Mansfield Hollow dam.

I was enjoying my afternoon siesta when my dear hubby woke me up to ask me if I wanted to go visit the hollow dam. If you know me and my husband, you know how much I crib about him not taking me out. So, when he asked, I honestly thought that I was dreaming. He asked again and told me to get ready if I wanted to go. I sprang to action and was ready before he could ask again. (I was afraid that he would change his mind)

We left with a bottle of water. Mansfield hollow dam is 10 mins from our house. We were there by 630 pm. The air was just right and the temperature perfect. You can see the words "Hollow dam" on the building behind us.

This is what the dam looks like from the other side.

 It has lovely trails to walk on. The information desk says that the trails have lovely sights to see of the lake and stunning shots of the woods.

 

We walked till the actual lake. It seems that the water comes from 3 rivers but I can't remember any. Stunning!

We walked till the point there is a lake, we found the level shallow and tried to experience it. Nice and cool.

There is an Indian restaurant nearby and close to the dam. All that walking made us hungry and I was craving for some spicy fried stuff. We ordered a vegetable appetizer platter and nothing else (much to the dismay of the manager) and enjoyed. He didn't ask us to eat much after looking at the smile of satisfaction on my face :)

3rd Thursday Street Fest at Willimantic

Willimantic is really a lovely town. I am so glad that we we were sent here. This town really has everything. Walmart, Family store, Home depot, Kohl's, Food coop and just everything really and the most helpful person I have met - Mr Paul who helps Foreign students with his truck.

Just when I thought that it really has everything, I came to know about the https://www.facebook.com/3rdThursdayStreetFest and got a chance to visit it too. I have never seen so many people in one place in Willimantic, not even in Walmart ;) 

Starting May, The third thursday of every month becomes the most eventful day till Sept.

Can you see the depth in the photo? There were soo many stalls, It took us almost an hour to walk and see it all. This site will give you more info if you like - http://willimanticstreetfest.com/ We saw it all, the food vendors, the free books, the promotions, the petitions, the lovely jewellery stores...everything. You can see the clicks on their facebook page.

There is one thing that I couldn't help not click. This!

 

There is one thing I personally didn't like. I was troubled my the loud noise of the bands but I am sure that it is just me who felt like that.

 Anyway, It is lovely to have such a beautiful community activity in the town and to meet some of the people.

Spring in Connecticut

As per the almanac, 21st June is the start of Summer in the USA. There isn't much change in the temperature yet but I am sure it will get hot gradually. So far, Spring was the best time I have experienced here. Spring is supposed to start from March 20th, but we had snow and though I can't remember when it started getting warmer, we had a good amount of fun. We went on a picnic, we went to NYC and NJ twice and also spent a Victorian day at Willimantic. 

Besides that, Spring gave us many beautiful pictures. The snow covered pond got a very beautiful fountain that made it easier to enjoy the evening walks.

Also, the beautiful sky has given me so many beautiful evenings. Incidentally, the blue sky I loved so much in the winter (that kept me company till my husband came) is still there but it now surrounds us when we sleep.

There are soooo many flowers during Spring. We have enjoyed many beautiful roses, peonies and daffodils. I saw tulips for the first time in real life and loved it.

The beautiful part is that the government plants many beautiful flowering plants in between junctions and they look lovely.

and where it doesn't, there are beautiful yellow and white wild flowers that grow and it is so lovely to look at while driving.

 Not just the plants, the trees bloom too. This is a picture of dogwood. The day we came from India, we saw a lovely cherry blossom and my husband and I both said wow. Sadly we have not been able to see it again but the trees are lovely too. I have not been able to click many pics of trees but I like it here.

Wonder what summer has in store for us!!!

Victorian day at Willimantic

Willimantic has had the most happening weekend. We had a Victorian theme happening, http://www.victorianwillimantic.org/ and though my hubby couldn't take me around on Saturday we did make it a point to visit a Victorian garden hosted by Master Gardener Pamela Wright and the very humble Jim Wright. Below is a pic of their house and a part of their lovely garden.

They are lucky to have a place close to the Willimantic river. Words will spoil the beauty of the experience.

Like any Victorian garden, theirs had wrought iron patio furniture, garden accessories and other garden decor.

and a beautiful and well maintained patio.

 We spent a few precious minutes at the garden.

and we also got an opportunity to click a pic with the lovely Pam who showed us around and gave us information on the victorian garden with so much love. It was so nice to see her in the complete Victorian dress

Until next time,

A day in NYC

Without a doubt in my mind, this post is dedicated to my cousin Anil bhaeya and Komal bhabhi, without whom this trip would might be possible but not as successful and enriching as it was. Here we are at with them and their son at the NJ Jenkinson beach's board walk.

I am a deep sleeper and rarely lose my night sleep for anything. Surprisingly, on the night before we were to go visit NYC, I couldn't sleep. It took me some time to fall asleep and I got up more than once to see what time it was. My husband who slept like a log, told me that the reason that I kept getting up was excitement. I told him that I actually felt fear. We stay in the lovely town in Willimantic which could actually be called a village. People are courteous and bus drivers are the friendliest that I have seen. So to go to NYC was a little unnerving as I have heard horrid stories of NYC from people who have visited it once.

