Impromptu x 2

I had two unplanned get-togethers with friends Wednesday, thus the title of the post.

First off I took a morning walk with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. I wrote about it and posted a photo here. I'm cool like that. ;-)

I also snapped the photo below while we walked and talked.

Then Wednesday afternoon Duchess Linda of Norwich Upon Thames Facebook messaged me to see if we could meet her for dinner after she picked up daughter Amanda from the New Haven train station.
We could and we did! It was great to see them again.

All in all Wednesday was a lot of fun. Note to self: Need to do more of that!

Friend inspires icy photo

I saw the sunshine glinting off of an icicle this morning and took a pic. I admit I copied the idea from a blog friend, but I don't think she will mind...

Happy January!

Shadow Shot Sunday

Today's photo features another cameo appearance by my bloggy friend Linda, author of the always interesting Are We There Yet?

I took this as she was shooting photos at the covered bridge in West Cornwall, Ct. I didn't dare to go down the steps toward the river, even though they were concrete and looked sturdy enough. Linda is clearly more adventurous than I!

We had a fun foliage trip, full of laughs and leaves, but no lunch..We did stop for dinner at a diner. ;-)

See many more shadows from across the globe at our hostess Tracy's Hey Harriet blog.

Backyard colors

So, howza 'bout some more foliage photos? I love October, and suddenly it is coming to a close.

Note to Duchess Linda: I told you we could have stayed and taken photos in the backyard. Think of all the money you could have saved on gas!

But I must admit we had a "gas" Saturday exploring the Northwest hills of Connecticut.

The first photo was taken through the back window.

Happy Thursday to all my bloggy friends.

Fall foliage found

On second glance through my photos, I realized I did get some pretty foliage shots Saturday whilst snapping pix with Linda. (See here and here)

We laughed as we drove further north, only to find a lot of leafless trees.

Our immediate reaction was "where are all the leaves?" because although there was color, it was kinda sparse.

But there were some trees that cooperated. ;-)

Here are some pretty Litchfield County leaves, for all you leaf-lovers out there!

These first two photos were taken through the windshield. Not only do I do that when Ralph drives, I also take pix when Linda is the driver. It's nice to just sit and snap photos, and leave the driving to someone else. I guess I'd make a good tourist!

Yellow!
I really liked the way this limb on an old old tree on the Norfolk Green curled down and then back up.
The last photo was taken at the foot of Haystack Mountain in Norfolk. That's as far as we got on that mountain..the foot!

All of the above were straight out of the camera. I think if I worked with them a bit the colors could really come alive, don't you think?

That's where the leaves went...

Blogger extraordinaire Duchess Linda of Norwich Upon Thames and I went leaf-peeping in northwestern Connecticut yesterday (scroll down for today's previous post). I took 174 photos, which is a lot for me.

Linda took lots more. :-)

We didn't see quite as much colorful fall foliage as we had hoped.

This photo taken at the base of Haystack Mountain in Norfolk, Ct. kinda tells the story.

Well, there's always next year.

Shadow Shot Sunday

A wonderful blog buddy who lives down South sent me these shadow shots...

Aren't they great?

I live in the south too...Southern Connecticut, that is. Haha.

About 9 or 10 miles from Long Island Sound.

See many more shadowy pix at our awesome Aussie friend Tracy's Hey Harriet blog.

Hi ~

I've been away from blogland for what seems like a long time. Needed a break from computer play time, I suppose. I'm at the computer for work for many hours a day, and sometimes you just gotta say enough is enough and walk away.

At least I do!

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Sepia scenes ~ bear with me

I took this picture in West Hartford, Ct. and was thinking of using it for Thursday's Yard Art meme. But it came out well in sepia, so here it is.

The bear was on the lawn in front of an art gallery where our blog friend Linda had a photograph on exhibit in April. Ralph and I went to the reception and you can read about our afternoon here.

This was the scene in front of me moments ago as I was writing this post. Somebody wants his supper. He is making little squeaky noises at me.

