I love the old Colt firearms factory in Hartford, Connecticut. It’s been deserted for decades now, but ever so slowly gentrification is happening nearby. (It’s famous onion dome is featured in an earlier post.) There were birds meandering around the roof ledge on this overcast day and I was thrilled to get this clean shot of one flying away. Old broken windows and brick, rusty metal staircases, roofing and building stones . . . what more could a woman with camera ask for?
Louie has new chew toys! He jumps on the table after Christmas Eve dinner and goes for the live centerpiece. See his ears turned back? That’s because I’m scolding him, telling him in my not-nice voice to get down. Does he care? Only enough to put his ears in low gear.
Next photo is this morning, Christmas Day. Louie has been playing tether ball with the ornaments. He hides under the tree. Chews its “branches”, too. So many new chew toys! The best part of Christmas for Louie, along with the much-needed nap after so much excitement.
After his nap, Louie wakes to play with the tree ornaments again. The sun has gone down and everything’s even more exciting in the dark!
If you don’t know the song Cows, it’s the opening track on the CD Philadelphia Chickens by childrens’ author Sandra Boynton. If you’re going on a road trip with the kids, I recommend it as one of the few CDs that parents can listen to as long as the kids can. Even if there are no kids in tow, it’s fun, quirky music perfect for the open road and blue highways amusement.
Cows is a theatrical, lyrically-compelling opener sung by The Seldom Herd. Kevin Bacon punches an incredible lead vocal onto the big band jazz arrangement of title track Philadelphia Chickens. Meryl Streep sings a beautifully-plaintive comedic lead vocal on Faraway Cookies. Endlessly entertaining. You won’t be disappointed.
Here are my cows. It was near dark and they were in a mellow, early-summer-night mood. Cows. Remarkable cows.
Rock Eagle along Route 66. Hebron, Connecticut
Rock Snake
The Bangor & Aroostook railroad caboose in Mansfield Depot CT was a dining car and part of the Mansfield Depot Restaurant until a fire destroyed the rest of the establishment in July 2003. This 100-year-old train car, known as the Mansfield Depot Caboose, sat for seven years in its old home next to the tracks and marked the Mansfield crossroads. In September 2010, The Connecticut Trolley Museum bought it for $500 from the Canadian National Railway and spent $7,200 to move it to East Windsor.
The closer I got, the better she looked. So many textures, color, and contrast, and the ever-fascinating peeling paint. Through one window a wine glass sat on the table untouched, while the rest of the windows were successful targets of nighttime teenage entertainment with sailing rock torpedos. I was lucky to photograph the outside of the caboose a few months before she was moved and covered with tarp to wait for restoration funding. The depth and rich beauty of the effects of weather and corrosion will be sanded and polished away.
I took these photos at closing time on the grounds of Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington CT
Close-up in the sculpture garden.
Sun setting behind a rock wall.
Another close-up in sculpture garden.
Fall 2011 I shot Colt Armory’s blue onion dome from the I-91 freeway passing by Hartford, Connecticut. The dome is the visual centerpiece of the firearm factory complex, part of the Coltsville Historic District.
The color of October in Wethersfield CT 2011
October 2011 parking lot pumpkin Wethersfield CT
