Puppetry

Have I mentioned that the University of Connecticut has a renowned school for puppetry?

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is celebrating 50 years of puppetry at UConn.

The National Puppetry Festival was held on the UConn campus at Storrs recently.

On the last day, the attendees put on a puppetry parade.

Tomorrow City Daily Photo bloggers will post photos illustrating "curiosities,"
the theme for October.

Out of the Jurisdiction: Wrong!

After graduating from college in 1968, I worked in Boston City Hall.  I went to an announcement that the Rouse Companies were going to restore three rows of rundown warehouses across the street,

and turn them into restaurants and shops.  Dumbest idea I ever heard!

Faneuil Hall Marketplace opened in the 1970s.  People came.  For 50 years, they have never left.

It is America's fourth most visited tourist attraction.  Got that one wrong, didn't I?

Meanwhile, Boston City Hall is one of the country's most reviled buildings.  

Even though I dislike most of 1960s "brutalist" architecture, I like City Hall.

Around West Hartford Center Again

Karen (red hair) and Barbara (tall blonde) own BK&Co, an upscale women's clothing store.

They have been best friends since high school in Syracuse.  They decided they wanted to own
 a retail business together, so they both went to college to study fashion.  

Barbara and Karen married college roommates from Hartford and everyone moved here.
They have had the West Hartford store for 20 years.  (Ellen, on the left, is a manufacturer's rep
 and was holding a trunk show in the store.)

Theresa manages the Chicos store, which sells casual women's clothing.

When not working, she watches her kids play soccer or do gymnastics.

Carrie is a vegan, an aspiring Buddhist, a mother, a blogger and a cancer survivor.

Her bicep tattoos honor her mother, who is her best friend.

They Seemed Happy to See Me

We sometimes get odd reactions when people see our cameras, don't we?

Vertigo

The Elbow Room has a second floor deck.  I looked down.

Miranda

Miranda is entering her senior year at UConn.  She is a sorority sister of Meg, whom you met yesterday.  Miranda is thinking about applying to law school.  She might combine that with a masters in social work.  Maybe she will use her education to help abused women and children.

The Twins

Katie (left) and Meg (right) are identical twins.  But, they went to different colleges -- Northeastern for Katie and UConn for Meg -- and they are pursuing different careers.  

Katie is in sales for IBM.  Meg is a life coach.

Even though we talked for only 10 - 15 minutes, I sensed that one is a bit more serious and one is a bit more ebullient.  Can you guess which?  We met -- where else?-- in Elizabeth Park.
Nice young women.

Anne

There was no word to describe Anne, so Webster came up with "vivacious.'

(Anne, you really need to break out of your shell!)

Anne spent years as a journalist, writing for the Hartford Courant, New York Times and other newspapers.  Now her passion is dealing in antiques, particularly vintage jewelry.

Checking out the Park

What have I been thinking?  I haven't shown you the gardens at Elizabeth Park since early summer.

By August, the color in the rose garden is winding down,
but the annual garden is at its most colorful.

And, the perennial garden and its gazebo's quiet beauty afford a calm place for

people to reflect by themselves.  (That is helianthus on the left.)

Then, along comes Saturday afternoon.  And all of the weddings.

Even the rose garden comes alive.

That solitude in the perennial garden?  Gone.  But, in a happy way.

Bulkeley Bridge

The Bulkeley Bridge is one of the bridges carrying U.S. Route 84 traffic across the Connecticut River into and through Hartford.  It was built in 1903 - 1908 and is one of the last big stone bridges
built  before concrete and steel took over bridge-building.   

The bridge was named for Morgan Bulkeley after his 1922 death. 

Bulkeley was at various times the Governor of Connecticut, a U.S. Senator from Connecticut, the Mayor of Hartford, the President of Aetna Insurance Company for 43 years and a member of the baseball hall of fame as the first President of the National League.  

There is no record if Bulkeley ever slept.

Karl asked yesterday if the river is always this still.  No, not at all, though late summer is usually a quiet time.  It all depends on the weather upriver.  In the spring, this area floods, and the
fall can also bring high water and flooding.  Look here for more information.

Dragon Boats and Railroad Bridge

It was a quiet late summer day and no one was around in Riverfront Park.

Weekend Reflections.

Chynnere

Chinnyere (which means "God's gift") has been working at Kimberly Boutique for a few months.

She studied fashion design in school and loves to dance and draw.

When I walked into the store, Chinnyere was wearing this black outfit, which she had just tried on.  After a few photographs, she went into the dressing room to change back
into jeans and a tee shirt.  But, she changed her mind.

Chinnyere came out of the dressing room in this mind-blowing patterned dress instead.  

It has been a week since I took the photographs.  My eyeballs are just now

starting to shrink back into their usual sockets.

Beth

Beth works at Kimberly Boutique, a women's clothing store in West Hartford Center.  She was a good sport and posed for me among the mannequins.  (Beth is the blonde in white.)

On a mid-afternoon mid-week August day, the streets in the Center were pretty quiet.

So, I didn't mind bothering Beth and her co-worker, whom you will see tomorrow.

SMSA

The Sport and Medical Sciences Academy is a magnet school in Hartford.

Three quarters of the students are minorities.  It is the highest ranked high school out of
14 high schools in the Hartford public school system.

I Also Like the Faces in the Crowd at the Elizabeth Park Concerts

I Like the Dancing at the Elizabeth Park Concerts

Everyone dances!  Well, maybe not me.

Locomotion's trombonist led the dancers in a long, snaking line.   Hot, Hot, Hot!

Locomotion

Back in West Hartford, Locomotion closed out the Wednesday night summer concert series

at Elizabeth Park.  The band has been together -- with some additions 

and some subtractions --  since 1987.

Nauset Light

Nauset Light is the middle of three lighthouses on Cape Cod.

It was built in 1877 as a spare for the one in Chatham, and was moved to Eastham in 1923.

Erosion is a serious problem at this location.  In 1996 erosion endangered the lighthouse,

so it was moved once again, 300 feet inland across the road.

The picturesque lighthouse and lighthousekeeper's house are shown on many things,
including Massachusetts license plates and the bags for Cape Cod potato chips.