Great pictures from Connecticut!

Yesterday was another good day. It involved leaf-raking (Rebekah and Craig), leaf-peeping (all of us), leaf-photography (me), and leaf-rolling (Naomi's dog, Star). The trees up here are magnificent and there's a thick carpet of golden leaves everywhere you look.

After lunch, we all went to the "Devil's Hopyard" state park about ten miles down the road, and walked a couple of miles through the woods.

So, rather than conjure words to describe how restorative it is to hike in the cool Connecticut fall with people I love, I'll simply post a few pictures.

That's Naomi, Craig, and Star (above right) at the entrance to the park. It starts with a spectacular waterfall that feeds a tranquil lake, and then opens into hundreds of acres of woodlands with several miles of trails on the rocky hillsides. Not difficult hiking, but certainly employing muscle groups not typically utilized by flat-land dwellers from Florida!

In the evening, Craig's folks (Craig and Sue and his sister, Teresa) came over for dinner. We enjoyed a relaxed evening together and Craig schooled me in ping-pong. Looks like the beginning of a long-term rivalry to me!

The best part about traveling like this is the opportunity for Rebekah and me to be together 24/7. We're fortunate enough to both have jobs where we're flexible, so we already spend more time together than the average couple. We have found that the axiom "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" is no-where near so true as this new one (I'm making it up, now): "Quantity time leads to more quality time."

I'll leave today's post with the view from the balcony outside Naomi and Craig's master-suite. This is why I have this undercurrent of an urge to move to New England. But don't worry, those of you who know us around Tampa and don't want to see us go. We can barely afford to live in Florida! But, keep buying books, and we'll at least get some vacation time in Connecticut once in a while!

Love and blessings - DEREK