2021 Recap — knot so loud

Happy New Year!

Although it’s weird going into another year of the unknown, I’m focusing on the memories I will be making this year. I’m hoping to see more of Connecticut this year, as I never really go over to the opposite side (Western/near NY border). Last year also was our first camping trip with the A-frame pop up to Jim Thorpe, PA so we definitely are planning more camping trips for this year.

That’s one area that the pandemic hasn’t made me slowed down in, there’s still a lot to explore outdoors. I suggest you to try it! Take a half hour walk (or longer) around your town. You will be surprised at what you see on the walks. It’s never the same each time. I enjoy my daily walks around my area and the variety of scenes (beach, countryside, etc).

I look forward to writing the annual recap blogs because it’s always fun to look back at memories. What I did, what I learned and how I got stronger/changed. Here goes my year of 2021:

January started off celebrating New Year Day in Essex, CT. It was fun to stroll around the town, enjoy the quietness of post-holidays. We came home with the new puzzle we had purchased at Griswold Inn’s shop. That made us realize how much we enjoy puzzles! My pup celebrated her 8th Barkday with a day at the beach. She LOVES the beach, too bad it wasn’t summer but she was still a happy pup!

*NYE in Essex (in front of you, me & the sea’s storefront window)*

February saw a lot of SNOW! I loved it, it’s my most favorite time to photograph! One day, there was a perfect amount of snow and sun so I hit 6 towns in 5 hours! Call me crazy but I loved that day and got a lot of great shots! I celebrated my birthday in Stonington. We had a great Valentine’s Day book shopping at Book Barn in Niantic (that’s how much he loves me!).

*One of my snow day photographs! At the fishing docks in Stonington.*

*Valentine’s Day book shopping at Book Barn… and he’s even carrying the bag!*

March is usually packed with St. Patrick’s Day activities but everything was still canceled then. That didn’t stop Downtown Mystic from dressing up for St. Patrick’s Day so I enjoyed seeing all the fun decor (and of course, photographing them)! I was excited to find this particular house in New London that had shamrock cut outs in their shutters!! On the would-be day of the parade in Mystic, the bag pipes still came out to play some Irish tunes in the park. I enjoyed watching them perform. It’s always fascinating to watch bag pipes even though I can’t hear the tunes! Passover also happened in late March, we unexpectedly found ourselves in Westport on the first night. This was special because 11 years earlier, I came to Connecticut for the first time to meet my in-laws for Passover. So visiting the very first spot (Compo Beach) that my then-boyfriend took me to, brought up those memories!

*An example of St. Patrick’s Day decor around Mystic.*

*Dressed up my (poor) pup for St. Patrick’s Day!*

*Passover at Compo Beach in Westport, CT*

April was the big month for spring blooming! I spent a lot time outdoors photographing and taking long walks. I never usually enjoy Spring as it’s always been my least favorite season. I found myself amazed with some of the photos I captured. It probably was one of the best seasons photograph-wise! We had fun doing our new tradition of Easter egg-hunting with our pup. We put carrots inside the eggs and spread them out through out the yard. B enjoys opening them and eating her favorite!

*Easter + daffodils (Denison Homestead in Mystic)*

May got even warmer and there was more spring to photograph. I explored two new places, Wilcox Park in Westerly (yes I know, only half hour away and I’ve never been there!) and Old Saybrook. It amazes me that there’s so much to see in New England. Even after a decade of living here, there’s still a new place to explore! This is also the month we started working on the boat to get it ready to be launched in June! We spent Memorial Day weekend in Upstate NY seeing my family. It rained the entire weekend long but we had so much family time, so it was nice!

*Memorial Day. with my parents at Montour Falls in NY.*

June brought us many weekends of sailing on our new to us sailboat! I wrote a blog here about our summer of sailing. I drove up to Hartford, CT one day to see Elizabeth Park when the roses gardens were at peak. I was amazed at how beautiful it was there! I felt like a real photographer because I got up at 4:30 AM to drive an hour to be there before other people came! I hopped over to see Mark Twain house too, it was my first time seeing it in person. I was stunned by the details and beauty of the house! As some of you know, we have a connection with Elmira, NY. My hometown was his summer home, you can see his writing study at Elmira College. The museum in Hartford was closed but I do plan to tour it someday!

