Happy New Year!

This photo was taken in Washington, DC in 1939. I suspect it was taken after the New Year came and it was 1940 however, the lady on the right looks a little tired and ready to go home. Notice how they are all drinking Canada Dry soda at the table? According to the background of this photo hotels in Washington DC did not hold liquor licenses until way into the 1960s.

I personally will not be wearing a gown tonight. (I did that a month ago for the Monmouth Hospital Benefit and that was enough although I loved my snazzy shoes.) This year I think I prefer a roaring fire at home and watching the snow come down that we are supposed to be getting tonight.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and good tidings for a prosperous and joy filled 2010!
~Suzanne Marie

Fly like Mercury with wings on your heels.

~Mercury~

This morning was an indoor 'relay only' track meet in New Haven for high school boys and girls teams. Old Lyme sent their team early this am and the wind and temperatures dipped way down to about 25 degrees. It felt in the single digits with the wind off the shore. But Audrey boarded the bus early with the team and we followed a little later by car. She ran the "hurdle shuttle" which is a relay hurdle event and it was one of the first events.

Upon arrival at the enormous gym-athletic complex in New Haven I was surprised how large it was and how many teams were there participating in the middle of Christmas vacation week. A few alumni showed up, home from their college breaks so it was good to see them again. All in all we watched until about the lunch break and then left Audrey to finish up watching and cheering for the rest of her team. She was finished for the day. Apparently a new pair of sprinting cleats are needed asap according to coach.

Audrey getting some pointers from the coaches before she runs the hurdles. She was injured last week at practice.

Audrey sitting after her event with her coaches. She's all smiles, she must have done well.

Some of the beautiful buildings of Yale University in New Haven.

Worcester Street, part of Worcester Square, an historic area in New Haven once populated by Italian Americans. It has a lovely square and many fine restaurants and beautiful brownstone buildings. We ate at "Pepe's" Pizza which claims to be the first pizzeria in Connecticut.
The same family operates this restaurant but they have opened others throughout Connecticut recently, including one in Fairfield County and one in Mohegan Sun Casino.

Wow! Stop the car.

Now this my friends, is how it's done.

And to think Martha Stewart herself grew up a few short miles from here in Nutley, NJ...

Fun Books for this time of year.

Here are some of the books I take out to enjoy this time of year and place them on the coffee table. Most were given to me as hostess gifts over the years and I so enjoy reading them and looking at the wonderful illustrations and photographs. Diane Smith the author of Christmas in Connecticut lives in Old Lyme part time and I particularly enjoy this book. The photographs and stories cover just about every corner of our small state and of course the title is a take-off on the famous classic movie title. Ms. Smith used to host a television program years ago that featured interesting places in the nutmeg state.

The book with Santa Claus on the cover has beautiful oil paintings by renowned artist George Hinke. Each painting on each page is so detailed you could spend ten minutes looking. Mr Hinke was born in Berlin, Germany in 1883 and was trained in the classic style of painting. He came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1923 where he worked in a printing shop until he opened his own studio. This book you see below was originally printed in Ideals Magazine in 1961 and was authored by someone know only as 'Sparkie.' Although Mr. Hinke died in 1954, Ideals Magazine printed this story along with his paintings as a tribute to him. You can see the influences of his German background in many of the paintings throughout the book; a charming German style clock, the outfits on the elves, and the castles in the backgrounds.

The back of the jacket of Christmas in Connecticut.

One third grader who had a very Merry Christmas this year!

The little book only measures 6"x 6" but it has lots of good ideas in it.

Merry Christmas from Old Lyme.

Wishing you and your families a safe, happy and restful Christmas filled with those you love.

"Merry Christmas, everyone." Charles Dickens.

~artwork done by H. McCormack, Bedford, NY.

I received this little poem in 1993. I thought you might like to read it too.

Out to dinner at The Griswold Inn

Tonight we all went out for a festive Christmas dinner. We chose an old inn in the town of Essex, Ct. about 10 minutes north of Old Lyme on the Connecticut River called The Griswold Inn. The Village itself was all decked out in its finery for Christmas and all of the colonial homes along Main St. as well as all the shops that coexist side by side with them looked very pretty at night.

During this time of year the Griswold Inn provides carolers for patrons and we enjoyed listening to them. When they came to our table to sing James requested "We Three Kings" and for the second time "Joy to the World" which was amazing. People throughout the restaurant applauded very loudly when they finished the latter.

By 9:00 it was back out into the cold, Sean was getting tired and I needed to do some more things for Christmas Eve. Santa will be at our house very soon!

Strolling minstrels came to each table and sang classic holiday songs some with a little twist of harmony. The two men and two women, were dressed in medieval costumes.

Essex Village center at night. So beautifully decorated at this time of year. The main street is very narrow with one way traffic with water on both sides making it a peninsula. Tiny side streets intersect the main street with homes tucked away and shops too. Across the street and around the corner from the Griswold Inn is the lighthouse and the marina. It can get very windy and chilly here this time of year.

Conversation with one of the singers still in his costume. That's a horse drawn buggy in front minus the horse. It's just for show.

Antoinette's Christmas shrimp salad. The best.

This recipe is a favorite in our family. I have no idea where it came from originally. It was passed down from generation to generation and now everyone calls it Antoinette's. Once you taste this you will never want to eat shrimp any other way at Christmas time. A very old dish that has been around for years in some circles and is now making the rounds in Old Lyme after I introduced it a few years back at a party I had. It is easy to make and like many dishes of this sort tastes much better when you make it ahead of time. Enjoy if you make it. Oh yes, it's good for you too.

