Is Autumn Winter? (3)

We had a brown Christmas in 2010. Heck we always have a brown Christmas. I can't remember the last time that we actually had snow on Christmas Day. Anyways, this is what Newington usually looked like during the months of November, December and early January. We usually didn't have the true New England whiteout until February.

Christmas morning. The artificial tree (haven't had a real one since I was my daughter's age), the presents (most notably, the bicycle) and the psuedo spirit of family togetherness.

Christmas stockings hung with care on the very functioning and well used fireplace: me, the wife, the child 1 (son), child 2 (daughter), brother, mother, sister-in-law, their children, the dog, and the bird.

The neighbor's house with the requiste nativity scene. Yes, it is the week of Christmas, so the brown grass you see is quite normal for this time of year.

Jennelle in her Christmas elf costume.

Is Autumn Winter? (2)

Man, you know things are going bad when you have to piece together two weeks worth of posts into one, and take a third that you intended to do a special of by moving it to your main blog and writing about it and instead, move it forward to make a showcase of it here.

Such is the case here. I had to cobble two weeks worth of posts into one because out of the ten pictures that I had programmed for here, the six that you will be seeing are the only ones that met with my minimum standards of acceptability (which isn't saying a lot). As for the showcase, well, let's just say I'm gonna take a shot at writing a post that I've seen other people do elsewhere for the past three years.
In any event, enough with the bloviating. To quote Mills Lane, "Let's Get It On!"

Around late November/early December, my neighborhood overnight became one gimormous rest area for that feathered species called "The Blackbird". For those of you who don't really experience this phenomena, it really is a sight to behold. A deafening roar, a blackened sky, a blackened street and a blackened yard are just a few of things one can see/hear when these truly unique birds come to roost. I'm simply gonna let the next few pictures speak for themselves, sans captions.

Jennelle dressed up in some kind of elf costume for a recital. Or a party, not sure which.

Is Autumn Winter? (1)

After a brief but highly necessary vacation to the dark recesses of my mind, I am back with a new series called "Is Autumn Winter?" This particular series covers the seasonal switch leading up to Christmas. So we're not getting too far behind with our seasons, eh? Here we have Autumn/Winter 2010, and where you's at, its Spring/Summer 2011.

 The building that you see used to the be the original modern version of what is now know as the CT Children's Medical Center. Back when I was a kid, it was called The Newington Children's Hospital, and before that, it was called The Newington Crippled Children's Hospital. It's now a professional medical office building where Hartford Hospital has some of its back room facilities (A/P, A/R for example) located. The foreground is where in years gone by, a carnival would sometimes set up shop. However, due to this particular event happening in the 1940's, that type of carnival is now a thing of the past and the modern equivalent is now held annually in July, which is called, "The Mill Pond Extravaganza" and which can be found in the 2010 archives.

This was a tree in my backyard that we had a contractor who was doing the outside of the house (summary, the contractor in question is now being sued by mother for shoddy workmanship, among other things) chainsaw to pieces. It was very dead, very tall, and because it was very dead and very tall, it had to come down. About the only thing that is left, since the bulk of it was hauled to the campground up in Litchfield, is that stump and a few larger pieces of trunk.

Holly in her new hiding place, which was built, designed, created and put together by my very talented daughter Jenelle. And you thought the only things she could do was skate and dance? Au contraire, my talented ambidextrous daughter can also paint, draw and create as well. A few of her drawings have made to the annual town hall exhibit for talented school children (K-12) for the past couple of years. Anyways, Holly was looking for a place to chill out, so this was as good as a place as any to do so.

The wife. A week from yesterday (6/3) will be our 22nd wedding anniversary. The rest of the stuff you see is the interior of my basement den. The boxes on the right contain stuff (not sure what); the box on the left contain copies of my books. And yes, that is a window that you can just barely see on the left as well.

Downtown Newington. On the center green. To the left is the Congregational Church. To the right is a pine tree. Directly in your view is a decorated lamppost. Not even a clue as to why I took this picture.