Town #57 New London

October 10, 2009
Upper Deck Café * Fort Trumbull State Park * Studio 33 Art Gallery * New London Antiques Center * Hygienic Gallery * Muddy Waters Café * Daniel's Dairy * Custom House Marine Museum

We started at the Upper Deck Café on Pequot Avenue, for breakfast. It’s definitely a place the locals go, and we liked the friendly service and menu choices. I had eggs Benedict with a sausage patty and sausage gravy—different, but quite tasty. Jan had a biscuit and sausage gravy, also very good. (Total with coffee and tip, $20)

We had planned to visit the Hempsted Houses and take in their Annual Harvest Festival, but since the event didn’t begin till 11 a.m., we had time, we figured, to visit Ft. Trumbull State Park. We’d heard about it over the years, and felt obligated to learn about its history. Finding the fort was easy, as was parking. We weren’t sure what we’d see for the $10 per person fee at the visitor’s center, but we took a chance and bought our passes. The visiting season ends Columbus Day except for special groups. We got so involved in the exhibits, that we spent almost three hours there! (We skipped the Hempsted Houses.) ($20)

This quote from their web site nicely explains the Visitor's Center:

"The Center contains state of the art multimedia theaters, computer touch screen interactive exhibits, 3-D models, and extensive graphics and text panels. This one of a kind center depicts over 225 years of military history and technological advances from the Revolutionary War to the Cold War. Some of the main themes of the Visitor Center are the September 6, 1781, attack by the British under the command of Benedict Arnold, the U-boat menace during World War II, and the anti-submarine efforts during the Cold War."

The Friends of Fort Trumbull website details a summary of the history of the fort well.

The first floor covered the fort’s Revolutionary War history and mentioned three systems of the fort’s evolution. Each evolution of coastal forts eventually proved inadequate as military firepower developed. First system forts were ultimately destroyed by inadequate rear defense, as guns were pointed toward the sea or rivers and harbors. Second system forts suffered from the development of larger and larger smooth bore cannon. And third system forts couldn’t survive even larger and more powerful rifle bore cannon. The second floor covered the role of the fort in the world wars (developing sonar to detect submarines), in cold war research (including the development of SONAR), in the presence of the Coast Guard at the fort, and finally as a branch campus for UConn.

The fort overlooks the Thames River. The Coast Guard barque Eagle is berthed there and Electric Boat and Fort Griswold are directly across the river. Fort Griswold also played a role in defending New London. We strolled around the granite walls of the fort and appreciated the commanding view as a defense of the river. We bought two laminated bookmarks with the CT lighthouses at the gift shop. ($5)

We headed to Bank Street and parked (street parking is free) in front of Studio 33 Art & Frame Gallery which we visited briefly. We then went to New London Antiques Center and spent a little over an hour there. It’s a huge consignment store with antiques and collectibles similar to those found in Collinsville and Pomfret. Jan made a purchase (two pins and a future gift for Bob, $22) and I was tempted by a 38” ship’s wheel, but after considering it, decided against buying it for a dining room chandelier.
We investigated Hygienic Art. Apparently it has a bit of a reputation for being a little risqué, but we didn’t find that for the present exhibit, “Portraits of the Feminine Divine,” which were mostly mythological representations of the feminine divine, and primarily the work of one artist. Interesting, but we didn’t spend too long there.

We were ready for a break and headed to the Muddy Waters Café. The place looks old and fits in with the old section of Bank Street. There was inside or outside dining, or take out. My ham and Swiss cheese sandwich on a Kaiser roll, and Jan’s vegetable soup/half BLT sandwich on a croissant were excellent and very generous. I also enjoyed a café mocha, Jan a hot cider. The pastries looked delicious, but we held back on those as we had spotted an ice cream shop up the street. ($23)

We walked down to the waterfront, crossing the Amtrak tracks to the pier where the Fisher’s Island and Block Island ferries arrive and depart. Nicely rebuilt, but not a lot to see. We stopped in the train station, which looked like it could capitalize nicely on its architecture, but the interior was plain and strictly functional. As we headed back near State Street we spotted a huge mural on the side of a building and noticed the artist’s name was Wyland. He’s the marine artist whose gallery we visited in Key West. His work is absolutely beautiful and extremely high end. In 1993 he painted 100 such murals in all 13 states on the East Coast “to heighten awareness about the plight of whales and other sea creatures. On the way back toward the car we checked out Daniel’s Dairy for ice cream cones, eating them there. ($7)

