Our BBF was surprised to see a jar of Frog Jam, but when you read the label it is easy to understand where the name came from. He said it was a quite tasty jam.
The men took the Love Bug (VW Beetle) to the boat moved it to the fuel dock, filled up and had the heads holding tanks emptied and flushed.
Back on their pontoon they filled up with water and then left the boat to go to a hardware store.
Brec took Alan then to the Waterford Public Library where he returned the Jack Aubrey tape they had been listening to and then showed him a couple of paintings hanging there done by his great grandfather Burtus Brooks. More on him later.
Back at Laura’s house Brec showed us some paintings done by his mother which decorate this lovely little house.
So we learned that Brec comes from a long line of artists, as painting is clearly in his blood. Laura made a finger food lunch which all enjoyed and then Brec went out again to do some shopping. Alan later went for a walk down the beach with Laura as the weather turned from grey to sunny and warm after lunch.
The Lane ends in a footpath and bridge to the beach at the end of it.
Both humans dipped their toes into the waters of Long Island Sound.
Where does a family tree start? Well for Brec it starts on the Lane. Here the first house belonged to his great grandfather Burtus Brooke. The original house was the small front part of the house on the left and is where Burtus A. and Emma Brooks had 15 children.
The names of all 15 children are recorded on the walls of the dining room.
Two children died as young children and one later at 21. The plot of land which came with the house and went down to the sea was divided up and given to each of their children when they were adults so that they could build summer cottages on it and so the larger family could come together again in the summer. As Burtus and Emma grew older they moved down the Lane into the house now owned by Laura. Brec’s grandfather rather than build a summer only residence built a permanent one in which now Brec’s brother John and his family live, right next door to Laura. At some stage approx 120 years ago the family decided to have an annual picnic on the Sunday of the weekend before Labour Day, Labour Day being 1 September in the USA.
The night before the Picnic one family member holds a bonfire where the cousins all gather and for quite a number of years Bruce has held the bonfire and Alan remembers coming in 2016 and 2018 and that there were many more cousins around the bonfire than there were today!
S’mores were made and our BBF said he made the best ever yet as not only were the marshmallows melted, but they melted the chocolate too.
Brec and his cousin Donald.
John, Brec’s brother gave Alan a bottle of Birch Beer which he had never had before, and look it had a Bear on the label! However, our BBF said, though this version was sugar free it was terribly sweet like drinking liquid marshmallows and it smelled like cough medicine! So ended our second day on the Lane.
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