Lately it’s taken almost all my energy to leave the house for anything – it’s cold, dark and our last big snowfall packed my car in so deep digging out was a 2-day process. Yay New England winter (I’m sorry I doubted you for so long … there’s no need to further demonstrate your might).

However, I have managed to have a couple of adventures over the last week.

The walkway leading to the porch, flanked by two snowy pine trees.

Last Thursday – as my car sat buried and useless – I took to the sidewalks to investigate a very notable cultural landmark that is only four blocks away from my apartment building, in Hartford’s West End.

From 1874 to 1891 Samuel Clemens – better known to us as Mark Twain – and his family lived in a house on Farmington Avenue. Clemens moved from his home state of Missouri to the East Coast when he was 18 (a fellow Midwest transplant!), then spent most of his time traveling until settling in Hartford with his family in 1871. Most of his famous works were written while he lived in this house.

The walkway leading to the porch, flanked by two snowy pine trees.

And on Sunday I ventured into the nearby Parkville neighborhood to eat pizza, drink beer and watch the midseason premier of The Walking Dead at Sully’s Pub. Sully’s is hooked to Lena’s Pizzaria, which, according to their box, has been voted Hartford’s best pizza 18 times. I make no superlative claims (lest I anger these pizza-obsessed Connecticuters), but it was a pretty tasty pie.

Keeping with the original intent of this blog … does it count as acceptable TV viewing if I’m watching on a projector screen in a room full of rambunctious fans? I admit I have been very, very bad about my no-TV rule lately thanks to a confluence of factors – mostly my current underemployed state, winter making the outdoors horrible and Netflix.