Next we visited the Custom House Maritime Museum. Jan was getting tired and chose to wait in the car. I contributed the suggested $5 donation and wandered around. Various maritime exhibits included knot boards, an oyster exhibit, model boats and ships, etc. I was listening to the end of an explanation of the Fourth-order Fresnel lens the museum procured from the New London Ledge lighthouse (which we toured a few years ago). The family moved on and I chatted at length with the curator about lighthouses. We moved on to ship models and he explained those in the museum. At one point he invited me to the closed-off library revealing a neat collection of intricately scaled model steamships, and explained how the man who made them spent about a year on each. They were amazing in their small size and incredible detail. The website subtly reveals one of these on the library shelf. There is also quite a collection of information on the La Amistad history. We did a harbor cruise on the reproduction of the ship a few years ago and the UCC is quite involved in its history as well.

We decided to head home so we put the GPS in the blue highways mode (no freeways) and enjoyed a scenic ride home. (Bob)

Town #56 Franklin

Sunday, October 4, 2009
Blue Slope Country Museum and Fall Event


Somewhere we got a post card or found reference in the paper or on the internet for a weekend event at Blue Slope Country Museum. We have passed through the main roads of Franklin often, but this time we followed narrow country roads in North Franklin to Blue Hill Road in the northwest part of town. Blue Slope is a working dairy farm with Holsteins for milk, Belgian work horses, and goats for meat and cheese. They make maple syrup and have a farm trucking business. They also have a museum full of hand tools, dairy equipment, and much more. Educational programs are available for groups of all ages.

This weekend was their “Annual Fall Event,” complete with re-enactors, draft horse demonstrations, exhibits, working artisans, crafts, music, antique tractors and cars, and a food tent ($12).

We bought a beautiful, unique Eastern European macramé piece that could be used as a doily or framed for a wall ($29), and a bunny-shaped jigsaw puzzle for Ella ($5).
We watched hay being baled with a horse-powered bailer. It took one horse and four men—one loaded the hopper with hay, another guided a Clydesdale horse around a circular track to pull a lever which operated the baler, and the others handled the bales, and bailing wire, etc.

We saw cider being pressed and had a sample, and watched a horse and carriage competition. For lunch we each had a bowl of clam chowder sold by the VFW, some of the best we’ve had, with plenty of clams—just the way it should be ($9). The peach cobbler looked good and as it was seasonal, we couldn’t resist. It was warm, and quite tasty. ($7)


We toured the museum and saw some nice wrought iron work by a Mansfield blacksmith. Jan found a weaver and watched her at work on her loom, and we finished up watching apple pies being made. We had a long chat with the pie-making demon-strator and found her technique interesting.


Blue Slope Country Museum has year-round activities such as square dancing, family campfires, horse drawn wagon, and sleigh rides. Their web site has more information.

We later had dinner at Modesto’s on Route 32 in Franklin. We had eaten there before, but were on the way to RI and it was convenient. I had veal parmesan, and Jan had veal portofino, both excellent. I had a rich cannoli cake which I really didn’t need, but was worth it. (Bob)

Town #55 Thompson

Friday, October 2, 2009
West Thompson Dam

Thompson is the most northeasterly town in CT, bordering Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Other than a historic mill and international speedway, it doesn’t have much to offer visitors that we could find. We decided to visit the West Thompson Dam, which apparently is in the borough of North Grosvenordale, one of five tiny villages in this tiny town.

The dam on the Quinebaug River and the resulting West Thompson Lake north of the dam were built as a result of the 1938 and 1955 floods, which devastated this area. A kiosk with excellent pictures describes the project. We looked over the spillway and hiked down to the lower level—a large field and pavilion with picnic tables. Near the lake there are hiking trails, a campground, amphitheater, recreation area, and a boat launch.

As we left, we crossed the bridge over the French River, which caused more flooding in 1955, resulting in a huge fire that burned down a large textile mill, leaving a single brick tower still standing. Fall foliage should be nice in that area in a couple of weeks, and kayaking would be quite feasible. (Jan)

Town #54 Woodstock

Friday, October 2, 2009
Cinnamon Tree Bakery * Windy Acres Florist and Gift Shop * Flying Carpet Studio * Java Jive * Scranton Antiques * Scranton Country Store * Roseland Cottage * Sweet Evalina's Stand * Woodstock Thimble Cottage * Woodstock Christmas Barn * Woodstock Orchards

