Colorful Vehicle #2

This could be a recurring theme - interesting vehicles around town. I'd never seen this before - it was at the gas pump this morning when I went to fill up. I'll wager that when Eric goes to refill his scooter, or Pierre his Gondola, they never run into something like this!

Little Red Wagon

It's a driveby shot, so the wires of the fence are in the way, but I still like the brilliant red wagon and its three brown haybales.

Silver Lake, 7:45 am

This morning, looking out over the hills and valleys of Sharon. I live in a beautiful place!

Sunset on the Farm

This farm is in Amenia, about 200 yards west of the Sharon border. The dog didn't want me to take the photo - he was so fierce looking I was afraid to take his picture. But his home was beautiful, in the late afternoon light. (It was actually only just after 4pm - it's getting dark EARLY now!)

Sheeptime

Just back from a weekend away in Columbus, Ohio (where I took no photos except of my kids and other relatives) I went cruising around this afternoon to see what I could see. I'd never noticed these sheep before - I was so enchanted by them, the horses and the donkeys that I've posted several more here. According to the neighbor, they belong to the folks who own Four Brothers Pizza. They were watching and laughing as the horse tried to eat my coat because I didn't have an apple for her.

Indian Lake

With swans... there are about a dozen who have been living here - I only noticed them recently. It was a gorgeous sunny day, the first we'd had in a week or two, and the lake was so blue, the swans so white - I'd have stayed out there for hours, except that it was about 35 degrees!

Thanks again, Lisi, for running my blog while I'm away! I'll be back tomorrow with some new photos of Sharon!

Medical Arts

Another view of Hospital Hill Road - in the Medical Arts building you'll find the pediatrician, the heart specialist, the orthopedist, and the allergist - I think we've visited all of them at one time or another!

A tour of the town

I'm away for a few days, and Lisi from Hong Kong is pushing the buttons - thanks, Lisi! Meanwhile, I took a walk down Hospital Hill road and found yesterday's shot of the hospital itself, as well as the next few of some of our local medical providers.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Don't eat too much turkey!

Big City Health Care

It's kind of amazing that I haven't posted a picture of Sharon Hospital yet. We may be a small town, but we have world-class health care here - the hospital is our biggest employer and the care you get is personal, friendly and top-notch. (And I gave birth to both my daughters here, so I'm particularly fond of this place!)

Where to live?

Have you fallen in love with Sharon through my blog? If so, here are some lovely homes for you to consider, both modern and traditional! Only one of them is actually for sale at the moment, actually, but I'm sure you'll find just the house you're looking for.

Hills on Fire

Yesterday's shot was manipulated to make the red stand out, but not this one - that brilliant orange is just as it appeared. I was driving down Route 22 on a cloudy late afternoon when a small gap opened up in the clouds and the setting sun lit up the farm fields. (Some of the most distant hills might be Sharon, but it's mostly Amenia, the town directly to the west, just over the New York State line.)

A flicker of fire

No, not a forest fire - we've had way too much rain for that - everything is soggy here. But there are still a few bursts of color to be seen among the muted shades of winter.

Blink and you'll miss it

Intending to go to the post office and the grocery store I headed down the block, only to find about a dozen paving trucks speedily doing the entire parking lot. By that afternoon they were done and gone - you'd think they were never there! I wonder if all the workers in the stores there got the day off - Max, how about it?

A quiet place

This is from the Sharon Historical Society - the last of the photos I shot at the art opening a few weeks ago. The funny thing about the rooms and furniture and displays is that a lot of homes around here still look just like this - old things are always in style. I went to a fundraiser called "For the Love of Old" at the home of a woman who decorated her house with everything old, but not neat and sleek like this, but "shabby chic" - folk art, roughhewn wooden furniture with peeling paint, amateur oil painting, garage sale finds... the effect was wonderful.

Is your Mama a Llama?

