New London, CT

The first day of July and the summer is fully upon us! As I was having my bi-weekly Spanish lesson, Jonny took Archie in to do his business. But he didn’t get far before the outboard on the dinghy conked out entirely. We are now officially moving to Plan B as to where we keep Zendo for the next few days. We decided to go on to New London where we could stay at Crocker’s Marina. We won’t need to use the dinghy there and we can bring the outboard in for repairs which Jonny had already arranged. 

We left Niantic on a pleasant, if overcast, day at 10:45 and arrived at Crocker’s at 12:40 - a quick trip.  We quickly headed over to our favorite Captain Scott’s waterfront lobster and clam shack to have fried clams.  But horrors! They were out of clams so we satisfied ourselves with steamers, corn on the cob and a lobster roll. That afternoon Jonny worked on the outboard and got it working again while I hid out in the air conditioned boat. He was able to fix the carburetor so it’s functioning but there is still an oil leak that needs to be fixed.

The next day Jonny picked up our rental car and we drove three hours to South Londonderry in southern Vermont where our friends Peter and Paul have owned a very comfortable ski home for years.  We had a great visit with them hiking all around the countryside near their home.  Jonny and Peter went for a long bike ride on the Zimmer’s electric bikes.  

Billy and Lisa Rappoport arrived at midnight having driven up from Fairfield, CT (my hometown and also where Peter and Paula now have their primary home). The next day, which was Friday, July 4, we all took a walk through the nearby wooded path and afterwards drove to Dorset VT to visit our friend Michael Goldfield. I should mention that I’ve been friends with these three guys since junior high days. And Peter and I met our spouses when we were all freshmen at UConn - so we have a lot of shared history! 

We picked up lunch at a nearby shop in Dorset and brought it back to eat at the picnic table at the home that Michael built in that charming village. It is essentially a replica of a historic home owned by a prominent past citizen of Dorset and it is exquisite.

Unfortunately, Michael’s partner, Melina was away at their summer home in Maine.  Although we didn’t get to see Melina, Michael took us to her shop in nearby Manchester. Melina designs and makes custom hooked rugs. She not only designs and makes them but she also dyes all the wool. We got to see her impressive operation located on the riverfront in yet another charming Vermont town. 

We returned to South Londonderry where we had a big beautiful salad for dinner and played a few rounds of Rummy Cube (a first for Jonny and me).

Jonny and I departed on Saturday bound for my cousin Donna’s home in Prospect, CT (near Waterbury).  I hadn’t seen Donna in years and I was excited about the visit. She invited my cousin Janice and her daughter Robin as well. Donna made a delicious lunch and we had a great afternoon catching up on each other’s lives.

Later that afternoon we returned to Zendo which we had moved from Crocker’s Marina to a mooring before we left for Vermont.  We proceeded to stay on board Zendo one more day and were able to get our fried clam “fix” on Sunday when we took a long walk to Ocean Pizza which is also known for its delicious fried clams. We also brought home an eggplant grinder to have the next day.  Whenever we are in New London, we have a list of foods that we have to eat and we are definitely checking off that list on this visit!