Wood and Stone

 

A very neat stone wall.  A wooden gate.  A wooden barn.  And a small stone building.  All make an appealing scene with mixed textures on Umpawaug Road in Redding.

Farmer's Market

In the summer there is a Saturday farmers market on the ground of a local Ridgefield church. 

Ann Marie sells salt crystals.  I told her I like to sprinkle olive oil and salt on steaks before grilling.  She immediately recommended a merlot sea salt from Sicily.  I bought it.

A coffee vendor was VERY busy.

The Hickories is a favorite farm in Ridgefield.  I don't think we have ever passed a Hickories booth without buying something.

A flower vendor paid undivided attention to a young customer.

I remember a crowded hummus booth last year.  It was crowded again last Saturday.

Arts Festival

 Ridgefield is having an arts festival in Ballard Park yesterday and today.  There was a lot of good art, but attendance was down because of competing events and light rain.

I told Audrey she was born in the wrong century.  She paints dark realistic works that would appeal to Edgar Allen Poe.  Her frames are gold and ornate.  And she feeds a pair of black vultures.  Audrey has an amazing face.  When I asked to photograph her, she made a funny face that I captured.

Audrey smiles like a normal person most of the time.  (I felt obligated not to show only the first one.)

I suspect this young man is the son of the artist.  He was bored minding the tent, so he twirled constantly.

OK, they have nothing to do with the art.  I just liked the composition.

License Plates Amuse Me!

 Some more license plates that interested me.

This is a new favorite while the Tartan Army is charming everyone during the World Cup.

A guy is very proud to drive an electric vehicle.

At every Brown University sporting event, one hears a fight song that begins, "We are Ever True to BROWN For we love our college dear . . ."  Don't blame me.  I didn't write it.

Someone else needs to explain this one.  But, you notice it, don't you?  (That is UConn Husky image.)

He is either bragging that he is driving a Full Self Driving Tesla or he is warning us!

Selling below investment grade securities is probably lucrative.  But, on your license plate?

Gossip

 

"Gossip" is a 2004 work by the sculptor Martha Pettigrew.  It makes me smile.  Gossip was originally placed in Stamford's Latham Park but it was later moved to Veterans Park.

Goodbye, Red Rooster

 I'm sad that the Red Rooster Restaurant in Ridgefield is being torn down to clear the space for a 21 unit residential development.

In Naples the city officials let developers destroy natural areas needed by wildlife to make way for oversized housing developments.  In Connecticut, towns let developers tear down irreplaceable historic buildings to squeeze in new developments.  Different problems, same outcome. 

Laurel

Laurel played the guitar and sang in front of Ridgefield Town Hall during last Sunday's "Make Music Day."  I googled her name to give me information for this post.   I learned that Laurel just finished her freshman year at Harvard, where she is cross-registered with Berklee School of Music.  

Laurel is studying both music and cognitive science, each independently and their intersections.  She frequently sings the national anthem at Harvard sports events, performs as an individual and with musical groups, and sings in choral groups.  Her musical interests are both classical and contemporary.

And, by the way, Laurel was the Connecticut girls' state chess champion, and she and her younger brother started a group teaching chess to kids.

Wow!

O'Brien Nurserymen

 I had lots of shade-loving hostas in my home in West Hartford, many of which I bought at O'Brien Nurserymen in Granby, Connecticut.  My daughter took two dozen of them for her Ridgefield home, and she has added others.  On Friday we drove up to O'Brien to admire the crop and buy some more.

John O'Brien created this amazing place in 1984.  His nursery has grown into New England’s premier hosta nursery.  The extensive display gardens feature over 1,300 hosta varieties as well as other shade-loving plants.  John's plant knowledge is encyclopedic.  He helped us choose about a dozen plants. 

Beyond hostas, O'Brien features asarums, pulmonarias, epimediums, polygonatums, and arisaemas.  

The gardens also include a wide variety of unusual dwarf conifers 

and more than 100 varieties of Japanese maples.

If any reader loves plants -- especially shade-loving plants -- enjoy this Youtube interview with John O'Brien from August 2025.  It has had more than 100,000 views since it was released ten months ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7VqroTbu0o 

Roses

Passing through West Hartford last Friday, I came across rose murals painted by Ben Keller, whose work I have featured here before.  They are in a shopping center, where two buildings almost meet. 

