Civil War monument offers chance to reflect on nation's past

DERBY - Since it's Memorial Day weekend I thought I'd post a photo of a war memorial monument that has graced the Green facing Elizabeth Street for more than 125 years.

The monument is flanked by four 11-foot long cannons. 

You can read more here about the history of the monument. It features a bronze statue of a Civil War soldier atop a granite pedestal.


Full disclosure: I drove down Elizabeth Street Saturday after covering a ceremony at the Storm Engine Company firehouse to dedicate a park on O'Sullivan's Island in memory of the one and only Edward J. Cotter, Jr.

Since it was raining pretty steadily I rolled down the window and snapped photos from the driver's seat.

The front of the monument faces Elizabeth Street.

I plan to take better photos of the monument someday when it's not raining! 

Shadow Shot Sunday ~ on the Green

This is part of the Green in Derby, Ct.
I took this on Thursday, a beautiful sunny day, as I stood in front of the stately Sterling Opera House on Elizabeth Street.

Immanuel-St. James Episcopal Church, built in 1843, is one of three historic churches that surround the Green. The other two are the Methodist Church, and the Second Congregational Church.
They are all beautiful in their own ways. 

Join the fun and see lots of shadows captured around the world at Shadow Shot Sunday 2.

P.S. Here's a poem that popped out of my keyboard this morning. Let's just say it's a true story.



The tree isn't up.
The gifts aren't bought.

Going shopping today?
I'm giving it a thought.

The cards they're not sent.
Don't know where the time went.
 
But I have time today 
for what needs to be.

To the stores I will go
And won't think 'poor me'
 
As I join the crowd
No whining allowed!

For it's the Yuletide season 
And that's the reason
 
I'm sending this today.
And may Santa to your house find his way! 

 
   

Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors ~ Sterling

Once again I took a photo of the historic Sterling Opera House in Derby, Ct. I love this building!

Last month I posted a photo of the cupola of the stately structure for Whimsical Windows, but this is the first time I've taken a photo from behind  the opera house.
The building was constructed in 1889, and the cupola was replaced in February, 2011.
I had a medical appointment the morning that the cupola was raised up onto the building and missed the ceremony and the photo op!

A Whimsical Windows post I wrote on the opera house in July can be read here.

Join in the fun and see other interesting architectural details from around the globe at Toby's I Wish I Were a Photographer blog.

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.  

Haunted tour fundraiser was a spook-tacular success

On Saturday night Ralph and I volunteered for three hours outside a stately (and haunted?) Victorian mansion that is now a funeral home.


It was one of several stops along a Halloween-inspired haunted lantern tour through downtown Derby, Ct. 
We told a spooky story hat we read from a script given to us.
Hundreds of people - who paid $5 apiece - came to get spooked and learn local history.
I counted 20 tour groups, although I could have lost track, because I was getting rather punchy near the end of the event.
 

So does Ralph look kinda creepy here? I think so.
It was cold out there and the wool cape added a bit of a 'Grim Reaper' look, in my opinion...


We told the story of a young woman, Emma Schabert, who lived in the house with her first husband - who was 40 years her senior.
She and her brother were lucky enough to survive the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 after being rescued from a lifeboat by the crew of the Carpathia.
The question we posed was: would her wealthy husband, Rufus W. Blake, who owned the Sterling Piano Co. in Derby, be as lucky?

As the story goes, the couple was home one night playing cards when Rufus went upstairs and accidentally shot himself in the eye. He never regained consciousness.
Newspaper accounts at the time said his death was accidental. However, the "accident" left Emma a very wealthy young widow.


Coincidence? No one can say for sure.

But as the script we read says, "Someone in the house rests uneasily.  Footsteps are heard echoing through the building, cigar smoke is frequently smelled and doors open and close without explanation."


Hmmm... 

Before the tours there was a Jack O'Lantern contest. Guess who didn't win?

 BEFORE
AFTER

 

Bwahahaha ~ I've only carved three pumpkins in my entire life, so I'm not too skilled at it.

Our docent

When I was stopped at a light the other morning I was able to catch a photo of our daughter Allegra in Colonial garb doing her docent thing.
She loves teaching the fifth graders who visit the Gen. David Humphreys House in our town. Humphreys was aide-de-camp to George Washington and his boyhood home is now the headquarters of the Derby Historical Society.
The 18th century house in the photo is for sale, as you can see by the sign that kinda ruins the scene.
Allegra portrays Elizabeth Clark Hull, who was the paternal grandmother of Commodore Isaac Hull, who fought in the War of 1812.

Sepia scenes

On Sunday we attended a Thanksgiving open house at the David Humphreys House in Ansonia, Ct. Here are several junior docents who made a lot of the food (pumpkin soup, squash pie, turkey and all the fixings) we sampled. They did a great job.

They even churned butter in glass jars. Now that is a lot of work!

Our daughter has been working there as a docent teaching fifth graders from area schools to learn about "A Day in 1762," the year that Humphreys was 10 years old.

Unfortunately tomorrow is the last day of the program until spring. Part of the day is spent outside touring the historic district, and so the classes are put on hold for the winter.

You can read about the open house here, and here, and at Ralph's blog here and here. I hope you can stop by! Safe to say we both got a lot of posts out of the fun event.

Visit Mary T's Sepia Scenes to see lots more sepia-fied photos.

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.

Looking at a small part of my world

I snapped these two pix today of our city's library on my way home from doing an errand.

I took them from inside the car.

