We all have our quirks. I am petrified of bugs--no matter how small--, will scream or swoon when I see one, but am enthralled by spiders. There is no way I will ever tear down their webs, and if they ARE in the way, I delicately re-direct the web so I can pass. Leopoldo, however, is a little more out-this-worldly; he is obsessed by "The Grays" (aliens). He believes they are behind every plot, every mystery, every missed bus. CNN will report a plane crash and he will mummer, "The Grays"; you tell him you missed a sale at Macy's and he will definitively whisper, "The Grays". Oh, well; we all have our quirks.

The first morning in Westerly we were awakened by noises: chirps, tweets, gobbles...yes, gobbles. A flock of wild turkeys was being chased across the lawn outside our guest bedroom, followed by a fox; but I had been warned about this and didn't stir until Mr. Astor shook me and said, "The Grays are looking in the window." This was enough for me raise my head only to see...

...a row of Adirondack chairs positioned on the lawn outside that window. Poor thing. He was such a fish out of water up there that he didn't recognize the most popular lawn chair of the Northeast. Just makes him that more precious.