Tina's Pic Story - SOOC

Tina's Pic Story is back as we search for and search to meet the weekly theme supplied by her - sooc (straight out of the camera). Today, my unedited pick is these windows that appear to be floating in outer space... this previously seen view is inside the State Senate chamber at the Connecticut state capitol in Hartford. This was totally unplanned, merely an attempt to take a picture with a cheap point-and-shoot camera in less than ideal lighting conditions. The leaded windows from 1879 seem to 'float' away like a child's balloon at a parade...unedited fun!

Tina's WW, 29-29 Days - Not my neighborhood

Tina's WW brings us his is not where we actually live - but we can all dream for a view from our front doors like this! Also, it is Tina's 29 Days on day 29 - thanks for this February fun!

The Atlantic at Orleans, Massachusetts, on the 'hook' of Cape Cod...I could get used to this!

Tina's Pic Story - Sleep

Allegra leaves the hospital for her new home in Derby CT 01/01/1989

Tina's Pic Story arrives with its simple suggestion - we provide the picture (up to 1000 words) and Tina provides the theme - this week it is sleep-schlaf.

The old saying is that we should never wake a sleeping baby. So firstborn Allegra was captured in her sleeping pose - and she arrives home for the first time on New Year's Day. Warmly dressed, she lounges in her seat in the family Nissan. She is sleeping peacefully this day (but not so much on her first night at home :)

also posted as part of Tina's 29 Days

Shadow Shot Sunday - Sandy shadows max and min

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 arrives for us on a gray day with cold rain. Thus, I showcase summer shadows. Such as in days of yore on Cape Cod. First is the max shadow view taken by our kids on a Duck vehicle. Beyond the stylish houses, shadows fall while wavy reflections bob on the briny waves. This is an attractive and very nice neighborhood...

Now, on the spacious and barely occupied Kalmus Beach, there are shadows to be found.

We have to look hard to see them. And they appear under the slender beach. Under a few blades of grass, feathery shadows fall about the soft Atlantic sand. These shadows are tiny, so no protection for the humans who forgot to apply sunblock...See more shadowy art at SSS2...

also posted as part of Tina's 29 Days

29 Days-Soft Sunset

The always lovely Patti captured this lovely sunset outside the back window. This sunset offers hues of pink and peach, offsetting the cold winter blue-gray heavens. 

The soft pastels give us hope that the warmer days of Spring, to occur quickly - not tomorrow, naturally, but soon enough...

29 Days-23-Concrete wishbone

We are looking south toward downtown Boston Massachusetts alongside the I-93 Zakim Memorial Bridge

Tina's 29 Days brings me to a place where style and function work equally. The place is under the Charlestown side of the Zakim Bridge in Boston. The look is graceful and sleek. The tower looks almost like a concrete wishbone, bit not weak like the one we find inside a chicken or turkey. Yet the span was designed and built to withstand that it will withstand a 400 mph / 640 km/h wind - the highest ever recorded was 110 mph. So, style and strength work well together!

29 Days - Memories are made

An interest in photography bug was perhaps inherited from my grandfather (as I was named after him)

So on day 22 of Tina's 29 Days, I offer this sepia view was in Atlantic City NJ in I believe the late 1940s. He later had an Exa SLR camera in the 1950s, made in Dresden Germany. It could make photographic art of film.

Yet, the camera for him was not art - it was to capture the memories of special times. Like here, standing in front of the posh Traymore, a luxury hotel facing the Atlantic Ocean. Notice that he is holding a box camera - always good to carry around while searching for those memories...

Tina's WW - Carefree cooking

The days of winter shall soon pass. Then the time will be ready for dining on the patio after basting BBQ chicken over charcoal...See Tina's WW!

Also posted as part of Tina's 29 Days

Tina's Pic Story - Creative Crossing

Tina's Pic Story arrives with the simple premise: she provides the theme, we provide the photo. This week's theme is Creative...We are at Union Station, the rail station in New Haven. We are actually in a passenger tunnel beneath tracks 8 and 9. It is usually a busy place full of commuters on weekdays. On this Saturday, beyond the gaze of security, I was able to capture this view.

The glow is eerie, the flash or lack of makes this an oval portal of a chartreuse green. We might imagine being in a space ship, except the light at the end might be enough to wake us up from a strange dream sequence...

also part of Tina's 29 Days

Shadow Shot Sunday - Kids will play

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is back this week, and often I return to archives for shadowy memories in black-and-white. In this photo posted before, this is a view of suburban East Hartford in my youth in 1964. I straddle my Columbia bicycle on the drive.