I love this historic structure. I should have taken the time to get out of the car to photograph the arched entranceway, above which Minerva, goddess of wisdom and knowledge, rests.

The entrance is to the right in the photo.

And here it is in a sepia tone, vignette-style. Which do you prefer?

This info is from the library's site:

"The Ansonia Public Library was dedicated on June 9, 1892. But it sat vacant for four years because the town fathers refused to provide the $1,500 per year toward the library's operating expenses. Finally, on Aug. 13, 1896, the town administrators relented and voted the annual $1,500 appropriation."

That must have been high finance in the late 19th century!

Still more Christmas scenes and greens

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

These photos are of the Osborne Homestead Museum in Derby, Ct. , which is decorated for the holiday season each year by local garden clubs.

I must be obsessed; I keep posting photos from my recent tour of the home. Each room is beautifully decorated.

The portrait hanging above the fireplace is that of Frances Eliza Osborne Kellogg, who lived in the home for her entire life. She died at the age of 80 in 1956.

I always enjoy visiting her home at Christmastime and her gardens in the warmer weather.

The museum and adjacent Kellogg Environmental Center are run by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection.

Read about this fascinating businesswoman and conservationist here.

* More on the historic Osborne homestead

I love to visit the beautiful Osborne Homestead Museum in Derby, Ct. I used two photos featuring holiday decorations in a dining room of the Colonial Revival home for Ruby Tuesday and thought I'd share a few more today.

This year's decorating theme was "Wonders of Nature." This fireplace is in the library. The Derby Garden Society's task was to adorn the room with decorations created out of pine cones.

This snow globe display is in the "milk room." The homestead was once part of a dairy farm, and the room was used as an office, if I recall correctly. The group that decorated this room had to follow a "Snow and Ice" theme.

And some more *snow and ice* decor.

Does this look like a house that would make you forget about any winter weather howling outside?

I know it would make me forget...

~

This last photo features a ring-necked pheasant as part of a natural centerpiece of greens sitting on deer antlers on a second dining table, this one found in a dark-paneled room known as the studio.

I have more photos of this lovely home. Stay tuned...

Ruby Tuesday ~ holiday time is here

Here are Kid Two (left) and Kid One posing for their Aunt Brenda on Thanksgiving Day.

We give thanks every day that we have such great kids.

And below are two views of the formal dining room at the Osborne Homestead Museum in Derby, Ct., which is decked out for the Christmas season. I did a story about the beautiful home, which is decorated every year by local garden clubs. You can read it here.

To see many photos featuring the color red, visit Mary T at Work of the Poet.

A bit of history on a rainy Halloween night

(spooky bat art for Halloween created by artist Richard DiCarlo of Derby, Ct.)

Welcome to the Sterling Opera House

Is this historic building haunted?

Some are convinced that it is.

And that bit of information is all I needed to know last week when artist Rich DiCarlo, president of our local Valley Arts Council, invited me and a few others to step inside the Sterling Opera House in Derby, Ct. on Halloween.

I took him up on the offer, but not without first inviting blogging buddy Linda, Duchess of Norwich-Upon-Thames, who I knew would be interested in visiting this historic building, as well as in looking for ghosts.

She immediately was intrigued, and asked me to find out if she could bring along her friend, Amy. That was fine with the arts council prez.

Since Linda had never been to the area, we arranged a meeting at the Derby Train Station (below), which looks rather haunted here, don't you agree? The rain was coming down in buckets for a few minutes, so we waited in our cars for it to pass.

Here is another view (below) that I snapped through the windshield.

I like how this photo came out; I confess a bit of sepia-fying went into the final product.But back to the Sterling Opera House...seen in this picture in 1889, the year it was completed.

It stands majestically across from the old Derby Green, vacant since it was last used as City Hall in the 1960s. Renovations are in the works. Its ornate cupola is being repaired and is expected to be replaced in the spring.

(I just noticed that our Duchess Linda has written a comprehensive post about our experience...much longer and more detailed than this post will be, but I will forge ahead. )

The American flag in the above photo is hanging from a lamppost on the perimeter of the Green along Elizabeth Street, across from the opera house. The Second Congregational Church, and its long-vacant parsonage next door, can be seen in the background.

When Rich unlocked the side door, a musty odor greeted us as we entered the building.

Dark? Yes. We all were armed with flashlights and extra batteries. And digital cameras. Duchess Linda had two with her. I had my trusty Canon point and shoot.

We entered the theater and our 2 1/2-hour journey began...walking amongst debris, dust, piles of wood, and more debris. Did I mention it was dusty?

Here is Duchess Linda walking past one of the walls...dilapidated place, isn't it?

Below is another view of the theater, right near the stage. See any orbs? No? That's because I cropped them out of this photo. We'll leave the orb story for another day. Stay tuned for that.

I'm off to work, to get official vote numbers from yesterday's local elections.

Reflections on a Sunday afternoon

We went to a classic car show yesterday that was a fund-raiser for the Shelton (Ct.) Historical Society.
The annual event was supposed to be held on Father's Day, but was postponed because of rain. Fortunately yesterday was bright and sunny, and a lot of people turned out to view vintage vehicles.

We took a bunch of photos, and Ralph will be posting some of them soon. I also have a couple that are perfect candidates for Ruby Tuesday posts.


I like this photo I snapped featuring a reflection of Ralph and Allegra looking at a 1948 Jaguar.

That's it from here. Have a great Monday ~

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.