sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

December 28, 2009


on the third day of christmas
posted by soe 2:59 am

my true love gave to me an afternoon reminiscing.

Rudi and I, not having plans for today to ski or visit friends, decided that it was time to return to Middletown, our former home, which I hadn’t visited in several years.

Our first stop was O’Rourke’s, a classic diner that serves gourmet quality food. It had a fire several years back and the community came together to help Brian, who had lacked insurance, rebuild. The new space sits on the same footprint, but there definitely were some aesthetic changes made. Luckily, the changes did not affect the generally cheerful employees or the amazing brunch offered. I ate the Irish soda bread trinity (or something like that), which was three different types of Irish soda bread turned into French toast and then topped with different jams and clotted cream. Yum! And so filling! (When we lived in Middletown and ate there semi-regularly, I would ask for just two slices to minimize the waste. Luckily, in this instance, Rudi was not so stuffed that he couldn’t help me out after finishing his own meal.)

To aid our digestion, we walked south down Main Street to see what had changed in the seven years since we’d moved. Some things had stayed the same, while others had changed. Spaces that used to be a bridal shop, a dollar store, and the extension to a clothing store had all turned into restaurants. The paint-your-own pottery studio looked to be a used bookstore. The natural food store had built its own building next to the roller rink. The bead shop had become an artisanal chocolate shop, Tschudin Chocolates, with a friendly owner. We bought a few candies to bring back for dessert tonight, including one flavored with Captain Morgan rum called the Johnny Depp and a delicious chocolate and coconut covered marshmallow.

We ended the evening at two other old haunts: Klekolo’s coffeehouse, whose days open now number past 5,000, and Amato’s toy store, where we may have bought a new game to subject our friends to play with our friends.

Heading home, we drove through campus to see how things had changed since I’d left. There’s a new, fancy campus center, but that was the only obvious alteration to the landscape visible in the growing dusk. I’m glad. I don’t mind change (it’s unfair to expect things to stay the same when we ourselves don’t), but I prefer it to be gradual and human-scaled. Today’s seemed to fall within that category, and I am grateful.

Category: travel. There is/are 2 Comments.



I always find it a little disorienting to go back and visit a place I once lived. Glad it was a positive for you.

Comment by Kristen 12.28.09 @ 1:01 pm

Aww, sounds like a lovely day! 🙂

I kinda saw Conn on the train – it goes through New London, and you could kinda see the smoke stack up on the hill!

Comment by Jenn 12.29.09 @ 9:15 am