Shadow Shot Sunday - Interstate 91 in Shadow

Seeing as I utilize hand controls for driving (one on the control, one on the steering wheel), taking road pictures while driving my Dodge is never a good idea. So as per usual good practice, the always lovely passenger Patti, handles the photo gathering process. Thus, Shadow Shot Sunday 2 allows me to showcase prosaic and normal road pics as I safely traverse Interstate 91 North in Middletown Connecticut. These were captured in late April, and the shadows falling about inside and outside over the vehicle, road an even the driver. Spring shadows enhanced the day...

Whimsical Windows - Passenger Seat Perspective

When I am driving my Grand Caravan, I do not use my phone, let alone take pictures on a road trip. However, the always lovely Patti does. So for Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, I offer a panorama of downtown Hartford Connecticut on Interstate 91 North - from the passenger seat on an early Spring day. Nothing special, just a blue sky and equally blue Connecticut River alongside. It is a prosaic panorama that appears to have jumped into the frame...with lots of windows!

Wordless Wednesday - Parade Favorites

These big but gentle equines marched in Sunday's 2015 Memorial Day parade in our small city of Ansonia CT. Beautiful, docile and mannerly, these horses are always attract applause...see WW and WW

Shadow Shot Sunday - Shadowy horse (of course)

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is back as Patti and I visited Locket’s Meadow Farm, a horse farm in bucolic Bethany CT. We attended a ceremonial signing of a law by the Connecticut Governor, an “Act Concerning The Liability of Owners and Keepers of Domesticated Horses, Ponies, Donkeys, and Mules”, a response to state Court rulings that horses have “a vicious propensity."

All that said, I like horses, gentle giants that photograph well at wheelchair height - and on a sunny day, can make for shadows. Horse people are very nice as are the horses - and here, will happily eat grass from a hand of a little girl - very cute! And I learned something - the meshy hoods they wear protect the equines from the scourge of pesky horseflies. Thus they may graze as we admire their gentle nature…

Check out Patti’s New Haven Register story and a great photo gallery of the event. 

Shadow Shot Sunday - Stately, sunny and shadowy

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is back, and I revert to a favorite of mine, the  grandeur that is the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford. Taken a week ago, the photo captures were easy to get in an empty car park/lot as the legislative session was complete for the year. Opened for the legislative session in 1879, the marble exterior and gothic revival architectural details, such as the arches and ornaments leave room for many a shadow. I had viewed the Capitol in Winter, but not yet in Spring. With the sun so strong (and with thunderstorms a mere three hours later), shadow hunting this day was very easy...

Whimsical Windows - State Capitol redux

Toby's architectural photo meme, Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, is back - and I am returning to a favorite pictorial theme, that of the Connecticut state capitol in Hartford. These views were taken last Wednesday after a meeting. Since the legislative session was finished, I had an entire and nearly empty parking lot/car park to take a few pictures from wheelchair height. 

The Gothic architecture and details from this 1878 masterpiece are always stunning in view when under the sun. The government in this state is dysfunctional (alas,), but the seat of government is a work of art...

Whimsical Windows - Saybrook Breakwater Light

It is again time for Toby's fun architectural meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, and perhaps our subjects may be of much grandeur. Or a little - which this is. It is Connecticut's Saybrook breakwater light, sitting at the confluence of the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound and was opened in 1866 and is privately held today. I think we often look at lighthouses as being bigger and mightier, such as the famous Chatham Lighthouse on Cape Cod. However, any beacon of light that keeps ships in the channel and off the rocks is mighty indeed...

Ruby Tuesday - Cornwall crossing

Covered bridge in Cornwall, Connecticut. Photo by Patti, March 2013

Ruby Tuesday 2 returns and the mere proviso of a lot or a little red is all we need. Today, Patti supplies this picture from March of the covered bridge in West Cornwall Connecticut. Crossing the Housatonic River and opened in 1841, it is one of three in Litchfield County. It actually is in use today, it being CT Route 128 - and it has had a steel frame added in 1973 for strength. It is however only one lane - so having a working horn (and not afraid to use it :) on your vehicle helps too. The barn red paint adds a period charm - and meets the requirement for RT2! 

Whimsical Windows - Both Sides Now

Toby hosts the fun architectural meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors where we look for interesting portals and other cool things. For me, today was yesterday. I was chauffeuring the always lovely Patti to meet with our blog friend in the tony Connecticut River town of Essex. We were to have lunch and even before I saw the menu, I chose for my aperitif the stained glass hanging in the tall main window at Oliver’s Taverne. On the non-descript exterior, the colors of the glass did not stand out – however, I thought that the bright gray clouds might make a brilliant backdrop inside.

And I was not disappointed. The colors jumped at me, and made for meme magic. All in all, the conversation was great, the food fine and the colorful window a tasty desert for the post. A meal that was made of more than food – conversation and color were the rewards!