Charles Ives

 Charles Ives was born 150 years ago today  in nearby Danbury, Connecticut.  Ives was an American modernist composer.  He was also a very successful and wealthy insurance executive.  His wife and he bought a plot in West Redding, Connecticut, and built this fine "cabin."

"Three Places in New England" is Ives' best known work.  The work is in three movements.  I have taken photographs for each of the three movements.

The first movement is inspired by Augustus St. Gaudens' statue on the Boston Common, Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment.  Shaw was a white officer from Boston in the Civil War, who led  Black volunteers on a failed assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina.  Shaw and many of his men died.

I visited Boston in August and went looking for this statue, which is across Beacon Street from the Massachusetts State House.

The second movement, Putnam's Camp, Redding, Connecticut, is inspired by American Revolutionary War hero General Israel Putnam's encampment in the harsh winter of 1778-79 .  Today the site is  a Connecticut state park.  In 2023 I photographed this statue of Putnam by Anna Hyatt Huntington.

Ives enjoyed hiking with his new wife when they honeymooned in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.  That pleasure was in Ives' mind when he composed the third movement, The Housatonic at Stockbridge.  I took this photograph in August when I was in the Berkshires to hear Yo Yo Ma at Tanglewood.

Country Road

I pass through here every time I return to my Ridgefield home.  

It is always pretty, but in the Fall it is special.

Scarecrows

 The Town of Ridgefield likes nothing more than dressing up the Main Street business district and raising money for worthy organizations.  Over the summer large painted sneakers were all around, raising money for children and arts programs in the poorer community of Bridgeport.

In October, every lamp post in the district has a scarecrow attached to celebrate fall and to raise money.  The top scarecrow was created by a small store.  It is publicizing a Walk to End Alzheimers.  The bottom scarecrow is by a designer of floral displays for weddings and events.

Skeletons

 

What is the plural of "skeletons"?

Pumpkins

I think there are enough for everyone.

 

Golden Hour

 

Golden hour is always beautiful, but especially in the Fall and beside a lake in Connecticut.

Some Chinese People

I like photographing people.  Sometimes as planned portraits, sometimes just capturing people as they go about their lives.

She demonstrated a tea ceremony and showed us how Chinese people brew a range of different teas.

An artist and a merchant in a Beijing hutong.

A woman taking a break after posing for someone else.

An energetic jade saleswoman.

A man greeting guests at a restaurant.

Two people greeting guests arriving for dinner and a show.

People arriving to see the Terracotta Army in Xi'an.

A craftswoman making small clay terracotta warriors for sale in a big shop.

David, our guide in Xi'an and Beijing.

A girl outside the Xi'an wall, playing with the equivalent of a big yoyo.

A man in Zhuijiajiao.

Cooking.

Displaying knickknacks.

Two men in Haitan Ancient City.

Belle, our local guide for visits to the Summer Palace and the Lama Temple.

This three week trip to China was wonderful.  I'm back in Connecticut briefly before heading to Florida for the winter.  Photographs from Connecticut will be here tomorrow.