Woodstock’s attractions are largely unique little shops along Route 169. The town web page is one of the better organized, most useful town web sites we’ve seen. We started out near the junction of Routes 169 and 171, at the Cinnamon Tree Bakery, for breakfast, and we both had the French toast made with their cinnamon swirl bread. It was delicious, in spite of the artificial maple syrup ($15). We resisted their yummy-looking baked goods on display. We visited Windy Acres Florist and Gift Shop, in the same building as the bakery, and found a 50% off sale good on almost everything in the shop as they were reorganizing. We bought a large gray-green knobby gourd and a couple kale plants ($26.50). Our next stop, going north on Rt. 169, was the Flying Carpet Studio, a boutique with some clothes, interesting trinkets, and lots of artistic jewelry. They must have moved from up the street because the picture on their website does not show their current location. I got a few things for Bob’s birthday and myself. Bob got tired of watching me browse, so he headed next door to Java Jive for a second cup of coffee and a blueberry scone ($4). Continuing north a bit, we found Scranton’s Shops. We’d never been in Scranton Antiques, but have been by it many times in its 25 years. We each bought something we didn’t tell the other about. Just up the driveway is Mrs. Bridge’s Pantry, a British tea room. I’ve been there before, so we passed on by and went to Scranton Country Store, which sells candy and kitchen novelties. I got a jar of peach and raspberry chutney ($6).

For a change of scenery we headed north to Roseland Cottage. We stopped to read an informative plaque about the town at the Green.

A tour started at noon and we got there just in time. The guide took the four of us on the tour through every room in the house and some of the outbuildings and explained all the details of the Bowen family, the house, and the gardens. It is a beautiful example of a wealthy family’s summer home in the mid-19th century. The Bowens lived in Brooklyn Heights, NYC, where Henry—a Woodstock native—made his fortune in several businesses and authored quite a few books. The house has always been coral pink to match various varieties of roses grown on the grounds, but the shade currently in use is historically accurate. Henry was an active abolitionist, Congregationalist, and Republican. The interior has a great deal of Lincrusta wall covering, a heavily embossed, “paintable” paper, invented in 1877 and frequently used in Victorian hotels and restaurants. At Roseland, much of it was embellished with gold paint, all of which has faded. It is quite amazing. In wikipedia’s article on Lincrusta, a picture of Roseland Cottage is featured. (Admission $14)

The formal boxwood parterre garden has paths between boxwood borders and 21 flower beds with 4000 annuals, the exact varieties that the Bowens had planted.

We were ready for lunch (and a seat!) so we headed north a bit more to Sweet Evalina’s Stand—not a stand but a cute little restaurant with homemade desserts. Friends had recommended it a couple years ago and we’ve been wanting to get there. Menus are on the wall and your choices are given there. We each had clam chowder and clam cakes. I confirmed that it was New England style, but the cook didn’t know what that was. When I said it was creamy, he said that’s what theirs was. Well, it had milk in it but it wasn’t creamy, and there weren’t very many clams, although the taste was very good. The clam cakes were dense, clammy, and excellent. Bob had spied lemon meringue pie (for $2.75!) so he had to get that for dessert; I had a moose tracks ice cream cone (Lunch $27).

North again to the Woodstock Thimble Cottage, a country-style store where I bought a little girls’ purse for our granddaughter for Christmas ($8). Just beyond was the Woodstock Christmas Barn, which has been there for many years. I found a different strawberry ornament for our mini-strawberry Christmas tree and a couple other little things ($15). We asked the shop owners about finding something to do in Thompson as information was hard to come by. They suggested the Thompson Dam and explained how to get there.

We retraced our path and headed to Thompson, first stopping at Woodstock Orchards’ big farm stand. We bought a couple different gourds and squash to sit next to the green one I got this morning ($3). (Jan)

Town #53 Hampton

Thursday, September 17, 2009
Trail Wood, Audubon Society's Edwin Way Teale Memorial Sanctuary

Hampton has an excellent town website but they claim no interesting things to see. We pulled a first and visited the town hall to speak with the Town Clerk. She laughed at the idea that we were looking for “something interesting in her little town of 1900 people” but when we gave her the “Diana’s Pool” idea, she promptly came up with the Connecticut Audubon Society’s Trail Wood, also known as the Edwin Way Teale Memorial Sanctuary. She also mentioned Pine Acres Lake and Hampton Reservoir, but the latter two will have to wait for another day.

