hmmmm. Think you're off for a while sir...

     I must admit, I don't recollect ever seeing just a mosquito service around here before. Doesn't mean they haven't been here, it's just I haven't ever seen one. Whatever, I think this company can probably take the rest of the year off.

     We worked in the yard all afternoon today following church, and I was dressed in layers for the first time to stay warm. The turtleneck came out of the closet, a sweatshirt and my old work vest. Hat and gloves and sound protectors on the ears. Two tanks of fuel for the backpack blower later, and the gutters, flowerbeds and most of the lawn is pretty-well cleaned up. The wind was right out of the northwest at a good steady 10-15 mph I'd say all afternoon.
     Not a mosquito in sight. I guess "the authority" did a good job!

autosport's fall colors...

     I think that Doug Hobby opened autosport the same year I opened nutmeg pantry (if my memory serves me correctly) and that is more than thirty years ago.  For this entire time, Tom Gomez and Kurt Palmer have been his main mechanics. Through all these years, Doug has remained very consistent, dealing mainly with foreign cars. He also will help you out if your Chevy pickup needs to be looked after as well. I commend Doug for the years of hard work and faithfulness it takes to run a small business in a small town.

cool cloud!

    Earlier this week for about 15 seconds, we caught a glimpse of the side of a really low cloud formation moving through. For just a second, the sun, off the side off the cloud was, well, perhaps you had to be there, but to me it was really cool!  I happened to be outside with my camera just then, so I grabbed it as best I could.

A warm summer (oops.fall) morning...

     Found myself down Southstreet way this morning. My first pic leads me to the following question.... Why do/did these trees all loose their leaves from the top down? And, do all trees do that, and I just never noticed before?

     Yesterday, as my blog noted, shows some bushes in the wild which are just magnificent at this time of year. Today I found this tree in a yard which was just bursting! At times I wish I didn't build in the middle of the woods, where I have little that grows, or whatever I do plant gets chomped by the animals, who never say thank you for free food........

Thank GOD for Audubon and State Forest Land!

Any of you been out West Cornwall Road lately? I know with the road project going on, it actually is probably a good road to stay off of, but if you can't make it, here are a few shots of how its been looking the last 4-7 days...

Not sure what this bush looks like all summer, but it sure is sweet now!

Roy Swamp & State Forest Land

Even on a rainy morning..special colors.

another fun resto job...56 Ford

The things that show up in the Sharon parking lot can be soooo cool!

The owner says this is his "fun truck"...meaning parts of his resto are not true to the original.

Thinking about how slow old trucks go? Not this one! It has a new Thunderbird motor that allows the owner to leave Cornwall Bridge and still be gaining speed as he climbs to the top of Ellsworth Mountain.

Isn't that a great color? Is it me, or were some of the older vehicles original colors better looking than new-car colors?

F irst

O n

R ace

D ay.  Ford!
!

fences with views....

     I am a fan of fences. I always have been. I like all types, and we happen to have many types right here in the northwest corner.  This one is located up on the hill, off Sharon Mountain Road. It's a favorite. Actually (in all honesty) maybe it's not the fence so much as the view and scenery. Everyone talks about Twin Oaks. To me, the view over Pete's farmland is gorgeous, no matter what the season. The fact that to see the view is somewhat hard, due to the fact it's (the view) on a kind-of dangerous corner may have something to do with it. If you're up in the area, come down around the corner slowly, and pull off in the grass on the right. There is room to get off the road.
     Take a coffee with you, and enjoy one of Sharon's pleasures. You'll be glad you did.

Images from Maine

While in Maine a few weekends back we stumbled upon numerous fun things to do and see. I came in from doing the leaves this afternoon, and was looking at photos from last month that I thought I'd share. Feel free to laugh, smile, have a coffee, delete, or leave the room. It's up to you....

Remember Ames? This store hard their carts!

Remember them in Lakeville?

