Weekend in Connecticut

Anna and I decided to take a couple of days and visit my brother Leo down in Old Lyme, CT, before all his empty bedrooms fill up with homeless relatives. (No, you'll have to ask HIM about that.) He and I get together a couple of times a year to yak and catch up on old memories. As soon as Anna and I arrived, Anna wanted to know where Leo's fabulous cookies were! Leo laughed and told her he was all out, and that she'd have to make them herself. Out came the flour, sugar, chocolate chips, etc, etc, that were needed to make these wonderful caloric bombs. While they cooked, I flopped on the sofa with a good book. (I'm not stupid. :-)) In a short time 5 dozen gorgeous cookies emerged from that overworked oven and filled the house with an incredible aroma.

Leo and I spent the evening looking at some ancient photos and talking about our dear ones who've gone on before. Anna was bored brainless, but, hey, I spent hours being bored when I was 16. It's my turn to be the grown-up! Let's hear it for being an adult!! Yea!!

The following morning we went to a small art museum located right in downtown Old Lyme (stop giggling!) It was the Florence Griswold Art Museum and labeled itself the "home of American Impressionism". Miss Florence Griswold was a middle-aged maiden lady whose father, a sea captain, had left her penniless and loaded with debt. He also left her a huge federal style house on Lyme Street. Miss Griswold took in boarders in the summer to keep body and soul together. One of her summertime guests was an artist from New York City. He was so taken with Miss Griswold, her house, and the surrounding Old Lyme countryside that he persuade several of his artist friends to board there also. They founded an art colony of American impressionist painters that lasted for decades. The artists even had contests that involved painting the inside of the house! A new museum was built behind the old house in 2002 and has three large rooms filled with breathtakingly lovely impressionist art. The house is also part of the museum, decorated as it was around 1915. There are even more paintings in the house, not to mention the walls and door panels that had been decorated by the artists themselves. Who could imagine such a place in Old Lyme? Who knew??

BTW, poor Miss Griswold died in 1939, a penniless bankrupt whose house and belongings were sold to cover the money she owed.

Anna and I headed back to New Hampshire that afternoon, trying to beat the weather and the rush hour traffic. We'd had a wonderful time with my "much older big brother" (he's going to kill me for that. . .) I hope we get to see him again before next Thanksgiving.