Almost Showtime!

A season of rehearsals is nearly complete - the show is nearly ready. Tonight was tech rehearsal, tomorrow night is dress, and then Friday is opening night for The Mikado, presented by the Light Opera Company of Salisbury. I snapped pictures, helped with makeup, and generally tried to make myself useful - it is the first time in seven years that I'm not onstage!

Gone to seed

Another end-of-summer view of my favorite little field.

Summer's last days

It's the last week before Labor Day, before school starts, before evenings at the beach and sunrise before 6am and sunsets after 8:30 become a memory, before another long golden autumn, cold dark winter, and slow muddy spring.

Rainy day

Driving around Sharon, shooting out the car window in the rain, trying to have some new eyes...

Missed a post...

For the first time since I started, I didn't manage to post yesterday, and don't have a new picture from Sharon as I'm away. This one is from my tour of the graveyard last week. The single stone struck me as lonely, as it's the only one that didn't have others around it. I didn't want to post something so gloomy today - I'd rather post something cheerful and inspirational for the benefit of my friend in Portugal, but at least this is peaceful.

One enchanted evening

I was glued to my desk for about 10 hours straight today. Finally with little daylight left, the sun below the horizon, I ducked out for a walk on the rail trail before heading home. The Harlem Valley Rail Trail runs from Wassaic, NY, up through Millerton, about 11 miles now. Soon it will be extended another 20 miles north. It's a wonderful recreational resource and draws people from all over the region. Tonight, the air was soft, the cicadas and katydids were quietly chirping, and only a few people went by in the half-hour I was out on the trail.

Growth and change

There is a wildflower field I've been photographing obsessively since June. (I wish in retrospect I'd started in March!) It's changed a lot, obviously, and I wanted at some point to post a series of pictures -- a year in the life of a field. However, I won't be seeing that field anymore after next week - it's outside the daycare center my daughter has attended for over 3 years, but she's about to start school! Bye bye, day care, bye bye photographic subject. So I'll have a season in the life for my photo essay (early summer through late) and I can start a new series at school, which also has plenty of fields and flowers.

A Grand View

I drive past Grandview Farm every day. Once you're up on that hill, looking out the other side, the view is indeed amazing - rolling fields hills toward the sunset, a pond...it's a beautiful spot.

I'm back from vacation and will NOT be posting any pictures from my trip -- I took several hundred of my children, my parents, my siblings (and they of me) lounging on a cruise ship and wandering the streets of Halifax, Nova Scotia - a very nice city! Thank you Denton for keeping everything going while I was away!

The Cycle of Life

Another flower montage -t his one of a day in the life of a morning glory.

I'm coming back from vacation tomorrow - look for a fresh photo from a refreshed photographer, and thanks agian to Denton for keeping Sharon Daily Photo alive while I was away!

Back to the land

Enough of the graveyard! There are certain views I've been watching, and photographing, all summer long, waiting for the perfect shot (as if there's any such thing.) This shot is full of drifts of purple - it's actually an invasive weed, purple loosestrife, but it's lovely nonetheless!

I'm still on vacation, Denton is still pushing the button!

Archaeology?

Does anyone know what " relict" means - is it just another word for "wife?"

I'm on vacation for a few days - thanks to Denton for pushing my buttons!

Another well known name

The Prindles have been here for a long time too - a current member of the family runs an insurance agency in town.

A Famous Denizen of Sharon

I'm on vacation for a few days and Denton is pushing my buttons (thanks Denton!) We'll continue our tour of the Sharon Graveyard, with a visit to Hiram Weed. He lived in the Calkinstown section of town, and made (and then lost) quite a fortune in the iron industry.

A visit to the graveyard

I'm on vacation for almost a week - Denton will be pushing my buttons (thanks Denton!) These first few days we'll take a quick tour of the graveyard and visit some prominent residents, and then a few more shots of the end of summer.

Spreading the Word

How do you find out what's really going on? Drive past the intersections of Route 112 and Route 41, also known as the four-way stop, also known as Hotchkiss Corners. All the best events are advertised here! This shot is about a week out of date - some of the events are just past. But it's not too late to get your "Lobsters to Go" - it's for a good cause (the Masonic Lodge in Lakeville Volunteer firehouse, I believe thanks Terry!) One trend I've noticed: over the last few years there have been fewer hand-painted signs and more prefab ones. Nothing against our local signmakers, but I miss the homemade touch!

Damselfly

I learned something new today - for some reason I thought damselflies only lived for one day, so I was ready to say something somber and sad about how we found this one at the end of its short life, how fleeting life is, carpe diem and all that. My daughter thought it was barely alive; I thought it was somewhat dead. But as it turns out, their lifecycle lasts about a year, and the adult damselfly lives for quite a few weeks. However, this one was still dead!

The Sharon Audubon Festival

At the Sharon Audubon Festival, the entire weekend was devoted to promoting the understanding of nature and the environment. This was part of a display of wildflowers -- both native and invasive. A little journal of the rest of the weekend is here.

Summer in the Country

We're in the middle of a busy weekend - many events to photograph, and I've posted some photos of the Family Festival at Music Mountain here. But I just liked this picture best out of all of them today - it's a self-serve farm stand, the kind city people think of when they imagine life in the country. You put your money in a little box, on the honor system.

