Gelston House

The Gelston House is a traditional restaurant housed in a marvelous

Victorian building next to Goodspeed Opera House.

Goodspeed Opera House

The Goodspeed Opera House is one of Connecticut's cultural treasures.

The company is housed in an 1876 Victorian structure above the Connecticut River in East Haddam, 35 miles downriver from Hartford.  It is open nine months of the year, closing only in the winter.

Most of the performances are musicals.  The original performances of The Man of La Mancha, Shenandoah and Annie all took place at Goodspeed before going on the Broadway.

Window in Essex

Seen on the main street of Essex, Connecticut.

If you like photos with reflections, click here to see the work of bloggers who 

have posted pictures today on James' Weekend Reflections site.

Eagle House

This handsome house is on Prospect Avenue, the street 

dividing Hartford and West Hartford.

Veterans Memorial

West Hartford's war memorial is a large spiral crafted from black granite.  Names of the
West Hartford soldiers and sailors who died in the nation's service are engraved on the blocks.

The spiral is broken every year the country is at war.  It is disturbing to see 

how often the spiral is broken.

(I tried this in black and white, and no, it doesn't look better that way.)

Lincoln and Stowe

Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Beecher Stowe converse at the Connecticut riverfront.  In 2005, Lincoln Financial donated $500,000 to the Greater Hartford Arts Council and Riverfront Recapture to create a walk with Lincoln-related sculptures along the Connecticut River.

Ms. Stowe lived in Hartford.  She wrote the best seller Uncle Tom's Cabin, which influenced Northern readers against slavery in the run-up to the Civil War.  At their meeting, Lincoln is reported to have said something like "So, you are the little woman who started this big war."

The sculptor is Bruno Lucchesi.

Flowers

In Livorno, Italy, VP takes a walk around town and shows three to five photos of things he saw that day.  Most of his pictures are pretty interesting.  

Here is my variation on a walk around town.  These are five pictures of flowers and plants that I probably wouldn't give their own day, but I liked them and wanted an excuse to show them here.

I have always liked daisies.  They are unpretentious.

Government

The Greater Fool Theory is supposed to be a principle of economics and investing.  Who knew that it also applies to Democrats and Republicans?  We are facing an economic disaster if the debt ceiling is not raised immediately, and yet the President and Congress play political games.

They all disgust me.  Fasten your seatbelts.

Babies

Lots of cute babies at Wednesday's concert in Elizabeth Park.

Weekend Reflections: Line Dancing

Last week was the time for sidewalk sales in West Hartford Center.  Some merchants sold clearance items on the sidewalk, others used the sidewalk to lure shoppers into their stores.

To see more photos with reflections, click here.

Dancing Queen

Elizabeth Park hosted its regular Wednesday night concert, with Steppin' Out, a six-piece band with a sax, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums and a female singer.  They mainly perform foot-stomping, body-swaying dance music of the '70s through the '90s.  I'm going to show a bunch today.  You can stop looking whenever you want.

Did I dance?  Noooo.  That would have made the camera shake.

Mounted Policeman

This mounted policeman was providing inconspicuous security for

 the Hartford Festival of Jazz in Bushnell Park last weekend. 

Antique Mahogany Boats

Last week the Connecticut River Museum held a show for admirers of antique mahogany boats.

Yesterday John, from Cambridgeshire in the UK, became this blog's 100th follower.  Welcome, John.

Connecticut River Museum

The Connecticut River Museum is in Essex, a beautiful and historic 

riverfront town 40 miles southeast of Hartford.

The sign reads "410 miles of water, 425 years of history."

 There are probably some native Americans who count differently.

Community Boathouse

Community boathouse on the Connecticut River in Hartford.  

This is part of the riverfront park system that runs for miles on both the Hartford and East Hartford sides of the river. The boathouse has been constructed in anticipation that the spring floods will flow through the lowest level.  The park in which the boathouse sits will be flooded each spring, but it emerges unharmed when the water drains away.  The riverfront has been re-engineered to give the floodwaters a place to go.

Rowing Practice

A  shell passes under the Founders Bridge across the Connecticut River,
with the coach exhorting the crew to pull harder.

Weekend Reflections: Basketball

Monday night at the Greater Hartford Pro-Am summer basketball league game.

If you like to see photos with reflections, you can visit James' Weekend Reflections blog.