Morning Light

Setting sun

Just found this in my camera. I took it at a customers home one evening this past week. They have about a 180º view off to the the west and northwest, making for lovely sunsets many nights of the year. Our home is in the woods. Our sunsets happen thru the trees....

Still alive..

 If you are kind enough to check in on my blog, you know I have been absent for a few weeks. I just have been busy, which I guess is a good thing. Plus, being down a lens is cramping me a bit....but the one for repair is going out Monday, so we'll be back in order in a bit I hope....

 The Webster Bank did a little window changing the other day. Out with the old, single pane variety which, has been there for almost 40 years, and in with new thermal glass. It just looks from the outside so much more "business-like".  They had replaced the smaller windows last summer. Bet their heat bill dropped a bit because of this investment!

A first for dcl...

I accompanied Clare and friends to Hotchkiss this afternoon to the new music hall for the annual "Gospel Fest", put on by Michael Brown. Michael directs the choirs at Hotchkiss and Salisbury and along with those schools came Westover, Taft, Millbrook and Miss Porter's. To say what a great two hours would be an understatement. The music talent was just great. It was a very enjoyable afternoon.

The "first" in the title has to do with me putting a video in this posting. It starts well, but then I turned the iPhone sideways thinking it would be better. It was for me, but I don't know how to "flip" the video for the posting. So, my suggestion....just sit back and listen to this last gathering of all the folks in one big sing-off.

Well, that didn't work....

Guess I'll just say, you shoulda been there! It was really, really good!

They're everywhere!

Last October's freak snow-storm that brought Connecticut to a screeching halt affected everyone pretty much who lives in Connecticut one way or another. In Sharon, all the pheasant pens collapsed at the Sharon Pheasant Farm, and thousands of pheasants were turned loose after knowing nothing but being "pen-raised" their whole life.


Seven months have passed, and you can't hardly ride to Lakeville without still seeing at least one, more-likely four or five somewhere along the ride. Ran into this pretty guy on Cole Road in Sharon. Magnificent colors!

Fishing 101 ( Sarah...show Bruce) :)

Bait the hook.
Cast.
Catch the fish.
Reel it in.
Bring him up.
Remove and throw him back (too small).
Start over.

 

                   

Grand Opening Celebration!!!!!!!!!

So the almost completed, full-year renovation-celebration of the former Sharon Motor Lodge, now the Sharon Country Inn, occurred yesterday and today, from 1- 3 pm on both days. The new owner, Eddie Cania, was on hand meeting and greeting both yesterday and today. I wasn't there yesterday, but I am told he had a good turnout of local folks all stopping in to take a peak at the renovations and wish he and his family much success. While we were there today, the stream of visitors was steady, and everyone was leaving mightily impressed. 

Eddie greeting The Kirby's

A corner room...with free pizza!

Lynn, Clare and Cat back from a tour of the rooms..

Barc, Ed and Mary doing what they do best

Sharon Mtn. was represented..

Eddie doing what Eddie does best...having fun with friends!

As I said, the stream of cars was steady!

The Man himself...Eddie!

One Oak Shadow

Following a fantastic meal at the H.G. Klebes Legion Post fundraising dinner in Sharon Saturday night, we did some traveling around, and this was one our stops. We walked up through Twin Oaks field to the first oak and took numerous photos of lots of different things. Clare suddenly said can you get the shadow? Operating with just my zoom, I made it work. I'm not sure if I have ever seen a picture of the shadow of the oak quite like this one, though it probably has been done. Until I see it, I'm going to enjoy my one-of-a-kind. :)

Shadow:A shadow is an area where direct light from a light source cannot reach due to obstruction by an object. It occupies all of the space behind an opaque object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, or reverse projection of the object blocking the light. The sun causes many objects to have shadows and at certain times of the day, when the sun is at certain heights, the lengths of shadows change.

Twin Oak trivia: guess the rough circumference of the lower tree.






if you guessed around twenty, you are in the right neighborhood!

Room with a view...

how would like to look out your dining room window at this view?

Now that's what you call preparation...

     Not sure who is doing the work, but for the better part of the last three weeks the professional building owned by Amy Schuchat on Gay Street is having every bit of its paint removed. This group of men have stripped it all the way down, then put on a primer coat, then I believe they have put two more coats on top of that. They really are doing an excellent job I would say, just by looking from my side of the street.

     I can still see Milt and Virginia sitting there in their porch chairs, keeping a watchful eye on the shopping center and "us kids".(that was the Crosby family, who lived there through my early childhood until they moved down on the Amenia Union Road. Milt was an auctioneer, and Virginia I remember working at Starr T.V., which was in the plaza.(bought my first stereo there---a Zenith). Seems to me their son Roger is a occasional  visitor to my blog.....Hey Rog!

