July 4th weekend

As everyone knows, Hurricane Arthur blew through here on July 3 and left behind lots and lots of rain the next day. That cancelled the fireworks planned for the harbor in Norwich on July 4 so we were left on the boat with only a few chores to do. There's nothing less exciting than a marina in the rain so we decided to take ourselves out to lunch. 

We decided to go to Abbots in Noank, a cute little village not far away. Noank is home to a few hundred people who have very nice homes there. However, its claim to fame is Abbots "Lobster in the Rough" and each summer, tens of thousands of people find their way there to sample the seafood. On a nice day, it isn't out of the ordinary to wait 15 or 20 minutes to simply have your order taken but today, in the rain, there was no wait.

We're partial to Abbot's Hot Lobster Roll and that's what we had for an incredible $38.00. If you have a big family, save up before ordering here. It may have been extravagant but the lobster rolls were very good and it was fun on a rainy day.

If you know us, you've probably been to Abbots but here's some of what it looked like when it was too wet for tourists.

The 4th of July, one day late

The fireworks were rescheduled for Saturday and it turned out to be a beautiful day. They don't get much better than this here in Southern New England. Almost everyone just relaxed and enjoyed the warm sun, cool breeze and the beautiful deep blue sky.

Even the ducks took a little snooze on their own private dock.

Some folk selected their spot to watch the fireworks a little early and they were obviously pretty happy about it.

We walked around the marina and shot some video of what was going on. It seemed to us that the other docks were somewhat quiet, at least compared to A dock, where we are.

At one point in the afternoon, Frances convinced dockmate John that they should do up river in John's inflatable to hunt for bird's nests.  Off they went, but this time Frances took a second video camera with her to record the wonders of nature. For some reason, not all of that video survived but we've included what did. We do have almost 30 minutes of video of the inside of Frances' tote bag, if anyone can use it.

As the sun set, the food came out as is the tradition on our dock. It's always delicious and more than we could eat, although, God knows, we tried.

The little kids, many of whom are grandchildren, have all gotten bigger. No surprise there, but it is fun to see them, happy to be around a whole bunch of people who love kids, and all equally anxious to see the fireworks.