 

Linked to Monday Murals.

Church of the Assumption

Westport's Church of the Assumption stood out on a day with a gloriously blue sky.

The Catholic congregation dates to 1866, this building was dedicated in 1900. 

A.C.T. of Connecticut

 A.C.T. (A Contemporary Theater) of Connecticut is concluding its eighth season in Ridgefield with a performance of Dear Evan Hansen.

I attended recently.  Shame that I hadn't been to a performance before.  It was excellent!

Attendees reach the theater by walking through long corridors with large photos from past shows. 

The theater isn't big, but it has good seating and a professional stage.  

The actors are professionals and members of Actors' Equity.

Dear Evan Hansen is about a socially awkward high school student who invents a relationship with another loner student who dies.  One thing leads to another and builds toward the inevitable collapse.  The play is thought provoking.  I will be buying tickets for future A.C.T. performances.

Mansplaining

I have been guilty of this on occasion . . . 

This is at Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford.  If you will pardon my own mansplaining, the nearest bust is of Daniel Wadsworth, a Hartford amateur artist and architect in the middle of the 19th century.  He was from a well off Connecticut family.  He funded the creation of the Wadsworth Atheneum in 1842.

Two circles

 Entering the Wadsworth Atheneum's Gengras Court in Hartford, I encountered two circles.  

In the foreground, we face dissident Chinese artist Al Weiwei's "Grapes," formed from 26 traditional three-legged stools.  On the wall behind it is one of American artist Frank Stella's so-called "Protractor" works, named for its careful creation with a protractor and compass. 

Wadsworth Atheneum and The Travelers Tower

 

The nearer building is Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum, an excellent art museum that I visit often when I am in Hartford.  Behind it is the Travelers Tower, headquarters of the Travelers Insurance Company.

Peony Season

 

My peonies are in bloom, too, but they are no match for these gorgeous peonies in West Hartford's Elizabeth Park.

A Mural in Process

 I was recently in West Hartford.  BlueBack Square is a mixed commercial and residential development just off West Hartford Center.  

An artist was at work on the second level above the Noah Webster House and West Hartford Historical Society.  I didn't recognize the artist nor did I understand what is being portrayed at this early stage,  But, I go back to West Hartford often and will check it out later.

I wonder if Monday Murals accepts partially completed and unexplained murals . . . 

Antioch Baptist Church

 

Originally a Methodist church, this facility in Bedford Hills, New York, was purchased in 1975 by Antioch Baptist Church, a Black congregation.  The congregation dates back to 1887 and occupied several other facilities before acquiring and holding services in this one.

Modern Farmhouse

 

On a recent walk, I passed this handsome home.  The main facade is stone, with very appealing windows, The roof has a pair of dormers and a central turret.  The roof covers a deep front porch.   The house calls to mind a farmhouse, though it is relatively new and is entirely residential. 

Weir Farm

 Weir Farm is the former home of the American impressionist painter J. Alden Weir.  It is now a National Historic Park, straddling Ridgefield and Wilton, Connecticut.

I have visited Weir Farm two or three times before, and I have toured the inside of the main house, shown above.  I posted about my tours in 2021 and again in 2023.  This week I visited on Tuesday, only to learn that it was not open for visitors.  

So long as I was there, I walked the main part of the property.  A carpenter was repairing the stairs on Weir's studio, so I didn't photograph it.  But, I walked around the barn and its corral.

This is the view looking back from the end of the corral to the barn and the rear of the Weir house. 

There are some very good walking trails on the property, but I wasn't dressed for a hike, so I left.

Flipping Creative

 Flipping Creative is a "mindful market" in Ridgefield.  The owner describes it as a marketplace showcasing ethically sourced products from skilled craftspeople and partnering with responsible brands.

It feels like I walked into a hippy store from 50 years ago.

It is a visual feast, in perhaps eight rooms, but I swear I can't figure out how they pay the rent.

Art Lover

 

A young girl sat patiently on a bench in Wadsworth Atheneum's Avery Court in Hartford, studying the 16th century statue of Venus with a Nymph and Satyr and Andy Warhol's ten Marilyn Monroe prints.