Ruby Tuesday Too - Mascot at play and rest

Ruby Tuesday Too allows us to highlight reds is any and every phase. Such as the of Hartford Mascot, Howie Hawk. Playful or docile, nobody will confuse his hue with any other...

Whimsical Windows - Old/New

Toby hosts the architectural meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, and we look at pieces of interesting design on our travels. Today we are an hour north of home in the state capitol, Hartford. The views are along the short (1.1 km) Conlin-Whitehead highway, built in 1945. Once slated to be an interstate grade expressway, it was not built as such and remains a winding and slow speed entry downtown. Of interest is the building above the road, the new addition to the Hartford Public Library, making for a tunnel underneath.

In the second pic, the arched stone bridge carries Main Street over. But why is it arched? The bridge was actually built over the Park River in 1833. Which then begs the question: where is the river? It is actually underneath the highway in a concrete conduit as it flows to the Connecticut River. Not that the leaders in the 1800s even thought to have the foresight of a future highway...

Finally, after the curve past the tunnel the skyline of the city comes into view. The mix of of 19th, 20th and 21st century blend together in a unique mixture of shape and function on a nice late winter day...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Winsome

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is back - and as the cold and tiring winter wears down, we warm us with a view of a winsome relative who is at a First Communion ceremony last spring. With such a look, and with shadows, who could resist this as a subject for SSS2? Not I...

Whimsical Windows - Empire skyline

The 1931 Empire State Building, taken along the BQE from the Brooklyn side of the East River, Captured by Patti

I am back for this week's architectural meme, Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, hosted by Toby. Today is is from the series of NYC pictures Patti captured from the passenger seat. Without prompting, I am sure most could identify the landmark in the distance as the Empire State Building - iconic in style, it stands apart from the surrounding modern buildings. The day was a bit murky, so an edit to B&W ages the view a bit, and allows a the tiered and straight edges of the profile to jump at us.

Interestingly, Patti's mom actually worked in the building on the 70th floor during the late 1940s. We need to get her memoirs of the Empire State in book form at the earliest, as the B&W world should have many a tale to tell...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Express shadows

Queens side of Bronx-Whitestone Bridge crossing the East River. Photo by Patti

I-495 Long Island Expressway westbound, Rego Park, Borough of Queens, NYC. Also by Patti

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is back, and we seek shadowy sharpness on all out travels, and capture same. Today I revert to out son's moving day to Brooklyn in December, and even more shadows captured by Patti. The first is from the Queens side of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge. The scene looks hardly city-like as the East River looks more peaceful. The second is along the I-495 Long Island Expressway (world's longest parking lot/car park it is said) in Rego Park, happily without the weekday hordes of commuters...an urban jungle of steel and asphalt - and well-defined shadows. A day of contrasts as the change went from snowy and murky to sunny and shadowy...