A Gorgeous Summer’s Day with Meetings with New Tenants, Old Neighbors and a Dinner Party with Friends in Connecticut

Friday, August 18, 2023

Fairfield, Connecticut

A Gorgeous Summer’s Day with Meetings with New Tenants, Old Neighbors and a Dinner Party with Friends in Connecticut

Friday dawned bright and clear and as I got myself ready for what I knew would be another eventful day! I awoke at 5.30am (waking up later now, thankfully) and had a cup of coffee followed by my usual breakfast of muesli with honey yogurt and milk and coffee. Then, as Leslie did not need the car till 11.00 am (when she needed to take it to Town Fair Types to get her flat attended to), I took it to my first appointment.

Meeting Our New Tenants for Coffee:

I arrived at my own (former) home in Connecticut and felt so odd to be ringing the bell! In the past, I always let myself in through the garage door (with the garage code) or the front door with my own key. To have to wait until someone else opened the door was truly strange. Jennifer came to the door looking as fresh as a daisy in a spotless white linen shirt and blue printed pants. She is lovely—so elegant, so poised. She is a high-end interior designer, and she looked the part! She gave me a big hug and welcomed me inside. Truly, it’s hard to describe it but I had a few out-of-body experiences as I walked in and took in my home that is my home and yet is not my home! It was super weird.

We sat down with a large mug of coffee and chatted about a lot of things. I met their dog, a little pug named Leila, who was quiet and good! Jennifer’s husband, Steven came along--he is Head of Securities of a huge global financial firm and he too seemed exactly made for the role. Such a lovely couple! So classy, so friendly, so international in their attitude. We really did luck out! Best of all, it was very clear to see that they respect their new space and are treating it well. Jenifer does not allow shoes in the house as she wishes to keep our newly-polished parquet floors pristine. I too was requested to remove my footwear! This is not something that we are accustomed to in the USA (in Canada, yes. There is the weird custom of taking shoes off at the door and people walking about in socks!).

Anyway, after we sat down with coffee, Jennifer told me a bit about themselves and their lifestyle in Southport. He travels a great deal for work—all over the world. She often goes off with him but not if it promises to be too hectic. They were just back from a lovely 10- day vacation in Ireland and they looked tanned and relaxed! Well, they led me on a tour of the lower level and I was filled with awe at the beautiful pieces of unique furniture they have collected over the years. They have an absolutely gorgeous carved teak wall paneling from Vietnam (where Jennifer spent part of her childhood) which has found the perfect place above the bay window in our living room. She has removed the cross grating from all windows. She also has two genuine Indian howdahs which are massive seats carved in teak wood and used on the top of elephants in India! She has placed these in her living room. So you see, this is not your ordinary showroom type furniture that is now in my home! This is genuine designer material from out of the pages io a sophisticated design magazine! I am thrilled! She has replaced the light fixture over the kitchen table and placed it carefully in bubble wrap down in the basement. So, yes, there are changes in our home which is her blank canvas and still a work in progress. As a designer, her vision and aesthetic are similar to mind: English Country and traditional. But, of course, where I lack professionalism, she has it in spades! We are just lucky to find tenants who completely belong in the ritzy, snazzy, stylish neighborhood that is Southport.

An hour later, I left, fully confident that we had been blessed in finding tenants who would never trash our home and would treat it entirely as their own—in fact, that was what Jennifer kept telling me repeatedly: We will treat your home as if it is our own! That’s great!

Next Stop--Meeting our Former Neighbors:

I had told my next-door neighbors, Pui and Ken Hom, that I would come and visit them right after my visit with the Kennedys. So I left my car in my driveway and off I went to the Homs next-door. You should have seen the welcome I received from their dog, Gus (who is known to us as Gussie)!. That dog truly went mad! He was chasing all over the place (once the door was opened by Pui), just filled with elation at seeing me after so many months. It was just a splendid reunion and I can just imagine what it will be like when he meets Llew.

We settled down in their family room. Pui and I had a chance to have a long catch up before Ken, freshly shaved and showered, came downstairs to join us. Of course, they gave me our mail and a shared a lot of news with me and, before we knew it, I took some photographs with them and left. I stayed with them for about an hour and then it was time for me to take the car back to Leslie, which I did.

Off to the Tyre Repair Place with Leslie:

Back home, I gave Leslie the car and then accompanied her as she drove to Town Fair Types on the Post Road to settle the issue of her flat tyre and get a replacement. This took about a half hour. She has been told to bring the car back on Monday as they were too full over the weekend to service it. We finished this errand and drove back home together.

Sunil and Leslie had some work to do during the morning and I had a chance to relax and catch up with my blog. I walked down to Trader Joe’s to get myself a salad for lunch and thought I would eat it alone at home as I did not know how long their errand would last.

I’m not sure where the time went as I tried to sort out my ride for the evening. I had been invited to my former colleague’s place in Stratford for dinner. I knew she was also inviting other folks from Fairfield, and I needed to see if I could get a ride from them. Eventually, Sunil told me he would drop me off at their place before heading off for their evening out.

An Evening out with Close Friends in Stratford, Connecticut:

I showered, got dressed and had a little gift put together for my friend Liz Petrino who is in the English Department at Fairfield University. She and I once had offices, side by side, and we became close friends. Liz is Italian-American and meals at her place are always outstanding. This time, she invited another professor, Betsy Bowen and her husband Jeff (Betsy was the one who had hired me at Fairfield U) and we have remained close friends.

En route to Liz’s place, Jeff kept up a steady stream of conversation. I learned a lot about them—including the fact that Jeff who was a high school teacher of English in a private school in Greenwich, had just retired and that Betsy is on a Phase Out scheme with Fairfield U too. It is funny but all of us are at that stage in our lives when we are either retired or contemplating imminent retirement. If only all of them would know how GREAT retirement is and how much they will enjoy it! So many folks are reluctant to retire (even if they can afford it) because they wonder what they will do with themselves. They have no idea how fabulous leisure can feel, now terrific it is not to have to deal with the daily nitty-gritty that stress really is. I would like to shout it from the mountain tops to everyone: Get Retired Already!!!

Liz and her husband Tom put up a really terrific show. Both of them are superb chefs and after we settled down with prosciutto with melon and olives for nibbles with white wine, we were treated to Tom’s home made pizzas that were out of this world: Pesto with chicken, pepperoni with mushrooms, sausage with peppers---I mean, it was just awesome! Dinner followed: a big tuna-rice salad that was absolutely delicious and for dessert, there was tiramisu that Liz had made herself. I mean, this is one of my favorite desserts (so I really do wish I had saved more room for a second helping!—but the pizzas were extraordinary too!). Anyway, I think you know what I mean. It was spectacular. We had a brilliantly delightful summer’s evening, I took a walk down to the vegetable patch to admire Tom’s variety of tomatoes, herbs, lettuces, Swiss chard, I chatted with their teenage son, David (who is a real darling) and watched the antics of their cat, Charlemagne (Charlie for short!). In short, it was a truly memorable evening with friends who are sincere and genuine and warm and generous.

Back inside (as it did get a tad cooler as the evening progressed), we sat in the living room and Liz brought us limoncello over ice in the little crystal liqueur glasses that I had presented her when I was leaving the USA permanently for India. I was so happy to see that she actually uses them!

So, you can see that we had the perfect evening and one I will not easily forget. We finally said our goodbyes at about 11.00 pm when Jeff and Betsy dropped me back home to Westport and I could retire for the night—having had another truly lovely day.

Until tomorrow…cheerio!