One Perfect Day In Eastford

We took Friday off and had one perfect day in Eastford. Since we moved, I have had my ups and downs with coming to terms with the fact that we live in the middle of nowhere. But Friday sealed the deal that we made the right decision.

We started the day with a leisurely breakfast in our screened porch. Yes, I said leisurely! I'm not quite sure how that happened, but it did and it was blissful. When I walked out onto the back deck I found two huge flowers on our plant. What a surprise. Rick and Nancy left the plant for us and I had no idea they would sprout such beautiful flowers. Here's some pics of them:



Next we took an incredibly scenic motorcycle ride up to Southbridge, MA. This is the closest shopping for us and it's a 15 minute drive on one of Connecticut's "scenic byways." There is no question that I would rather drive 13 miles on beautiful backroads with no traffic than 4 miles with constant traffic lights and people in my way.

We did one-stop shopping and found everything we needed in one little plaza: a hardware store, a Radio Shack, a Big Y and our favorite . . . Job Lots. We only went into Job Lots because we were killing time waiting for Radio Shack to open. Every time we walk into that store Karlo asks, "Do we need a big cart?" and every time I say "No, we are only going to buy what we can carry." hoping that keeps our spending down. But it never works. This time I decided that we NEEDED a rocking chair. Hmmmm, that might be tricky to carry home on a motorcycle. But we bought it anyway and had to drive back with the car to get it.

Anyway, we took our nice ride home and then took the dogs for their first hike since we moved in. Poor neglected dogs! We drove one mile up our street and parked the car. From there we walked about a mile to a secluded lake in the middle of the Yale Forest. This land is open to the public, but by the looks of it not a sole ever goes in there. As far as I am concerned, it's our own private lake. The dogs took a dip and cooled down. I think they will like it here.

By now it was time for an ice cream break. We took both motorcycles out this time and after the ice cream stop we took THE BEST motorcycle ride EVER. I mean, I would have paid a tour company to guide me on this ride. It was spectacular. Karlo took me down roads that were trails, but much tougher terrain than I ever did in the past. I thought I did great. There was only one part that I flat out refused to bike down. It was a steep drop off slick rock. Karlo was frustrated with me and said "Come on, you wouldn't think twice about this on your mountain bike." Hello!!! My mountain bike doesn't weigh 400 pounds with burning exhaust pipes. And I wouldn't cry if my mountain bike got all scratched up. (OK, maybe I would cry a little, but nothing as bad as if I wrecked my 'new to me' BMW). I think I deserved a little more credit for driving through the terrain that I did. Anyway, the rest of the ride was just so amazing I can't wait to do it again.

Came home, did more work and then had to go back to Southbridge to pick up the chair. This time we toured Sturbridge to check out the area. We found a great recreation area with a big lake and an awesome restaurant. We enjoyed the day so much that we didn't want it to end. When we got home at 9 PM, instead of calling it a day, we decided to continue working until past midnight. I put two coats of primer in our new rooms so that I could paint on Saturday. Things are looking up.