Summer, er Winter Lovin', Had Me a Blast...

Mr. Dee read my blog entry about our plans from earlier this week to go to the beach which had been nixed. He was shocked to learn that I had never been to the Connecticut coast during the winter and vowed yesterday to make it happen. (I love that, even after all the years we've been together, we're still learning things about each other.)

Yesterday was a bright, sunny day, with just a slight peppering of clouds. The wind was gusting up to 35 mph, and it was 18° F, not including the wind chill factor. We packed a picnic lunch and set off to Seaside Park in Bridgeport, CT.

While there were some other people at the beach, and tons of seagulls, we had pretty much the run of the park. Even though it was freezing to be outside, the children had a blast collecting shells, including two horseshoe crab shells. For awhile I decided to stay snug-as-a-bug all bundled up inside our vehicle, getting in some crochet stitches, absorbing the scenery through the windows. To be there, in the winter, was beautiful.

Afterwards Mr. Dee surprised me with a ride to Branford to check out a new yarn shop called "The Yarn Basket." The shop opened last August and while I was happy to, like on the beach, have the run of the place, I was sad to:
A. find there were no other patrons, and
B. find there was VERY little for the crochet support/merchandise. The saleslady was nice and I did manage to treat myself to a little bit of yarn. (see picture on left)

Mr. Dee then decided I needed to go to AC Moore located a few towns over. On the way we got a little lost and decided to pull over to consult the map (yes, we should invest in a GPS). In the parking lot we had pulled over in was a beauty supply store and I decided to check it out. That is where I found my new manaquin head (who now needs a name; any suggestions?). ((So, if we had GPS, this discovery would not have been possible. Scratch the idea of getting a GPS!))

Once we figured out where we were, we made it to AC Moore in record time. Funny thing though; I didn't purchase a single skien of yarn -- only beads. Hmmmmmm.

It was a fun way to spend an afternoon, and, in looking at my purchases, it seems as if the colors from the beach were etched in my mind, wouldn't you agree? ... anytime Mr. Dee wants to whisk us back to the beach, I'm game! :)