Flowers of Late Summer

Once again, a seasonal photo collage of flowers. Upper left: echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower.) Upper right, rudbeckia, (black-eyed susan.) Lower left, various leaves and flowers, and lower right, alchemilla mollis (ladies mantle.)

Come to my window...

I took this outside my kitchen window the other day. I think I better work on those cobwebs!

Everybody Loves A Show

I've been waiting all summer for a chance to show you our local theatre, Tri-Arts, right here in Sharon. I finally got it, when I won two free tickets to a special performance. (I put my name in a hat on Saturday at the Craft Fair and got the call the next day.) Every summer they do three big shows - Broadway musicals like My Fair Lady and Guys and Dolls, as well as some straight plays and concerts. They bring in Equity actors from New York for the lead roles, and many of the chorus parts are taken by local residents - we have a lot of talent around here. (I auditioned a few times and got cast in a show once, but couldn't manage the rehearsal schedule so didn't do it.) They have a summer theater training program and camp for kids and teens, too. A little photo essay about my evening at Tri-Arts here.

A Day to Vote

It was Primary Day here in Connecticut. I always get a little giddy on election day - I feel a sort of misty-eyed sentimental optimism whenever I have the chance to vote. I've never missed an election in the 23 years since I first registered. This time, the Connecticut senatorial election became big national news - long-time Senator Joe Lieberman, famous among other things for running as Al Gore's vice presidential candidate in 2000, came under attack for his unswerving support of the war in Iraq. For many of us, it was our first real opportunity to stand up and be counted on this issue that has been so divisive in our country. I was pleased and proud to make my statement.

If you're not familiar with the American voting system, here's how we do it, at least here in Sharon.

P.S. later tonight, walking home from a show (about which I'll post tomorrow) I ran into the first selectman* - he'd been busy tallying votes after the polls closed. He said the challenger, Ned Lamont, beat Lieberman by more than 2:1 here in town, with extremely high turnout. We'll find out soon what happened statewide!

*Small town mayor - he's also recently retired as pediatrician to my children and most others in town; he's also an accomplished singer and pianist - he first recruited me to join the Light Opera Company of Salisbury, and I've heard he'll come to your party in a dress and play show tunes, if it's for a good cause!

Go the Distance

I've been trying to get a "Field of Dreams" shot of a cornfield around here, (it's as high as an elephant's eye) but ended up with more of a "Wizard of Oz" look. If I get the perfect "is this heaven?" golden waving fronds etc. I'll post again! But I noticed something funny, since the movie was on for the hundred-and-twenty-seventh time again last night: in FIeld of Dreams, there are no weeds between the rows, which are planted far enough apart that Shoeless Joe can walk through quite easily - not the case with corn around here!

How do you get to Sharon?

Practice! Oh, I mean, by Metro North train. The last stop on the Harlem line is Wassaic, just south of Amenia, New York. That's about 2 hours from Grand Central Station in NYC, and less than ten minutes' drive to Sharon. I was there this afternoon picking up my family - that's their train arriving in the background.

The Craft Fair

It was a gorgeous day today - about 80 degrees, sunny and dry. The perfect weather for the annual craft fair on the green. People sell handicrafts like these decoupage'd tissue boxes and picture frames; there were doll and children's clothes, cabinets, drawings and photography (maybe I'll have a booth next year!) LOT of jewelry, pottery, handbags, and lots of things to hang up on the wall and admire. I bought some earrings and got a few pictures I liked - here are the rest.

Extra photo for today

I spent the day in NYC and snapped some pictures with my cellphone - I rather like how they came out! Here are the rest.

Not another flower picture!

The Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus), not named for my town, but planted everywhere, is in full bloom now. For most of the year it's a pretty unattractive shrub - it leafs out late, doesn't have an attractive leaf or interesting shape, and is generally forgettable. But for one month out of the year it's gorgeous - it attracts hummingbirds and monarch butterflies, and the color is wonderful. I haven't been out photographing all week but the weekend is upon us - I promise I'll have plenty of non-flower photos in the coming days! (I'm planning a very exciting trip to the town dump!)

Fish Truck

On Fridays and Saturdays, the fish truck comes. They park in the center of town for two days, and sell all kinds of fresh and frozen fish, chowder, lobster and more. My favorite is in spring when they have shad roe. I love the bluefish too, but they often sell out before I get there.

Sunflower time

Another season is here - the sunflowers are out! What joy they spread, and how we need a little joy right now!

Three Little Maids from School

Wherever on this earth that people live, someone will eventually say, "let's put on a show!" The human desire to sing, dance, perform, (and chitchat in between scenes!) is unstoppable. I've been a part of the Light Opera Company of Salisbury for seven years - (though this year I'm taking a break from performing) -it's provided me a social life, a creative outlet, and the opportunity to dress up and sing and dance in front of all my friends and neighbors! This is from last night's rehearsal for the upcoming production of Gilbert & Sullivan's "Mikado." As always it was hard to pick just one shot to share, but I loved this one because it shows what I love so much about communit theater - people of all ages, really throwing themseles into it. IN that church hall is a director of a historical society, a retired gym teacher, a high school student, and a movement therapist. They all have beautiful voices, by the way!