Have you seen the orchards in bloom?

Have you ever seen an orchard when all the fruit trees are in bloom? It's a spectacular sight to behold, and one that shouldn't be missed.

This is a very special time of year, and it's a short window of opportunity. If you've missed it, you've missed it ... until next year, when it all happens once again.

Fruit blossom time here in CT happens around the first week of May, give or take a week on either side. Pink and white blossoms cover the fruit trees, as far as the eye can see. Walk among them and be filled with the fragrance of the blossoms - apple, pear, peach, and more.

I love to drive around with the car windows open, and the roof open too, to see all the trees in bloom. When I can't get to an orchard, I'll drive around the neighborhoods to see all the residential ornamental trees in bloom. This is more than eye candy. This is a sight that renews. I think I've taken more photos of spring tree blossoms than of any other flower anywhere, ever.

This year I plan to find places to picnic under the blossoms. Lyman Orchards offers a "Great Orchard Getaway" that's just what I'm looking for. Chamard Vineyard also offers picnic box lunches to enjoy in the vineyard or on their deck overlooking it all. Both need to be booked ahead, and both are available rain or shine.

We all think of enjoying the countryside in the autumn, to enjoy foliage and the bounty of the harvest. Long before those colors and long before those fruits comes Spring and the splendor of their blossoms.

I've gone ahead and planned a great two-night orchard blossom escape for you. Hope to see you here.

www.thetidewater.com

Enchanted April

Enchanted April. It's the title of one of my favorite plays. It also describes the way I feel about this time of year.

April and early May are an especially enchanting time of year here in the beautiful quintessential Connecticut shoreline village of Madison CT. Spring is in the air, the flowers are up and blooming, and there is an atmosphere of awakening and anticipation everywhere.

This is one of the absolutely best times to visit here, when you can enjoy sun-kissed Springtime walks on the beach, picnic under a canopy of fruit blossoms, find treasures in local antique shops and boutiques, be entertained with nearby live theater, concerts and art exhibits, and enjoy the shoreline's finest dining at a leisurely Springtime pace.

Come ... Relax. Renew. Refresh.

www.thetidewater.com

Birdies on the Porch

I first noticed the birdies on our porch sometime in the second week of March. Each morning as I was preparing breakfast and setting out the early morning coffee and tea I would hear the sweetest bird song, and it seemed so very close. I looked out the dining room windows in the direction of the singing and saw two small birds hopping stem to stem on our evergreen Christmas wreath that was still hanging between the two windows nearest our front door. I moved over to the foyer to look out the windows on either side of our door, where I could get a better look at the birds.

They come every morning, still, and play, no longer on the wreath, but now in the silk flower arrangement that hangs in its place. As I think about it, I've noticed little brown birds coming to that arrangement every Spring, but never as often or as consistently as this year. My first guess was that they were taking pine needles to use for their nest. But that can't be the attraction now. Now they're coming to play in silk and wire and plastic stem.

One of the birds has red feathers as well as greyish brown. At first I thought it could be a female cardinal, but then noticed that it's shape was not that of a cardinal. Also, the companion was brown and speckled. That must be the female, I thought, so the redish one must be the male. My birding knowledge is next to none. If it's not a robin, crow, cardinal, yellow finch or blue jay I don't know what it is. But my frequent feathered visitors now had me very curious.

Just this last week two pairs were coming each morning and just as one of our frequent business guests was enjoying her breakfast. "Look," I said, pointing to the window, "my morning visitors are here." We both watched, fascinated that they would come to this hanging arrangement between the windows on the porch. We could enjoy watching them and listening to them, from just a few feet away. No binoculars necessary. Before the morning was over she drove to the Audubon Shop just down the street and returned with a Peterson Field Guide of Eastern and Central North American Birds. Jerry at the shop had identified our feathered friends. They are House Finches. How nice that they have come again.

First Signs of Spring

It's the first week of March and I am on the lookout for the first signs of Spring. I am richly rewarded. As I looked out my office window across Rte 1 to the salt march beyond I see Pappa John and his faithful pooch drive by in his vintage open-air Good Humor Ice Cream truck. It's been put away all winter long. If Pappa John's taken the truck out, it surely must be Spring! (never mind what the calendar says ...)

Looking for a first sign of Spring is a happy habit I started when I was a freshman at the University. On a side street that ran between the academic buildings in the center of campus I could count on the first crocusses to bloom in the first few days of March, right up by the sidewalk in front of a house that still stood on that road. Once I discovered them I looked for them every year.

