Shadow Shot Sunday ~ road trip

On the road again...

I went along on a foliage drive Saturday with a dear bloggy friend and fellow Connecticut resident, Linda, who isn't afraid to stop at any time to park anywhere along the way to grab just the right photo.

And I gladly joined her as we hopped out of the car, me with my point and shoot, her with her beautiful SLR to capture an autumnal moment. At one point we even braved the aroma of a nearby cow farm.

It was a lot of fun.

Today I offer some "through the windshield photos" I took whilst we wound our way up through the hills of Litchfield County in rural northwestern Connecticut.

Take note of the lack of foliage. Some of the trees we passed looked downright dead, as if they had not had any leaves on them in recent memory. Did we get there too late? Or had they been like that for years?

Hmmm...

See many more shadowy pix at Shadow Shot Sunday, hosted by our awesome Aussie friend Tracy at Hey Harriet.

Ruby Tuesday

Ah, such beautiful two-tone October foliage on this tree I spotted last week in the Ansonia (Ct.) Historic District.

All the wires? Not so much. But necessary in our world. When this blue house, known as the Blakeslee House, was built in 1712, no one ever dreamed of electricity, or blogs. ;-)

Perish the thought.

Well there is not much Ruby-ness in this photo, but there are some red leaves and a red door peeking out from the lower right-hand corner. I usually have a bit more red in my Ruby Tuesday posts.

See more photos featuring shades of red at Mary T's Work of the Poet.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Mums!

...and some shadowy Saturday afternoon clouds. I hope the clouds qualify for shadow shots!

You can see lots of shadowy photos at a meme hosted by our awesome Aussie friend Tracy at Hey Harriet.

Pink is for Pumpkins

On Monday Allegra and I stopped over at a friend's house, and were greeted by these "gals" next to the front door.

Christine's creative teen-aged daughter painted and decorated the pumpkins.

I thought they were adorable and was happy I had my camera with me.

Didn't think to ask if she had painted them pink because October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month or because our community is going pink this coming week.

The Valley Goes Pink Week starts tomorrow...schools, businesses, and organizations have pink-themed activities planned throughout the week to benefit a $1 million fund-raising campaign to go toward construction of a breast wellness center. One town has its own group, and will give part of the proceeds from their events to national breast cancer research organizations.

I wrote a story for the paper about the pink initiative, which was published today, that you can read here.

Looking at the Sky on Friday

I call this one "Thursday morning, straight out of the camera."

haha

I thought the cloud formations looked pretty interesting. I'm glad I took it, because now the sky is gray. Rain is in the forecast.

See many more sky photos at CrAzY Working Mom, hosted by Tisha. And keep looking up!

Love ya Linus

There's nothing like being dissed by your kitty cat first thing in the morning. After he spent the night on the bed with us (per usual) now Linus won't even look at me.

So I'm giving him his space.

Ruby Tuesday

The leaves are starting to change color here in southern Connecticut. I'm kicking myself that I didn't take this photo looking toward our neighbor's yard yesterday, when the cloudless sky was the most beautiful shade of blue. Today the clouds are upon us.

Not much red, 'tis true, but I had to share this capture from Saturday afternoon.

See many more photos featuring shades of red at Mary T's Work of the Poet. Have a happy Ruby Tuesday!

Shadow Shot Sunday ~

I offer you a couple of "retail" shadows (taken in a store parking lot today.) It was a perfect October day today. Hope tomorrow is as nice!

Me and Ralph. Aren't we cute?

Here are some late afternoon shadows dancing near the entrance to the Ansonia (Ct.) Library. This beautiful edifice, built in the late 1800s, is made of Longmeadow redstone.

It has been featured in several posts by me, and by Ralph. We love the grandeur of the place. They just don't make buildings like that any more.

See lots more shadowy shots at our awesome Aussie friend Tracy's Hey Harriet blog!

A re-post from a different blog

I posted this on our paper's local blog yesterday. I think I can use it here, don't you? I figure it's my photo taken with my camera.

And the title was:

Honk if you like car shows

Emmett O'Brien Technical High School will hold its third annual classic car show from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at the school, 141 Prindle Ave., Ansonia. More than 200 cars are expected to be on display. Admission is $2 for spectators. Entrant registration fee is $10 the day of the show. A super spot for entrants to park their cars costs $35, which includes served breakfast and lunch. Proceeds benefit the Parent-Faculty Organization and Skills USA. These Canada geese spotted in front of the school Wednesday morning seem to be waiting for the fun to begin.

~

haha!

From the e-mail bag today we have...

At last, a cell phone for seniors!

Have a great Tuesday ~

Oh, hail!

We just had a passing hailstorm. It was crazy out there for a few minutes. These are straight out of the camera...

Allegra posed with a handful of hail for me.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Welcome to our downtown! Well, a portion of a shadowy sidewalk anyway.

Today was a simply glorious Saturday for a street fair ~ and we were there for the seventh annual Harvest Festival.

It featured food, fun, craft vendors, live music, kiddie rides, pumpkins, cornstalks, hay bales, scarecrows, and more..

You'll have to take my word for it, since these are the only pictures I snapped. ;-)

Join the shadowy fun at our awesome Aussie friend Tracy's Hey Harriet blog.

