Making it rain...

We're going to spend the next week making sure that Delaware and the coast of Maryland have enough rainfall...i.e., we're camping there. Internet access will be iffy, as we're staying at some campgrounds without electricity or WiFi. I'll post and catch up as I can, but it'll prolly be limited. See you in a week!

Relationships

There are so many relationships here that I'd have to draw diagrams to illustrate them. Suffice it to say that the little boy on the left is my grandson, Aidan; the little girl is Peyton, the granddaughter of our closest friends. They have been buddies since they were toddlers. In the background are my husband and Peyton's parents, as well as her grandmother. I told you it was complicated!


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Lightness

Paper Goods Pond glows in the light of our long-delayed and intermittent spring.
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Plastic

Someone left a plastic spoon on the counter next to the microwave in the lunchroom at work.
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Spring

After a long, long, long winter, spring has not just sprung, it's erupted! And it is so very welcome.
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Recreation

Spring finally broke upon us today. John & I took the kayaks out on Paper Goods Pond. All along the edge of the pond, people were fishing. This pond is a source of blissful recreation to those of us who are fortunate to live near it.
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Water

My younger grandson, Craig, was fascinated by our friends' fish pond.
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Team

Craig and Isaac, both age 2, team up to try to figure how to make a break for it...
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Alive

So much going on at Whole Foods today: people shopping, people eating, people talking, and in the background, an ambulance arriving for an elderly lady who had slipped and fell. So much complex life!
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Bloom

The blooming of outdoor flowers is still rather tentative; but with this being Easter weekend, the stores have myriads of lilies for sale.
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Best friend

Sierra and her best friend, Kathryn
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Everyday sights

I pass through this corridor under a complex of highways every day I go to and from work.
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Waiting

I'm going for one of the free themes for this photo of a man waiting--for whom or what?
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Raindrops keep falling

Driving conditions were awful on our way home from Staten Island Saturday night--but clearly nothing as awful as in North Carolina.
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Panning/motion shot

A cannon fires from the Union side at a Civil War re-enactment at Stanley Quarter Park in New Britain. My husband is a Civil
War buff, so he's in his glory right now. I'm doomed to be at a lot of these events over the next few years. Note that most of the people who do this are so into authenticity that they slept in flimsy period tents through a horrible wind and rain storm.
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Family

There is no way we could get my entire four generation family into one picture. But this is one snippet of three of the generations: two of my brothers & their wives; one brother's baby son, the other's granddaughter, and the brother of one of the wives. Little Vincent is currently the youngest of the clan.
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Celebration

My family gathers to celebrate the 80th birthday of the patriarch, Papa Bunch. The guest of honor is seated at the back of the photo. It was a surprise, and he was delighted.
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Blue

Evening falls and the moon rises over a lake in Meriden, Connecticut.
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Sports

It was opening night at the local minor league ball park, the New Britain Rock Cats, a farm club for the Twins. The weather was great, so we spent the evening rooting for the home team. This is the view from the third base line. (We won, 6-2.)

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Remembrance

Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the devastating American Civil War. More Americans were killed in that conflict than in total in all the other wars in which the US has been involved. My husband is a Civil War buff. Tonight, after dinner, we were looking at the schedule for local remembrance events for this coming weekend.
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Wheels

These are the wheels of government turning in our town. Berlin is still small enough to have an annual town budget hearing. There, the Big Wheels present their numbers and their reasons. We have the opportunity to ask questions or make comments. It goes to referendum in two weeks. Coming from NYC, I deeply appreciate being able to express myself and to be heard as an individual. Unfortunately, most citizens don't. The auditorium was nearly empty.
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Through a Window

Four days before taxes are due; the local accountant works late into the night.
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Chairs

A line of classic Adairondack chairs outside LL Bean.
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One

Work is proceeding well on the conversion of this old factory building into condos. People are already living in the far end, and they're selling units for Phase II, in the middle. The classiest units will be at the end which overlooks Paper Goods Pond: including this window, now marked with the number 1.
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High contrast shot

This is the lobby of my office building, shot from the second floor. Towards the left, you can see someone washing the glass door. The cleaning staff for our office are mostly mentally challenged people who are very diligent and take great pride in their work--as well the might, because they do a careful and complete job. It's a reminder that no matter what one does, it's important--and it's important to do it well.
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Wealth

To me, there is no greater wealth than the wealth of knowledge; and there is no better way to accumulate this wealth than through reading. We are so fortunate to have libraries that give us access to...well, really, the world and beyond. This is the desk at our town library: my gateway to the universe and far more valuable than coin.
BTW for 365ers: the librarian on the left is Val's Aunt Betsy.




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Childhood

Tonight, I got to play with both of my granddudes. Here they are, "hiding" under my desk when their mother said it was time to go. Of course, I had NO idea where the were. I love being a co-conspirator!
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Faceless portrait

A portrait of one of the patrons at our library. No, he didn't know I was taking his picture. My husband is beginning to worry about me and my venturing into stealth photography.

Humor

I know how to make Aidan laugh! Six year old humor is not sophisticated--but it is funny if you just don't take yourself seriously.
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Letters in Architecture

The Webster Walk in honor of Noah Webster and featuring quotes from Mark Twain. This is in Blue Back Square in West Hartford, Connecticut.
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Black and White

as the old joke goes: What's black and white and re[a]d all over? A newspaper! this is today's edition of the New Britain Herald, featuring an article on the March Madness event at our middle school that I described yesterday.

Athletic

Today was the culmination of March Madness at our town's middle school. During the month of March, the kids in each grade form teams & play against each other. Meantime, there's a penny drive & a read-a-thon to collect money. Each kid in the school chooses a charity, researches it & writes a "persuasive essay" in support of those causes. The winners have $500-$100 donated to their chosen charity. The event culminates in the top teams in each grade competing against their teachers. In the 14 years the program has been in place, these kids have raised $61,000 for charities that THEY have chosen. I was there today to accept a check forward on to the Celiac Disease Foundation.

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