*At Elizabeth Park Rose Garden in Hartford, CT.*

July had my parents visiting for a week, this was special because we took them out on the sailboat! It’s always fun when my parents visit Connecticut and I feel the happiest having my family at my place. I celebrated 4th of July at Mystic Seaport, one of my favorite spots! This month brought a lot fun activities such as mini putt (I haven’t done that in years!), a visit to Lavender farm, watching a movie being filmed and exploring a new museum. It was the 2 years anniversary of my Poppop’s passing so I decided to visit Seabees museum in Rhode Island as he had been a Seabee. It was a nice day in his memory!

*Posing in front of the Seabee logo at the museum in North Kingston, RI.*

August saw a lot of sailing. We tried to squeeze in as much sailing as possible before the end of season. We also had that hurricane that luckily turned out to be a bust in our area (whew!). My parents came again for a week long visit. Don’t @ me, but I ate at Ford’s for the first time EVER after living here for a decade. I know, I know. Why did I wait?! It was amazing.

September started out with our annual visit to B.F. Clyde’s cider mill when it opened for the season! I celebrated the 3rd year of having this blog this month, as well our 6th wedding anniversary. I did the dress tradition on our sailboat, of course! We had our last sail of the season and the boat was pulled out at the end of the month.

*The anniversary dress tradition for Year 6.*

October was crazy busy and packed with all the fall activities. Apple picking (normally we do this in September but it had been so busy), pumpkin patching and leaf peeping. We went on our first camping trip to Pennsylvania with our camper. I loved that so much that I booked another camping trip 2 weeks later in the Berkshires (Massachusetts). Unfortunately a bad wind storm came so we had to canceled that trip. I was so bummed! We also traveled to Sleepy Hollow, NY to see the Halloween town! We celebrated Halloween at Mystic Seaport.

*Posed with the Harry Potter themed scarecrows during the scarecrow contest in Old Wethersfield, CT.*

November started out with chasing sunrises for a week straight! That was a fun adventure. I wondered where the best spot was, so every day I woke up at the crack of dawn and went to a different locations. That included Noank, Groton Long Point, Avery Point at UConn, Stonington and Gales Ferry. I determined that Noank was the best sunrise spot! I went to my hometown for Thanksgiving because it overlapped with my Nana’s 90th birthday. Many extended family came into town to celebrate. It was so nice because it had been 2 and half years since I’ve seen most of them, I’ve missed those family reunions! We also played tourists in my hometown, exploring Corning Museum of Glass and Rockwell Museum. This brought up many childhood memories of my school field trips.

*With the glass Christmas tree at CMoG in Corning, NY.*

And here we are, in the final month of December! Hanukkah started in the first week so we celebrated that at home. I enjoyed seeing all of the holiday decor around local towns. Stonington and Essex are my favorite to visit during Christmas time. We also visited a new-to-us museum, Florence Griswold in Old Lyme. I always love this month when I go out photographing all of the holiday decor. The night time when the twinkle lights are on… it’s always magical!

*Our family posing in front of the Stonington lobster trap tree.*

*In front of Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, CT.*

So that was 2021. A mostly good year, but of course there were some tough times. Earlier this year I had learned that I had gastroparesis. That is a medical condition where my stomach is partly paralyzed so food doesn’t break down as fast or easily as normal. I’ve had another year of re-adjusting and learning how to eat AGAIN (last year I had found out that I needed to be gluten and dairy free). So that was stressful and frustrating. But I got through it. Most of my positive memories I listed in the recap are those times with family and time outdoors. I look forward to another great summer of sailing and more camping trips in our pop-up!

I know for some of you, it might’ve been a tough year and it’s hard for you to be positive about what 2022 will bring. My heart goes out to those who are struggling. I wish you a year of meaningful memories.

Wishing you all a healthy New Year!