Another in my occasional series of local residents of the four-legged variety. I think I saw a flock of Reindeer yesterday - I'll try to remember where and shoot a photo some time soon.

Misty fall day

Ame, when you're done with my other scarf, will you make me one in these colors? JUST KIDDING! Come to think of it, on our honeymoon in Scotland, my husband got a beautiful fair isle sweater (on Fair Isle) in these exact shades of green and brown. Just the kind of thing you'd want to wear on a cool, misty fall day.

Morning at the Post Office

You wouldn't know it from 90% of my photos of Sharon, but there's more to it than pretty landscapes -- actual people live here too (about 3,000 in fact!). They do things like go the post office, where they encounter people they know. As local singer-songwrite Hal Lefferts wrote, "people wave in my town."

A Green November

The trees are all rusty brown now, or bare, but many of the fields are still bright green. In some cases I think it's because the farmers plant cover crops, that they'll plow under come spring. (I believe this adds nutrients to the soil and crowds out weeds.) But it's also been very rainy this month, and perhaps warmer than usual, so maybe in some cases it's just lawns that haven't died off yet.

Old Barn...

I think it's actually a house - it's attached to a considerably larger, considerably newer one - but I like the old one better.

Loom with a view

Another image from the Sharon Historical Society - the giant, elegant loom on display in the entrance hall. I've always wanted to try weaving - I just need that yarn in the colors of yesterday's photo and I'll make the finest shawl in Sharon!

Velvet

I'd love to have a sweater or a scarf in those colors!

Smoked

I went to an art opening at the Sharon Historical Society on Sunday - absolutely lovely small works by many local artists including Joan Jardine, who curated the event, Randy Orzano and Colleen McGuire, both of whom I've mentioned here before, Jonathan Doster, who takes breathtaking landscape photos (I should only be that good!) Karen Stone and others.

I chanced to glance out the window and saw these: the little building is a smokehouse, which belonged to Ebenezer Gay, the original owner of the house that is now the SHS. It dates to the 1780's. The well is, well, a well. And the other thing is a marble dog trough, dating to the 1890's. Liz Shapiro, director of the SHS, wrote me that it "used to be on South Main Street, and was put there in memory of a deceased dog by the dog's owner, so that dogs would have a place to drink on their walks. It should actually sit lower in the ground than we have it."

Time to Vote

I didn't want to take pictures of all the folks (including some of our local very famous celebrities!) waiting in line to vote, or the voting machines (we had the old-fashioned kind with the levers, no electronic machines for us, thank goodness!) For some reason it just seemed, well, unseemly. (If you want to see what voting in Sharon looks like -- very simple and plain, but sometimes democracy looks that way-here are my pics from primary day - the main post links to my other blog with a mini-photo essay.)

Anyway, this gentleman was taking his time to check out the ballot before he went inside. It was a bit complicated - five or six parties were fielding candidates, and there were about eight important offices up for grabs, everything from state representative and state senator, secretary of state and state treasurer, to congressional rep, senator, governor, and a new office, probate judge (actually the most local of all of them.) Of course our state has gotten the most attention for the battle between Senator Lieberman and his challenger, anti-war candidate Ned Lamont, but many of the other races are just as important to those of us living here. (Luckily none of the others got nearly as nasty - the political ads in the senate race were just awful, and the congressional race was just as bad.)

One final note: just before I sat down to compose this, the phone rang. I picked it up and heard, "Hi, this is President Bill Clinton...." It was a recording, of course, but I still enjoyed sitting at my kitchen table listening to Bill encouraging me, personally, to get out and vote! The polls stay open for another few hours, then we'll all sit back in front of the TV and find out at long last what the people want!

It's getting late...

Late in the fall, late in the afternoon. But it's never too late for a quick game of soccer (or football, as the case may be!)

