Shadow Shot Sunday - Sad day...

First day of school, 1995, Ansonia, CT

The news of today defies logic - that indescribable events touched today the innocent is what is so sad. As parents, we don't sit in a vacuum - I chose for this SSS2 post a picture of our children - Cameron on the first day of kindergarten in 1995, Allegra the first day of second grade, the ages of the affected today. Shadows fall over the two who were ready to discover more...

The thought of course is what if the worst occurred in our town in our safe schools - we send them off every day not considering and certainly not expecting the very worst. For SSS2, the look of innocence is what I see on a sad day in a nice town 20 miles away...

Patti's former Register colleague lives in Sandy Hook, has a child at that school (not harmed thankfully) - Read her harrowing account of today - it is gripping...

Ruby Tuesday - Sail on, sailor...

Ruby Tuesday 2 returns and I again look to the past for ruby, a lot or not. I'll go with the minimal red returns us the year 1983. These are sisters Christina and Julie and often the case with siblings close in age for special occasions, moms chose matching outfits. 

That occasion was the baptism of their new baby brother Bobby in which many relatives would celebrate...and every attendee did so! Hints of ruby are in their 'uniforms'...cute is a cute does!

(Yes, for those of a certain age, that is a Ford Pinto, clad not in ruby but in that not so attractive brown that cars of the 1970s wore. You had to be there to appreciate what passed for style in the day...

Whimsical Windows - Bucolic Green

Derby CT town green seen from Fifth Street

Toby hosts the fun Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors in which we look for architectural gems. This is the green of the small (12,500) city of Derby Connecticut. In the northeast of the USA, a white clapboard congregational church sitting near the green is oft repeated. What we see is the the Second Congregational Church (1845). The Civil War monument adds to the historic aura. Note that the pointed steeple is missing - lost in Hurricane Gloria in 1985. If not for the parking meter, this possibly is what the past may have looked like in its day...

SOOC - All I want for Christmas is...

A cat? It appears that Santa left us Sir Humphrey... unwrapped!

Shadow Shot Sunday - Aerospace place shadows

Office Buildings at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft from 1000 ft, East Hartford, CT, August 1984

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 reappears, and given my recent scanning frenzy I found this view that transports me back to August 1984 seated in a single engine to Piper Cherokee. I was invited in my walking days to take a ride with a pilot acquaintance. 

At this point, we are at about 1000 ft (305 M) flying over my then employer, big jet engine maker Pratt and Whitney Aircraft in East Hartford. In the foreground is the building where I worked in purchasing. Normally filled with cars, this was a Sunday with most workers away. Outside shadows and cockpit reflections emanate...

We are about to make a 180° turn to land on Runway 2 at Hartford's Brainard Field. On this warm day the workplace looked and felt way different than Monday to Friday...