Well, it's About time!

Thirteen years ago I left nutmeg pantry. The dispensers that Scasco put in have been there since probably around 1994, if not earlier. xtramart put new Shell™ skins on them, but otherwise, same old dispensers. UNTIL TODAY!













Today a whole group of men and equipment showed up for a dispenser facelift was begun. As I came home this evening, the dispensers were there, but according to one of the installers, a "start-up" crew will be out tomorrow morning to fine tune and finish up.

So, something else is new in Sharon.

Things are looking up people!

moving waters...

~ the rains kept me close to the store today so I wasn't sure what my post would be for today. Yet on the way home, my problem was solved! This brook on the corner of Alberta and Calkinstown. Some of the water in this brook actually comes from water running thru my property up the hill. Anyways, it was just a nice sight on my way up the hill...

Rain Forest frogs....coming to a woods near us!

Holiday Season

Found this fantastic photo on the web this morning. It was taken in London in 1999. It shows Hasidic Jews in Stamford Hill prepare unleavened bread dough to bake for a Passover Seder. Sharon and its neighboring communities are lovely and all, but there is a world outside of us. This photo is a neat little glimpse to me...

Our daughter Catherine, abroad in Jordan is taking part in a Seder today with her group of students that she is abroad with this semester. She is soooooo enjoying her time in Jordan. Next week she is of to see Petra.

Not a bad Sunday.....

March Madness and











a nice fire...... Not all bad! :)

Like I needed another expense in March.......

If you are unaware, March in Sharon, Connecticut in retail sales is not exactly gold-mine month. It's more like hang-on, April and May are coming. Regardless, last weekend a small crack in my front door (which has been there since last summer), suddenly decided to go all across the door, making it time to replace. Bob Sheldon, from Sheldon Glass in Lime Rock came over and fixed us up yesterday with a new piece.

Thank you Bob!

Murtagh Road Improvements

A knock came at my store back door early this morning with a man asking could I move my car. It was a member of the Town of Sharon Road Crew. I replied that mine wasn't out back, but belonged to the folks next door. The man left and I peeked out to see what was up. Five men. Two trucks and a payloader! Whoa....what's up I wondered?













Within minutes the road foreman (Charlie) was climbing into the bucket, where he was safely secured behind a safety bar, wearing a harness which was secured to the bucket. He motioned to his driver(Floyd) to proceed and up he went, with chain saw in hand, and they started to work cutting back years of growth that was encroaching on the town road. Cut some then drop down, then back up. Then move forward and start all over. They cut from twigs to big branches. The other men picked up what they cut and pushed it all through a chipper. The big thing I noticed was how many vines were all entangled in the mess. Well, anyways, it gave me something to stick my head out my back door and "supervise" through the day. The men all seemed to me to work very well together and by mid-afternoon they were up near the end of Murtagh Road. I bet they must have felt some real satisfaction when they were all done to see all that they had done.



So, below you can see what they accomplished with their work today. Delivery trucks will be able to park next to the back doors of the pharmacy, my store and the new Sharon Farm Market and cars will have room to pass. Plus, I think its safe to say there probably is even enough room for employees to park on the right as well. Then add in the fact that sight lines are now tremendously improved and this was, I feel, a badly needed project pretty much accomplished by a competent group of men. The pot holes still exist, but the road is just so much more passable, safety wise.

Good job guys!

The forecast and what it is are....

oft-times different. If I am not mistaken, it was supposed to be colder and rainy by this afternoon in our corner of the world. Surprise! Sun still shining @ 5:45pm and its 60º too! Tonight its supposed to rain, with snow in the hills. If so, then these spring flowers will be white tomorrow. I hope that they are wrong with that too.......

What goes around....

~ funny how things that were so common sight 50 years ago are finding their way back. Of course there are new advancements that make them more productive. I recently found this design of an older model windmill on a Sharon side-road. It was good to see it was all hooked up and looks to be, if not in use, ready to do so. Taking advantage of what Mother Nature already provides for our use.

Being "green".

The right thing to do.

Very Cool.

Sharon Farm Market Report

I haven't said much about our future market here in Sharon in my blog. With todays posting, perhaps I'll start a weekly posting to share some bits of things I learn as the renovation process continues. Thus far, the new owners have put in all new ceiling panels (that was a BIG project) and have replaced ugly entrance and exit floor tiles with all new ceramic tiles. A nice start to the project!

"Pie Sunday"

~A few years back, some smart person in my church started an annual event. Pie Sunday! Anyone who is willing, brings in a pie of their choice to be shared by all after our church service. Their are fruit pies, quiches and more. Yours truly helped his loving wife weave the top of a great cherry pie. A grand time was had by all!

South bound with the hammer down!

