Best friend

John married me 33 years ago this past weekend, and he still manages to put up with me.  Perhaps right here, he's wondering how...

Happiness is a warm puppy

That was the original Charles Schultz quote. It certainly held true for granddude Craig when he met our friends' new spaniel, Mona.

Camera: iPhone 4s Processing: Popsicolor, Grungetastic

Garden

This is one of the small gardens at the Trinity College Chapel in Hartford, Connecticut.

Camera: Canon EOS T3, Lensbaby Muse  Processing: basic adjustments in PSE

Famous

This is Noah Webster, author of the famous speller and dictionary.  He lived in West Hartford, Connecticut.  This statue of him graces the entrance to Blue Back Square in his native town. 

Camera: iPhone 4s  Processing; Dramatic B&W (an app) 

Abandoned

Someone abandoned this Nike sports shoe in a parking lot.

Camera 4s, Hipstamatic app  Processing: PSE

Vanity

There is no one more vain than a child who just realized that his grandmother has a camera.

Camera: iPhone 4s   Processing: PhotoGene, BlurFX

Ghostly

The shadow of a fish gliding past in the tank at LL Bean in East Windsor, CT.

Old fashioned

Chamber music concert in the Gothic chapel at Trinity College in Hartford. 

Camera: iPhone 4s   Processing: Dynamic Light, TiltShift Generator

Smooth

Smooth sounds from these two young musicians at Lyman Orchards' Strawberry Festival on Saturday.

Camera: Kodak Z915   Processing: PSE

Pet

This is Mona.  Mona is three years old, and she's had a hard life up until now; but she's just become about the luckiest dog in the world.  She was a rescue dog taken in my our good friends.  They adore her, and they're going to take very, very, very good care of her.  She couldn't have found a better family. 
Camera: iPhone 4s   Processing: PhotoStudio, Iris

Clouds

The Connecticut River was so still when we were kayaking on Saturday that it was like paddling through clouds. 

Camera: Kodak Z915  Processing: basic adjustments in PSE

Immature

Mama swan escorts her family of cygnets past the dangerous kayakers on Silver Lake.

Camera: Kodak Z915  Processing: PSE

Distorted

Ripples on the surface of Paper Goods Pond.

Camera EOS T3, Lensbaby Muse   Processing: gentle adjustments in PSE

The blues

Nothin' like the sax for the blues.

Camera: Conon EOS T3, Lensbaby Muse  Processing: PSE

Arranged

The tables are artfully arranged before dinner at Elizabeth's restaurant in Rocky Hill.

Camera: iPhone 4s, Hipstamatic app

Common

Daisies are common in New England in the summer.  These are growing on the shore of Lake Waramaug.

Camera: Canon T3, Lensbaby Muse, single glass optic  Processing: PSE

Fun/Boats

We camped last night at Lake Waramaug, out in the western part of the state, in the Litchfield Hills. Our campsite was lakeside, so we were able to pull our kayaks down to the water to launch them.  This morning, we shared this big usually busy lake with just the geese and a few herons.  There is a rental concession if you don't have your own kayak, but it was closed on a Monday.  Their boats were stacked on the shore. 

Camera: Canon EOS T3, Lensbaby Muse   Processing: PSE

Innocence

We met Morgan, aged nine, fishing with her family at Paper Goods Pond.  To me, there is something ultimately innocent about a young girl--still a year or two before the turmoil of adolescence--doing something as traditional and simple and quintessentially Summer, as  fishing in a small pond.  Better yet that she was in the presence of her doting family, all enjoying the balmy lengthening evening.  It reminded me of one of the opening lines of the newly late Ray Bradbury's classic Dandelion Wine: "Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch. the breathing of the world was long and warm and slow."

Wings

A flock of geese took off from Paper Goods Pond last night as evening fell. 

Camera: Canon EOS T3, Lensbaby Muse   Processing : PSE

Zany

I know they're a tad out of focus (the disadvantage of having the Lensbaby mounted on one's camera)...but one can't get much zanier than this: the dude caught a huge bull frog at Paper Goods Pond and decided to see if it was an enchanted princess.  Can you imagine her horror if she had been one?

Camera: Canon EOS T3, Lensbaby Muse    Processing: PSE

Multiples

These pink flowers blooming at Paper Goods Pond have multiple blossoms. 

Camera: Canon EOS T3, Lensbaby Muse  Processing: basic adjustments with PSE

Blessing

Today is the 20th birthday of my youngest child, Sierra Rose. She was the unexpected blessing.  After we had adopted our older two, Amber and Christian, Korea (their homeland) shut down to further adoptions.  My husband passed 40; most countries that were open to a third adoption required parents to be under 40.  So we took delight in our two...but I just KNEW somehow that there was a third child meant for us.  Then, when Christian was five, Korea opened up again, and they said they'd accept parents up to the age of 42.  John had just turned 42, so we sent an application in right away--and on September 22, we went to Kennedy Airport to meet our happy, wriggling baby girl.  We have truly been blessed.

Fear

This little toad was frozen in fear when I happened upon it just outside my vegetable garden.  I snapped a photo with i iPhone, then left it alone to hop off somewhere safe.

Camera: iPhone 4s  Processing: PSE

Youth/Soft

There is nothing as soft as baby feet.  These belong to my new pseudo-granddude Elijah.

Camera: iPhone 4s  Processing: kinda lost track, but the last one was Dynamic Light