Where are you from

Just wondering...where in Connecticut is everyone from?

I hail from the booming metropolis of East Hampton (ok, not so much a metropolis...)

I'm in East Granby... also a booming metropolis. ;o)

I'm in Norwalk (work and home).

West Hartford here. I'm jealous of you more rural folk, collsers and clamairy.

Don't be, ciciha. I have to drive to everything. We don't even have a grocery store in this town.

I am stranded in Waterbury at the moment (at least until September). I split my time between Waterbury and East Hampton. And collsers, I can't believe there is actually someone else here from East Hampton.

Wow, I can't believe it either :)

Yantic (y'all know where THAT is, doncha?)

Douglas

"In the end, only kindness matters."

Hi Nutmeggers, I was just invited to your group as I am from CT also. I am in Middletown.

Clamairy,
We're neighbors. I'm in Simsbury.

Hi! I just joined without an invitation, hope that's okay. Is there no one out there from the northeast corner? I'm from Woodstock, about as far northeast as you can get! :D

readingrebecca,
I went to high school in Pomfret and grew up in Brooklyn. Have lots of great memories of Woodstock.

I was at the Woodstock Fair this past year .... does that count for something?

Douglas (Yantic)

"In the end, only kindness matters."

That's great, sisaruus! Where do you do your book shopping, if you don't mind me asking? I'd give my eye-teeth for a non-chain book shop that was close by.

Doogiewray, Yes it does, at least you know where Woodstock is! : )

Sisaruus I grew up in Simsbury. Loved it out there and maybe will move back some day. I'm in Middletown now. It has however gotten quite built up since I moved away. So many new developments, businesses, etc. I know right now you are flooded in many parts of Simsbury. Hopefully hasn't affected you.

Momom248,

You're not actually dry in Middletown from what I see on the news. Indeed, the other end of my road is closed and probably will be for a few more days. Unfortunately the direction to the office is high and dry. I am driving by the Tarriffville gorge and it is raging. would love to have the time to just sit and watch it.

Clamairy,

We don't have much in the way of independents out here, do we? I was at the Bookworm in West Hartford a couple of weeks ago. And there is the occasional trek to Northampton. Do you know of someplace I'm missing?

sisaruus, luckily the section of Middletown I am in in is dry (well not exactly dry but not flooded). Most affected is the Harbor Park Rest. area. Looks like they have water about 3/4 of the way up the front door. Too bad I think they just reopened for the season. I remember driving over the Tarriffville gorge area when I still lived out there and watching it after heavy rains and see the crazy kayakers out there as well. So very happy to see the sun today and hopefully 70 by this weekend. Stay dry!!

#18 - I stopped to stare (with my mouth open, no less) at the Tariffville Gorge on Tuesday afternoon. It was both frightening and exhilarating!

Sadly, I know of no other book stores. I usually end up at Barnes & Noble in Enfield. I do enjoy the Friends of the Library sale at Eno Hall in Simsbury, though. I come out with bags full.

Driving through Willimantic recently I noticed a shingle hanging for a shop called River's Edge Books. Anyone been inside? It looks like it might be someone who primarily sells online-- I did turn up an apparently-neglected profile for them at biblio.com.

I (recently) moved to Wolcott..

i'm from all the way down here in guilford. :)

(21) I don't get up to Willimantic much any more, but River's Edge was a pretty good store as of a year or so ago. Crowded and kind of cluttered, and I got the idea they aren't fanatics about adhering to their listed hours of business, but interesting.

The Book Barn in Niantic is unbelievable.

Oh yeah: I'm in Stonington.

Hi everyone. I grew up in West Suffield, very close to East Granby. I saw Clamairy talking about this group on Green Dragon and decided to come over here.

We don't have any independent book shops, but the Suffield library puts on a large and cheap book sale every September.

-Corey

I've been to that sale, Corey! Each of my kids filled up a large mesh bag, as did I. Sadly, last year it was held on the same weekend as the Simsbury sale, which is even larger. My conscience wouldn't let me attend both of them. :o)

Hello! I hope I'm not too late to add an intro. I am from East Lyme, originally (my mom still lives there) and I lived in New London, Norwich and Canterbury before becoming a Navy wife and moving all over the country. I now live in Mass, but I come back to visit all of the time. Nice to meet you all :)

Robin

Hiya, Robin! :o)

Hi Nutmeggers. I'm from Bethany. I get to stop in at Whitlock's whenever I have a spare minute or two on the weekends.

Hello everyone, I'm Jodi! I'm in Meriden (don't judge me :p hah)

Hey, no problem -- I love the Meriden Public Library!

Hi Jodi,

I'm in Middletown and I just love the Meriden Square mall! Welcome.

OK, I have to ask even though this is somewhat off topic. Why do people in Connecticut judge towns? It's really strange for me.
I moved here from the Midwest, and we don't have a concept like that at all.
Here people are always judging one town as better than another and people feel bad if they live in one of those towns that aren't considered posh enough. I just don't get it.
I guess I've lived here long enough that I do kind of get it, but it's just so strange.