~ heading for Orlando or Ft. Lauderdale or Atlanta probably, since these racers were up a long ways....

deep snows still remain.....(drat!)

~ I never knew how much snow that we get up here on the hill as compared to downtown. Much has melted in recent weeks but I figure it will be at least another month before spring clean-up can begin here on Sharon Mountain.

End of a tail, or is it tale?

Yesterday the facebook™ crazies (I'm one too at times, I admit) in the northwest corner were just getting everyone ALL worked up about this purr-ported mountain lion seen by "my friend" on Sharon Mountain. Well, I had my doubts when my keen-eyed relative and I both questioned types of vegitation seen in the pictures. It just did not look like NW Connecticut goods. In less than 24 hours links came out to the "cat in question" out in Wyoming. Now there is a cat that can travel!

What with these photoshop™ programs and other computer technologies, as a great friend said, "I can put that cat in my son's bed if I want to". We ALL need to be careful about just what we are told to believe....

http://www.cody-wyoming-network.com/2010/01/mountain-lion-roaming-close-to-casper-mountain-homes/

"Maple-Syrple time"

~ Found this group of maples with lots of galvanized pails hanging and collecting that delicious sweet stuff. I have a great childhood memory of my older brother Bob collecting sap and keeping a fire going on an old wood stove out in our driveway for a number of days boiling down sap. Did you ever taste it right out of the tree? Sweet nectar! That was at least 40 years ago, and I can taste it this minute. SWEET memory!

You wonder whats she's thinking?

~you are not getting ahead of me, so for-get-about-it! It's almost cookie time for me!!!~

Imagine the hutch...

to hold this guy!

One advantage to time change..

I left the store shortly after six and did a quick delivery up Gay Street. Then, with such a beautiful day day, I decided to take the long way home and take a trip thru "downtown". As I was driving I came across Kathy and Brian Riley, who were out enjoying the beautiful early evening with a nice run. The forecast for the week is more of the same. How nice!

Sharon Falls

~My how times change. Back 40 years ago (and more), everyone knew where Sharon Falls was, and we all enjoyed it. But now, between facebook™, chat, texting, and just a very different kind of world, places like Sharon Falls are just forgotten. Then tack on that locals no longer own the neighboring land, and visiting is considered trespassing, it's just another part of our changed world. Not necessarily good......or bad, but changed.

Times like this make me glad that I grew up when I did. I wonder how many people even know where Sharon Falls is......

I'll huff, and I'll puff.....

Surfs up on Crystal Lake on Sunday afternoon. What would the TMT™ say?

cowabunga dude!














~we dodged a bullet on Jackson last evening. This half of a tree and the top of a pine came out of one neighbors yard. The ash almost hit the power lines across the road but just missed! Yes! So, rather than an outage, we just had a surge. Lots of folks are out around town I heard, but the crews are busy turning things back on. I'd say we were pretty lucky on not getting the worst part of this storm, much like the last n'orester.

and lastly...

I heard this week that a used furniture place is opening in the former One Gay Street former Harrington's former Community Service on Gay Street in Sharon! I know nothing else about it. But a storefront occupied is far-better than one that is empty. An exciting week in Sharon with retail news!

Northlight Art Center

For those who don't know Pieter Lefferts, may I be the first to introduce you! Pieter has lived in Sharon for a good number of years on Calkinstown Road and is a very talented artist to my mind and just a great all-around guy. He has just leased the former Video Studio, next to the JAM store, at 5 Calkinstown and has open his Northlight Art Center.

At his shop he will be teaching art classes in drawing and painting, both at day and night-time classes. He is teaching to all ages, including children. This evening I stopped by to grab this photo and a family of four was there. How neat! I think he officially opened yesterday and had folks in already today! On Thursday evenings Pieter is going to have what he called an Art Studio with instruction which he seemed quite excited about. He will also be exhibiting his own work,and doing his own work there, so I could be wrong, but is that our first "art studio"? Whatever...I think it's really great that Pieter gets to do what he loves, walking distance from his home.

Pieter hasn't had his phone installed yet (next week), so if you want to contact him, just stop in! And even if you aren't inclined to be an artist or painter, why not stop in and just introduce yourself and wish him good luck!!

Can anyone say Sharon Revival?

Hopefully I'll have another piece of great news to release tomorrow about Sharon. Stay tuned....

Signs of LIFE!!!

All-righty then! Six cars/trucks in front of the soon to be Sharon Farm Market, belonging to the owner and workers who have started the process of cleaning and renovating the former Trotta's. They were busy pealing old broken floor tiles and replacing ceiling panels when I glanced in.....