We were not familiar with Teale. Here is a Wikipedia excerpt about him:
"Edwin Way Teale (June 2, 1899-October 18, 1980) was an American naturalist, photographer, and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. Teale's works serve as primary source material documenting environmental conditions across North America from 1930-1980. He is perhaps best known for his series The American Seasons, four books documenting over 75,000 miles (121,000 km) of automobile travel across North America following the changing seasons."

We signed in at the unmanned Visitor’s Center, just past the house in which Teale and his wife Ellie lived, looked over various educational materials, and studied a map and guide of the grounds and tried to find our way to the suggested trail. After a couple of trials and errors, we found the Veery Trail and we were on our way. We found Hidden Pond, which Teale had excavated from a red maple swamp for his enjoyment as well as his nature studies, and a nearby Summer House, basically a 9-foot square screened gazebo. He would sit there and look over his pond and footbridge at the far end of the pond, a nice relaxing place to meditate. We walked around the pond to the footbridge, then to the Writing Cabin. The cabin was built of logs, but was locked. Teale is said to have written some of his books here. Its dimensions are reportedly the same as Thoreau’s on Walden Pond. We made our way back to the Visitor’s Center, replaced the laminated guides we’d borrowed for the trek, and headed back to the parking lot. Jan spotted a monument built many years ago by one of the workers on the grounds of Teale’s estate. The man realized that monuments seemed to be built for various well known people, but none for the common laborer, so he built one to himself in Monument Field using the indigenous stone that he was hired to clear from the field.

The sanctuary was interesting and there are plenty of documented spots to explore. The trails need a little more maintenance, but we suspected they were let go due to perhaps finances, and the fact it was after Labor Day. We’d like to return and walk some more of the trails.

Town #52 Chaplin

Thursday, September 17, 2009
Diana's Pool * Ribbits

A visit to Chaplin’s town website made no mention of anything of significance to see in that small town. Somewhere, however, in our collection of clippings and notes, we recalled Diana’s Pool was a natural pool in the Natchaug River. It’s located off Rt. 198 right near a bridge that crosses over that river.

We parked in a parking lot on a dead end street for a short trek. The water was a little low since we haven’t had much rain recently, but the rock ledge formations are interestingly carved out by the river. Near the bridge, we thought we were looking at the pool, but after exploring a bit and heading a bit north on the rocky shore and woods, we discovered Diana’s Pool upstream a short distance. The noise of the water was loud enough, considering the low volume of water, and we could imagine the sounds of rushing water if there was a full flow. It would be fun to come back after a good rain or a winter snow melt as we know from our own Fenton River.

There are various legends regarding the naming of the pool. One is that a young girl’s heart was broken by her lover and Diana jumped off a high ledge to her death; or she slipped on the tears she cried. Or maybe the pool was just named after the Diana family who owned the pool. Take your pick.

For lunch, we headed for lunch toward Rt. 6. We had four choices from our web search and we spotted Ribbits first (no website, but various reviews on the web). The place was clean and the décor had a neat frog theme. We were there around 1:00 and the place wasn’t at all busy—they do lunch and dinners. The menu is extensive. Jan had a toasted chicken salad sandwich and French fries and I had a special, grilled chicken cordon bleu sandwich with sweet potato fries. ($20) (Bob)

Town #51 Colchester

Saturday, August 29, 2009
Diane's * Gallery Cinema

Being a rainy day with tropical storm Danny off the East Coast, I decided to take us to lunch and a movie, though I kept Jan in the dark about specifics. Since we’d been to Harry’s Place (a very well known and neat place for clams, fries, burgers, ice cream, and more), I had to select somewhere else to eat to qualify as a new place for our CT travels. We had a list of diners where Joe Liebermann had eaten, and Diane’s Restaurant was listed as one. They do not have a web site, and online reviews were sketchy at best. Some reviews, however, provided some very favorable comments. Their hours are 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. and, although one page of their four-page menu was for lunch items—almost as an afterthought, they have an extensive breakfast menu. The only specials on the boards at noon were for breakfast. We took the hint. We found the place in a small strip mall and almost missed it; there is a sign around a corner, but no sign on the building. It’s definitely a mom and pop place, visited mostly by local people. It definitely has a hometown flair. I had a delicious seafood benedict and Jan had stuffed french toast with peaches and strawberries that was not overly sweet as stuffed french toast can be. That and coffee set us back only $18. Afterward, we went to the nearby Gallery Cinema and saw Julie and Julia. It was a cute picture, about Julia Child, and Julie Powell’s blog about cooking all 524 of Julia’s recipes in 365 days. It was a good way to spend a rainy afternoon. ($10, “matinee special.”) (Bob)