34:
In my part of CT, it's sort of the opposite. I live in Norwalk, and I'm much more likely to roll my eyes at someone who does live in one of the more "posh" towns around here.
I wouldn't have thought this was unique to CT though, and I don't think it's limited to what town you live in. I'm much more likely to judge a different area of the country than a different town in CT. Like, for example, the Midwest. (As an aside, I had a friend once from Muncie, Indiana, who definitely judged some of the surrounding towns; and I know people from Chicago who would definitely judge people from Indiana. I'm pretty sure this is a universal human thing.)

Well, there is Connecticut's rather large (maybe it's the largest in the US) disparity between rich towns and poor towns. People with less money are sometimes judged to be trash by some of those who have more (look at some of the court cases about our "private" beaches ... all of which, I believe, have been lost (at least below the high tide mark)).

I guess it stands to "reason" the next level of prejudice beyond trashy people is that the town that they live in must be trashy, too.

Go figure, huh?

I came from Indiana many years (oh, go ahead, make that "decades") ago and I remember rivalries (usually based on high school basketball teams), but not so much looking down on another town as somehow "inferior" (but that was long ago and far away ... things have probably gotten more "advanced" after my emmigration).

Oh, I don't know ...

Douglas (from Gritty, but Showing Signs of Life, Yantic)

"In the end, only kindness matters."

#34 - Hmmm, where exactly in the midwest are you from? When I lived in Northern Illinois people were always quick to differentiate not only which town, city or county they lived in, but also which section of that area they were in. Example: "We're North of the interstate."

#37: I'm from Missouri. I do know people feel strongly about where they live and can be very specific about it, but I think that's different that what happens here.

#35: We are all individuals and you can't assume everyone from the Midwest acts a certain way because you once had one friend from Indiana. But I would gather to say that if that person acted that way it was more a personal thing or an acculturation to Connecticut in general.
I'm not sure I'd say it's a "universal human thing," but it doesn't surprise me that someone from Connecticut would make that assertion. I'm not trying to sound argumentative. I'm just trying to be honest.

And I do hope you were joking about "judging a different area of the country...like, for example, the Midwest." Although, again, I've heard this time and time again from Nutmeggers.

38:
My friend from Indiana never lived in Connecticut, so I don't think it was acculturation. It seems pretty universal to have a "my hometown is better than your hometown" feeling, followed by "places like my hometown are better than places unlike it." And anyone who doesn't live in a completely rural area can tell you what the "bad part of town" is -- "the wrong side of the tracks" or whatever. And I know lots of people who grew up nowhere near Connecticut with very different ideas about living in town vs. in "the county," a concept I had never even heard of growing up in a suburb of New York.

And of course I am serious about judging other parts of the country. Everyone does it. Don't you have stereotypes about the Bible belt, the deep South, the West coast, New England, New York City, Texas, etc? You seem to have plenty of stereotypes about people from Connecticut after all!

My ideas about people from Connecticut come from the interactions I've had with people in the last seven years here. They are not stereotypes. I give everyone a chance, and I definitely don't judge people for the region they live in.
But interactions like these where someone justifes his/her judging of people from entire regions of the country as being "just what everybody does" has colored my views to a certain extent.

I have to agree that this inter-town and even within-town competition exists nearly everywhere. It definitely occurred when I lived in CT. I actually recently had a friend (not native to CT) tell me that East Lyme was the new "North Stonington" (???) It also occurs here in Massachusetts. I live in an area that is called, "The Twin Cities," but ask the natives from MY town if they are 'twins' to the other town and you might find yourself spoiling for a fight! When I lived in San Diego, you wanted to be as north and east as possible (without actually hitting Oceanside or Escondido, heaven forbid--LOL) So...anyway, I don't believe any one region has a monopoly on town rivalry.

I forgot to add a very funny thing I've seen when two NJ natives get together (eyes narrowed).."Which exit?"

I agree with all of you. When I was younger I never noticed it, but having lived in NY, (both on Long Island and in upstate NY) in Illinois and in Connecticut, I'd have to say that a person's address is 'an issue' every place I've lived.

Sheesh, we were in the Virgin Islands on our honeymoon and some woman asked where we were staying, and when I replied, she said, "Oh, too bad. We're staying on the 'good side' of the island." :oP~

A combo of Middletown and East Hartford

Dirtybury... oh, i meant Waterbury
d=^)>

The North End of Hartford, Ct...The Uptown and Blue Hills Avenue areas to be specific.

Good to see people posting in here again!

Posting here for the first time...
From Romantic Willimantic! :-)

Welcome, ne_anomaly! Always good to see some action in this group!

ne anomaly ... from Boom Box Parade Capitol of the Universe!

Connecticut's Apple Valley - Southington!!

I assume there lots of apple orchards there?

Tons - as far as the eye can see!! Join us next Autumn for the annual Apple Harvest Festival in downtown Southington!!

Hey everyone! I thought I'd try and get more involved with my Library Thing so I'm checking in from Wallingford! I spend weekends from mid-April to end of October in Lebanon and Hebron CT on Amston Lake.
I've been in touch with "ReadingRebecca" in the past because I liked her library and found out her husband was the soccer coach at the college I went to in Woodstock CT back in the late 70s - small world eh?
I've probably been to just about every town mentioned here either from camping or on the back of my husband's motorcycle (going to get an audio book for when that starts up again!)

I'm new to this group and am in Glastonbury.