A Longweekend, Hurray!-

Bruno is back from his trip to California and eager to get back into the household routine. We are on the cusp of a long weekend with a long list. Things are finally taking off in the garden and while the vegetable seem very slow to grow, the irises are starting to bloom already. The strawberries are forming and dreams of pound cake dance in our heads.

irises

lettuces

Sunny California....

This week it was Bruno's turn to travel, with a few days in Santa Barbara, CA. He was at a conference focused on "Molecules, Materials & Medicines", and the busy conference schedule meant that it was difficult to find time to enjoy the local sites and sunshine. What a shame! Hopefully it will stay sunny for the extended Memorial day weekend.

Visit from DiAnn

DiAnn arrived midweek for some respite from the deary Pittsburgh weather. The skies haven't exactly been clear at Hangman Hill either, but the temperatures are rising. As far as respite, an eager dog with a new toy (from her grandmother) make relaxing with a book or knitting a challenge.

We celebrated DiAnn's birthday on Friday by taking her to New Haven for a lovely dinner at an Italian Bistro followed by a concert with John Prine at the Schubert Theater (a dedicated blog to follow). The sun came out that afternoon, we had a great dinner and John Prine and his band were AMAZING.

DiAnn is helping us get organized, stocking our freezer with oatmeal cookies and ironing a 2-month backlog of ironing. We rewarded her with dinner on Saturday night with a Mother's Day Eve (avoiding the crowds) at the Olympia Tea Room in Watch Hill. We previewed the progress on the Ocean House, very impressive. The food at Olympia was great, and the Cappuccino Choc late Muffin and Italian Lemon Cake that we shared were scrumptious.

Spring produce

Our seedlings are doing very well this year and nearly ready to graduate to the raised beds outside. It is great to see a little progress every day, and even more exciting to discover some carrots planted late in the summer that overwintered. They were crisp and sweet. The asparagus crop is more plentiful this year, yielding enough for several meals (and even possible to have more than 1 spear per person).

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