1-2 pounds of cooked large shrimp with the tails off, cut in thirds
2 large tomatoes, cut in bite sized pieces
2 cloves of fresh garlic, sliced
1 large jar of red/green vinegar peppers either hot or sweet cut into bite sized pieces
1 bunch of very fresh scallions washed extremely well, chopped
1 can of pitted small black olives or 1 cup of pitted calamata olives
3-4 stalks of fresh celery sliced
4-5 fresh basil leaves chopped fine
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Combine all these ingredients and toss. You may have to go to an Italian grocery store or one that has an Italian specialties section to find the big vinegar peppers. Look for vinegar on the ingredients label if in doubt. Don't confuse these with roasted red peppers. They are not the same thing. Vinegar peppers are NOT roasted at all. Don't substitute because this adds to the overall flavor. Add olive oil to taste with salt and pepper. Let sit overnight in the fridge. Serve cold.

Next on the list, Aunt Chris' homemade pasta and Aunt JoJo's Rice Pudding (only 1,000 calories per teaspoon!!)

Snowy Sunday morning.

Overnight the wind was howling along the coast and the snow fell. When we woke up this morning we had about thirteen inches of snow as my youngest son measured with the tape measure. The crew was outside early shoveling including our house and those that share our dirt road with us. It was very quiet with no one on the roads yet and being a Sunday all you could hear was the wind blowing. But as the kids in the area woke up and saw the first real significant snowfall, little by little the cries and screams of snowball fights starting and snow angel making could be heard.
Some breakfast waiting.

Sophie and my youngest son had a great time running through the deep snow. At one point he went down the slide on his swing set and landed by accident face first in the snow but came up laughing anyway. Sophie runs or make that leaps like a deer through the snow when it's this deep and she's really funny to watch. Oscar saw the snow for the first time and he just acted confused by the whole thing and stayed on the porch and watched.

The snow even came up onto the front porch.

Sophie is a pretty big dog but she looks like a little shadow here in this photo. She likes to make her own tunnels in the snow.

Italian Christmas Cookies: Pizzelles

My son is coming home from college today and one of our traditions is to take out the two pizzelle makers and make lots of pizzelle cookies for Christmastime. We make some that are anise flavored, some vanilla and some in lemon that are a recent addition. They are light and don't hold a candle to the store bought kind. Here is the recipe we have been using since about 1990.


3 eggs
1 teaspoon anise extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 cup butter melted
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup confectioners sugar (optional) to sift on top

Beat eggs and sugar. Add cooled melted butter and vanilla and anise. Sift flour and baking powder and add to egg mixture. Batter will be stiff enough to drop by the spoon. Batter can be refrigerated to be used later. Of course you need to have a pizzelle baker to make this type of cookie. We use two pizzelle bakers at a time to make a double batch. They resemble a waffle iron of sorts and have the distinctive snowflake/poinsettia design on them that brands the cookies while baking. Cookies bake two at a time and only take about two minutes each to bake because they are so thin. This recipe makes about 30 pizzelles.

Mystic Valley Hunt Club Tea

I received this postcard invitation in the mail last night. As you can see it's for a tea at the Mystic Valley Hunt Club which is a very nice riding stable just over the Thames River about a half hour drive east of Old Lyme. They own about 165 pristine acres of pastureland and we have attended numerous horse shows there as well as a few CHSA finals as well. The thing I cannot imagine is where they will actually hold the tea this time of year. The indoor spaces consist of the barns and those are filled with stalls and rings. There are some beautiful outdoor spots with gazebos and decks but those are not suitable for this chilly weather. But then again these are horse folks so maybe it will be held outside who knows? I'd better dress warmly if I go just in case.

For the birds.

When I first moved to Old Lyme many years ago, Roger Tory Peterson and his wife were still alive and well and living in the town. He was writing his latest book and was in the process of heading a committee to bring back certain migratory birds to this area of New England that had been affected at one time by pollution in the Connecticut River. One species of birds were majestic bald eagles which are now a common sight in the winter months on the river in Old Lyme. Ospreys, now thanks to the Petersons' efforts have many, many platforms that were built for them in the marshes of Old Lyme to build their gigantic nests upon. Roger Tory Peterson died in 1996 as did his wife a few years later. They both are buried in our local cemetery, the Duck River Cemetery. They donated a good portion of their private land to open space preservation for the good of wildlife and birds.

You cannot live in this town and not be aware of the abundance and variety of birds. I have become a feeder of birds myself and even more so now that our beloved outdoor cat has died. (he would sit under the bird feeders waiting expectantly). A few days ago it was time to bring out one of our larger feeders and fill it. This one sits close to the kitchen windows and I can see birds all winter long. The others will be out in the woods.

For a few years in a row I have had a little Christmas tree dedicated to the birds too. Every year I add one bird ornament to my collection. Although the tree is not real and is quite tiny, it is fun for me to decorate all by myself and I keep it in the dining room. It started with the line from "The Twelve Days of Christmas", 'a partridge in a pear tree'. I came upon a very realistic looking partridge in a store in Vermont once. As you can see I have graduated to all types of birds now in a virtual aviary. The little snowy owl is my favorite. I purchased him at a popular store here in town called "The Bowerbird", how appropriate...

Squirrels will not venture up here. The dogs see to that.