[allforcats]

My parents and I lived in Queens, New York. Every Friday my mother packed food and such, my father would come home from work a bit early, and we would drive up the Merritt Parkway and the Connecticut Turnpike for two hours to Clinton and our farmhouse built around 1850, on 26 acres of forests in a completely rural area of Clinton, where we'd spend weekends, holidays and vacations.

My room was upstairs, where they hung the meat in the old days, in a wonderful solid house with no central heating and no plumbing, and at any time but summer I'd wake up in the morning under a bunch of blankets with a near-freezing nose! My father would have started fires in the huge granite fireplaces downstairs, so I just had to figure how fast I had to fly out of bed and down the stairs to the fire before I froze solid!

My parents made the place a small agricultural delight with vegetables, fruits and flowers, and as things ripened and blossomed we were able to give lots to neighbors there and in New York, as well as to can and freeze some for the winter.

At night, as my mother and I walked to the outhouse attached to the combined tools-machine storehouse and garage, she taught me the stars. Daytimes she taught me the birds and chipmunks and flowers, and my father taught me the car, carpentry and electricity. They both taught me how to saw wood, make a fire, and maintain a compost pile. I had to pick tomatoes and corn a few minutes before lunch and dinner. When my grandmother went up there with us, she and I had the job of shelling peas to be frozen later in New York, but we both cheated when my mother wasn't looking and threw three in the bowl and two in the mouth! She was a fun lady: one time late after dinner when she and my mother and I were playing gin rummy, my grandmother and I both suddenly saw a very small being run across the broad oak-beam floor -- a tiny field mouse. She looked at me sternly, looked back at her cards, and continued playing! We both knew my parents would have killed the mouse if they'd known it was there, so Nanna and I felt very virtuous!

There were some eight kids altogether in the wide rural "neighborhood" and a few family dogs, and we all got together all weekend and roamed the fields and forests and roads, just loving being alive and learning about trees and snakes and chickens and tadpoles, and the horses up the road and the bull down the road, and the wonderful smell of Earth. And when one by one we were given a bicycle, we became kings and queens of all the land!

My parents loved that place because they enjoyed the physical labor and the accomplishments of growing things and "fighting back the jungle" as they called the weeds and constantly-encroaching forest. I loved it best because I could spend hours and hours away from them and just be a kid with no rules other than whatever safety parameters managed to stay in my mind.

My parents eventually sold the place when I was an adult, but "my" rural corner of Clinton will always be the love of my life because the place itself saturated me with a lifetime joy of trees and growing things, animals, birds, the rich smell of rain, and quiet.

The pictures are: Main St. in the early 1950s, Town Beach where I learned to swim, the Town Green, and a tiny part of my forest. Click on a pic and it will enlarge. Thank you for meandering with me through all this love.

[JayCT]

Allforcats - What great memories! Thanks for sharing them with me. Jay

[ctracy]

Originally Posted by KH02

Towns i've lived in:

Torrington
Suffield
Windsor Locks
West HArtford
Southington

My favorite:
Suffield with Southington not to far behind....

WHICH TOWNS HAVE YOU LIVED AND WHATS YOUR FAVORITE AMONG THEM?

I have lived in Enfield, East Windsor, Windsor Locks and Windsor and I would have to say Enfield is the best and has the most

[12buttons]

Originally Posted by Lincolnian

East Hartford
Storrs (UCONN)
Willington
Tolland
Bristol

I loved living in East Hartford as a kid. Had the woods behind my house where my friends and I spent many hours building forts, riding bikes, swimming in P&F pond and exploring. We could walk to Charter Oak Mall which was a big thing back then, Silver Lane Bowling Alley, Friendly's, or Showcase Cinemas. We also could go swimming at Penney Pool, play football and baseball on school's practice fields and ride our bikes to many of the town's many parks. Life was great as a kid in the 70s. Freedom, independence, and self-discovery with plenty of community support.

I liked living in Tolland too because of its close proximity to great places to hike, bike, and relax.

Today, I find living in Bristol very convenient with many of the same elements that my hometown of East Hartford had when I was growing up but with a noticeable absence of appropriate opportunities for freedom and independence for my children due to high structural barriers of a more mobile, hectic, and less involved community-oriented modern society.

so youre shleppin yer kids to strip malls...

[12buttons]

Originally Posted by ctracy

I have lived in Enfield, East Windsor, Windsor Locks and Windsor and I would have to say Enfield is the best and has the most

I f someone wanted to live in a more Norman Rockwell type place- cutesy town green, cute capes from the fifties...Mrs cleavers....where would you suggest? thanks...

[12buttons]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Lets see, I have lived in Fairfield, Rocky Hill, Middletown and Glastonbury. I too have liked then all. When I was a kid, Fairfield was (and still is) a great place to be raised in. The schools were excellent, there were things to do and it was convenient to New York. There is a lot of beautiful areas and it is historical. Nice to be near the beaches.

When I was single I lived in Rocky Hill and Middletown which were both easily accessable to Hartford and New Haven's night life. Now that I am married with children, I live in Glastonbury which is where I work. It is great to live soooo close to work. No commuting and I am able to be involved with my kids activities at school easily. Have met a lot of nice people here as well, so our roots are getting pretty deep here. It would be hard to leave now. Jay

is glastonbury as upscale as ffld....house prices are what...anything special pleas note...

[12buttons]

Originally Posted by jmarkey

Granby, Ashford, Ellington, and Danielson.

Granby is my favorite for what it used to be. It was a wonderful place to grow up in (from around 1955 to 1975). Though it's nice to see that it's still pretty much the same in the part of town I grew up in, it's gotten a little pricey.

pricey how...please give an example..looking for a town that hates change

[Lincolnian]

Originally Posted by 12buttons

so youre shleppin yer kids to strip malls...

No, I'm not taking my kids to strip malls. However, I am looking forward to when they get a little older and can walk with their friends down to Scoops and Dreams, the local ice cream shoppe, to buy a cone on a summer night.

I also like the fact that there is an excellent soccer club and a neighborhood school and park within walking distance.

There is also a lot of convenience having most of what you need: food, doctors, a hospital, parks, schools within a few miles of your house so you don't have to spend most of your time in a car to carry on the business end of your life.

I enjoy the country too and spend much of my leisure time with my family visiting friends in New Hampshire as well.

I'm sure that my family and I could adapt to most places in Connecticut as long as our family's safety wasn't jeopardized by high levels of localized crime or the inability to get a peaceful night's sleep.

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by Lincolnian

No, I'm not taking my kids to strip malls. However, I am looking forward to when they get a little older and can walk with their friends down to Scoops and Dreams, the local ice cream shoppe, to buy a cone on a summer night.

I also like the fact that there is an excellent soccer club and a neighborhood school and park within walking distance.

There is also a lot of convenience having most of what you need: food, doctors, a hospital, parks, schools within a few miles of your house so you don't have to spend most of your time in a car to carry on the business end of your life.

I enjoy the country too and spend much of my leisure time with my family visiting friends in New Hampshire as well.

I'm sure that my family and I could adapt to most places in Connecticut as long as our family's safety wasn't jeopardized by high levels of localized crime or the inability to get a peaceful night's sleep.

Excellent response! Very clear, rational, informative, and helpful!!

[jmarkey]

Originally Posted by 12buttons

pricey how...please give an example..looking for a town that hates change

Pricey in terms of real estate prices and taxes.