What is this thing?

Boots for a grandmother to buy....

just loved the name....

So all of these shots are from Bath, Maine. If you have the opportunity, check out Bath. An old town which has made a big comeback in many ways. Have to go again. The Maine Marine Maritime Museum is there, and it's calling my name.....not to mention Bath Iron Works (BIW), which builds ships for the U.S. Navy.

old and the new...

Mornings in the fall around here can be so beautiful. I don't think I need to say anything else.....

grind'em up and spit'em out...

     Have you had the opportunity to run into this monster that's working its way around some of our town roads?












I caught up with it yesterday morning just west of Jewett Hill Road intersection on Calkinstown Road. The "fix our old, broken roads" project is a few weeks in and headway is obviously being made.

I believe that they started out on Swaller Hill and that's all completed. The hill from the covered bridge to the top, by Chicken-Smith road is all milled and paved. Wow! What an amazing improvement! A whole bunch of White Hollow is all milled and ready for paving. Yesterday they started at the White Hollow intersection and by 10 a.m. this morning they have done from there to town. Milling is the removal of easily an inch or more of the road surface. I think they take more from the middle than from the edges, so as to make the road more level, but I do not know for sure. The machine grinds it up, and puts it up a conveyor belt that deposits it into a leading ten-wheel dump truck, which then hauls it away. I imagine they are stock-piling the material in the valley, where it will serve the town for years as good fill for gravel roads and projects. Perhaps they will use it as shoulder material alongside some of the new asphalt, but I'm just guessing.

In all honesty, I never thought I would live long enough to see where the Town of Sharon said YES to a road project, and to really servicing a lot of our roads. But here we are, in October of 2010, and roads are being addressed. And with real hot asphalt, not some cold-mix concoction that fell apart in 2 or 3 years. Saved us money, but what did we have?

To say I am thrilled to see this would be an understatement, but I do have my concerns. I worry about was enough prep work done? Was water that needed to be routed away from roads done? Was gravel put in where there was none? Will sight lines be improved? Will drainage be improved? Did we pave over culvert pipes that should have been replaced? And most of all, are we going to have a budget in future years that allows for improvements and true maintenance, or will the road budget be pruned when this all gets finished? I pray not.

I hope the weather continues to allow the project to move along, and that they can get many of our worse-shape roads repaired before winter truly hits.

Unbelievable. I lived long enough.

Are you an early riser?

 Yesterday my wife stopped her car, dug out her cell phone and called me at home. "Get right up here and bring your camera." So, out the door I went and here are a few of the shots from out in front of Blum's. This is a sight not all folks in Sharon ever get to see unless they head to Lakeville early at this time of year and turn around to look behind them. Is it the most gorgeous view in the northwest Connecticut? There could be arguments made, but I do think its one of the top picks. Hope you enjoy these offerings.

The "flocks" are beginning.....

Wasn't quite sure if I could catch this group of canadian honkers as I didn't have my zoom with me. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they did show up pretty fair. The echo, on a very quiet morning, of the geese "talking" as they take off, bouncing at me from off the sidehill was really neat. Perhaps I'll go back tomorrow with my zoom on, and see if I can re-create this bit of nature happening all around us right now....

Introducing Chris Choi!

While many folks are just learning bits about the Choi family, the owners of the newly opened Sharon Farm Market, I have had the pleasure of knowing the Choi's since their arrival in Sharon way back in, when  was it, March? During the greatest portion of that time, I was becoming friends mostly with Chris, husband of Annie, and dad to their children. Chris was here in Sharon doing that gosh-awful job of orchestrating and doing the renovation to the old unnamed grocery store. Chris has a great work ethic and as you can see below, a great smile. He worked extremely hard, along with his workers, at giving us the store which we all are rejoicing about these days. Seldom did I see him take much of a breather during the days of rebuilding. He was always on the go. Just as he has been these first two weeks of the stores being open. Early each day till into each evening, Chris is on the go.

