Saturday, August 19, 2023
Fairfield and Southport, Connecticut
A Hearty Breakfast with a Dear Friend in Southport, Ice-Cream with our Realtor and a Fabulous Dinner Party in Syosset, Long Island
I woke up early today happy to note that I had a lovely day in store. I merely washed and got dressed and then called an Uber for my ride. Both Leslie and Sunil were busy with the family conference call they do by Zoom every Saturday with their international family. Hence, I could not drag them off to give me a ride. The Uber worked fine and within 10 minutes’ of calling for one, the driver was at my door. He was an exceptionally polite man and I had a very good ride.
Breakfast with an Old Friend, Jane Dean:
My friend Jane Dean is old—in more ways than one. I discovered that she is 88 (although chatting with her, it is hard to believe she is on the wrong side of sixty!) and she is someone I have known closely for at least 15 years. Jane used to live in Southport Village, traveled to India with Llew and me when we had taken 22 Southport ladies on a tour of India, invited us frequently to her home for wonderful meals, over the years, and, in general, has been a dear friend. About a year ago, she sold her home and moved to an assisted living community called Maplewood, about five minutes down the road in Southport, which is better than any five-star hotel. She has other Southport friends there—so she does not lack for company or for things to do (it helps to have a vibrant mind and loads of interests in one’s old age), but she is only now getting used to the loss of her independence and the fact that she is not really in her own home.
Breakfast was in the dining hall which looks like a posh restaurant. She told me to come for breakfast because that is one meal during which, as she said, “you can have whatever you like”. After a couple of false starts (I wanted Waffles which they could not provide and then Eggs Benedict which they said they cannot do!), I settled for a ham, cheese and mushroom omlette with sausages, orange juice and decaff coffee. Jane was being good and decided to have oatmeal with fresh blueberries. Oh, the meal was just splendid and I enjoyed every mouthful. But, more than anything else, I enjoyed Jane’s company for there are not many people I know who can keep up a scintillating conversation, match me idea for idea, flit from one subject to the next quite effortlessly (and when I say topics I don’t mean idle gossip) and bring fun and laughter into all her pronouncements. She is also very fond of Llew, gets my monthly newsletter, keeps abreast of all our news and sends me some of her’s too. It’s all great fun and we really enjoy being with her.
When breakfast was over at 9.30am, we took the elevator and adjourned to her room on the second floor where we sat down and chatted some more. I love Jane’s lovely collection of paintings and art work on her wall, the photographs of her family and other keepsakes and mementoes that have colored her life. But soon, it was time for me to leave and when Jane discovered that I had taken an Uber, she told me that she would give me a ride home.
Accordingly, I requested her to drop me off to Trader Joe’s from where I could pick up a salad for lunch and then spend a large part of the morning packing. I was rather worried about fitting my things into my two suitcases—and so that’s what I did.
I spent a good part of the morning working on packing my two lamps (that I have brought back from my office at NYU) back in my suitcases in such a way that they do not break. I do not want the banker’s lamp to break as it has a glass lampshade and, for that matter, I do not want the other ceramic lamp to break either. It has a beautiful lampshade and I am hoping that it will not be bent out of shape in the process of reaching India.
When I had spent more than an hour working on my suitcase, I weighed it and found that I had exactly 48 pounds in it (I am allowed 50). So, I will not be putting anything more into that suitcase. Everything else will have to fit into the other suitcase (or be left behind for other folks to bring to us).
Just when I was starting to feel fatigued and my back started aching, I got a call from our realtor, Britt, asking me to join her for ice-cream at Dairy Queen (my favorite neighborhood ice-cream place).
Ice-Cream with our Realtor, Britt Petrucci: We have also been blessed with an extraordinary realtor, Britt Petrucchi, who handled our tenancy agreement and then went out on a limb to iron out so many aspects and clauses (as we were so far away in India). She was keen to meet me after she knew that I was Stateside and, as she used to work in my favorite ice-cream place (Dairy Queen), she suggested we go there for a Blizzard—my favorite kind. Well, sadly, my favorite blizzard-maker, Beth-Ann, is no longer at the Fairfield DQ—she is now in Monroe, CT. Of course, I was heartbroken to find this out, but was also delighted to hear that Britt is Beth-Ann’s best friend! Wow! It seems that they had both started working at this DQ when they were 15 years old. They are now in their early-40s! Of course, they do other jobs for a living; but they always return to do part-time hours in this happy place, Britt told me. Sadly, not any ore. Management has changed and they do not see eye to eye with the new owner! So sad! Well, I was treated by Britt to a Chocolate Cherry Love Blizzard (which was not nearly as good as the ones that Beth-Anne usually makes for me), but hey, I did not complain. I enjoyed my huge ice-cream and had a chance to visit with Britt and learn a lot about her and her family. She has been really terrific to us and both Llew and I have grown really fond of her. So I was super glad I was able to make the time to see her. Britt dropped me back home to Leslie’s place in Westport. I had a bit of a lie-down before I woke up to take a shower and get ready for the next item on my agenda: I was invited to Syosset, Long Island, to the home of one of my oldest friends in the USA, Doreen. She and her husband John live in a lovely house with a large garden at the back and tons of space indoors. Doreen and John had also invited a couple called Ralph and Lynne who live in nearby Norwalk and I was very fortunate that they offered to come and pick me up and take me with them to the Bellomo’s place. < Off to Dinner with the Bellomos in Syosset, Long Island: Ralph arrived with Lynne at 5.30 pm and off we went. The miles were swiftly eaten up by our non-stop chatting as we made our way to Long Island. This couple is originally from Bandra and we do have a lot of friends in common—so there was a lot to talk about. By the time we reached Doreen’s place, it was just past 7.00 pm. Doreen’s Mum was already seated outside and I was delighted to see her after absolute years. She looked very well indeed and chatting with her is always a pleasure. A little later, we were joined by another couple—also close friends of ours—Anita and Allan Walther. I had, in fact, introduced Anita to Doreen at least 30 years ago and we have all remained very close friends. Anita’s mother Kamla also came along and it was a pleasure to see her too after such a long time as she lives in Delhi. There was much to chat about over Doreen’s spread of appetizers: cheese and grapes, chicken malai kebabs served on sheikh kebab skewers with peppers and onions, Indian style potato samosas with mint chutney and tamarind chutney as we sipped wines and seltzers. As twilight gradually descended over the group, we adjourned inside. We found that Doreen had cooked a huge spread that included mutton korma, pea pullao, black pepper shrimp, mango salad, cauliflower gratin, fish oreganato and an assorted bread basket. In fact, even though I took only a small spoon of each dish, there was so much on my plate that I was full just looking at it. Desserts were equally lovely: Doreen made Ina Garten’s Peach and Raspberry Cobbler, there was vanilla ice-cream to go with the Cobbler and Ralph and Lynne brought a mousse cake (I had taken Chocolate Truffles from Trader Joe’s). So, you can just imagine how stuffed we were by the time we arose from the table. Indeed Doreen had taken an enormous amount of trouble and we were most impressed by and very grateful for her efforts. When it was about 11.00 pm, Ralph and Lynne decided to call it a night as we had at least a 90 minute drive back to Connecticut. We said our long goodbyes before we were finally out the door and in our car and headed back on the highway. It was about 12.30 pm, by the time I put my key into the door. Until tomorrow…cheerio!
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