Whimsical Windows - Old hotel by the sea

Grandma, 1946?

Dad and Terry, 1948?

Grandpa, October 1956

Grandpa and Terry, July 1969

Toby hosts the fun architectural memes, Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors. And we look for architectural gems from here, there or anywhere. Or any era - since Aunt Terry sent me a box of old prints last year, the scanning continues. One theme of vacations in the old Atlantic City, far away from today's glass and steel casinos, was the Traymore Hotel. Through many decades, Grandpa wanted to take family pictures with this as a backdrop...The old hotel was demolished in 1972, so the 1969 pose was near the end of the once stately backdrop. At least we have spanned the eras in pictures...

(With all the artifacts I have, there has has to be a book in this somewhere :)

Shadow Shot Sunday - Seasonal Antidote

Sisters have fun in the sand by the in Brigantine, NJ July 1969

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 returns amidst a cold winter in Southern New England - I know that there are way colder places to be, although I am tiring of the cold. Using a wheelchair for ambulation means that I cannot move around much to keep warm...however, a bit of applied psychology might change things a bit. Such as looking at a warm day on the New Jersey isle of Brigantine. A strong sun makes for shadows, salt water and sand make for a fun playground for the kids. I don't necessarily feel warmer now, although I think I do...

Whimsical Windows - Austere in Paradise

Toby most graciously hosts the fun meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors. Today is an architectural oddity ins style...on Saturday, my daughter found am old photo book from 1980 which chronicled a vacation trip to visit old friends in Florida. And while scanning photos, I found this. A church, and what I find so different is the plain style - not New England Puritan and no Spanish influences one might expect in the Sunshine State. Yet its plain shape is most appealing to me. With nothing ornate to distract us, we can focus on the one true God alone. Which makes this such a lovely building...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Exempted

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is back. I am constantly scanning the thousands of old photos taken by my grandfather that I 'inherited' in 1981. What prompts this has to do with a box of pictures sent to me by my Aunt Terry last year...here is his business car in 1955, a Plymouth of the same year, in a slightly different shadowy shot of a previously posted pic. He fixed police and fire department radios in many towns and hamlets in and around Steubenville Ohio and Weirton West Virginia from the 1930-1970s. With an emphasis on the police departments as we look at the next item.

Also in the same box was this item that may explain why he drove really fast...he had friends in high places. This letter was very carefully folded, as if it was meant to be carried in a wallet. Is is the proverbial get-out-of-the-speeding-ticket device that you present to a police officer? Grandpa Ralph, of course was a man of unquestionable character. So a mystery continues...

Ruby Tuesday Too - The last holiday reds...

Ruby Tuesday Too is back, and whatever day one celebrates Christmas, from 25 December to 6 January, the holiday decorations need to be put away. So I offer one last SOOC ruby, a unique wine rack in an area restaurant. It rises from the tile like a plant in bloom. And with a requisite ruby or two in the form of poinsettia flowers and the ruby foil on a red wine bottle. The holiday decorating commences again next December...

Whimsical Windows - Bridge & Monument

Toby hosts the fun Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, and we look at interesting architectural detail on our travels. Today it is the castle like monument sitting upon the Memorial Bridge spanning the Wepawaug River in downtown Milford CT. It was built in 1889 at the site of the town's first mill upon the river. As it was built for the 250th anniversary the year it opened, we can assume the mill was far older. The other shot was taken from inside a restaurant (with reflections) that is perched just downstream of the monument. As modern as Milford looks in this era, the fact that it was incorporated in 1639 is amazing...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Monochrome Winter

Out the front door on the Ansonia Uplands.

From the bedroom of our son now residing in Brooklyn, NYC...

Shadow Shot Sunday occurs after our latest snowfall, and with the sunshine we can see shadowy art forming before our eyes. So with cheap droid phone in hand, the snowy canvas was observed and captured for SSS2. To compensate for the quality, a B&W edit corrects some flaws while allowing the shadows to stand out a bit more. In the bottom one, the screen in the window even adds a kind of texture to the scene. Yes, it is much colder than normal around here today...merely a small price to pay for well-defined shadows!