More Musicians

 

At Wednesday's Make Music Day, Maggie Seligman and a friend performed in D. Colabella Fine Art Gallery on Main Street.  Her music includes American and Celtic traditional songs, composed folk, Americana and roots music, and jazz standards.

The Peterman Project might have drawn the toughest location for their set.  No room on the narrow sidewalk for fans.  A busy Main Street spot near street lights, where big trucks squeal as they accelerate.  Too bad.  They performed soft rock classics while I was listening.

AKA Nora (also shown yesterday) changed from her Disney princess dress to sing in front of Town Hall.

I looked forward to listening to Mark Cupkovic on the solo cello at RPAC Gallery.  Regrettably, his selections weren't the kind of classical pieces I expected, so I sneaked out fairly soon.

The lawn of Ridgefield Library held a small crowd.

Some Musicians

 Ridgefield's "Make Music Day" was fun.  I walked around to many outdoor venues in or near the downtown.  Performers were usually local people and many were quite good.  They had to compete with traffic noise, shoppers, talkers, and, in one case, with a long medley from church bells.

Paulina Romano is a student at a music college in Boston.  She plays an electric rock guitar.  Paulina drew an early performance time and an out-of-the-way location.  She deserved a bigger crowd.

AKA Nora is a hairdresser at a prominent Ridgefield studio.  For her set on the front lawn of the library, Nora dressed like a princess and performed Disney songs.  She has a good voice and stage presence.

Kate Nail sang and played the keyboard in front of the Town Hall.  She performed a lot in the 1990s in San Francisco with a cover band and now describes herself as "restarting her musical career here in Ridgefield."  (Sounds like there is a story here . . . )

Jennifer Dineen didn't perform, but she was the catalyst who organized Ridgefield's fifth annual Make Music Day for the local arts council.  After a 30 year corporate career with Procter & Gamble, Jennifer is now a realtor working in Connecticut and New York.

Jaime Babbitt has had a long career singing and playing the guitar.  She has toured with several well known artists, sung background vocals with Barbara Streisand and others, sung Off-Broadway, etc.  Jaime performed in front of Lounsbury House, Ridgefield's community center.

Make Music Day

 Along with about 1,000 other cities and towns, Ridgefield is celebrating Make Music Day today.

The orange ribbons and banners along Main Street promote the event.  I plan to visit at least two of the scheduled performances.  I will probably also just wander around to see what else is going on. 

Elizabeth Park

Back in West Hartford for a few hours yesterday.  Last weekend was Rose Weekend.  

The roses are at peak.

Lovely roses.

An artist painted.

Over the winter the old greenhouses were completely renovated.  They look great!  

A Favorite

 This house near the southern end of Ridgefield's Main Street is one of my favorites.  

It was repainted this spring and looks its best.

For a small fee, a local service organization places flags in front of houses.  They are all over town.

A Quiet Day in Ridgefield

 Not much was happening on my first day back in Connecticut.

A damselfly wandered around in the preserve behind my house.

A robin checked out the view from a power line.

There were some blooms in the neighbor's yard.

Not much was blooming in my pollinator garden.  Too early for many bees and butterflies.

And the kousa dogwood I planted last year had some scattered blooms, not bad for a first year.

Olive Oil

We visited la Samiaja, a small organic olive oil farm outside Antequera. 

The farmhouse is from around 1900 and has been in the current owner's family for generations.

She explained how her family raises the olives organically.

She walked us through both the old and more modern ways of gathering and separating the olives.

We were given a tasting opportunity.  The olive oils were delicious, but I don't have sophisticated taste buds so I failed to analyze the differences.

But, I was good at eating,  The olive oils enhanced the fresh foods.