Many Neighbors Decorate for Halloween

I don't get it.

Early Voting

I'm still in Connecticut, but here is something from Naples.

The line for early voting in Collier County last Monday was about half an hour long.

Two pest control cars were parked near the entrance.  Seemed appropriate.

Back and forth between Naples and Hartford through the end of the year.

Bloomfield Geese

A Canada goose convention was held earlier in the week in Filley Park, near the center of Bloomfield.

This was yesterday, in West Hartford.

Snow!!!

It snowed in Hartford yesterday.

And guess who was here to experience her first snow.  Willa!!!

Willa and her family are relocating from Johannesburg to Connecticut and flew in yesterday.

I thought I was arranging some fallen leaves to greet them,.

Mother Nature decided that snow was even better.

This is why I will be in Connecticut more often through year end.

Hauntings

The operators of Elizabeth Park's Pond House have a fondness for scary Halloween decorations.

I will be back and forth between Naples and Hartford for the rest of the year, so you might see
Florida images one day and Connecticut images the next.  If you want coherence,
sorry.  That is just how the next two months will be.

Yes. Now You HAVE Seen Everything.

The American Museum of Tort Law is on Winsted's main street.  It was closed so I couldn't go inside.

The museum was founded a year or two ago by Ralph Nader, lawyer, gadfly and one-time Presidential candidate.  Nader grew up in the small, out-of-the-way Connecticut city of Winsted.

Dina and Venom Vintage

Dina operates a Hartford vintage clothing store, Venom Vintage, with brightly colored, sequin-y,
hip-hop stylings.  The store also doubles as an art gallery with 

monthly rotations of the artists.

A Collection of Photos that Didn't Fit Elsewhere

A few steps outside Grand Central Station in Manhattan.

From a recent visit to the new wing of the New Britain Museum of American Art.

The east side of Providence has some great old houses.

The Somerset on Boston's Commonwealth Avenue has been converted from hotel to condos.
Great details in the arch.

I liked his helmet.



A fine old house in Georgetown, Massachusetts.

The artist was probably thinking about the fight against breast cancer.
Part of "Heaven," a skateboard park at the edge of Hartford's downtown. 

Monday Mural.

It's All About the Candy

How many bags of candy will you give out on Halloween?

And, are there some well-loved birds in your neighborhood?

Memorial

Friends, family and neighbors in New Hartford left chrysanthemums on the front porch
of a man who was crossing the street when struck and killed by a drunken driver.

Fall Foliage - Red

A maple tree beside a small pond in Elizabeth Park.

Fall Foliage - Yellow

A road in Barkhamsted.

Pumpkins

About a month ago, I drove through the southwestern Connecticut town of Ridgefield.

Teen volunteers at a church were unloading pumpkins from trucks, 

handing them down the line and placing them out for sale. 

Fall is here and Halloween can't be far behind.

A Church in New Hartford

A yellow blanket lies at the feet of a simple church in New Hartford.

Up a Country Road in Canton, Connecticut

If you go up enough country roads around here, you will eventually find a picturesque barn.
Or two.  Or three.

St. Joseph Catholic Church, Winsted

Looking for some fall foliage, I drove through Winsted, Connecticut, a small city west of Hartford.

There are some fine old churches on the main drag.  This is the Catholic church, St. Joseph.

Folly Farm

Folly Farm is a "gentleman's farm" in Simsbury, just over Avon Mountain from West Hartford.

Eli Cannon's Tap Room

At the north end of Middletown's Main Street, Eli Cannon's Tap Room is a feast for the eyes.

If you can wait about ten years, your mug will be numbered and hung on the wall.

Middletown's Main Street

Middletown is kind of arty, kind of funky, kind of downtrodden, kind of fun, kind of sad.  

Restaurants, bars, galleries, clinics, social services.  I walked Main Street.

Nora's Cupcake is a Mecca for cupcake aficionados.  I decided they weren't good for my blood sugar.

Krust is a restaurant with a spare decor featuring manufactured wood.

Once a week Ada handles the cash register at her daughter's craft gallery, Tesoro. 

As Halloween approaches, Tesoro sells skeletons in wigs and fancy dresses.  I didn't buy one.

Middletown has a big homeless population.  A community garden is a favorite hangout.

An artist volunteering at 650 Main Street, a gallery, painted portraits of many of the homeless, 

to make the point that they have faces and stories.  It was closed. I shot through the window.

Mexican Border Wall

A homeowner on North Main Street in West Hartford decorates his front lawn every year for Halloween and Christmas.  This year he has invested on political lines, erecting a Mexican border wall.  Trump Tower is at the top left and a Hillary-dressed-as-Snow-White is at the right.

South Windsor Barns

South Windsor's Main Street has many old houses, fields and barns.  These are in a field

leading down toward the Connecticut River.  The start of the fall foliage season is here.

A Surprise Discovery

Ever stumble across the memory card left in a long-discarded camera?  Me, too.

This is Shem Creek, outside Charleston, South Carolina, around 2011.

Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K

About 12,000 runners were in town yesterday for the Eversource Hartford Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K.  I was near the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch to watch
the runners flood through at the end of the 5K. 

The elite runners were in the front row at the start.  The man in white won the race and set a new course record time.  The man in black was second.  The woman in orange won the woman's race.