Shadow Shot Sunday - Spring in the Aire...

Spring is here, but a cool-isa Spring season so far in Southern New England. However, for Shadow Shot Sunday 2, the days are longer and brighter at least. So a shadowy view over the pond at Witek Park in neighboring Derby. The shadows fall from the trees in a textural sort of design enhanced by the breeze. I await the feel of the season in the air while enjoying the view...

Friday Hunt, 2016-18

It is time again for Teresa’s fun meme Friday Hunt. She gives us the clues and we look about for our subjects. For the week of April 29th, they are…

Starts with R. Of course, it stands for Ralph :) To make it even more interesting, I am Ralph III, named for my Grandpa Ralph, and my dad was Ralph II (actual suffix - I think where Ralph I grew up in West Virginia, most sons had the suffix ‘Junior’, so my father was given the appellation ‘II’). Here is at age 9 on the Atlantic in Brigantine, NJ…

Week's Favorite. Patti captured me one day at our favorite E-Street Gallery in Derby. I was wearing sunglasses and the reflected tile floor added a cool reflective look (and the photographer, too). So I have adopted it as my facebook profile pic…

Texture. Here is a long ago pic of our late Rigby. The monochrome feline texture here is Furry…I think :)

Shadow Shot Sunday - Shadowy Digestif

Prosaic local shadows and events are the basis for this week's Shadow Shot Sunday 2.

Patti and I were at an event at last Sunday, the April dinner for Master's Table Community Meals in Ansonia. It is a real shame that so many people go without meals, and we are so blessed to be able to donate to this cause  the along with the many other sponsors donating food and the many volunteers to cook and serve the food - which today was a tasty Chicken Parmesan...

When we were leaving Assumption Church, the view out toward my Dodge wheelchair steed, this view older Ansonia was our desert. It was the first real nice day in our small city in 2016, about 68°F / 20°C with the bluest of sky and strong shadows. Her we see the Ansonia Armory to the right and YMCA straight ahead. It was nice day, the cause was great and the Spring shadows stout - a trifecta!

Friday Hunt, 2016-17

Ah, Teresa’s fun meme Friday Hunt is back for April 22nd. She supplies the clues, we happily search and provide the pics. A fun hunt this week!

Starts with 'Q'
For the letter 'Q' I return to a place of my youth, that being the the New York City borough of Queens. Granted, part of my growing up was in the Queens section of Bayside decades ago - however our son lives in Brooklyn and we have visited him a couple of times which necessitates driving along the I-678 Whitestone Bridge between Bronx and Queens. Quite a ‘Q’…no?

Week's Favorite

Yesterday, Patti were driving home from an appointment in New Haven. Patti noticed this statue at the intersection of Ct Route 34 and Ella Grasso Boulevard and captured from the passenger seat. It looks like a WWI soldier climbing out of the West River. Alas, over 20,000 cars cross through that intersection and with nowhere to park, we just couldn't find out what it was - but we aim to find out!

At Rest

Nothing but a cat looks at rest, this being our Linus. For 15 hours a day - this view from Wednesday. Sweet dreams to our furry family feline…

Watery Songlines - East River NYC

When driving over a bridge (and using a hand control to go and stop) I tend to keep my eyes on the road and ignore the watery views). However, the always lovely Patti in he passenger seat will take a pic should I request, and this one is being posted for this week's meme Watery Songlines.

Here is on the eastbound side of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge (I-678), entering the Borough of Queens in New York City. The East River is a salt water tidal estuary that begins at the Lower New York Harbor and at this point, is near its end at Long Island Sound. This was a winter day where it had snowed but the sun was attempting to shine through the clouds. 

It is a neat view that I can more fully enjoy when looking at a computer screen instead of when driving down the road...

Wordless Wednesday - Bramble 'n Blue

Spring is finally springing as the birds, bumblebees and squirrels in motion signify seasonal change. Here is one bluejay not frolicking, perhaps pensively looking up at the photographer - and speaking no words which fits NC Sue's WW meme perfectly...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Suburban Spring

Happily, it is warming up a bit and the much stronger Spring sun allows us a seasonal hint of the season. So for Shadow Shot Sunday 2, I took a couple of pics by the driveway that offers new growth along with shadows. Note the big tree in the front yard - it's leaves arrive later in the Spring and fall earlier in the autumn, which is why it looks barren so fat - but even the buds are starting. I like more sun than less so am happy it looks like Spring - I just wish it were a little bit warmer...

Friday Hunt, 2016-16

It is time again to fit the theme of Teresa's fun meme Friday Hunt. Happily the meme themes can again be met!