See many more sepiafied photos at Mary T's Sepia Scenes.

In the eye of the beholder

Art, that is.

Ralph and I went to an exhibit yesterday, CT+5 (which stood for Connecticut plus the other five New England states) to see blog friend and photographer extraordinaire Linda and her first entry into a gallery showing. The show was sponsored by the West Hartford Art League.

Her photograph below of the Brooklyn Bridge, Linear Moment, was selected to be in this juried show. Go Linda!

I tried to get the reflection on the glass out of my photo. I hope you can get a good look at it! It's a stunning shot.

Here's Linda looking at the photo hanging in the exhibit. I think her photo should have gotten more recognition ~ it was more interesting than some of the winning pieces.

We had a great time getting together with Linda, and meeting her talented artist daughter, Amanda, who is about to graduate from Norwich Free Academy. The commencement is on her 18th birthday, no less!

We stopped for a late lunch after the art gallery reception, and raised our glasses to Amanda, who is preparing to head to Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Mass. in August.

Linda should be a very proud mom!

Weekend miscellany

Yesterday afternoon was nice and sunny so we drove around a bit and took some photos. Ralph will be posting his soon.

On the way home we stopped at Target and bought a vacuum cleaner. Can anyone tell me how to use one?

Bwahahahaha.

This morning we are off to church, and then to visit a blog friend somewhere in Connecticut. More about that later.

I hope everyone has a great Sunday. It's raining here but I'm just going to ignore it.

Time for fish oil?

When I woke up this morning I was thinking about Ralph's new mini-van, and how I must commit his new marker plate number to memory.

Then my thoughts turned to the other vehicle in the driveway: mine. I couldn't for the life of me remember my marker plate number. Eeeek.

I finally came up with the last three letters, but couldn't remember the first three numbers.

Maybe I just wasn't "awake" yet.

Blogger extraordinaire Empress Bee often talks about taking fish oil. I think I may start taking it as well.

A smile from the e-mail bag today

A friend sent me an e-valentine and this was part of it. Thought I'd share a smile.

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.

It's Election Day - will this woman be our new mayor?

The votes are being cast as we speak. Here our blog friend Linda looks at what may be her future office space, if she wins the election today.

Bwahahahaha!

Don't forget to vote today ~ and may the best man or woman win.

*** Mouseski for Mayor ***

Getting out and about

> > > WHAT GOOD IS SITTING ALONE IN YOUR ROOM?
Come hear the music play!
Life is a cabaret, old chum, come to the cabaret! (With apologies to Liza Minnelli.)

Patti's pity party came to an end yesterday as I kissed my pillow good-bye and hopped in the van to take a ride up I-95 with Ralph to dine with royalty.
Yes, Airhead 55 and I had the distinct pleasure of meeting up with blogger extraordinaire Linda, Duchess of Norwich-Upon-Thames at a restaurant in Waterford.The Duchess presented me with a lovely alliterative gift: "pretty purple potted pansies for Princess Patti" to welcome spring. The Duchess and I agreed that we are both more than ready for spring to arrive.

