Shadow Shot Sunday - Playground

It has been a nice summer, warm but not quite as humid as usual. Thus, being outside on a sunny day at a playground makes for a fine post for Shadow Shot Sunday 2. The day was beautiful at a park in nearby Milford - fair weather shadows rule this 80ºF / 27ºC day of children playing and parents playing along too...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Fathers, Kids, Shadows

Tomorrow is Father's Day, perhaps a faux holiday to some, but not to this dad! The weekly meme Shadow Shot Sunday 2 allows for father's day shadows where I found a couple that include myself and the each child - not necessarily of the same era, but shadowy at least :) 

One is our first-born, Allegra, in her first days in our then Derby home, maybe a month old, January 1989. The other pics is son Cameron, where he was a college student at the University of Hartford at age 19 in 2010. Both have the requisite shadows, a dad and a kid. I like this holiday!

Shadow Shot Sunday - They should be dancing (yeah)

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 returns one week after a big event, a party after a First Communion. At the venue, the deejay attempts to get the dressed up kids ready to dance on the hardwood floor as the not as energetic grownups sit, watch and perhaps capture them in action. Ah, to be young and mobile again...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Ringside Shadows

Shadows appear in many a venue, and they fall about an old sports venue. Thus, for Shadow Shot Sunday 2, we have shadows from the Naugatuck Connecticut YMCA, a 1924 building with a boxing ring as its centerpiece.

The mayor of our small city of Ansonia, Dave Cassetti, developed, host and promotes a youth boxing program. Cassetti himself was an amateur boxer in the early '80s (and a good one, with a 49-6 record. He's the referee in the white polo shirt). This was at the 2015 Triano-Rossi Youth Boxing Tournament.

On at late afternoon, the sun allows for brilliant and subtle shadows...

Boxing had a well deserved reputation in the heavyweight area, with less than savory promoters and sanctioning bodies. Yet, for youth, boxing is actually a pure sport that encourages discipline, tecnique, determination and paying attention to the coaches. It's learning to work hard. I like the kids working hard and even hugging your opponent after the two round matches were over - a purity of sportsmanship so many adults have lost sight of...

Whimsical Windows - Ringside Rays

It's time again for the preponderance of portals in the meme Whimsical Windows-Delirious Doors. For me, I revert to last Saturday and the Triano-Rossi Youth Boxing Tournament, developed and promoted by the Mayor, Dave Cassetti (with a 4-6  amateur boxing record in the early 1980s), of our small city of Ansonia CT. The development, determination, discipline and dedicated work of all the kids participating is rewarding to see. What of the venue? It is the Naugatuck (CT) YMCA, opened in 1924. These views are ringside at wheelchair height, and the charm of building such as steam radiators and old windows is easily seen, the late afternoon sun filtering in. Retro venue, determined kids - it was a good time!

Wordless Wednesday - Strike (we hope)

The little girl is ready to bowl, with the ball positioned on the chute and the gutter bumpers aligned. Will she strike or mark? We all hope so :)...see WW and WW

Whimsical Windows - Snowy Suburban

Winter is upon us now as it was 1963, and as I age I am not so fond of the season. Back then as a kid, it was very fun, especially the morning after a snowfall.

Thus, for the meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, I revert back a number of decades and the Villers children are frolicking under the sun at our East Hartford (CT) home. And under the watchful eye of Grandpa, aka: The Sage of Steubenville, pictures were taken by our Dad.

Grandpa most likely gave his complicated Dresden built Exa SLR Camera to Dad with the admonition "Don't touch anything - just push the button." The request/order was complied with :)

Shadow Shot Sunday - Shadowy Summer 1999

As Shadow Shot Sunday 2 arrives at a change of season to folder days, I offer a shadowy look back to a family vacation in the Summer of 1999 to touristy venues in Groton Connecticut. These memories were from at the USS Nautilus Museum at the US Navy Sub Base. Our daughter (then age 10) and son (age 8) are standing alongside the prop/screw of the first nuclear submarine, the decommissioned USS Nautilus on a nice day...

WW - Children and Sprinklers

It is the end of summer now, and the kids have grown a lot since 1995. Yet, when small, a sprinkler on a hot day is all the fun they needed...

See WW and WW!