I caught up with Chris Sunday evening after his gathering carts from the plaza. Always quick with a hello and great smile, I got Chris to stand still for more than 30 seconds and pose for this photo shot.

I know the Choi's are extremely thankful for the response that has been shown to them these first two weeks, both to them and to their partners. I heard today that the sushi may well come on line as soon as tomorrow and the pizza is getting close too. Come Saturday there will be the official ribbon cutting as part of their grand opening, as well as some special give-aways!

Also on Saturday, there will be some really specials sales on some wines @ Rick's Wine & Spirits, and some wine tastings as well. Be sure to check those sales out! At the Bodhi Tree, there has been an ongoing fund-raising  event which benefit's Breast Cancer Awareness. Please be sure to give them a visit as well!!

   So I hope I see many, many of you at the plaza this Saturday! Lots going on!!

for Karen in Seattle.....

My blog has followers from numerous states. Some have ties to Sharon, and some have never been here. One good friend of mine moved to Seattle from Sharon a few years back, and I don't think I've ever heard her say she missed Sharon since she left. Till today. Today she said she actually missed our fall colors, cool nights and even the first snowfall. So, I found this one from the intersection of Main and West Main last evening. Not a whole lot of different colors, but of those that are there........pretty neat!

 Karen---this ones for you!

"Toto, we're not in Sharon anymore........."

     As I mentioned earlier, we had to go to a memorial service on Staten Island on Saturday. The service itself was lovely as I would have expected, and many friends from many walks of life were there to pay tribute.
     After the service, we returned back to my brother-in-laws residence, from which the views are a-m-a-z-i-n-g! Out the windows to the east...Coney Island in the distance with an almost full view of The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, connecting Brooklyn to Staten Island. What a sight! Out the front windows, Brooklyn. Out the front windows, to the left, when the leaves drop, a view of the East River and the southern tip of Manhattan. Amazing.
     This little rowboat was putting out to sea just before sunset. The Caribbean Princess. My first glimpse of one of the large vacation cruise ships. Incredible.

Contributed photo

This one's mine!

Rocky Coastline

Last weekend, if you are a regular reader of this blog, you know I snuck out of town for a change of scenery, and went to Maine with good friends of ours. While there, we saw a few sights, ate some great food, then saw some more....then ate some more.....then ate some more, and come to think of it....we ate some more!!!

Thought I'd share with you some of what we saw in our travels..

This was meant to be Saturday's entry, but we got home late from a service on Staten Island, therefore there will be two entries on Sunday. We had a nice 40 minute tie-up in Fort Lee, NJ getting on the GWB.......I dislike traffic stand-stills!

N'or Easter is upon us!

     Well, many years ago, I worked with a man named Warren Loughlin, painting houses. Warren was a man who most of the time was pretty quiet, but did occasionally come out with a little ditty or what-have-you. I was very green behind the ears then, so he loved to drop his little "teachings" upon me. One time he came out with, when discussing a long dry period of weather, "Rick, things will always average out. We'll get rain, and when we do, it'll bring us back up......" So after a summer of no rain, what did we get?  All kinds of rain a few weeks back. And today? Another big rainy day. Guess we're catching up to average, as Warren would say.
     My shot from today didn't amount to much, so I am pulling one from Wednesday past to brighten the day. It's the large maple in The Bartram's yard on Low Road, as seen from the plaza. I always rate this tree as one of the most colorful, and this year is no exception. Only drawback? All the leaves that Tom has to clean up!

Fall colors and an announcement!

     This small little barn has always been a favorite, and the sun shining on it really caught my eye. Hope you like it as much as I did.

Also: my church is having a fund raiser this coming Saturday evening. Myrtle Hayden's little group, Country Spice, will be running a square dance at my church, Sharon Congregational. It is always a good time, and proceeds are going towards the missions boards, which aid a variety of projects around our communities and the world. Come have a good time if you can...