Town #49 Brooklyn

Saturday, August 9, 2009
Brooklyn Country Fair

Country fairs are fun but one a year is really enough. We decided to visit the Brooklyn Fair this time. We picked a beautiful, sunny day and headed over (admission $14). We browsed the booths and watched some demonstrations, then got hungry. We'd passed some food booths with bad-for-you but yummy-looking things and started backwards, with dessert. Fried dough with powdered sugar. Hhmmm. A little farther on we saw waffle french fries with ranch dressing and bacon bits, which we shared. Deadly but delicious. The last thing that we got was a maple milkshake, which we also shared. It was only mildly mapley.

Then we headed for the fiber and craft demonstration buildings and I was fascinated with the weaving competition. Two teams of women had four hours to take raw wool from a sheep, clean and spin it, make yarn out of it, and weave it into a table runner.

The women were happy to inform visitors of their experience and the competition. The members of the team I spent most of the time watching were younger than the other team and less experienced; they didn't really expect to win this year but enjoyed the competition. They'll practice and try again next year.

We watched horses get new shoes. That was a fascinating process!

Town #42 Winsted (visit #2)

Saturday, July 25, 2009
Organ Crawl at Church of Christ

This second visit to the Organ Centennial Celebration at the Church of Christ, Baptist-Congrega-tional, consisted of an informative lecture and tour of the George Sherburne Hutchings pipe organ. We had heard about the tour at the March concert but it was announced for church members only. We mentioned we were disappointed that we, as non-members, couldn't enjoy the tour, so Martha Rein, chariman of the music committee, asked for our names. On Juy 12, we got an email "written invitation" to the event.

We were greeted in the church parking lot by Chris King, the organist, who said, before we could say a word, "You must be the Bittners." There were nine of us for the tour, which started in the choir loft with an excellent, basic talk about organs and the pipes that make them work, given by Choir Director Willard Minton. He provided a handout and showed us actual pipes so we could see and hear the open flue pipe and the reed pipe. We learned that it takes about four inches of pressure for their organ pipes to speak, but Mr. Minton said there are some pipes that take over 100 inches of pressure in other organs. Those 64-foot pipes are rare, with about two organs in the world having them, ine in Sydney, Australia. Imagine the deep rumble of a 64-foot organ pipe!

We were shown the organ and console and had an opportunity to get partially inside. The view was limited but interesting. We had seen much more of Mike Foley's Mighty Wurlitzer.

Chris King finished the event with an informal selection of music emphasizing different divisions and ranks of pipes. Refreshments followed. We love all the stained glass windows, especially the Tiffany one. It doesn't have a religious theme but is a lovely garden scene with a waterfall. (Bob)

Town #39 Tolland (visit #3)

Saturday, July 18, 2009
Tolland Garden Tour

Tolland Garden Paths presented Gardens of Visions and Inspira-tion, a self-guided tour of nine private gardens in Tolland. We picked up our “tickets” in the form of a descriptive booklet, with an excellent map. Each involved driving to a well marked property with organized parking. We were handed a site map with notes of highlights for which to search.

We saw five of the nine gardens, all excellent. We saw many plant varieties and creative garden designs, all of which showed a great investment in time. The booklet described each site’s garden in detail, giving a brief history of its beginnings. The hosts were friendly and informative and answered questions readily. We asked about their deer problems which everyone agreed was an issue. Their ways of handling deer destruction varied. Listed are the gardens we enjoyed. Descriptions are in the booklet.

The Leonard gardens
The Shirley gardens
The Ludwig gardens
The Feller gardens
The Couture gardens

Town #4 West Hartford (visit #5)

Saturday, June 13, 2009
Celebrate West Hartford Festival

Celebrate West Hartford is an annual, “two-day, family-oriented event that features top notch entertainment, a fabulous food court, an amusement park, a 5K road race, and a juried arts and crafts show. It’s also a showcase for West Hartford’s civic, school, and service organizations.” It takes place on the Town Hall Common, 50 South Main Street, Saturday from 10-6 and Sunday from 12-6, rain or shine.

