Layout:
Home > Another road trip

Another road trip

August 22nd, 2016 at 01:51 am

Me, dad and R. went on our third road trip together. This time, we visited Chester and Essex, Connecticut, two quaint little towns along the Connecticut River.

There was a fun little Farmer's Market going on in Chester when we arrived.


My dad grows elderberries, so when he saw this guy selling elderberry syrup, he got talking to the seller and I think was hooked on buying it before learning the price was $20 for a small 8 oz jar. But he bought it anyway.

Then we had lunch at a pretty nice restaurant. It was a tiny place; when I walked to the rest rooms, I basically walked right through the kitchen.

After this we swung by where the ferry departs from one side of the Connecticut River to the other. The ferry holds about 6 cars only. On the other side is Gillette Castle, a fun place to explore.



From there we went on to Essex and had an ice cream cone at a place recommended to us by the people who sat next to us at lunch. She recommended the strawberry ice cream in particular,and dad didn't regret getting it...it had real strawberries in it.

During the trip we stopped at a farm stand and we all bought something. I saw this box of roma tomatoes and wound up buying it becus it seemed like such a good deal. It was filled to the top when I bought it.



I paid just $15. Dad said it had to weigh at least 15 lbs. When I got home, just becus I was curious, I weighed it. It weighed 26 lbs! So I got a whole lot of tomatoes for .57 a lb. I cooked down about 12 lbs of it tonight. I'm freezing it all so I can use it to make my soups and chilis this winter.

It's now raining pretty hard so i ran out because I was afraid the caterpillars would get soaked again. When I got home from the trip I sopped some rainwater that had collected in the bottom of the aquarium and accidentally jostled the parsley and one of the caterpillars fell into the water. I scooped it up in like 2 seconds and lay it down on the dirt but it looked dead. I ws horrified. I remembered reading that if this happens, don't toss the caterpillar out. Just let it be. Sure enough, I checked on it again a half hour later and it was no longer in the dirt.

But it was really raining hard so with a flashlight in the dark I went out and very carefully lifted the entire aquarium and carried it inside the garage, at least for the night. It keeps raining too much. The rest of the caterpillars all look like they're ready to turn into chrysalis anyway so I may keep it in there for a while as I keep doing daily checks to see if any emerge.


I thought this was an interesting picture...the old and the new....

4 Responses to “Another road trip”

  1. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    1471836662

    Those tomatoes almost look as if they have been waxed and buffed to give that soft sheen. Beauti-ous!....Elderberry juice has twice helped me with viral illness, most remarkably with the bronchitis I had last month. For me bronchitis can hang on for months. When it was nearly cleared, some days I forgot the elderberry juice, and by night-time a little cough would return. If I did not forget, no cough. Plus it reminds me of Grandma, who made jelly from the bush in my mother's back yard and sealed the jelly glasses with paraffin. Smile

  2. My English Castle Says:
    1471894062

    Sounds like a lovely time with your dad.

  3. LuckyRobin Says:
    1471907341

    That is a fantastic deal for tomatoes. If you get tired of cooking them down, you can throw some in the crockpot overnight, too, on low. At least if your crockpot doesn't run hot like some of the older ones do.

  4. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1471916755

    I'm loving hearing about your road trips with your dad. Smile

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]