Fall Fun Days!

Dear Family and Friends,

Every September/October Joey and I have what we call "Fall Fun Days". These are days when we don't have a lot going on and are able to go do something "fall" related, such as visit an orchard, go leaf peeping, bake fall inspired creations, visit a pumpkin patch, watch a fall themed movie, etc. It's always a lot of fun and we have many great memories as a result. This past Sunday Clara got to experience her first "Fall Fun Day". After church we set out for an orchard in Guilford, CT and put the GPS on "avoid highways". We didn't really know where the GPS would take us, but we ended up going on a beautiful, very scenic fall drive through the countryside and quaint little New England towns (A drive which would have taken us about 45 minutes on the highway ended up taking 2 and half hours), but it was well worth it. We even took our car on a ferry boat in order to cross the Connecticut River. Here are some pictures from our "Fall Fun Day" at Bishop's Orchard in Guilford. We bought a few pumpkins and some amazing apple cider doughnuts. (Those didn't last very long!) We hope you also have some nice Fall Fun Days this month!

"Great Hope Springs"

Film Crew painting mural on the side of a restaurant called "Noah's" which has been re-named "Nor'easter Diner" for the film

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy October! The weather is starting to cool, and the leaves are starting to turn. October is, and always has been, my favorite month of the year. Maybe it's because I was born in October, the childhood memories of dressing up for Halloween and going trick-or-treating, the beauty of the changing season, or perhaps just the anticipation of the several wonderful holidays approaching during the months following October, but I have always absolutely loved this month. I was recently in the grocery store, and Clara started fussing while I still needed about 30 minutes of shopping time. In order to appease her, I grabbed a bag of candy corn and let her play with the bag in her stroller while I finished shopping. It worked! She loved the bright colors of the candy and the sound of the crinkling plastic. (In the future I plan to bring an actual baby toy along for Clara to occupy herself with so that she doesn't grow up thinking she can fuss in the store and get candy as a result! haha) I snapped a picture after we got home, because she was still enjoying playing with the wrapped candy corn while Joey and I put away the groceries. (Don't worry, we didn't let her eat any!!!)

The big news in Stonington Borough the last week or so has been the filming of a 30 million dollar Hollywood movie called "Great Hope Springs". The movie stars Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carrell. It is supposedly a comedy about a married couple who decide to attend sex and relationship counseling, because after 30 years of marriage they are struggling to keep the spark going in their relationship. The movie is set in the fictional town of "Great Hope Springs" Maine, which is actually Stonington Borough. It's been interesting observing different aspects of the filming. Last Monday I took Clara for a walk in her carrier, not realizing that filming had begun. We walked down Water Street, which is the main street where all of the shops and restaraunts are located, and happened upon a scene being shot with Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones. We had a pretty good view. I've never been celebrity obsessed, but I do admire people who are able to essentially perfect their craft, and Meryl Streep has definitely achieved that. I love her work, and so it was a treat for me to see her in person filming a scene. A nice lady watching the filming offered to take a photo of Clara and me and then e-mail it to us. (see photos above) Meryl Streep is in the picture under the arrow I added, but you would never know since her back is turned and she is so far away. At least I can say truthfully that Clara and I are in a picture with Meryl Streep. The top picture shows Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones filming a scene.

The film crew has created different sets in the Borough. They made fake store fronts in some of the building windows along Water Street, built a fake movie theater, renamed a restaurant and re-decorated the outside of it, and turned the lovely Stonington Inn into "Captain's Inn at Great Hope Springs." They also shot scenes at Stonington Point, the Lighthouse Museum and at a house two houses down from Calvary Church. It's going to be really interesting to see the movie. Even if it turns out to be the worst movie ever shot, we will still have to own a copy. This is actually the second Hollywood film to be shot in the Borough. "Mystic Pizza", starring Julia Roberts in the early 90's, also included many scenes here.

In family news, Clara is going to be baptized at our church on October 16th. My parents will be here visiting and my aunt and uncle from Virginia are coming up for the Baptism. We are really looking forward to the service. Joey also has an adult choir Evensong service that afternoon for which I will be playing the violin. It should be a fun weekend with family and new church friends. Here's wishing you a fabulous start to October!

Erin, Joey and Clara

Home Sweet Stonington

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm sorry that it has been so long since my last blog. September has been such a busy month already. As you know, we moved from Wallingford to Stonington at the end of August. We spent one night in the dark thanks to Hurricane Irene, but recovered power on the 1st of September. It took us a while to get our things sorted out and put away in our new house, but it is starting to really feel like home now, and we are enjoying the space. Our house has an interesting history. According to locals, it started out as a fishing shack, later turned into the village candy store and was eventually purchased and expanded into the large house it is today. The house has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a large study, a den, a formal living room, a deck and a padio. Needless to say, we have more than enough space! Our favorite part of the house is the upstairs deck because it has great views of the ocean. We can see Rhode Island from our house! We feel blessed to be able to live in such a beautiful home and location. The weather is starting to cool now, and we enjoy walking down to Stonington Point and looking at the water. We are hoping for a beautiful New England fall.

Stonington Point at dusk

Guest Room-Come Visit!!!

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

The Deck-Our favorite part of the house!

Back yard patio

Going to the Beach

Joey has been keeping busy with his new church job. One of his big projects is creating a choral program at Calvary for children ages 6-18. So far he has recruited around 10 kids, and this past Sunday his new choristers joined in an Evensong service at Calvary with two other children's choirs from CT. Joey was really pleased with how well the kids sang and participated. Over 100 people attended the service and there was a lovely reception held afterword.

Joey conducting choristers at Evensong service

In Clara news...Clara turned 5 months old yesterday. She is changing so much. She talks and squeals and enjoys rolling over on her tummy. She had a good 4-month doctor's appointment. She is now over 15 pounds and is 25.4 inches long. That puts her in the 80th percentile for height. The most exciting news is that she is now eating real food! We started with rice cereal, and now she has added pears and bananas to her food list. We introduce something new each week to allow time to make sure she doesn't have an allergic reaction to anything. At first she wasn't really sure what to do with the food on a spoon, but now she sees it coming and opens her mouth in anticipation. It's so much fun to feed her and see how she reacts to different tastes.

Clara enjoying some bananas

Clara is 5 months old!

I have started teaching violin through Calvary's Music School. I am meeting new students this week. Right now I am offering lessons on the afternoons when Joey is free so that we don't have to put Clara in child care. I have a few performance gigs coming up in the area, so I am looking forward to that as well. I also really enjoy playing for Joey's church services. On 911, I played the Barber Adagio for Strings with Joey on the organ. The emotions of the Adagio seemed appropriate for such a somber day of remembrance.

Joey's parents and sister stayed with us over the past three weeks. We had a great time with them, and Joey's dad and sister got to meet Clara for the first time. We had fun showing them around the Mystic area and Stonington Borough. My parents are coming for a short visit on October 12th, so we are looking forward to that as well.

Joey and I have always loved fall, and we are excited for Clara to experience fall for the first time. We have some fun things planned. We wish you all a great start to fall. I will try not to go so long without posting next time. Best wishes for a wonderful September!

Erin, Joey and Clara