Katie and Peter's Blog: Naugatuck in August

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Naugatuck in August

We spent the month of August in Naugatuck to enjoy a cool New England summer in a great house and see what it would be like to live there. Well, Nancy had a better idea than I did but things may have changed since she last lived there 17 years ago. In short, we had a great time there. The kids and Rusty loved running around in the backyard and Nancy and I enjoyed watching them from the screened porch. But we're not quite sure if we loved it enough to pull up stakes from the great town of Alexandria and head north.

Our first week started with Katie going to the same Girl Scout camp that Nancy went to. Nancy drove her to the town green every morning to catch the bus and would wait for her to come home in the afternoon. Katie loved the camp and we were very proud of her. It's not easy to spend all week with complete strangers but it didn't seem to phase her. She was very brave.

While Katie was at camp, I worked remotely and Nancy and Peter went to the Westport beaches about 45 minutes away. Then Katie would come home and run around with Peter in the backyard until it was time to eat dinner on the screened porch. It was a routine we could easily get used to.

The kids loved riding their scooters on the sidewalks in the front, kicking balls in the back, and playing with the neighbors' granddaughter, Maya. We also made several appearances around town including a concert on the town green, the Portugese festival, and at several eateries around town. The kids also had fun playing with Jack, the son of Nancy's childhood friend Teresa.

Nancy was really busy going through a lot of the stuff in the house that had accumulated over 50 years. She donated a lot of books to the library and a tremendous amount of fabric to the quilting clubs her Mom belonged to. She also worked hard in the garden to make sure it maintained her Mom's high standards.

In the end, we all had varying degrees of desire to return home. Some of us were eager to return to the land of air conditioning (me), others were sad to leave the backyard behind but excited about having a DVR again (the kids), and others were sad to leave the house and dreading the long drive home (Nancy and Rusty). But even if we don't return, we'll all have great memories of the very friendly neighbors we got to become better acquainted with and the beautiful neighborhood.

Plenty of photos are below. Click here for more.

Rusty and Peter enjoy the backyard.

I went for a few nice runs along the Bridle Trail in Naugatuck. It used to be a railroad track but was converted over 60 years ago to an 10-mile long horse-riding trail. Now the horses share it with walkers, runners, dog walkers, and bike riders. You definitely have to watch your step though!