(The guy at the end of the block in the top photo is someone many of you know.)

Ruby Tuesday ~ rainy version

I call this one "mums in the rain."

And Mum actually was in the rain taking the photo today!

See many more photos featuring shades of red at Mary T's Work of the Poet. And have a Happy Ruby Tuesday!

Shadow Shot Sunday

Shadows on our mulberry tree this afternoon.

I have no idea why Blogger wasn't working for me today. It's almost midnight, and this is the third time I tried to create this post. It kept saying Service Unavailable when I tried to upload. Was anyone else having a problem?

Anyhow, it's not quite Sunday and I'm about to hit publish! I did it.

Go see many more shadowy photos at our awesome Aussie friend Tracy's Hey Harriet blog and join in the fun!

And from the e-mail bag ... a chuckle

Two priests decided to go to Hawaii on vacation.

They were determined to make this a real vacation by not wearing anything that would identify them as clergy. As soon as the plane landed they headed for a store and bought some really outrageous shorts, shirts, sandals, sunglasses, etc.

The next morning they went to the beach dressed in their 'tourist' garb. They were sitting on beach chairs, enjoying a drink, the sunshine and the scenery when a 'drop dead gorgeous' blonde in a topless bikini came walking straight towards them. They couldn't help but stare.


As the blonde passed them she smiled and said 'Good Morning, Father ~ Good Morning, Father,' nodding and addressing each of them individually, then she passed on by. They were both stunned. How in the world did she know they were priests?
So the next day, they went back to the store and bought even more outrageous outfits.

These were so loud you could hear them before you even saw them! Once again, in their new attire, they settled down in their chairs to enjoy the sunshine.

After a little while, the same gorgeous blonde, wearing a different colored topless bikini, taking her sweet time, came walking toward them. Again she nodded at each of them, said 'Good morning, Father ~ Good morning, Father,' and started to walk away.

One of the priests couldn't stand it any longer and said, 'Just a minute, young lady.' 'Yes, Father?'

'We are priests and proud of it, but I have to know, how in the world do you know we are priests, dressed as we are?' She replied,

“Father, it's me, Sister Kathleen.”

~ ~ ~

Have a great Tuesday!

Ruby Tuesday ~

Two of my favorite rubies!

Here they are after the Center for Disability Rights' annual Wheel-a-Thon yesterday at the beach in West Haven, Ct.

I missed seeing the obstacle course competition, but Ralph said all went well and lots of people took part.

Allegra and I got there just in time for lunch and cake ~~ we were at church when the event started Sunday morning.

All in all, it looked like it was a major success. Kudos to Ralph's friends and colleagues who organized the fund-raiser!

To see lots more Ruby photos, visit Mary T's Work of the Poet blog.

How much is that bunny in the driveway?

... the one with the pointy black ears?

Does he look relaxed, or what?

We have some funny bunnies hanging around the neighborhood. I first spotted a black domestic rabbit by himself, in August. Click here to see him (or her). That was startling enough.

Now we have this white rabbit with black "trim" hanging around too. Both of them have been in our next-door neighbor's yard and in our yard, eating grass, twitching, hopping, and eating more grass. We don't know where they belong. Or to whom they belong. Escapees? Not sure.

Below is what I found as I started to go out to the car yesterday. I was afraid to get in the car until he hopped away. I don't want to run over the little guy. ewwww..

And I took these two pix last week through a window screen.

I think they like us. And our "natural" yard.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Welcome to our "natural" backyard. No chemicals used here! It is what it is.

I just took these this afternoon.

Hope you like my shadow finds!

Go see many more shadowy shots at Tracy's Hey Harriet blog. You won't be disappointed.

Thursday afternoon at our house

Linus jumped out from under this tunnel plaything right after I took the photo. He uses his imagination and amuses himself....when he's not napping, that is.

Soon he will be ready for preschool, don't you think?

After the raindrops

There was a passing shower this morning. In these photos the dark cloud on the left is being pushed away by fluffy ones coming from the West.

It's sunny now. Yay! Happy Wednesday to all.

Ruby Tuesday

I took these photos today. They are the first red leaves I've spotted. Seems early, but a farmer told me the crops were ready two to three weeks earlier than normal this summer. Maybe the trees are following suit.

I am looking forward to the fall foliage!

See lots more photos featuring a little or a lot of the color red at Mary T's Work of the Poet.

Warning: gross photo ahead

I noticed this weird glob yesterday on a piece of yard art in the garden. It wasn't there Friday.

Unfortunately it is still there today, so I took this photo.

I was hoping it would disappear overnight so I wouldn't have to deal with it today.

Time to get the hose ...

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Any idea what it could be?

Sounds silly, but it makes me sad

Feeling sad today about losing a tree. Not my tree, but a beautiful tree from the yard of the house right next door. I don't know what kind of tree it was; I suppose I could research it.

I was only gone for an hour and a half yesterday morning. When I returned and pulled into the driveway it seemed sunnier than usual. I didn't know why.

I was startled to see a stump where a healthy-looking, graceful tree once stood. I can't imagine why it was cut down.

There must be a reason.

I liked that tree. It not only provided shade but it added beauty to the neighborhood. It's an empty feeling now when I look outside.