Ready for a parade

Darling daughter just left to march with other docents from the Derby Historical Society at the Derby-Shelton Memorial Day Parade. She is wearing a circa 1790 dress.
It's much different than the Colonial garb she wears when she is one of the teachers in the "Day in 1762" program for fifth graders at the General David Humphreys House.

I'm happy she enjoys American history as much as she does! 


Ralph and I will be stationed near the end of the parade route to see her marching and then bring her back to the car. I just hope she doesn't get blisters..

Bizzy days

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to radiation we go ...

It starts today and will continue for the next seven weeks. 

Life has been a bit busy lately...we got home at 10 p.m. yesterday from Ralph's co-worker's wedding and this morning I'm fixin' to head to my first radiation treatment.

Here's Ralph enjoying himself at the wedding. I had a tough time getting a good photo ~ I blame it on the soft lighting. This was the best one I captured.

Before we went to the wedding we visited our docent daughter working at an open house at the David Humphreys House. 

The annual open house features samples of Thanksgiving fare - turkey, cranberry sauce, cornbread, squash pie and more - prepared over an open hearth in the historic house. 

Here's a link to a post I wrote about the event three years ago! I would have guessed I had written it last year. Time sure does fly.  

Allegra surprised us yesterday when she told us she had made the tasty pumpkin soup.

My favorite is the squash pie. Our friend Christine who always makes the squash pies says she follows a pumpkin pie recipe and simply substitutes butternut squash, because it's sweeter than the pumpkin.

Yum!

That's about it from here. Off to get ready to be radiated.  

Our daughter the docent

Today was a Thanksgiving open house at the David Humphreys House in Ansonia, Ct. The house is the headquarters of the Derby Historical Society. Ansonia, as well as several other towns, were once all a part of Derby.

Our daughter, who hopes to become an elementary school teacher someday, has been working there as a docent when fifth graders visit the house where Humphreys, a Revolutionary War hero, was born. The house was built at the end of the 17th Century. Humphreys was born in 1752.

Humphreys was a teacher, an aide-de-camp to George Washington, and later served as an ambassador to Spain. He brought black Merino sheep back to Connecticut from Spain and started a woolen mill.

At the open house we enjoyed samples of pumpkin soup, squash pie, turkey, cranberry sauce, applesauce, and brown bread with freshly-churned butter. Everything was delicious. I enjoyed watching Allegra talk to the members of the public about the house and the food that had been prepared in two fireplaces.

I was pleasantly surprised when blogger and history buff extraordinaire Linda walked into the room while we were sampling the food. I knew she had wanted to see the house, but I wasn't sure if she would be able to make the trip today to our part of Connecticut.

Happily she did, and brought her daughter Jamie and, of course, her camera. It was good to see them! I hope they enjoyed themselves. I'm sure Linda got some great shots.

You could say the kitchen is "rather dark" even when it's sunny out. But with its big fireplace it is definitely cozy. Notice the formal portrait of David Humphreys in the front room, seen through the doorway.

The turkey was roasted in this tin oven in the fireplace in Lady Humphreys' parlor, located next to the kitchen. This room in the front of the house definitely lets in more natural light.

Ralph also wrote a post about our afternoon, which you can read here.

Another post about David Humphreys

As you can see it was Open House Day here in the Nutmeg State Saturday, so we decided to take in some local history.
We returned to a nearby historic house that we enjoy visiting from time to time.
It is the birthplace of Revolutionary War hero David Humphreys, who was an aide-de-camp to George Washington. The house is just about a mile down the hill from our humble abode.

Here is a view of the house from the history-filled Elm Street Cemetery across the street. Regular readers might spy Ralph's van parked in the driveway to the left.

American flags placed in front of the house greeted visitors.

I finally got to wander around this old cemetery that I drive past numerous times a day. I learned some stuff about the folks who lived in this area in the olden days.
They included Revolutionary War and War of 1812 heroes, as well as a Derby man who went off to fight in the Civil War when he was in his mid-50s.

I regret I didn't take any notes, but I wasn't working so ... I left notebook (and brain) at home.

This is daughter Allegra, our history major, enjoying the tour with me, Ralph, and my mother.
We recognized a lot of the last names on the headstones. Most of these people seem to have streets named after them.

Below we have an interesting stone in the shape of a tree that stopped growing. Legend has it that it is symbolic of the young girl on whose grave it rests, someone who died before she was fully grown.

The stone below has an unique shape - looks like a table, doesn't it?

That's all for now. I'm saving some photos for Ralph to use on his blog, if he so chooses.
I hope you enjoyed your brief tour.

Computer gremlins stole part of my post

Last evening when it was my turn on the computer I was putting together a scintillating blog post with photos and such. When I was almost done, the last third of it disappeared. I didn't feel like continuing and redoing at that point, so I turned off the computer.

It was about our local hero from the Revolutionary War, Gen. David Humphreys, who was aide-de-camp to George Washington and later a successful industrialist.

I shall finish it later.