Everyone's Gotta Eat

We put up a bird feeder a few weeks ago, and it's now a very popular site for these tufted titmice, downy woodpeckers, and white-breasted nuthatches as well as chickadees and blue jays. (Our neighbor's cat has been hanging aruond too, but so far she's not had any luck.) As for the vulture, I saw it a few days ago but thought it was too gross to post it on its own. Its lunch, a racooon, was on the grass by the road, just a few feet from our property line. The animal control crew must have gotten there pretty soon after, as it was gone by that evening. There is a whole flock of vultures that roost in the trees behind our house - they circle overhead for an hour or two every evening.
My husband writes the nature column in the local newspaper - I'm sure he'll have something to say about these friendly visitors one of these days.

Forest floor

These ferns were along the path at the Emily Winthrop Miles wildlife sanctuary, part of the Sharon Audubon Center. I used to live there for nearly six years - it's 1200 acres of protected land, surrounded by another 5,00 acres of state forest. We had bears, coyotes, eagles, and all kinds of owls (and flying squirrels in our bedroom - another story!). Emily herself was quite an interesting character - a poet, sculptor and writer, and descendent of the first governor of Connecticut. The property was a dairy farm when she lived there (the barn was converted to the caretaker's house, and the stable into an office building) and one story I heard was that during the Great Depression, she hired dozens of men from town, even though she didn't need the help, just to keep them working.

Leaving, Again

Remember this post? It was only about three weeks ago - but look how everything's changed!

Last leaves

Red has mostly turned to brown, but not here - these trees are hanging on, determined to add their color and spark until the end.

Theme Day...what will disappear soon

What does our monthly theme have to do with Halloween? Well, that pile of candy won't last long, not in our house. And neither will childhood. We only have a few years to dress up like all these little fairies, superheroes, vampires, witches and goblins who showed up at my house tonight, a few years to count the days, hours, minutes til it's time to go out trick or treating. It isn't long before we're too old to count each box of milk duds and bag of m&m's, trade the ones you don't like with your sister, bargain with your parents for how many treats you can eat before bedtime, taste a few, put them back (that Wonka donut didn't taste as good as it looks), try a jolly rancher because it takes ten minutes to eat, delaying bedtime that much more. The time soon disappears that we can run naked around the house because the costume got hot and itchy, that we can fall into bed with the makeup still on and the chocolate staining our cheeks.

56 Daily Photo sites are participating in the 1st November theme. Please use the links to below to visit them. The ones I've seen so far have been fantastic - it's a wonderful trip around the world!

Due to time zone differences and other factors, the theme photo may not be displayed until later if you are viewing early in the day.

Porto, Portugal -Seattle WA USA (Kim) -London, UK -Greenville, SC -Albuquerque, NM USA -St Paul USA (Kate) -ShangHai, China -Phoenix, AZ USA -Twin Cities, MN -Sequim, WA -Stayton, OR, USA -Bandung, Indonesia -Dallas, USA -Stavanger, Norway -Singapore (zannnie) -Budapest ,Hungary -Paris, France -Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzigovina -Melbourne, Australia -Auckland, New Zealand -Singapore (Raymond) -Dubai UAE (DXBluey) -Vantaa, Finland -Oshawa, Ontario, Canada -St. Paul MN (Carol) -Singapore (Keropok) -Delta Colorado, USA -Rotterdam, Netherlands -Queens, NY USA -Tenerife, Spain -Santiago, Chile -Nelson, New Zealand -Akita, Japan -Hyde UK -Sydney (Sally) -Manila, Philippines -Aliso Viejo, CA USA -Nottingham UK -Brussels, Belgium -Sharon, CT USA -Sydney Australia (Nathalie) -Edinburgh, Scotland -Evry, France -San Diego, CA USA -Santa Clara, CA USA -Saarbrücken, Germany -Joplin, MO USA -Indianapolis,IN USA -Trujillo Peru -Barcelona Spain-Berlin Germany -Vancouver, BC Canada -Trier Germany -Houston, TX USA -Joensuu, Finland - Van Buren, AR USA