This event caught our attention and we worked it in after visiting Lyman Orchard. We browsed around the arts and crafts displays and found some nice work from the artists. Early on, we spotted an artist’s work involving woodburning and painting/staining nautical and shore scenes on wood. Jan suggested I choose something for Father’s Day, so I kept that in mind as we continued our rounds. I selected a new hand-tooled leather dress belt for my wardrobe and Jan picked up a few trinkets for herself. We got to the point where the food court sounded very appealing, so we headed there. Wanting to sample some different food items, we started with Afghan chicken kabobs. They were good and we shared one order. Then we continued to some Armenian food, enjoying an order of stuffed grape leaves. They were different for us, but very tasty. We wound up choosing a tried and true American dessert, strawberry shortcake, and found a place to sit while we ate that. It was quite good, as well. We went back to Woodburnings by Thom Cassotta and bought a 6-foot-long scene done on pine. We will mount it on the dining room valence. We headed home by midafternoon.

Town #48 Middlefield

Saturday, June 13, 2009
Lyman Orchards

Lyman Orchards advertised a Strawberry Fest for this weekend. They open early for breakfast, so we both had Belgian waffles with strawber-ries and whipped cream. For $13, two waffles, two coffees, it was very good. We sat on the deck overlooking a pond with a fountain and plenty of an assortment of water fowl. The morning was cool, but we ate out anyway; there is dining inside as well. Inside the shop, there was a large selection of fruits, vegetables, preserves, etc. to purchase.

Being strawberry pickin’ season, we drove the quarter mile or so to the top of a hill and picked four quarts of juicy strawberries at $1.75 a pound. Picking was good and the berries were tasty. We didn’t want to take too many berries for the first picking, so we paid for our bounty and left. We set the GPS for West Hartford and turned off “quickest route,” and “highways,” so we could enjoy the back country roads. It was worth it as the rural area was picturesque and we passed many nice homes. (Bob)

Town #40 Bristol (visit #2)

Saturday, May 16, 2009
Jason Castonguay * Prospect United Methodist Church

After supper at Anthony’s in Torrington, we headed to Bristol for another perfor-mance. We just made it in time to Prospect United Methodist Church, where Jason Castonguay was performing. He’s a young man in his late 20s, I’d guess, and he sings and accompanies himself on the piano. His primary style seems to be jazz and most of his songs were old-fashioned love songs, part of his new program. He does a lot of improvisation. The fact that he is totally blind made not one whit of difference in his performance.

He has an easy relationship with the audience. He sang two or three songs that were not the same style, and they were big hits, showing another aspect of his talent: “Bring Him Home” from Les Miserables and “Wind Beneath My Wings.” When he concluded the program, someone mentioned an “encore” piece, and Bob suggested “five or six.” Jason really didn’t want to quit, and we easily got six more pieces, including our song, “Misty,” suggested by someone else.

Apparently this was the tenth year he has come to this church to perform. We thought that the person who introduced him might have been his father, but he was actually Jason’s personal assistant; he schedules his concerts and helps with his travel. Jason plays twice a week at Cavey’s in Manchester, and visits many other venues to perform. He is very well educated, with a double major for his bachelor’s degree (music performance and management information systems) and more lessons at Hartt School of Music. His credentials and adventures are extensive.

Town #47 Torrington

Saturday, May 16, 2009
Trinity Episcopal Church * Anthony's Restaurant

The Cal section of The Courant had a listing for Chorus Angelicus & Gaudeamus at Trinity Episcopal Church in Torrington and, later the same day, one for Jason Castonguay in Bristol. Jan investigated travel time from home and possible places to eat between performances, and we decided we could successfully attend both.

We arrived at Trinity Episcopal and were greeted by a beautiful 1890s Gothic style stone church. Pictures I took don’t do justice to the architecture and it would be better to visit their web site to view this beautiful building.



















Nicholas White is the director of Chorus Angelicus (a children’s and youth choir) and Gaudeamus (an adult chamber choir). Chorus Angelicus was founded in 1991 by Grammy-winner Paul Halley, also from this church. The ensemble is comprised of more than 70 boys and girls from towns throughout southern New England and they perform some 30 concerts annually. Gaudeamus, the adult choir, consists of professional and semi-professional free-lance singers, and was formed in 1992. Director Nicholas White “is a Grammy nominated composer and conductor, as well as a versatile organist, pianist and singer, with experience in many different styles of music.” He was born in England, came to the U.S. in 1989, and has an impressive music-related resume. We heard him perform on the organ in Winsted in March (see posting for March 29). His choirs are top-notch—precise, well-balanced, and versatile.