More Sharon history, two days in a row....can you stand it?

I just used blue lettering in honor of my N.Y. Rangers who just scored two goals, and now lead 3-0....Go Blue

Hey Bud!

Won't be long before all these apple trees will spring to life with green buds, then blossoms, then the summer will hopefully bring a good growth of apples to this farm located off Tichnor Road in Sharon. A little side story.......I've had all kinds of apple sauce in my day, but the one that sticks in my mind was the kind my great-aunts used to make and can and put down cellar in their house (now the Salisbury Bank on Low Road, in Sharon) They always left the skins in the cooking process, so it was a lovely shade of pink. Mmmmmmmm.....I can taste it now. (that's of course in my mind...my relatives have been gone for, gosh, thirty-five, forty years I bet since they made their last batch of sauce) Those were good times. We used to go over to Millbrook (on the by-pass) and pick apples, peaches, pears....and they would can them all, and then enjoy them all winter and spring and early summer long. At the foot of the cellar stairs, turn right, a yellowish-tan, metal-topped table sat covered with jars, and up on the sill around the inside of the foundation, and on a set of old shelves, on the far wall towards Bartram's.....Memories.   :) 

Oh, and there was another set straight ahead at the foot of the stairs, towards Low Road, under the hall..


Now, ask me what i had for lunch. I can't remember!

A horse is a horse....

"well hello Mr. Photographer.....wait just a second, I'll be right down to say Hi!"

Planting season has begun!

On yesterday's ride, we came across some planting going on down on the Chase Farm. I know it is a drill planter (or at least I think it is) but I am not sure what they planted. I am guessing perhaps some rye? If we don't get some moisture soon, nothing is going to grow. Period. Plenty of dust as they circled around. Again, we'll hope for rain soon.

Easter Sunday 2012

Happy Holy-day's to all: 


 I am only working with a zoom lens right now, but it enabled me to get some different sights captured on a ride early in the afternoon on Sunday. (helps keep the blog going when I can't get out.) 


I think you'll find these two shots interesting........ In the first we ran into a large group of girls out nibbling on the new green grasses, and in the second, I found their nemesis not very far away, looking at them with hunger no doubt in his mind........

Oh goodness.....

My worst, well, maybe not worst, nightmare occurred this afternoon quite late. I dashed out of my store to make a church service at Clare's church, and I had had my camera charging this afternoon. I guess when I put it in my camera bag at the store I didn't zip the zipper far enough. When I got to the church, I picked up my bag from the seat alongside of me and it tumbled out of the bag, off my lap and right out the door..............................(enter scream, then teardrops)...................the lense was separated from the camera as it lay in the church driveway.......................when I looked at it, I am not sure if I broke the catch in the camera, or the part on the lens.....................either way, I have loss use of my camera for the time being...........................(enter more tears)................ After church, we joined friends for dinner out, so I have yet to really study my camera. I am going to bed now, and that studying can wait for tomorrow.


It's a camera. It's unfortunate it happened. It can be fixed. Life will go on. I just won't be able to document my Easter Sunrise Service and Easter Service as I have for years...................................(enter more tears). It will be okay.


Happy Passover or Easter to all....




Oh ya. And Cat had a flat tire on the way to the service too. With one of her new tires of just a short while ago..........


When it rains, it pours. Which is something we need very badly around here.......rain.


G'nite all...

Sun rising along Route 4..

What a day!

Today was a beautiful early April day in northwest Connecticut. Lots of sun, some winds left over from March, making it cool if you were out in the unprotected, but gorgeous if you got out of the wind. With all that said,  I was in the store all day(no wind there). I had a really busy day. A bunch of stock came in,  I ordered more, and had some great sales to boot. Thank you to those who came in!


 Time for another update on the Sharon Country Inn. Their sign was installed today. They had been working on the stone base for the last couple of days, but today the sign and lights went in. My review? Very, very nice. Tasteful. Really. I am just continuing to be totally amazed at the transformation from last spring to now. Amazing. 


Said it before...well done Eddie! Well done!

Improvise

Synonyms:

ad-lib, brainstorm, coin, concoct, contrive,dash off, devise, do off top of head, dooffhand, dream up, extemporize, fake, fake it,improv, improvisate, invent, jam*, knock off,make do, slapdash, spark, speak off the cuff,throw together, wing it ~what you do when yo don't have a lift.....

Saturday Morning at the Centre

"you get the mail, I'm going to Bodhi Tree to check what's new....."