She and I ordered clam chowder in a bread bowl: Yum.
I purposely haven't looked at Linda's blog, so I don't know if the Duchess doth posted about our get-together.
I'm sure that Ralph will fill in his readers with more details than I am revealing here; he had a pulled pork sandwich that he enjoyed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Simply put, we had a great time and we hope to get together again soon. We are ready to give the Duchess a "royal tour" of our neck of the woods someday soon.
~~~
Ralph and I split this dessert. It was a semi-sweet chocolate shell, filled with cloyingly sweet peanut butter. I would have preferred vanilla ice cream with the chocolate, but it wasn't my creation. The whipped cream was real, which was a treat.The Duchess chose cheesecake to end her meal. She liked it.

That looks familiar

You know when you see something and you don't know where you've seen it but you've seen it?
That's what happened to me when I was reading this account from Duchess Linda about her beach vacation last week with five of her blog buddies.
I was looking at her pictures from the first post she shared about the vacation and lo and behold she showed us Southeast Lighthouse which she photographed when the group visited Block Island.
I've never seen it, but I have a print of a painting of it hanging on the wall.
Several years ago I met a Connecticut artist and he gave me a print of the water color he had painted of the lighthouse. I had the print framed, back when I could afford such luxuries.

If and when I ever get to Block Island, I'll definitely visit this historic lighthouse.

Fishing for a post ~ maybe fish oil would help

Some days I feel like talking, other days, not so much. I can go for hours and hours without uttering a word, or revealing myself in a blog post. Maybe I need some of that fish oil prescription that Empress Bee has been taking lately. She never seems to be at a loss for words.

She goes off on tangents, but they are interesting tangents, so it's all good. And she draws some great doodles. I love them. She has a whole cast of characters in her imagination that she shares with us.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Here are some pix I took last autumn in our backyard. I used a saturation effect on the third one, to brighten the colors or something. It's fun to play around.
I'm looking forward to seeing and photographing these beautiful colors again next month. October is beautiful, isn't it?

Awards from, ahem, royalty

Mimi, Queen of Memes, had a Blog Appreciation Week a while back, and I only thanked her for one of the three awards she kindly bestowed upon me.

I hope I am not destined for the dungeon. It's dank, as we all know. And dark. And there is no electricity, just a few small windows with a northern exposure. You never get to see a sunrise or a sunset. Or anything pleasant. It's just not pretty.

Her Highness honored me with this award:

with this comment:
"Patti @ Late Bloomer Boomer- aka Princess Patti the Succinct Writer Extraordinaire who manages to maintain a quality blog and write for a New England newspaper. Patti is a person I greatly admire. She is not only of royal heritage but a kind and decent and lovely woman. I am proud to call her my friend."


Thank you, Mimi, for your very kind words. The check is in the mail.

~ ~ ~

The Queen of Memes (and I daresay of the blogosphere) also honored me with this:

It's from Chuck at Foster Me Up.

Apparently Chuck believes that Mimi is a VIXEN!

Mimi wrote, in part "(And now on to award the other mild-mannered and lovely vixens in the blogosphere (and there are many...)"

Patti, Linda, Dawn, Sandee, Ciara, Kathleen, Katherine, Bee, Tish, Jeni, Jane, Angellz, Lyn, Mary, Turnbaby, Anndi, Mauigirl, Maryam, Barbara, Sanni, Margo, Lori, Desert Songbird, Daisy, Akelamalu, Giggles, Julie, Deana, Jamie, Starr, Debbie, Akelamalu, Carver, Barbara Doduk, Shannon, Lois, Mags, Jennifer, (post)
Asara, Dixie, Ev, Nola Dawn, Olga, Samantha, Sojourner's Place, WillThink4Wine and Annelisa.

Looks like I'm in good company!

But I'm not really a vixen, am I? My mother wouldn't approve.

Thank you again, Mimi, for your kind words. Another check is in the mail.

Saying thanks, a bit belatedly

I have been lax in recognizing awards recently given to me, and for that I feel bad. I'm not an ingrate, really!
Dianne, author of Forks Off the Moment, honored me and my husband, Airhead 55, with the Kick-Ass Blogger Award. That was Aug. 25, and now it's Sept. 7. Yikes.

Dianne (two ns) thinks I kick ass? Wow! Mary, The Teach, author of Work of the Poet, also thinks I kick same. Wowee!

This is what Dianne said about me and Ralph:

PATTI is one of the most positive, upbeat people – she makes me feel good just by leaving a short comment. Her creative photography is wonderful – she always spreads her wings and tries a new flight pattern. I admire her a lot.

RALPH gives good comment! He always has something funny or useful or helpful to say. He is thoughtful and knowledgeable. Ralph also comes up with great lines which I then steal and claim as my own.

Thanks, Dianne.