This program, “In Sure and Certain Hope,” featured a work by that name that White composed. Performed previously in New York and recorded at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in 2006, this was a Connecticut premiere. The combined choirs sang together, sometimes featuring one choir or the other, for the entire program and included “Magnificat” and “Nunc Dimittis” for Treble Voices, also composed by Nicholas White, and a number of other challenging and impressive selections. Guest organist was none other than the famous Douglas Major. His career includes being assistant organist at the Washington National Cathedral, as does Nick’s, and includes numerous tours, concerts, and recordings too numerous to mention here. Dr. Major is currently on an advisory board at one of our favorite music halls, Methuen Memorial Music Hall and lives in Salem, Massachusetts. Kate Jensik turned pages for Major, but in the second half of the program played the cello, accompanying the choirs and organ. Her biography also is impressive.

We bought a CD with Nicholas White’s “In Sure and Certain Hope.”

Our time being limited, we left for a bite to eat, which turned out to be a challenge. Jan had carefully chosen several restaurants and had identified her preferences, but the first two were closed. We wound up at Anthony’s Restaurant which had excellent Italian food. We both had veal—I had parmigiano and Jan had franchese.

Town #7 Hartford (visit #7)

Friday, May 15, 2009
Travelers Choral Club at The Bushnell

The Courant’s Cal section on Thursdays usually has several programs that attract us, and we decided we could actually get to all three we had in mind for this weekend. Today we went to the spring concert of the Traveler’s Choral Club. We’d never heard of this group before, but we’ve always enjoyed choral music, especially seeing as that’s how Bob and I met. The concert was in Mortensen Hall at The Bushnell, and was free! We sat in the left section of the orchestra, about 10-12 rows from the front. It was very well attended.

The theme was Waltzing Into Spring and they performed Rutter, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Brahms, Randall Thompson, and Aaron Copland, among others. There were about 70 singers, with parts pretty well balanced. We enjoyed the pieces but once again came to appreciate the precision and discipline instilled in us by Doc Soule in college, which were missing tonight. A nice touch was the dancers who did some graceful walzing around the stage during the singing of Brahms’ "Liebeslieder Walzer."

Town #4 West Hartford (visit #4)

Tuesday, May 12, 2009
The Counter

Ever since The Counter opened in Blue Back Square and had an article in the Courant, Bob has wanted to go there. They specialize in burgers, almost every kind imaginable. Today was filled with various errands, and at lunch time The Counter was between two planned stops. When we walked in we got a clipboard with all the options, and we checked off our choices. Some options were built into the price of the burger and a few had an additional charge.

We started by deciding on beef, chicken, or veggie burger, then the kind of cheese, other additives, and a flavor of sauce. The smallest we saw was 1/3 of a pound, but a couple who sat next to us found four mini-burgers and shared them. That would have been better. We got a half order of sweet potato fries and a half order of onion strings. Both were excellent. The burgers were delicious but our second halves needed to be eaten with fork and knife. We splurged and shared a chocolate milkshake which had very little chocolate in it and filled us uncomfortably full. It was an interesting experience but we probably won’t return too often.

Town #46 Naugatuck

Saturday, May 9, 2009
Barbecued ribs supper at the Congregational Church of Naugatuck * Boys in Hats

This trip was a mystery outing, where Jan plans an event and doesn’t tell me where we’re going until we get there, when maybe I’ll figure it out by myself. This trip was to the Congregational Church of Naugatuck for their annual spare-ribs-with-all-the-fixings supper. The portions were generous and very tasty and included a large baked potato, coleslaw, corn bread, beverage, and ice cream with a cookie for dessert. People were friendly and it was an easy group to chat with. The tables were filled almost to capacity—about 100 people.

There was evening entertainment afterward by Boys in Hats, a folk-singing duo, Eric Anderson and Paul Bryant-Smith. (They were the main reason Jan chose this outing--she wanted to hear them live for the first time and knew I'd enjoy them too.) Paul and Eric met in seminary and both are ordained ministers. Eric is also the "alpha geek" at the CT Conference of the UCC. They perform for church fundraisers and coffeehouses. We both had Eric as a student a quite a few years ago, and he and Jan shared an office at the UCC Conference Center until Jan’s retirement. We enjoyed their traditional and newer folk music like Waltzing with Bears, Hot Frogs, Charlie on the MTA, and one Eric composed for a friend, Chasing the Sun. We assume, by the lyrics, that the friend is someone quite special.

