Live from the Estate

I use the term "Estate" quite loosely though... Just something that our neighbor said to us today that made me laugh.

We finally planted some evergreens on the property, the first of many installments to come, likely in the spring we'll screen the dog's pen and the other side of the house with some more. This time, most were planted for future screening between the neighbors. One in particular marks the beginning of a place to remember Sophia. I've even found a gorgeous granite (part polished, part rough) bench that we both love, just can't swing it right now. Maybe next year?


We were picking up a bunch of Hemlocks when we noticed a whole clearance section (magic to my ears cause money is tight right now, hell, who am I kidding, it's our way of life since moving to CT, the taxes are killing us in ways we weren't prepared for). In the clearance area were a bunch of gorgeous and very unique evergreens. We like unique, it's why we planted redwoods this spring when likely everyone and their brother was planting those crappy Bradford Pears that look gorgeous for a couple years until they split down the middle under their own weight.

The other evergreens I saw, Korean Firs.

Simply breathtaking, that is if you love evergreens or trees in general. Technically, this one was a Hortsmann's Siberlocke, the needles curl up towards the branch and are silver underneath, I've taken a closeup of it. We planted one in a group of other trees by the front stone walls and one by itself where one day the granite bench will go. Finally a place for me to hang and think in the cool shade of the larger towering trees. The only bummer, it's very slow growing, less than a foot a year. On the other hand our Redwoods have gained 3 feet this year, a bit less than the growth we saw from the Redwoods we planted in Maryland.

I've included pictures of one of the group of hemlocks, the Korean Fir by itself, the last of the blooms of the butterfly bush, a Katydid, a strange moth and also some of some weird orange mushrooms lurking under our deck.












For dinner, holy cow did we luck out. We checked a few restaurants we wanted to go to and I came across a 'sister' restaurant of one, so we went there. The place was Braza's, as E says 'is that the place where bra's come from?'. Uhh, no.

It's all you can eat, full cold appetizer bar (think upscale and wonderful, fresh mozzarella/tomatoes, calamari, etc), full hot appetizers served table side but family style and 14 courses of various styles/spices of meats, from Ham, to pork, chicken, beef and even lamb. Oh man, from the first bite to the last we were in heaven, I even forgot my sore muscles from planting.

I even had a Mojito, which I've been dying to try, not impressed, I know lots of people love them. Me, next time we're there I'm having the Sangria, me love Sangria.

This is on our short list of places to go again.