Junior Brown at the Iron Horse Cafe

On Friday night we traveled to Northampton, MA to see Junior Brown play at the Iron Horse Cafe. This was a birthday present for Bruno from earlier in the year.

Junior plays a double-necked guitar that he invented (called his "guit-steel"). The top neck on the guit-steel is a traditional 6-string guitar, while the lower neck is a full-size lapsteel guitar for slide playing.

You can read more about Junior at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_Brown. Even better, you can listen to Junior on the guit-steel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPZ0r7eSn_0

We enjoyed strolling around Northampton on the first warm evening for a long time. Usually we stop in Northampton en route to our Vermont ski weekends, so it was nice to spend some time unencumbered by thick coats, woolly hats, and mittens. Our stay at Hotel Northampton (below) was a treat too.

Friday Evening at Barn Island

We celebrated some warm weather on Friday by taking a walk after work at Barn Island in Stonington. After a long week at work it was good to stretch our legs in the late afternoon sun and enjoy the tranquility of Barn Island, which is just starting to look green. Kokee had a good swim and chased a few egrets.

We had dinner in Pawcatuck at Apizza afterwards kicking of what continues to be a great weekend.

Town and Country

We just returned from a quick trip to western Pennsylvania to visit Mimi, DiAnn and Mike in Pittsburgh, and then to spend a few days with Jerry in Tidioute.

While in Pittsburgh we enjoyed spectacular views, a lovely brunch (with Bunny Cake), and catching-up with Mimi.




In Tidioute we enjoyed a relaxing time on the Allegheny River (one of the same rivers as in Pittsburgh) , helped Jerry with some trees that came down following a big storm, celebrated our 7th Anniversary at Legends in Warren, and had Easter brunch at "Jerry's Cafe" before heading back to the city, and then on to New England.



To see more photos of our trip, view the album http://picasaweb.google.com/HangmanHill/TownAndCountry?feat=directlink

Its official! Warm enough for shorts in CT

Today (Sunday) started sunny and kept getting better. Thus, it was the unofficial start of the "shorts-wearing-season", and we enjoyed every moment of it as we toiled in the yard and went for a long hike with Kokee. The daffodils were blooming, and everywhere else there were signs of the world coming back to life. Perhaps the most exciting discovery was that the rhubarb that we planted last year survived the winter and is starting to grow. We'll be eating pie before we know it!