1.) Starts with P: I chose two pics that highlight two different iterations of the letter ‘P’, that being my lovely wife Patti and Photographer. She doesn’t drive the Grand Caravan, and chooses to take the pics on life’s journey. Here is passenger and photographer in selfies of sorts…she captures the essence of many a road trip.

2.) Week's Favorite: Patti went to a ‘senior’ prom last week that was an intergenerational event held at Ansonia High School and hosted by a multi-school Human Relations Club. Here, a student demonstrates the ‘Hokey Pokey’. It made for a post in our Valley-Voice blog and this week's Valley-Voice newsletter. Patti had a great time :)

3.) In motion: This is a view taken by our daughter Allegra in 2005 on her way home from a high-school trip to Paris and London when she was a junior. There is an interesting backstory here, as a few weeks before the trip on a rainy day, we were watching four flights that were in holding patterns while flying in the crowded sky heading to JFK airport New York City. When I picked her up from her trip a couple of weeks later, the first thing she said was "Guess what...we were in a holding pattern" I asked where and she noted it was over Groton and New London. (Connecticut). This is the pic she captured. (Most jaded flyers wouldn't think being in a holding pattern is all that cool - she did though :)

SOOC - Castle in a Tree

For Straight out of the Camera - SOOC  we look for interesting items of shape and style. Here in East Lyme Connecticut is a tree trunk chiseled, cut, ground and shaped to look like a castle. A neat look at an interesting, to say the least, work of art although we don't know the sculptor...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Find the red sweater...

We are back for Shadow Shot Sunday 2. Yesterday, I had to get a repair to the specialized steering in my driver wheelchair van, a 200 Dodge Grand Caravan. Not that I was happy with the $485.00 bill, but better safe than sorry. It is at the shop that performed the conversion of my van, Advanced Wheels, about an hour north of home. 

But while the repair/maintenance was being performed, I took my simple Canon point-and-shoot camera to capture pics of the new vans in the back lot and in the showroom - and I thought of this meme for what I'd take, and I thought finding me, in the red sweater, might make it more interesting. So here are three that fit the bill, although looking in the headlight may be a challenge to find me...

I really wanted to drive the red Town and Country home - but was dissuaded by the $56K price alas. I approached this theme  in a post back in 2011 and oddly, I was in red back then too. The past is prologue some say...

Friday Hunt, 2016-15

It is a colder day than usual in the Nutmeg State of Connecticut - so, the spirit warms up very nicely at Teresa's fun photo meme, Friday Hunt. We look forward to the hunt, and this week I am using not vintage, but current pics :) Here are my choices for today's themes:

Begins with 'O': I like Orange! The early Spring sky in these parts will do! To the left is a hone pic of sunset at a local shopping center. To the right, it is a sunset, then from our back window at a west-southwest orientation...

Week's Favorite: There was freezing dew during the week and I like these, as the icy branches look distorted on this cold morn, which is what the ice did to the buds. Nice sky, but when will it begin to feel like April?

Spring/Fall:Patti captured yet another male cardinal on the forsythia. It looks like late November (even if it was this week) when the leaves fall off. To the right, some of the forsythia is sprouting their sunny leafy countenance. These views frame the beginning and end of Winter I'd say! As always, thanks to Teresa for hosting!

Shadow Shot Sunday - Consignment Corner

Patti discovered a great consignment shop in neighboring Seymour, a place full of stylish goods and shadows too. Thus for today's Shadow Shot Sunday 2, we travel north to Lizzie's Corner Consignment and a look at the shadowy displays amidst the bold colors. Eclectic and cool!

Friday Hunt - 2016-14

It is Friday, so I am ready for Teresa's fun meme Friday Hunt. 

For this week, I have an amalgam of old pics that follow the suggested themes (sort of :). For ‘Starts with N’ I go back to 1957 when at age 2, our family lived in Bayside, in the Borough of Queens set in New York City. My sister Micehle (at 3) and I (age 2) took a trip to The City (aka: Manhattan) with Grandpa, Grandma and Aunt Terry. Michele and I are in front of home, 204-07 35th Avenue. And I believe we were on the Staten Island Ferry where Grandpa stands in front of the heart of New York City…

Weeks’s Favorite (actually, always a favorite) is the pic of dressed up Grandma and Aunt Terry (age 15). This pic is always a favorite as we get to see both dressed up in smart wool pencil skirts and interesting headwear. How they were even able to sit down in this style remains a question to me…

Vintage is another old pic from, I believe, 1955. My father, a then reporter for the Atlantic City (NJ) Press lounging with the then biggest comedy act, (Dean) Martin and (Jerry) Lewis. They performed a lot in Atlantic City before their 1956 breakup. Vintage indeed!