Town #45 Simsbury

Friday, May 1, 2009
Anne Laver, organist, at First Church of Christ * Metro Bis

Another organ concert, and this one was excellent! It was at the First Church of Christ in Simsbury. It is large and beautiful, with a balcony wrapping around three sides of the sanctuary. Most of the attendees sat there, as did we, because the organ is there, and seeing the organist’s hands and feet adds to the enjoyment of the sound. The organist was Anne Laver, the 2005 winner of the competition for the Charlotte Hoyt Bagnall Scholarship. She is pursuing a doctorate in musical arts at Eastman School of Music in Rochester. She is highly professional and played confidently and beautifully. Her pieces were enhanced with her explanations of their history and place in the liturgical year. She played Bach, Demessieux, Widor, Heinrich, Albright, and Vierne. There were between 40 and 50 people there including a former coworker of mine and his wife. There was a small reception after and we felt very welcomed by the members of the church and enjoyed chatting with several of them and with the organist’s mother, who lives in Woodstock.

We had had a late lunch and no supper before the recital, so we found a bite to eat at Metro Bis, a gourmet bistro in town. It was late, 9:15, but we squeezed in before they closed at 9:30. We both had and shared two appetizers (goat cheese and potato tart and crispy Thai spring rolls), a Caesar salad, and two desserts (vanilla panna cotta and chocolate ganache)—everything except the entrée. Every item was superbly presented and absolutely delicious. I have wanted to go there for many years and it was wonderful, finally, to do so.

Town #44 Middletown

Saturday, April 18, 2009
O'Rourke's Diner * Joshua Brown, organist, at First United Methodist Church

We started this trip with dinner at O’Rourke’s Diner. We had been to the old one (the one that burned down), but because this was a brand new building—it opened in February 2009—we felt justified in counting this as our first visit there. Their supper offerings are limited, but we were happy with the sandwiches and fries (Bob had sweet potato fries). The diner appears to be close to a carbon copy of the old one, except the seating isn’t quite as tight as it used to be.

The main reason for the trip was an organ concert at First United Methodist Church. It was easy to find and was fairly well attended. They have two organ concerts per year to raise money for their fund to restore and refurbish their Kilgen organ. The organist who performed tonight, Joshua Brown, is the grandson of two of the church’s members. The organ is fairly small, but Mr. Brown got some nice sounds out of it. We weren’t enamored of much of his program but particularly enjoyed one of Bach’s “Easter Chorales” and the Nimrod from Elgar’s “Enigma Variations.” There was a reception following the concert and we had our dessert there.

Town #43 Southington

Tuesday, April 7, 2009
First Congregational Church of Southington * Bonterra Italian Bistro

We visited with our friend Nancy in Southington today. She volunteers Tuesday mornings at her church, First Congregational Church of Southington, on the Town Green, so we met her there. She gave us a full tour and some history of the church, which wears its age well (nearly 300 years for the church, nearly 200 years for this building, the third meetinghouse since 1740). It had a major renovation in the early 1970s that kept most of the charming features of the original sanctuary, and a more recent addition that increased the church’s footprint and added much-needed new space.

The ceiling of the sanctuary is unique in that it is oval shaped, rimmed with wood-carved detailing, and slightly raised toward the center. The three-sided balcony is original but during the renovation higher, safer railings were added. The unique sanctuary pews are slightly curved. There is a steep, narrow staircase from the narthex to the balcony which, before the 1970s renovation, was much narrower still.

Being interested in organs as we are, we appreciated getting a look at theirs. It is in the balcony, at the back of the sanctuary. It is a Walker and Nancy said it is either electronic or pipeless, but there is no information on their website to indicate which, although she says the sound is close to that of a pipe organ.

The lower levels are a warren of church school rooms, meeting rooms, fellowship hall, kitchen, offices, a lovely chapel, and storage areas. It is a dignified old building that started much smaller and has been added on to many times. It is well used and well cared for.

We had lunch just across the Green at Bonterra’s, a delightful Italian bistro in the base of the recently renovated clocktower. It is a new cousin to another local restaurant, Anthony Jacks Wood Fired Grill. Bonterra’s has a wonderful atmosphere, delicious food, and excellent service. The menu is more than ample and we each had trouble picking only one menu item! We all ordered from the $7 lunch menu, which apparently changes weekly, and were rewarded with bountiful meals. Nancy and I had penne alla vodka with sausage added and Bob had chicken parmagiana, definitely dinner-sized. Bread isn’t served automatically but on request was graciously provided. The focaccia was delicious! It definitely warrants a return visit.