Lake Naraneka

 Lake Naraneka in Ridgefield is often called Lake Pierrepont.  It was created in the 1930s by Seth Low Pierrepont, a wealthy politician and diplomat, who had a swamp cleared and filled by building a dam.  Pierrepont named the lake after Naraneka, one of the chiefs who signed the deed to the town of Ridgefield.

The south side of Lake Naraneka is now Pierrepont State Park, a 305 acre public recreation area donated to the State of Connecticut in Mr. Pierrepont's will.  I photographed the lake from the edge of the park.  The sky and the lake are rich blue.

September 11

 

The assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy.  Oklahoma City Bombings.  I have lived through some terrible events in America.  The horrific events 25 years ago on September 11, 2001, are right up near the top.  Never forget.

Ballard Park

 

Ballard Park in Ridgefield continues to show off its plantings in September's second week.

Italianate

 

A handsome Italianate home with lovely hanging plants on the porch is hidden behind extensive foliage at the end of a quiet street in Redding.

Red Barn

 

I drive past this barn occasionally.  It stands out when the sun shines on it.

Finding Home

Los Angeles-based artist Lauren YoungSmith painted this mural in 2021 on the side of the Asian American Cultural Center in New Haven, Connecticut.  

The artist asserts that the mural is meant to convey something of the center’s legacy as well as its present and future as a “home” for Asian students on the Yale campus.

Linked to Monday Murals.

Saint Michael Church

The Church of Saint Michael on Wooster Square is the first Italian-American parish in Connecticut.  The congregation formed in response to the influx of Italian immigrants to New Haven.  For decades it was administered by an order of Scalabrinians.  

Today it is home to more than 500 families.  It hosts the societies that make up the Southern Italian Religious Societies.