At home in CT it was the first Forsythia blooms that heralded Spring ... that is, until I planted crocusses. Faithful little flowers are they.

So, now in Madison, I look for Pappa John and the ice cream truck. Spring is here. It is. It is.

Majestic Eagles

It's a beautiful "blue sky and sunshine" Sunday afternoon late in February, and I and my camera are aboard the River Quest for an Eagle Watch cruise. Within minutes of departing from the dock we saw our first eagles. Several were sharing a midday meal along the bank of the CT river. Shortly after that we enjoyed watching the aerial acrobatics of a pair mirroring each other's moves in an airborne dance of gliding and soaring. On both banks of the river eagles were perched on bare-branched tree tops, surveying their surroundings and all that passed by. Every now and again more eagles mirrored and soared overhead. On the last leg of our cruise we passed an eagle's nest, with mother sitting on recently laid eggs, and the father a tree top sentinel on watch nearby. In between seeing the eagles we also saw many cormorants, mergansers, sea gulls and swans. As we returned to dock our captain commented that this cruise had the best sightings of the season thus far.

Many years ago I was surprised to learn that Bald Eagles come down from Canada and winter along the southern part of the CT river, where the water does not freeze and they can find food.

The CT Audubon Society hosts an annual Eagle Festival Weekend in the middle of February, with eagle watch cruises and self-guided land tours. From mid January to mid March the Audubon Shop, in Madison, offers guided eagle watch land tours on select Saturdays, and River Quest, departing from the CT River Museum dock in Essex CT, offers Eagle Quest cruises with naturalists on board to offer valuable guidance and information. Even binoculars are provided.

Early in February I was at the CT River Museum to make Eagle Quest cruise arrangements for some of our guests who had made reservations for our Eagle Watch Escape. While there, I took the opportunity to set a date and buy a ticket for myself at last. 'It's about time,' I thought. ... Now, having been there and done that, I can honestly say, "I'm so glad I did."

For next year I'll have to book myself on a seal-watch cruise when the seals come to play along the CT coast in March.

Chocolate Lover's Paradise

Just imagine this ... 15 or more of the area's finest restaurants, bakeries and chocolatiers setting before you their most imaginative chocolate creations, and competing to be proclaimed to be the very best ... and you're the judge! Can it get any better than this?

It was the afternoon of Sunday, February 10th, and I was at the "Chocolate to the Rescue" annual fund raising event for the benefit of the shoreline area's American Red Cross chapter. For a chocolate lover such as myself it was paradise.

What an elegant and extraordinary setting ... a ballroom overlooking Long Island Sound. Just outside the ballroom door, in the glass-enclosed foyer, was a horseshoe shaped station with glasses of pink champagne and uniformed servers encouraging you to partake. Entering the ballroom was like what I imagined it was like for Alice stepping through the looking glass into Wonderland. All around the room were beautifully decorated tables with chocolate confections and desserts, different as they could be from each other. Smiling hosts from every participating establishment greeted you as you approached their station and encouraged you to taste and see.

It was an atmosphere of excitement as we all tried and tasted and came back to our favorites for more. To cleanse our palates or wet our whistles, in addition to the pink champagne there were pitchers of ice water and carafes of freshly brewed coffees, teas, and, (now why was I surprised?) hot chocolate! Ahhhhhh...

And the winners were ...

Everyone was given a ballot when we arrived, and we were asked to cast our votes for the most creative and for our favorites. Best decorated tablescape was Tiberio's Restaurant (they offered chocolate lasagne, absolutely delicious, and hand made hazelnut truffles). Most creative was Sage Restaurant's Chocolate Sushi, made with white chocolate and rolled in dark- you had to see and taste this to believe it. The crowd favorite was the chocolate cheesecake pop by Cafe Routier. I'm happy to say that these were all among my favorites too, as are the restaurants that made them.

I did mention this was a fund raising event, didn't I? There was a silent auction for a group of very special items, and nearly 50 Gift-Bag Raffle items, including a gift certificate for a two night stay at our Tidewater Inn. There was much fun and excitement as the winning tickets were pulled from each bag.

Chocolate Lovers, mark your calendars for 2009. I have it on good authority that next year's "Chocolate to the Rescue" will most likely be sometime in January of 2009. This is such a unique event that I'll be offering a special Tidewater Inn package around it.