Dahlia Season

Dahlia season in Elizabeth Park..

Thomas the Tank Engine

At Bushnell Park's carousel celebration, Thomas the Tank Engine gave children rides.

The train passed in front of the Connecticut State Capitol on the way back.

Wheels Up

Oh, to be a teenager again!

Castle

A handsome Romanesque building stands on a main street in Norwich.  When built, there was an adjoining building, but it has been torn down and today the back wall is blank.  

The building has "Castle" flags by two entrances.  A nearby woman told me that it houses
a new church.  (I like the colorful utility box, too.)

Monday Night Jazz

Bushnell Park has hosted a free Monday night jazz series for more than fifty years.

The Connecticut State Capitol provides the backdrop.

THE FAIR AVEN

Windows of an abandoned Norwich building display colorful oversized  

faces of the same pipe-smoking man.  I can't explain it.

This post is linked to Monday Mural.  Is this a mural?  People wiser than I can decide that.

Garden of Ideas

There is a wonderful nature sanctuary near my daughter's home in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

We visit it every now and then when I am there.  We went to the Garden of Ideas last week.

Dragonflies pose for their pictures.

In late summer, purple dominates the marshes.

Butterflies and bees blend in nicely with the flowers.

The hibiscus blooms are bigger than plates.

Rusty metal sculptures watch over visitors throughout the sanctuary.

Limelight Hydrangea

May of 2013.

Today.

Travelers Tower

The Travelers Tower is celebrating its 100th birthday this year.

It is reflected in the Gold Building across Main Street in the top photo.

This post is linked to Weekend Reflections.

Real Bodies

The Connecticut Science Center has an exhibition of real human bodies that have been dissected to expose the innards and then preserved.  (I think they were dead first.)

One of the first rooms involves muscles.

 It showed bodies engaged in sports.

Another showed the brain.

An ossuary is a display of bones.  Who knew?

Every Day Things Seen Differently

I needed to shake things up, to get the cobwebs out.  So, I used the wrong lens 

and tried to look at the things I see every day, but see them differently.

A head of Autumn Joy Sedum seen up close before it opens up completely.

Two blossoms from a limelight hydrangea, photographed very close 

in hopes of creating an interesting abstract form.

Last week I photographed some of my daughter's perfect flowers as they were visited by butterflies and bees.  This week I went to Elizabeth Park and found a flower in the last hours 

of its bloom, surrounded by companions long past their prime. 

A man and woman were running down the street.  Trees cast strong shadows.
I went out of focus to see if the forms alone would work.

I did the same thing in the Elizabeth Park annual garden, with the greenhouse in the background.

I photographed the lobby of the Connecticut Science Center from a high floor.
A table was filled with kids working on projects.  In a bit of serendipity, I captured
a child (near the top right of the table) with a bag over his head.

Sometimes ya gotta shake things up.

Hike to the Mic

Hike to the Mic is in its second year.  Its second weekend presentation was on Saturday and Sunday.  The Friends of Heublein Tower presented about eight hour-long acts each day.  

I was there on Sunday and heard the KC Sisters.  The group has high aspirations and I thought they were very good and have a chance to make it.  Here is a link to their website.

I was impressed.

The KC (Casey in real life) Sisters are five daughters of two musicians.  They range in age from 15 to 21.  Their set covered some current and some old songs, as well as singing some original songs.  They announced that they will be featured on Nickelodeon TV this fall.

Hike to the Mic promotes a family atmosphere.  Kids played in front of the bandstand, some with hula hoops, some trying to make big bubbles.  The event was bigger and more professional 

this year than last year.  I expect that it will keep building.

Hike Up to the Heublein Tower

When the kids were small, it was an October tradition to hike up Talcott Mountain to the Heublein Tower to see fall foliage.  Yesterday I hiked alone in mid-August for a new tradition, 

Hike to the Mic, which I will show tomorrow.  Here is the hike.

Halfway up, a steep wall usually appeals to rock climbers, but not yesterday.

There are numerous outlooks.