Two Roads to Asylum

A few weeks ago at a jazz concert, we sampled local gin, vodka and whiskey. Today we visited the Asylum Distillery in Bridgeport for a 4 PM tour. We decided to add-on a visit to Two Roads; we've been meaning to check that out for a long time.

We tasted five beers at Two Roads. then five spirits: vodka. gin, corn whiskey, aged corn whiskey, ginger flavored vodka (a win-win for us) at Asylym. Perhaps the best part was tasting some of the flavorings the distillery was testing: cinnamon, cucumber, caraway, coriander, cardamom, lemongrass. Everyone correctly guessed cinnamon; a few of us got cucumber. No one guessed caraway (and I love rye bread with caraway seeds.) It was a fun afternoon.

Happy 200th Birthday Henry David Thoreau

I learned about Thoreau's birthday in this article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine.

I've never gone off to live in the wilderness. I only went camping once. But I love hiking on trails, in parks and in preserves. I snatch what little pieces of nature that I can; I find it peaceful and meditative to walk in those pieces of nature.

After I read the essay, I realized that I haven't read Walden. I vaguely remember reading an essay or two, but not the complete work.

Then I remembered that we have this copy of Walden. I checked the bookshelf and also found this book by Thoreau.

I've got my next two books to read lined up.

Catching Up on...June

June was a missed opportunity.

June was the month where I should have caught up on long term projects.

I barely worked. It would have been the perfect time to do all the new SAT and ACT practice tests and to clean, reorganize and re-decorate our second bedroom.

All I can say is that I did very few of those things.

Here we are approaching mid-July, and I'm still catching up on the things I should have done in June.

What can I say? I can't get back the time of June that I lost. I just have to muddle ahead.

Four Leaf Clover

It was rainy most of the day. I took Lola out to the back yard in the early afternoon and found this: my first four leaf clover. I can use a symbol of good luck and the good luck that comes with it.

Unfortunately, I can't find specific types of luck.

Oh well, I'll take what I can.

Seven of Ten

Today we visited our seventh new trail of the year: another part of the Wilton loop of the Norwalk River Valley Trail: the west side loop. We walked behind a restaurant in Wilton Center around a field, across Merwin Meadows Park. I had heard of Merwin Meadows, but didn't know there was a lake and beach there.

We walked along the river and took the fork towards Wilton High. We can try the upper school loop another day. We all enjoyed the walk.

Earlier we had lunch at Sedona Tap House: Wagyu beef and pulled pork sliders and stuffed jalapenos.

A nice holiday.

Six of Ten

Today I made progress on my goal of exploring ten new hiking spots with Lola this year. We went to Oak Hills Park. Oak Hills is primarily known for its golf course. It also has tennis courts, a restaurant and nature trails.

We've gone to Oak Hills with Spike a few times. But there are new trails now. We started on the blue trail, which is the steeper one, crossed over to the yellow trail on our way back. It was a short hike of 25 minutes, but it was around 1 PM and hot and humid. We went out to Taylor Farm later when it was cooler for another short walk.

It was nice to take another step toward my hiking goal.

A Lazy Summer Saturday Morning

We didn't have anything scheduled for today until a dinner with my mother at five. So Jeff and I just relaxed this morning. I got up around 8, went out front to pick up my New York Times: I couldn't wait to get my word game. I've gotten quite good at it: I regularly achieve genius status in just a few hours. For today's puzzle, I'm at genius level but still struggling to find the word that uses all seven letters.

When I got the paper, I also got a surprise: a package from Plated. The contents were still cold: two good dinners of seared steak with potatoes and tomato vinaigrette and salmon poke with seaweed salad.

I lingered over my puzzle, journal, email, newspaper and breakfast. I made the bed and did the dishes from last night's dinner.

I only felt slightly guilty.

Am I A Summer Child?

My last post on the Mets was an optimistic one. It was obviously a good night for Curtis, but as I wrote, I wanted to hope and wanted to believe.

But then the Nationals came to town. They won the first three games, with the Mets salvaging the fourth. Next the Mets headed to Los Angeles where the Dodgers beat up on them for four games. The only good thing about the series was that it was on too late for us to witness the massacres.

I  began to wonder: am I just being naive? Am I a summer child from Game of Thrones?

“Oh, my sweet summer child," Old Nan said quietly, "what do you know of fear? Fear is for the winter, my little lord, when the snows fall a hundred feet deep and the ice wind comes howling out of the north. Fear is for the long night, when the sun hides its face for years at a time, and little children are born and live and die all in darkness while the direwolves grow gaunt and hungry, and the white walkers move through the woods.” ― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

Is my winter a disastrous season for the Mets? Who are the white walkers?

Thank goodness the next stop for the Mets on their west coast swing was San Francisco. This time the Mets swept the Giants. I wondered maybe I wasn't a summer child. But as someone (Keith Hernandez I think) said this doesn't mean the Mets are good. It's just that the Giants are so bad.

The next series in Miami started badly, but the Mets won the last two games and the series.

Back home the Mets beat the Phillies in their first two games. It's been a roller coaster two weeks of Mets baseball.

I can't let it go without discussing the death of Anthony Young. AY was the definition of a bad luck pitcher: despite his respectable ERA of 3.89, AY holds the Mets record of 27 straight losses. AY was liked and respected by the Mets faithful. We're sorry to lose him so soon.