Sleepy Hollow

Sleepy Hollow, New York, is a town made famous by Washington Irving's story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  In that story, the ungainly school teacher is rebuffed in wooing the hand of a beautiful girl at a dance.  Leaving the dance in a vulnerable emotional state, he passes several reputedly haunted places before finally encountering a headless horseman.

Fright is the biggest industry in Sleepy Hollow.  The shops have Halloween all year round, seeming to vie with each other in an effort to be most creatively frightening.

Happy Halloween!

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And, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series last night.

Gull

Yesterday's gull wasn't satisfied crashing the pelican party.  He insisted on his own portrait.

What a prima donna!

Pelicans

Back to Naples and the beach.

A swarm of pelicans.  And one gull.

Two New Britain Avenue Bus Shelters

Back to Connecticut for Monday Mural.  (I haven't seen any murals in Naples yet.)

New Britain is a long street that runs along the southern part of West Hartford.  Two of the bus shelters on New Britain Avenue have murals with trees as the theme.  The top shelter is near the intersection with Newington Road, just outside the Elmwood Senior Center.  The artist is Nan Runde.

The bottom shelter has a mural by Tao and Amy LaBossiere in front of Wolcott Park.  The mural shows birches and lines from the famous Joyce Kilmer poem:  I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree.

Paving Stones

The paving stones for the driveway at a very fancy

high-rise building in Naples form a dizzying pattern
when viewed at an angle.

I read the phrase "look up!" on many photography blogs.

Don't forget to look down, too.

Naples Philharmonic

Keith Lockhart conducting.

Beethoven, Concerto No. 4 in G Major for Piano and Orchestra

Berlioz, Symphony Fantastique

Photos of the performance are prohibited,

so this was taken near the end of the intermission

as musicians gathered and began warming up. 

Palmettos and Pond

Now that I am back in Naples, I need to search

out more Florida reflections for Fridays.

This photograph was taken near my golf club.

Please click here for more photos with reflections

on James' blog, Weekend Reflections.

Wheelchair

When he was 39 in 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt contracted polio.  People in that era often thought that a physically disabled person was likely also mentally disabled.  So, Roosevelt took pains in public to minimize the lingering effects of his illness, even though he never walked again.

The wheelchairs of that time were big, awkward and hard to disguise.  So, Roosevelt had an ordinary wooden kitchen chair cut down and fitted with wheels.  It is shown in a corner of the living room at his family's home in Hyde Park, New York.

If they ever decide they don't want that rug, they can send it to me.

Four Freedoms

In my working days, I always had piles of paper in neat stacks on my desk -- to remind me what I needed to do next -- but no mementos.  But President Franklin D. Roosevelt liked to have his 

favorite mementos on his desk while he worked.  It didn't seem to hurt FDR's productivity.

At this desk, he wrote his famous "Four Freedoms" speech for his 1941 State of the Union address. 

Freedom of Speech.  Freedom of Worship.  Freedom from Want.  Freedom from Fear.

Today many Americans know them best from Norman Rockwell's 

1943 covers for the Saturday Evening Post.

FDR

On my trip through the lower Hudson River valley last month, 

I visited President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's home and Presidential Library in Hyde Park.  

There were many busts of FDR.  Which do you like best?

And Another Bus Shelter

This bus shelter is near the line between Hartford and West Hartford, at the intersection of Park Road with Prospect Street.

Until I approached this bus rider, he had not noticed that there was a colorful wildlife mural behind him.  He is pointing to the sign explaining that the artist is Brian Colbath and the mural was one of ten sponsored by the West Hartford Art League.

Today's post is linked to Monday Mural.

Victorino Goes Yard

The Boston Red Sox trailed 2-1, the bases were loaded.  Shane Victorino was at bat.  He has hit poorly the entire postseason.  But, last night he hit a grand slam home run to put the Red Sox ahead 5-2.  

Koji Uehara finished up.  Lights out.  

These are photographs of the television screen.  Credits to Fox.

The Red Sox move on to the World Series.  They will play the St. Louis Cardinals.

The November 1 theme for City Daily Photo bloggers is "Heights."

Pumpkins

A church on New Britain Avenue in West Hartford raises money by 

selling hundreds of pumpkins for Halloween every year.

The November 1 theme for City Daily Photo bloggers is "Heights."

Carolina Marsh

This week I drove to Florida from Connecticut.  I arrived in Naples yesterday.  This is a pretty marsh somewhere in the Carolinas that I passed on the way down.  The sky was dazzling.

For a while, photographs from Florida will share space with photographs from Connecticut.

To see more photos with reflections, please visit James' blog, Weekend Reflections.

The November 1 theme for City Daily Photo bloggers is "Heights."

Tiny Dancer

There is not much I can add.

The November 1 theme for City Daily Photo bloggers is "Heights."

Hiding

Can you find the bird hidden in the foliage of a dogwood tree?
I am not good at bird identification.  How about a warbler?

The Annual Garden

Say good-bye to Elizabeth Park's annual garden for the season.

Another Bus Shelter Mural

Here is another mural painted in a bus shelter, supported through funding from the West Hartford Art League.  This one is at the southeast corner of the intersection of Farmington Avenue and South Main Street.  It is by JoeSam, an artist whose work was previously shown in this blog.

Today's post is linked to Monday Mural.

Hartford Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K

The 20th running of the Hartford Marathon took place yesterday, along with 

a half marathon and 5K.  I watched the 5K.

After the 5K was over, the half marathon passed through

my West Hartford neighborhood.

Norfolk

Usually I strongly prefer color photographs.  But it was early evening and the sun was going down.  A nearby hill and the overhanging trees made the scene very dark.  The colors were murky and yet the elements were good.  I don't get out to Norfolk often enough to retake the photos, so black and white rescued images that would otherwise have been deleted.

Norfolk is a beautiful little town in Connecticut's northwest corner.  Last year I showed you Infinity Hall, an entertainment complex.  Here it is again, front and back.

Foliage Season

Some years all of the trees are ablaze at a single time.  Other years the leaves just turn brown and fall off.

This year brightly colored trees stand right next to neighboring trees that remain summertime green.

Lyme Art Association

Next year the Lyme Art Association celebrates its centennial.  It offers educational programs, but its main focus is a gallery presenting representational art in numerous seasonal exhibitions every year.

Parade Miscellany

There ought to be a law.

I think she likes me.

Some people don't like clowns.

A tall guy.

Want beads?

Melting Pot

Students in West Hartford schools speak 70 different languages as their native language.  

Dozens of groups marched in native dress.  Brazilian.  Indian.  Peruvian.  Chinese.  Arab.  

There were even two dozen marchers from Nepal.