environmentally friendly lawn care, AND that there is a great Artisan bakery within minutes of the Spruce Street house (all this time!).  You can see more photos of the United Theater as it stands now at this link.  We walked through the actors entry to the back of the building and popped outside into the parking lot of 84 High Street, a favorite place to eat.   It was fun to link these two locations together; and to rediscover a place that you think you know so well.

On Saturday afternoon Sheri and her new Flea attended a Ukulele workshop in Worcester, MA taught by Jumpin’ Jim.  Jumpin’ Jim is a local celebrity who has been playing and teaching ukulele for many years.  He and his family make Flea and Fluke ukuleles by hand in Connecticut.  Jim is also famous for playing uke with George Harrison.  The workshop was well attended and a lot of fun.  She has mastered Surfin’ USA and Somewhere Over the Rainbow, but has a long time before she will be playing bluegrass like Jake Simabukuro.

The remainder of the weekend was spent planting onions, setting up the automated hydration system in the raised beds and starting seeds inside.  We look forward to salad greens in late May, followed by beans, carrots, beets, beans, strawberries… oh MY!

Slowly things are emerging from the ground and the transition to spring feels more official these days. The grass is just starting to turn green and some flowers would certainly brighten the brown-grey residue of a long winter.  So far the crocuses are shining merrily and the daffodil flowers look as if they will open any day.

The peas were officially planted on April 2nd.  Can you see them yet?

Bruno is currently getting settled in Brazil where he will be working next week.  The travel was reportedly uneventful, if not long.  His trip report thus far suggests he has his priorities in the right place!  A prize is being offered for the correct identification for the offering on the saucer.

While Bruno was navigating his way through Portuguese, Sheri and Kokee made the first trek of the year to Barn Island.  The temperature was nearly 60 degrees (F) which accounted for the many cars in the parking lot.  We met some nice folks and their dogs.  The views to Watch Hill and the sand dunes at Nappa Tree have us longing for a late afternoon swim and a ride on the Carousel.  You can see some more photos from Barn Island here.

It was Bruno’s birthday this week (on Tuesday).  Many thanks to all those who sent cards, gifts and greetings – they were all very much appreciated.  To celebrate we visited North Stonington’s newest restaurant, Buon Appetito.  We are pleased to report that the food and service were great and we’d certainly go back again.  The asparagus soup, arugula salad and the calzone were all very good.