Newinton Center....And Beyond! (5)

I think that this batch will lend itself for some decent captioning for a change.


This is looking easterly and southerly. I was trying to get a general purpose shot without the traffic, but as you can see, no such luck. Anywho, you can see Carvels directly across from us, a loser sitting in the crosswalk waiting to make a right on red, which is a very popular and breakable law here in Connecticut. Yes, breakable. Do you think that everyone really does a proper stop at a red light before turning? Honestly, do you? Honestly, do I? Honestly, I do. About 75% of the time, I come to a proper stop, which in that driver's manual that NOOOOOOOOBODY ever reads anymore once they pass their exam, says that your car must halt and jerk back just a little bit in order for it to be considered a complete and legal stop.

Jenelle in one of her many dance costumes this season. This particular costume was for her solo tap dance competitions. Song of choice (well, not really) was "Old Time Rock & Roll". This is what she'd danced to this past week at Wildwood, New Jersey at her latest national dance competition. Factoid: Jenelle was personally invited by an organizer to another one being held at the same time in New Hampshire. However, that one was a little more expensive and was more group oriented, whereas this one is geared towards the individual. Shot was taken in the front hallway.

This one was taken in the living room, next to a scooter and the wife's yarn collection. I will say that for this season's dance competitions, I wasn't driven completely insane by the daily two hour injection of music being played for rehearsals. Whereas the previous years either irritated the crap out of me (If I Only Had A Brain, artist unknown); or made me seriously detest an artist for years to come, (Meet The Flintstones, B-52's); this one was pretty good, as it didn't bother me much. Now if she was dancing to "Cotton Eye Joe" (skated to that instead), that would've really bothered me.

I decided to bring my camera along for my hike on Good Friday/Easter Sunday. I can truthfully pinpoint the time frame because the development date for this picture disc was April 11, 2010, and as I'd stated early on, money drives when I get my disposables developed. Anywho, I wanted to get some funky shots of what the mountain is like in the early spring. This was taken along one of the plateaus that I frequently hike. Believe it or not, in spite of the crappiness that are my legs (muscle weakness, neuropathy and what not), I can do a pretty damn good job of hiking up this funky mountain.

This is looking up the mountain towards one of the ridges. Now let me tell you, if you think that the incline in this picture looks bad, it really is. I'm estimating that incline was something like a 5 or 6% grade, which is no mean feat to climb (most steep hills that one drives on are about 4%). I actually climbed this thing a few weeks after I took this shot, and even though I did a zig-zag pattern going up and using the trees and underbrush for leverage, it was nevertheless a pretty brutal climb. Did I forget to mention that in addition the previously mentioned maladies, I have a wicked case of asthma? While I don't use inhalers, this was climb was a decent trigger just the same. Fortunately, the triggering was mild, and I was able to judiciously find some great spots to rest and let the mountain refreshen my spirit. Let me tell you, the silence on the mountain that day was incredible. No people, no traffic, just a stray bird here and there, and the wind gently blowing across with the sun beating down....does a body good.

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And this brings us to the end of "Newington Center...And Beyond". Tune in next week, where we will start a brand new series of posts that will feature "Flora, Fauna and Aminals!"