The players are jumping rope and other activities we rarely see neighborhood children partake in anymore. The vehicles beyond the rope are a French SIMCA Aronde, the family VW Microbus, a tricycle and the neighbor's Rambler. Shadows abound this neighborhood playground on this sunny winter day. Thanks to SSS2 for prompting these memories...

Also posted as part of Tina's 29 Days

29 Days-17-Family, 1970s style

Tina's 29 Days is a great meme, we certainly can provide the memories of today or quite awhile ago. I am choosing the past today, in early 1976 (only a scant 36 years ago :)

The family includes me and five of my six siblings. The place is our home in East Hartford Connecticut. Three were in college, two in high school and one in middle school...the car is an AMC Matador (few remember these). Siblings and snow pair well!

29 Days - Assembly not required...

Old vs New

Pencil edit

In the old days, things were more mechanical more often, the items like wrenches and solder were used more often. Today, much of our labor is electronic, much like an Apple MacBook. To me, the contrast between then and now might appear to be a bit stark. The compilation of metal and Mac sits together, uncommon and useful in their own ways...

See Tina's 29 Days

Tina's WW - Sumptious Salad

Even in February, the summer tomato harvest is the basis of a fine salad. So we are still reminded us of the warmer days...see Tina's WW

 

Pic Story - Shadows inside (and out)

Tina's Pic Story returns, the simple instructions as follows: Tina provides the weekly theme, we provide the photo to explain. This week we are looking for shadows.

The photographer waits in his vans for family members to return. With the Canon point-and-shoot in hand, the scene is assessed while looking for a subject. As none jumped at me, I chose myself,  shadows appearing inside and out. Hopefully I explained it well...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Sandy Shadow

A mighty fortress on Craigville Beach? Photo by Patti

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 arrives again, and although it has been a warm(ish) winter this year, it is still the season it is. Naturally, we have desires to warm things up a bit so how about a trek to the beach, This view promotes sand, surf, saltwater, seaweed, sun and...a shadow! This fortress looks as if it may disappear after the next high tide. In which case, intrepid sand architect and builder can begin anew...to see shadowy specimens showcased, see SSS2!

Also posted as part of Tina's 29 Days

29 Days - Candlelight Dinner?

Who does not enjoy candlelight at dinner?

Ambience and elegance are a nice touch. But for a cat?

Well, Linus shows that he has some manners - look how politely he sits pretty at his place at the table...

29 Days-The past is alive...

Daughter Allegra works part-time for the Derby Historical Society at the David Humphreys House in Derby. Local schools bring fifth-grade students for the program A Day in 1762.

She portrays a local figure in that year, that being Elizabeth Clark Hull. Standing in back of the old house and in costume, she looks like she is in 1762, except for the modern vehicles and paved driveway, utility lines, etc.

She loves this job! 

29 Days - Sepia Span

Under Route 8 northbound, looking toward O'Sullivan's Island in Derby CT. Photo by Patti

This is the underside of a six-lane wide span - more specifically the Connecticut Route 8 Commodore Hull Bridge that spans the Housatonic River. As this view is from the river edge, It feels quiet here, with no signs of people or sprawl to allow us to believe we are in the country, far away from it all.

Yet we are not. The bridge above actually carries about 85,000 vehicles per day. The urban landscape is all around us. But here, on a summer day with a slight antique edit, it looks calm, and we hear no noise - it looks as if we really escaped...

Tina's Pic Story - Briny 'B'

Tina's Pic Story is back this week, and we adhere to the simple and basic premise: We provide the pictures, she thoughtfully provides the weekly theme. This week is the letter 'B'

For this theme, what can be more in tune with that letter than the Beach?

This could be a perfect B, as on the left I am seated on the beach wheelchair, on the sandy Beach, with the kids floating above the Briny saltwater Nantucket Sound. In one of our favorite towns on Cape Cod, that being Barnstable. I am in a beach wheelchair, under a umbrella.

I do wish it were summer!

Whimsical Windows - Old Hotel

Whimsical Windows-Delirious Doors is a fun meme hosted by Toby. And these pictures have a whimsical family history behind them.

Grandpa liked to take lots of pictures at vacation time, and that included this hotel in the old (pre-Casino) Atlantic City, long gone Shelburne hotel. Today the Boardwalk is full of glass and steel casino hotels, and portals like this are not included. I guess each photo was taken from the mid-1950s (R) to the mid-1960s (L). I remember our large family of kids were witness to this phenomenon.

I never knew what the fascination was for Grandpa. However, a couple of years age my Aunt Terry explained it to me: “Grandpa liked to think that he could hang with the wealthy. The Shelburne Bar was a wealthy hangout. So, he always had his picture taken there, but didn't always go in to have an expensive drink”. So that explains it! I kind of wish the old seaside resort town were there now instead of the new…

Also posted as part of Tina's 29 Days meme