That's all from here. Happy Monday ~

No can link

I just created a post for one of the newspaper's blogs and wrote about Sunday's Twelfth Night celebration at the Gen. David Humphreys' House that Ralph and I attended, and had the idea to link it here. Now, I ask you, is that being lazy or efficient?

OK, well, um..I just tried but I couldn't link it, but if you would like to read it and see more photos, please visit http://naugatuckvalley.blogspot.com and you'll see the 'On the Twelfth Day of Christmas' post.
Ralph (a.k.a. Airhead 55) also mentioned it in his post here.

A *wintry* mix kind of day

It sure felt like winter today. Here are a few cold-looking photos from our ride to church (no, I wasn't driving).
This is heading down the first part of the hill.

This is further down the hill, on Elm Street. Coming up on the left is the birthplace of Gen. David Humphreys, who was a Revolutionary War hero, aide-de-camp to Gen. George Washington, teacher, poet, ambassador, and industrialist.

We drive past Humphreys' birthplace (above) many times a day. The house serves as the headquarters for the Derby Historical Society.
His father, the Rev. Daniel Humphreys, was one of the earliest pastors of the First Congregational Church to which we belong. (Below)

This last photo is a bit tilted. My excuse is it was sleeting out as I was trying to take the picture.

That's it for today. Stay tuned for more of Ralph and Patti's excellent Sunday.

History + photography = fun

Taking another trip back to a simpler time...

Welcome to the 18th Century in southern New England.


When Ralph, my mother and I were enjoying ourselves Sunday during an open house I wrote about here at the historic David Humphreys House, headquarters of the Derby Historical Society in Ansonia, Ct. , I tried to get 'artsy' with the camera.

I snapped some pictures through the front windows that look out on Elm Street.
The only problem was there are dark plastic films covering the windows on the inside to prevent the home's contents from getting faded from too much natural light coming in.


This is the Old Town Burying Ground (also referred to as Elm Street Cemetery) directly across the street. Too bad about the telephone pole, huh? I like the street sign on the far left with an arrow that seems to be pointing straight into the graveyard.

And two more cemetery scenes taken through the window ...

Looks like November to me.

Below is my attempt at being artsy! I fiddled with the photo a bit, with our free Paint.NET application. I like the photo, just wish the sign were a bit clearer.



Here is the Humphreys' family crest, hanging over the mantel in the other front room, a parlor of sorts.
This fireplace was not being used on Sunday. A string of orange lights was wrapped around the logs to give the fireplace a bit of a warm glow. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of that.

I liked this autumn grouping of colorful gourds and squash that was displayed atop an old trunk.

I sat next to it for awhile to enjoy some classical music being played by a docent at the house, who is a senior in high school this year. He is an accomplished pianist; we've heard him play many times before, at school concerts and piano recitals our children also were a part of in years past. I just don't know if he wants me to post his photo, so I won't.

I have still more photos of our visit, but I hope you enjoyed those that I've posted today.

A General interest in local history

Gen. David Humphreys is someone about whom I've learned a lot in the last 15 years or so, thanks to my job as a reporter and as a mom.
I have visited his birthplace which is about a mile from our house many times, and always learn something new when I'm there.
The historic house is the headquarters of the Derby Historical Society.

Humphreys was born in 1752. He attended Yale University in nearby New Haven and became a teacher. He later became a close personal assistant, an aide-de-camp, to none other than the father of our country. Yes, GW, the man whose image graces our dollar bill.
Humphreys, as the sign tells you, was many things in his life.
In addition to being a soldier in the Revolutionary War, he was a poet, and the first U.S. Ambassador to Spain.
Humphreys brought black Merino sheep back to the United States from Spain, and started a woolen mill several miles from his birthplace, in what became known as "Humphreysville" and is now the town of Seymour, Ct.

Tea, anyone? (I just noticed these chairs don't match.)

On Sunday Ralph, my mother and I went to an open house that featured costumed docents (adults and several enthusiastic children) preparing a Thanksgiving-like feast over an open hearth.
Soup, roast turkey, cranberry sauce, cornbread with butter churned before our eyes by the children, squash pie, applesauce, and more. Visitors got to taste samples and it all was delicious.

I was happy that Ralph finally made it into the historic house, as you can see in the photo below of him watching the pumpkins roast. They cooked sliced apples in them. Yum.



The historical society presents a program for fifth graders, who are usually 10-years old, called "A Day in 1762," to show them what life was like for David Humphreys when he was their age.

After taking a tour of the historic district and learning about Humphreys' neighbors, the children are split into groups to learn about cooking, weaving, and spinning. I've covered the story for the paper, and also chaperoned when both of my children were in fifth grade and went on the field trip.
I've also attended special events at the house, and always come away feeling grateful that I didn't live in the 18th century.
At least I don't think I did.

The photo below is of Christine, a friend and history buff who is a docent at the house. I'm not going to give you any more history, I figure you can look up David Humphreys' life and times if you are so inclined.
Suffice it to say it's a fun and educational place for us to visit, and it's right nearby.

Each January the Society celebrates "Twelfth Night" to mark the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Hope it doesn't snow, because we plan to go.