~and here in the old Clothes and Collectables storefront I found Lynn and Ellen hard at work preparing for their new business, The Bodhi Tree, which they call an artisans market. They were here during the month of December and offered quality items from local artisans, and are back with a lease to give us all a nice place to support our friends and neighbors who offer up their own items of arts and craft items. I find this store and the new market to be such an exciting time in Sharon. Amazing. And that's not all! More coming in my next post! Be sure to check back tomorrow!

Old Glory Proudly Flying

Ellsworth Cemetery

Sharon, Connecticut

March 2010

Sunset....over Millbrook

`Did you all catch that sunset last evening? At least from up here on the mountain it was, well, spectacular! And it's moving up so quickly now. It was just a few weeks back and the sun, from my angle, would be setting over, lets say, Pawling direction. But already it has moved up to over Millbrook I'd say. Spring is really coming! Yes! Yes! YES!!!!

and only two bars....

~this monster of a tower and equipment, easily worth probably, what-do-you think, $1 million or more, is located here in Sharon, high on the mountain top, with not a branch in the way, yet my cell phone still only gets two bars in some parts of town.(some parts, less!)

Come on AT & T...Do better!

Young's Marsh(at least thats what I've always called it)

Anybody else see a fish here?

The sunshine took me out for a ride Sunday afternoon, and was I thankful I went. I saw some really gorgeous landscapes and buildings, both old and new.

Watch for more in the coming days....

(make sure you click on my photos to see in large foremat)

Melting snows....

Guna Brook

A sunny Saturday morning

March 6th, 2010

Here's another spot I try to always take the time to enjoy nature doing what is does best. Carving down through the mountain, I find this one just one of Sharons' neatest hidden gems. So many probably have lived their whole life here, and take this all for granted, and miss it.

What a shame.

Well-worn trail

Anyone who says deer don't travel the same trail very often, well have I got news for you! This trail must be traveled extremely often. Talk about worn...

It looks like deer have that walking in a straight line down pretty well, except for one bend in the middle. The leader must have turned to look behind or something for a moment...

Friday Night Colors

I was out on a delivery this evening when I saw this view of Indian Mountain between Sharon and Lakeville. A bit of a stretch for my little digital, but I think it actually did a good capture. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did when I saw it.

I Love this brook.....

This brook is probably my favorite brook. It has such potential to be just the neatest looking little brook and surroundings, but whomever is the land owner chooses to just let nature do its own thing. In other words, it looks like it does with sticks and logs and the surrounding banks just unkept. I know some would say it's beautiful as it is. I want it cleaned up. Dare I ask the landlord if interested parties did the work, could we just clean it up a bit? I know in reality it will probably never happen, but I can dream, right?

Sharon's Hotchkiss Library

One of our town's long-running venues is The Hotchkiss Library, located at 10 Upper Main Street. It has been serving the good folks of Sharon for over 100 years now. How fortunate we are to have such a fine institution here in our town. I was pleasantly surprised the other day to see that a nice new sign has been added recently out front. I remember back not too long ago thinking they needed to replace their old one, and what-do-you-know, one appears! I admit, its probably been there for a bit, and I just am now noticing it, but, whatever, it looks good! Especially in the snow late last week.

I enjoyed that they had some lighted trees during the recent holiday season showing thru the upstairs windows in the evenings. I also understand there have been some good changes done inside recently that have been praised by many. I need to get in and take a look around and see for myself. While I myself don't use the library often, I recognize its value to our town. My kids used it greatly during their school years in Sharon, and we all as a family pitch-in each year to help with its summer fund-raising projects.

I know an expansion to make it more assessable to the handicapped as well as just a more user-friendly place for all has been in the works for some time now, and is meeting with some firm resistance. I hope all parties can come to a reasonable agreement and that the needed changes can hopefully come sooner than later.

Check out their website at http://www.hotchkisslibrary.org/

Store Update..

Sorry, I don't know.

This is my reply for the last few days to all the store questions, like......

when's it going to open?

where are the owners?

why aren't they working?

what's going on next door?

how do I get in touch with the owners?

are they going to commute?

are they going to live here?

where are they going to live?

will they sell groceries?

when are the landlords going to start on the outside?

why haven't they started yet?

what's the hold-up?

are they going to hire local people?

will they be open at night?

what's the name going to be? (that one I know..The Sharon Farm Market)

So many questions....

I'm sorry,

I don't know......

Understatement.....

They don't make enough of these signs for the roads in Sharon! This one can be found on Low Road, just outside from The Johns Estate. So S-L-O-W down! This particular one was a real car-eater last year, and I thought for sure that the town would have worked on it over last summer, but I am guessing they didn't since it seems so bad. I know the state didn't come thru with promised funds last year at one point, and I am sure that affected some projects. But I remember stories of cars going to garages for repairs and I heard the town was picking up the bills for the repairs after hitting this one last year. I thought for sure they would have worked on this one at least. One can't help but wonder how bad our roads have to get before some things change.