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Monday, September 28, 2020
Autumn Days
And it's almost October. The weather has turned more summery again and also weirdly humid these past days. Overall it definitely does feel more like fall though. Although the trees haven't really changed colors here very much yet but I know it's been happening further north. I really am not sure how it got to be fall. In my mind I am still stuck in March somehow. I feel like the whole world kind of went on "pause" mode for me in March when the whole Covid thing really started to blow up. Obviously a lot has happened since then but at the same time it also feels like not much has happened at all. 2020 has been such a weird year.
Not really much to write about from last week. Wednesday night was our friend John's birthday so we went out to dinner with him and his wife Jana. On the weekend we had lunch at Rizzuto's in Westport and later met up with John and Jana at Centrico. The weather was perfect that night and we hung out by the firepit for a while, enjoying the live music. And when we got home we watched "Enola Holmes" on Netflix. Really enjoyed that.
Sunday we went for brunch at the Marketplace, ran errands and whatnot. Oh Saturday I also bought two new pairs of sneakers at Sketchers. They had a really good sale so was able to get the second pair for 50% off.
Well, that's really all for now. Finished the Mary Trump book the other day. Oh yey. I don't even know what to say about that besides it made me feel even more depressed and anxious than I already was/am considering the current state of things in this country. Going back to reading Susanna Kearsley's "Bellewether" now. A much better distraction.
Mail Update: Received a letter from/owe a response to: Carmen/Malta, Nina/WA, Lotte/Denmark, Celia/MA and Kimber/Canada.
Posted by Hanna at 07:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, September 21, 2020
North Fork Weekend
Monday night - mid September. And it's cold. I am enjoying the nice autumn/fall weather but it's a bit cold at night for my taste. Only slightly above
freezing overnight at the moment. That's more normal for October rather than early-mid September. But won't complain too much. The days have been pretty nice and I am enjoying the fall sweater weather. :)
Had a nice long weekend with good weather as well. Work was busy Monday to Wednesday but then we were off Thursday to Sunday so that was nice. Just a small extended weekend break. Drove to the North Fork on Long Island for some R&R and vineyard hopping. :)
Thursday morning we started with breakfast at our local diner Elmer's. Yum. Then headed out to Long Island and arrived at our first vineyard Kontokosta by 1pm. This vineyard is the furthest one out on the North Fork and is always super pretty to me as it is located by the bluffs with views over the Sound. Vineyards don't usually have ocean views so that's always neat to me. Had a bottle of wine there while sitting outside enjoying the pretty views. From there we went to One Woman which we discovered the last time we were out on LI. It's a much smaller operation but they grow Gruener Veltliner which is always fun to find outside of Austria. So hung out there for a while before ending at Osprey. Followed by a delicious seafood dinner at A Lure. Shared crabcakes and shrimp cocktail. Yum.
Friday morning we went to Starbucks before heading to Paumanok for our 11am reservation (due to COVID all the vineyards were doing something different - some requiring reservations - others doing walk-in, some bottles-only, some glasses, some tasting flights, some no) Ordered two different tastings flights there along with some crusty baguette with olive oil. Paumanok has a really pretty rustic deck and the weather, while a bit cool, was still nice to sit outside and be comfortable. From there we continued on to Jamesport Vineyard which was right next door. When looking them up I saw that they had a woodfired pizza oven so we decided to go check that out. The pizza was pretty good but not crazy amazing but the place was still a lot of fun. Tried a few different wines. And from there ended at Coffeepot Cellars. Always our favorite of course. One of the owners Laura is just such a sweetheart and their pug Beasley is the most adorable dog ever.
Had a light dinner at First and South in Greenport. Had some delicious seafood chowder and shared an antipasto platter. Eventually made our way back to the hotel (Indigo) and hung out in the hotel restaurant/bar for a bit longer.
Saturday was our day to go home but still had a good day. Stopped at Starbucks again in the morning after checking out and then went to Lenz for our 11am reservation. Had two tasting flights plus some cheddar cheese, crackers and prosciutto. From there we went to Bedell. They were doing walk-in only and it wasn't too crazy busy yet when we got there. Were able to grab a table and even though it felt a bit like a wind tunnel it was still nice. Also had some delicious shrimp cocktail that they were selling. Yum. From there we were going to stop at Pindar but when we got there we took one look around and pretty much decided to leave. Way way too many people scattered around everywhere, lawn chairs, people in big groups, just really not our scene. So instead we stopped at Coffeepot one last time, said hi to Laura and Beasley, had some more wine and then drove home from there.
