A Cardinal

 

A lonely cardinal sits and watches at an underpass below U.S.Route 95 in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Linked to Monday Murals.

Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

 

A lovely basilica fronts on the Waterbury Green.  I went inside and found that a mass was underway.  I sat briefly, took in the sanctuary's peacefulness and beauty, took a quick photo, and left.

Mattatuck Museum

 Waterbury was called the Brass City.  It is proud of its industrial heritage in days gone by.  Most of that work has gone to lower cost states and countries.

The Mattatunk Museum on Waterbury Green has many displays about the manufacturing and the products from Waterbury's industrial past.  This is a bust of a founder of a brass manufacturing company.

Scovill was still a big company when I moved to Connecticut in 1980.  It built on a history of making buttons, zippers and coin blanks, moving into munitions and household products.  After World War 2 Scovill opened facilities in Georgia.  In time those became more dominant.  It was bought by a Japanese company a decade ago.

A tall case clock at the museum honors two Connecticut industries.  The face is made from Waterbury brass, while the clock itself was designed and built in another central Connecticut town like Bristol.

Charles Goodyear was a Connecticut-born chemist who began in the button business in nearby Naugatuck.  He developed an interest in trying to work out how to make rubber harder and more durable.  Goodyear's efforts were up and down, damaging both his health and his wealth.  Goodyear Rubber Company was founded forty years after his death.  It bears his name but is wholly independent from him and his family.

Union Station

 Anyone driving through Waterbury, Connecticut, sees the 245 foot clock tower that is part of Union Station and the headquarters of the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper.  The structure was erected in 1909.  It was designed by the noted architectural firm McKim, Mead and White.

The newspaper business was sold earlier this year to the Hearst group.  There have been proposals to redevelop the property into a mix of 38 luxury apartments, office space and retail, potentially including a high-end restaurant. The daily newspaper would continue to occupy some of the building. 

September 11

 On September 11 every year, my thoughts turn to the shocking 2001 sights of airplanes crashing into the twin towers. 

My thoughts also return to the wonderful 18 foot long allegorical painting, Cycle of Terror and Tragedy, by Graydon Parrish at the New Britain Museum of American Art.  The anguished twins are perfect images of the terror our nation experienced on September 11, 2001.

 I visit the painting whenever I am at NBMAA if it is being exhibited.  Parrish returned to the museum on September 11, 2014, to discuss his painting.  I attended his lecture.  This photo is from that lecture.

Stepping Stones Museum for Children

The Lockwood-Matthews Mansion Museum shown in yesterday's post is at the front of a Norwalk city park.  Behind the mansion is a children's museum.  I didn't have any children with me when I was there yesterday, so a visit to Stepping Stones Museum for Children is also for another day.

Lockwood-Matthews Mansion Museum

The Lockwood-Matthews Mansion in Norwalk, Connecticut, was built by a businessman and politician to show off his success and good fortune.

 

Originally it was in a big parcel, but over the years the land has been cut down to build nearby state and federal highways.  It fell into disrepair and the City of Norwalk bought it.  The City tried several times to demolish it, but each time the citizens fought off the municipal attempts.

Today it is owned by a nonprofit that maintains it and opens it several days a week for guided tours.

I saw it yesterday, when it was not open for tours.  Some day I will return for a tour.

Umpawaug Cemetery

 Recently I was talking with some seniors.  One of the men had lived in the neighboring town of Redding before moving last year to a Ridgefield condo.  That stated a conversation about Redding.

The conversation moved from trees and forests --> three acre house lots -->  beautiful historic houses --> narrow, hilly and scary winding roads.  That led me to say that Redding has a road with a great name -- Umpawaug -- and a great cemetery -- Umpawaug Cemetery.  

I continued by saying that I had visited Umpawaug cemetery with a camera a few years ago and had seen the plot and stone where a noted singer from my youth -- Mary Travers of Peter Paul and Mary -- is buried.  The man who had started the Redding conversation quietly said, "She was my wife."

That stopped the conversation.  Wow.  He explained how he had met Mary and his plans to be buried in Umpawaug Cemetery next to her.  But more than that is private.

BUT, isn't it fascinating how a random conversation with near strangers can become memorable?

And for those who like coincidences, isn't remarkable that the last of Peter Paul and Mary -- Peter Yarrow -- died last week?

New Milford Green

The lovely town of New Milford is about half an hour north of Ridgefield.  Like many New England towns, it has a central green honoring town residents who served in national wars.

A bandstand is a central feature.

A Connecticut-based artist, John Clymer, painted 80+ covers for The Saturday Evening Post.  A 1953 cover by Clymer shows New Milford Green and the bandstand.  The cover is displayed in the library.

This and That

 Just things seen while I wander around.

Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church is at the southern end of Ridgefield's commercial district.  "Celebrating 300 Years of Loving Our Neighbor" is a message to be admired. 

A mobile crepes van.  Don't see those every day.

"We All Are One" is the message on a small food pantry on Georgetown's Main Street.

I like this lantern on a post in North Salem, New York.

And, while looking through recent photos from the Galapagos, I came across this photo of a blue-footed booby staring back at a white-haired boob with a camera.

I Know 'Em When I See 'Em

As I wandered around North Salem, New York, I came across a handsome home well hidden behind cast iron gates.  At a glance I knew it was Italianate in architectural style.  Then I started musing about what characteristics identify it as Italianate, a popular mid-19th century residential style.

 

 

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has a short article about the Italianate style.  This house checks all the boxes.  A belvedere at the top.  Overhanging eaves with substantial brackets.  Tall narrow windows.  A one-story porch.  And cast iron decoration.

Foxy Meadow Farm

I turned down a dirt road in North Salem, New York, and came upon three well-dressed horses at Foxy Meadow Farm.

Classic Truck

Jerry and his camera-shy wife Karen pulled into Starbucks in his 1940 Ford F1 truck.  The truck's body is absolutely flawless.  Jerry had it painted Ferrari red.  Inside and underneath, the truck has undergone a massive renovation and upgrade.  Jerry says it rides as well as his Audi. (I masked the license plates.)

 

Goshen Fair

 

The Goshen Fair takes place every Labor Day Weekend.  It is VERY crowded.

A woman tried to lead a recalcitrant cow.

She put a lot of muscle into her ax throw.

"Wanted:  $10,700 Reward."  There must be a story here.

I think the announcer said this is a 1936 tractor.  It lifted up at the start, then managed to move the blocks.

Sorry.  She isn't tall enough for the ride.  Maybe next year.

Dad and the kids had lots of fun on the slide.

Hosteria Rincon de Puembo

The hotel where we stayed outside Quito, Ecuador, has long, open, well-planted corridors.  This is the second floor.  My room was halfway down the right side.

The September theme for City Daily Photo is "vanishing point."  Click here for other interpretations.

Pretty

 How about a simple image today?

A pretty little house with bright colored blooms out front.

Purdy's Farmer and the Fish Restaurant

 

This wonderful restaurant is just six miles over the New York border.  The plantings in the front and side are superb.  I had calamari, a lobster roll and a salad.

Conversation

 Three people and a giraffe talking.

Ultra MAGA

 Eight cars and trucks with Ultra MAGA signs drove through the downtown, loudly honking their horns.

I said hello to them with a raised middle finger.

Birds at the Feeder

 Do these count as my photographs if I own the feeder with the camera?

Male and female cardinals.

Song sparrow.

White-breasted nuthatch.