Good morning autumn colors!

     Leaving the house this morning I was wondering if I might see something for a blog entry on my way to work. Did I ever! I found so much to take pics of, I wanted to take the morning off and just do photo shoots....!

Back in town...

     I got a way for a great weekend, and yesterday's post was from Brunswick, Maine. I am tempted to do more in the coming days because I did see some great things in the last few days, but coming up the hill today, this jumped out at me. A lovely fall sunset from Jackson Road.
     Fall is a favorite, but it can last till April 1, and then warm up if you want my opinion........

Oh my.............

 Traveled this weekend to Brunswick, Maine (and other places as well) but one of our main stops of interest was this fun spot. Reviewed by Down East magazine just this month, Rachel Ray in her magazine and a host of others......The Gelato Fiasco.

     The atmosphere of this fun place in a great small college town.......was just super! Have I said how good the gelato was yet? Incredible.

     Monday morning we drove back into town to see if it was open early. I was thinking gelato for breakfast.....sounded great to me!

Just one over a zillion flavors!

Intermission

Please turn your fm radio to a classical staion, sit back, pour a glass of port, and I be checking in with you in a few days....

You know, this is almost too hard to believe.....

                       Anybody recognize this? April 2010. Sharon Plaza.






Zoom ahead six months. 3:52 PM. Sharon Farm Market is just drawing all kinds of visitors and customers. They haven't hardly stopped since opening Monday afternoon. People are coming from all over. And they are really operating nowhere near where they will be.

Pizza...coming next week (they hope). Sushi, next week as well (they hope). JAM is to add many more features. Oh yes, and the juice machine in the produce area. I can't wait for that!!  And I learned today some more neat stuff is in store in the coming weeks.

I know many of my readers all live in areas where you have great food stores and you probably are all wondering what the big deal is. Well, for the last 19 months our town has had no market. And before that, we had many years of steady decline in what was once a nice market. It has been financially hard for many of us in business. It was a cloud hanging over the town we just couldn't shake. Other businesses suffered as they weren't strong enough to draw on their own. Property owners couldn't show, let alone sell, as Sharon was looking pretty bleak. And buyers had no desire to even look at Sharon. It was sad. But the family Choi came and saw, and had a vision. And they have worked so hard to get to where they are today. They feel like they are just beginning. If that's the case, whoa boy, this could really be an exciting time in the life of Sharon....Guess we'll have to stay tuned and see what happens.

Sunshine tomorrow...maybe? Pretty please? Huh? Please!!!

   Mr. Sun peeked thru for about 30 seconds, or so it seemed today, in Sharon. It hardly rained all summer, but seems to have made up for that the last week. I think they said we may have some sun tomorrow, Thursday...... I hope so.

Deb Manasse, Come on down!!!!!

      Today, like a zillion other people, I was anxious to see who would be first in the door at the new Sharon Farm Market, and who would be rung in on the touch-screen registers first. According to what I saw, Deb Manasse from Sharon was the first person during the soft-opening at the new Sharon Farm Market, which began at 1PM. My camera time said 1:03PM. Quick shopping Deb!
    

    The parking lot remained full during the rest of the afternoon, and shoppers continued well into the evening. Congratulations to The Choi's on their first day and welcome to Sharon!
     Oh ya, and most of all...."Thank you for believing in and coming to Sharon!!! We're glad you are here!!!!!

Cobra "snnnnnaaaaaaakkkkkeeeee........"

Just when I thought my time for seeing wild  & crazy cars was probably over at the plaza for this year, PRESTO, a whole bunch of Cobra's showed up........COBRA'S!!!!! Not a Mustang, or a Corvette, or even a Fousse......COBRA's times five!......snaking their way thru the plaza........WOW!

as it says on JP's license plates.....  "Hsssssssssssss!"

Monday is the day...nuff said!!!