Shadow Shot Sunday - Sand, surf, siblings, shadows

Michele

Myself, Sharon

Claudia

Vicki

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 seems a place to showcase shadowy old vacations, and since I have been busy scanning the past, the New Jersey shore, five decades ago in 1961, seems to be a fitting place to secure them. Siblings at low tide on the beach in front of the Sea Gull Cottages. And since my sister Michele is going there today with grandkids in tow, this post seems quite fitting. I can almost feel the briny Atlantic breezes wafting by my computer screen...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Father's Day Shadows

Allegra, 2nd birthday, December 1990

Cam, 2nd Birthday, November 1992

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 today is just before Father's Day in the USA. To some it may be an artificial holiday designed to sell, in non-equal measures, gifts of greeting cards and gas grilles.

It is a day to enjoy the best of being a day, the children. Naturally they are big now, our son a software developer in New York City and our daughter currently obtaining her Masters in Education. So it is hoped that I have imparted valuable lessons to them and that the will do what's right. Not an artificial holiday at all...

Ruby Tuesday Too - Birthday rubies

Last week for Ruby Tuesday Too, there were glimpses of a birthday party in ruby. For the same party for my big sis Michele, there were a few more rubies of the event (a real surprise) such as tablescapes, cute grandkids, photo booth participants and cakes. A color that represents a fun event...and sentimental blog posts too!

Wordless Wednesday - Not mere ornaments...

Parents, it seems, dote over their babies on many ways. Like Christmas ornaments that celebrate the little ones intro to the spirit of the holiday...see Wordless Wednesday

Ruby Tuesday Too - Bounce House

Ruby Tuesday Too is back as I return to yesterday and to the Greater Valley Salvation Army Back-to-School Fun Fest. As Patti and I are on the local Advisory Board, we were there for the festivities that Patti has written of for her Newspaper Blog (with more pics too :) For my ruby, I chose the bounce house above the wall behind the parking lot. It was well utilized by many a laughing child... 

Ruby Tuesday Too - Ruby Pink

Ruby Tuesday Too allows us to continue our quest of finding a lot or a little red in any setting. 

Here it is the soft pinkish color combined with the red sneakers to meet the theme with a hint of cute for emphasis :)

The year is 1996, the month July, daughter Allegra and two cousins at a family function. Cute may be an understatement here, but the now grown trio might prefer that term to adorable these days. The quest for rubies knows no limitations...

Tina's Pic Story - Happiness

Sleeping children in their car seats make parents happy.

Tina's Pic Story is back, and she allows for the weekly theme of happiness. In this seen before photo, happy is in our two children, grown now but babies once. We were happy that they were healthy...and happier on this day in 1990 when the slept peacefully in their car seats. Happy both ways!

Ruby Tuesday 2 - Vintage b-day

Ruby Tuesday 2 today goes back to a child's birthday party in 1983, the guess based on the growth stage of the nieces and nephews celebrating the day. 

Some ruby is there, fulfilling the basic red required...All the kids then are parents now - great kids back then. Outstanding grown-ups now...Follow the trail of more rubies at RT2! 

Shadow Shot Sunday - Polar opposite of...polar

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 returns one week after our historic Blizzard of 2013, and because of this week's snow and chill compel me to revert to vacations past where escape from the heat (and no snow), the polar opposite (couldn't resist :) of what we have now. Where the cooling water is what we seek, especially children on vacation on Cape Cod, 2001 (L) and 2006 (R). At least the snow is melting ever so slowly these days...

Tina's Pic Story - 'K' is for kids

Tina nicely hosts the fun foto meme, Pic Story where we add pictures to match the weekly theme she kindly provides. This week is the letter 'K', and for me the obvious selection is for kids. Hard to believe, but I was the second of seven children of our family in East Hartford Connecticut - here in 1968 with all in school dress, some in uniforms (like me in the maroon blazer). Plenty of kids here (clockwise from left, me. Michele, Claudia, Sharon, Chris, Vicki, Sue)

Our brood these days is smaller though, with son Cameron and daughter Allegra - here on the first day of school about 28 August 1996. He was in first grade, she in third grade. Time fies as she graduated college in 2010, and he next month - but like my family growing up then ours still grow now...

Tina's Pic Story - Wet

She is sitting on the sand and does not need the tube to float.. Both are having fun

Tina's Pic Story is back, and we look for the photos that match up to her weekly theme - which today is nass - wet. For me, it is the beach and includes little kids at high tide.

The year is 1961, the water of the Atantic, the New Jersey beach in the seaside town of Brigantine, the siblings aged 7 and 5. The briny sea water is wet - and certainly fun!