And the good thing was that we then still had Sunday to spend at home and relax. So that all worked out pretty well. And Saturday you could already tell the traffic was getting crazy out on the North Fork so it was good we planned it a different way.
Mail Update: Received a letter from/owe a response to: Carmen/Malta, Nina/WA, Lotte/Denmark, Celia/MA and Kimber/Canada.
Posted by Hanna at 07:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, September 14, 2020
Random musings
And here we are, into the middle of September already. Just a few days away from the official start of fall. it's definitely starting to feel like autumn/fall. I do like this season. I just don't like the foreboding feeling of what comes after it. The cold, ice, snow and dreariness of winter. But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet I suppose.
Last week went fine. I did end up working Thursday and Friday because Mike had a work conflict. So we pushed our two nights away to this week instead. Not the end of the world and gives me something to look forward to this week at least. :)
The weekend was pretty low key, didn't do too much. On Saturday we had lunch in Westport at Rizzuto's and after headed to Centrico and met up with John and Jana, followed by a bunch of Schitt's Creek binging on Netflix. Sunday we also slept in and then headed to the Marketplace in Danbury. We thought they were rolling out their new brunch menu but apparently that didn't start just yet. Oh well. Still had a nice lunch and 1/2 price wine on Sundays so no complaints. Eventually got our grocery shopping done and then more Schitt's Creek binging. We're about halfway into season 5 now. Season 6 isn't on Netflix yet - hopefully soon.
Anyway, that's about all the news at the moment. Having a low key night tonight. Going to make a sauteed chicken dish with squash. And then will continue reading "Belleweather" by Susanna Kersley. I also really should write some letters. I am so so behind with my letters. Just haven't been in the mood at all. I think because normally I would be writing in my letters about my travels, shows we have seen, concerts or museums we have gone to. And now there really isn't anything like that to write about. I feel like I am constantly just hanging in limbo. I mean I shouldn't complain. We have been making the best of it, having some nice lunches and times at vineyards etc. But there just isn't much else to do.
Mail Update: Received a letter from/owe a response to: Nina/WA, Lotte/Denmark, Celia/MA and Kimber/Canada.
Posted by Hanna at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, September 07, 2020
Labor Day Weekend
Today is Monday but it's a holiday here in the US so that means I am off - yay. It's day three of our three day weekend. Of course time always flies by
way too quickly but can't complain really. The weather has been absolutely beautiful this weekend. In mid-high 70ies (25C), sunny and low humidity.
Saturday we went for brunch at J. Lawrence. Then stopped at Supercuts so I could get my long overdue haircut (just got a lot of the dead ends chopped off and some layers put in to add some more volume - definitely feels a lot lighter and less dead now) and after that made our way to Centrico where we met up with John. Hung out there for a while. Always a fun place to sit and just chill. They had the firepit going and even though it got a bit cool at night it was still nice sitting outside.
Yesterday, Sunday, we went for a nature walk at the Audubon Society in Fairfield. Always a nice place. It's not huge but they have some pretty trails. Marshy, swampy, wooded. We spent some time there and enjoyed the weather before heading to Flipside for lunch. I had the MacFlip burger which is their take on a McDonald's Big Mac and absolutely delicious. Plus Sunday is half price margarita day so I had two Pink Grapefruit Margaritas. So good.
Watched "Irresistible" when we got home which I thought was a really good movie and a great take on today's world and politic landscape. After that binged some more of Schitt's Creek. And well here we are. Now it's Monday.
Heading to Mill House Brewing Company in Poughkeepsie for lunch and then we'll see where the rest of the day takes us. I have an early presentation at work tomorrow so do need to plan on going to bed at a reasonable time tonight. But luckily it's only 10am right now so the day is still ahead of us. Plus we also took Thursday and Friday off this week so I only have Tuesday and Wednesday as work days. Then we're off to the North Fork for some vineyard relaxation days. So can't complain. :)
Mail Update: Received a letter from/owe a response to: Nina/WA, Lotte/Denmark, Celia/MA and Kimber/Canada.
Posted by Hanna at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)