As I sat in the bus and looked at trees pass me by, I wondered. I had not even heard about the Rockefeller museum or most of the attractions that I wanted to see. So, why did I want to go there and how would it change my life?

We clicked a pic in the bus as we sat. Just like a "Before" picture.

 

We reached NYC Port authority a little after noon and as we were deciding on which way to go and see the Times Square, A gentleman came near us and told us to go out from the stairs. We were so surprised and said thank you and left but we were definitely not done with the surprises for that moment. We went up and asked a person standing there to tell us where Time's square is. He told us that we were on Times Square. I was so surprised. I didn't realize that TS was so huge. It is actually a few streets and not just this place that is shown in the movies. :P

And, as we were discussing this, the gentleman, whom we had first met, came again and told us to continue walking on this road and we could enjoy the street. After this he left, and for some reason, we felt... I still don't know how I felt but it does feel good knowing that there are helpful people still around.

I have done many silly things in life but this is by far the most silliest thing I have ever done. - Stand in front of a giant screen and wait for the camera to capture us with a few other people and wave. Can you spot my husband and me? 

I love the fact that people in USA are patriotic and genuinely seem to respect the soldiers. We saw Military being loved at the Times Square.

We passed the Ripley's believe it or not museum. We were short on time and didn't want to spend our whole day doing just one thing. Hence, we decided to skip the Madame Tussauds for another time.

 

and this was our time spent on TS. We headed towards Rockefeller centre. On the way we came across the Marriot and... I have seen many big buildings in Mumbai but this building took my breath away for a sec and gave me a slight strain to click this pic.

The NYC taxi advertising is by far the best campaign I have seen. It is so perfect. It is at perfect human eye level and can't be missed.

On the way to Rockefeller, We took a lane which was not what we intended but did end up being on Broadway. :D Funny how Life works out.

We saw this pretty piano bar and I was pleased to see the decor from the out.

The Rockefeller center was ok. We saw many a big news buildings like FOX and NBC.

This was probably the best part of being at NYC.

After being done with all the streets, we headed towards Central Park, to visit and wait for my bhaeya to come pick us up.

 It is a lively, beautiful and fun place to be.

 I like the fact that this pretty and green park is situated right in the middle of this crazy city.

One thing I noticed about the birds, they were not scared of humans and seemed to enjoy being photographed.

 Some pics of my hubby with the beautiful skyline and a monument inside the park.

As we waited for my bhaeya, we sat on the bench of Love. Do zoom in to read what it says.

Bhaeya took us around to see the night lights at NYC. We were too tired to click much pics. And, though this is not a good pic, I still have it to keep it as memory of the night. By the way, the blue white red building that you see is the Empire State building.

This is how we spent our evening in NYC. It was not the most breath taking moment's in my life and... well... I am still grateful to have gone there. We did see the Yankee stadium from our bus.

One thing that I felt but is hard to explain in words is the feeling of seeing a fellow indian. There is something that transpires when you look in their eyes...it is a feeling of joy and acknowledgement and... Well it is hard to put it in words...have you felt this?

I hope to spend more time in NYC and visit the main attractions... Well, I am sure that day will come soon.. Till then, keep me in your prayers and do keep smiling. :D

 

Picnic at Alex Caisse Park

The mausam is awesome, We feel like we are staying on a hill station. The days are loooong and I really find it odd to see this dark blue colored sky when I go the bed.

My dear hubby and I decided to go on a picnic at the park right behind the house. I was googling to see the correct spelling of the park and found this nice aerial link which gives such a pretty view of the place where we stay and the park. Do you see the group of trees right behind the park? The building we stay in is under the mini forest - as I like to call it and simply love.

Though I wish I can spend some time in downtown Willimantic and click pics of some really pretty trees and amazing architecture, this post is about the park and the pretty stuff near us. Tulips are in bloom and I had never seen them until now.

Though I miss the calendar tree, (Pink beautiful flowers) Gulmohar and the yellow flowering trees of Mumbai, I got to see some beautiful white flowering tree in Willimantic.

 It is a beautiful scene from our window to see these flowering trees.

 

And there are many pretty flowering shrubs in the area. This one with pink flowers is at the bend of the road and looks so pretty. Sadly, my camera (or my photography skills) don't do any justice to its beauty

 This is one more shrub/plant I saw on the short walk to our picnic and a delight to look at. It is barely 2 inches above ground level but does make you stop and pay some attention to it.

 

We intended to have the picnic on sunday but we had to go shopping for Indian groceries and decided to post pone it to a weekday and add some thrill to our week.

I made veg burgers and Green tea and took along some chips and hummus(incase the burgers don't fill our tummy) and we sat under this stunning tree.

 

and shared this pretty view.

It is so nice to see that there are picnic tables at the park.

 

and this is the other side of the park. There is a Gazebo (that u can see in the aerial view as well.) and such a nice feeling to see the clean and ready to use parks. Hope I can get more picnics here.

So, there I am, with everything ready to eat.

We wanted to invite our new friends but we are the only vegetarians we know and .. well..hope we can do it one day. Hence the selfies.

 On our way back, we clicked a pic of the way to our home. I love the green around and make it a point to be out there more often. :)