![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/6-16-13a-043.jpg\" "\\"6-16-13a")
<\/a><\/p>\nI’ve never seen a parade come across a bridge! \u00a0It was great fun! \u00a0I’ve now seen the Moodus Fife and Drum Corps<\/a> at numerous parades in this area. \u00a0They are terrific!…and they have a wide range of ages in the group, from what looks like high school students to retirees! ….men and<\/em> women!<\/p>\n Next over the bridge was the oldest car in the area. \u00a0This looks like a horse drawn carriage that was fitted with some kind of motor and a tiller for steering. \u00a0There were about 30 antique cars in this parade, and they were all beautiful!<\/p>\n There was a ceremonial opening of the bridge, and isn’t it pretty with its fresh coat of paint?<\/p>\n When this bridge was built in 1913, it had one of the longest opening spans. \u00a0On this June day in 2013, the river was very swollen with spring rains and the current was running hard. \u00a0The local ferry at Chester was not running due to the high waters. \u00a0The dock was under water, and the river currents were ripping by at more than 5 knots!<\/p>\n There were festivities all through the town of East Haddam, and we spent some time enjoying the views of the river and the Goodspeed Opera House, which is celebrating its 50th year. \u00a0This is a postcard New England town, and when it’s decorated for a celebration it is just breathtaking!<\/p>\n We crossed the river and boarded the Becky Thatcher<\/em> steamboat for the second half of this great trip.<\/p>\n It’s hard to believe that the banks of the Connecticut River are still so rural and undeveloped. \u00a0In our area the river passes through hills called the Seven Sisters. \u00a0At the summit of the Seventh Sister is Gillette Castle, an eccentric dwelling built in 1853, by the actor William Gillette who played the role of Sherlock Holmes on stage for many years.<\/p>\n On the western shore on top of another hill in Deep River, is the Mount St. John school for boys.<\/p>\n In Deep River we got back on the steam train for our return to Essex. \u00a0I loved sitting in the parlour car with comfy swiveling wing chairs! \u00a0I didn’t want to leave!<\/p>\n ….and this was just the first half of our beautiful Saturday in June. \u00a0We then drove across the Haddam Bridge on our own wheels to visit the Salem Herb Farm.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n I met my friend Jody who works at the farm. \u00a0She grows a large field of garlic at her own home, and now is the time of year when she cuts the scapes in order for the plants to use their energy toward making bigger garlic bulbs. \u00a0The scapes are good used like chives, only with a powerful garlic flavor. \u00a0Jody loves using scapes to make pesto, substituting scapes for basil. \u00a0I thought that was a wonderful idea at a time of year when scapes are plentiful and basil is not quite yet! \u00a0So last night’s dinner was scape pesto on linguine with a salad of local lettuce and hothouse tomatoes….a delicious way to end a beautiful weekend! Gosh! \u00a0I can hear Ethel Merman singing this song, and it’s not a good thing to have stuck in my head! \u00a0Still, who doesn’t love a parade? Is all of New England like this? \u00a0I just can’t believe how many parades there are up in this area and how enthusiastic everyone is about them! \u00a0It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,14,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fine-craft","category-gardening","category-spring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2118"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2137,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118\/revisions\/2137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"