The homestead, as we imagine it finished — an illustration
rodziewicz.net
Matt & Kaitlyn — newly married, building a small horse homestead on five acres in Durham, Connecticut, and collecting trips the rest of the time.
Foot Hills Road, Durham, Connecticut
Home is a 1998 Cape Cod on 5.3 acres in Durham — fields out front, woods behind, and a long list of projects turning it into a proper horse property. The fencing is going up, the pasture is taking shape, and most weekends you'll find Matt on the tractor or under something that needs fixing, with Kaitlyn keeping the whole operation pointed in the right direction.
The resident animals run the place: three cats — Simba, Roo, and Summer — supervising from the windowsills, and one horse on the way — Kaitlyn's horse Finley, currently boarded at Factum Equine in Berlin, who'll move home once the fencing and pasture are ready for him.
Kaitlyn's horse — the reason for the fence posts
A black horse with unmistakable style: teal bonnet, teal saddle pad. He's boarded at Factum Equine in Berlin while the Durham pasture takes shape — every fence post and shed timber here is aimed at the day he comes home.
The two of us, and the wider clan
Physician assistant, emergency medicine
Matt works in emergency medicine at a Level I trauma center in Hartford, with hospital-medicine and urgent-care years behind him. Off shift, he's a certified snowboard instructor, a serial project-starter, and the household's tractor department. If it has an engine, a roofline, or a flight itinerary, he's interested.
Physician assistant, NICU at St. Francis
Kaitlyn works as a physician assistant in the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Francis. She's also the reason the homestead has a horse: her horse Finley is boarded at Factum Equine in Berlin for now, and getting the Durham property horse-ready is all about bringing him home. Recently married, she and Matt split their time between the build-out and planning the next excuse to get on a plane or a ship.
Three of them, and they were here first
The striped one
A silver tabby with strong opinions about containers — if a basket, bag, or box is left unattended, it's his now.
The one with the mustache
Gray and white, with a white mustache you can spot from across the room. Usually found loafing on the back of the couch, supervising.
The camera-shy one
Solid gray, and she does not care for having her photo taken. This portrait exists only because she was asleep — caught mid-nap on a fleece blanket, eyes firmly shut.
Margaret, Rich, and Samantha Rodziewicz round out the clan on the domain — family can always reach us at rodziewicz.net, where mail to any of us lands where it should.
Booked, packed (mentally), and counting down
Our honeymoon — three weeks across Southeast Asia: temples and night markets in Chiang Mai, a four-day cruise through the karsts of Lan Ha Bay aboard the Heritage Binh Chuan, the lanterns of Hoi An, and three slow beach days on Phu Quoc to finish — plus a night in Singapore on the way home to see the city properly.
Thailand & Vietnam Honeymoon — Feb 13–Mar 4, 2027 →
Nine nights on the ground: Edinburgh first, then a rental car west to Glencoe and up to Portree on the Isle of Skye — castles, single-track roads, and whatever weather Scotland feels like serving. Flights picked out; the kettle's already on.
Also ahead: a masked night in New York City — Masquerade, the immersive Phantom, on December 15, 2026 — and, sooner or later, another cruise. There's always another cruise.
The fastest way to reach the house is email. Family addresses at rodziewicz.net all find their way home.