we don't drink, we don't smoke, norfolk, norfolk!

i learned the cheer that became the title of this post from elizabeth, with whom i work. she went to a conservative christian high school where apparently that cheer was quite popular.

but we went to norfolk, ct instead of the virgina one and i think we made a good choice.

when dianna was in baghdad she made friends with anne garrels. dianna was anne's producer and somehow managed to convince her that we (lindsay, dianna, and i) should be invited to her house in connecticut. anne extended the offer, and we accepted, immediately. we had the MOST delightful time hanging out with annie and vint. i am really hoping that we are invited back. i tried to be on my best behaviour, but even that sometimes is still rough.

here are some photos of what we did...

this is us driving across the george washington bridge into manhattan on our way to norfolk.
the sunset was really gorgeous, though this doesn't totally capture it.

we arrived around 11:pm. annie had done up the guest house with at least a dozen beautiful bouquets of flowers sprinkled all around the house.
most definitely the hostess with the mostess

the next morning we headed over to their house for some breakfast. here is lindsay enjoying vint's famous cereal mix with greek yogurt and fresh-picked raspberries.

vint took us on a tour of his amazing garden.
i thought i was clever to bring some tomatoes, basil, and other goodies from my garden
it was totally unnecessary (though his tomatoes weren't ripe yet)
this is a masterpiece in gardening.
this is an action shot--vint is giving us a lesson in setting up good cages for tomato plants.

annie and vint's house was once a garage in the vast lawrence estate.

now its full of vint's art and all the cooking supplies you could ever want.

check out all of the life on this echinacea -- moths, bees, and flowers everywhere!

in norfolk you always have time to stop and smell the flowers

and feed the birds
the biodiversity is astounding
we saw a myriad of hummingbirds and other fowl

we decided that the best housewarming gift of 2007 was definitely worm poop
annie seemed to agree.

this will give you an idea of how well we ate.
everything was super fresh and in season, if not picked seconds before being served.
and SUPER delicious


there is a pond nearby named toby.
we swam and skinny dipped across it a couple of times.
we gave a young french teenage boy quite a thrill (more like a scare)
we thought we were alone and had left our clothes up on the dock
as i got out to get my stuff, there he was walking up

hopefully he's not too traumatized, being french and all.


the road to the pond

annie gave us a guided tour of the place
she even walks cool

this was once a chicken coop

this is the carriage that carried annie and vint to their wedding.
she is showing us all the names of the couples who had been married
with that carriage

they make maple syrup during the long winter--we took home a few samples
(though i think this is actually a butter churn)

this is part of the backyard of the guest house.

the guest house has a "sleeping porch"--a new england thing for enjoying the cool summer nights, we learned.

this is truffle. during one lunch he decided that the best place to sleep was on or under my feet.
i wasn't so thrilled, but he wasn't about to move, no matter how much kicking or jabbing i inflicted upon him

anne garrels, the voice of npr in baghdad. she had to leave early to go to amman, jordan. so we spent the last day keeping vint busy.

the sunset on our last full day

this is the same bridge we started out this post with.
it really felt like an omen, going from beauty and perfection to dark and dreary.

all three of us brought our bikes on my bike rack.
they almost came off my trunk on the new jersey turnpike.
i got seriously stressed
it was so scary
thankfully we were spared the horrors of watching three bikes fly off my trunk and crash into another car.