Elizabeth Park
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Monday, December 2, 2013
The Hartford Times Building, Hartford, Conn. (Postcard Series)
Constructed in 1925
The Hartford Times was an afternoon newspaper published from 1826 until 1976.
UConn Hartford Campus Will Move to Hartford Times Building. (NBC Connecticut,8/14/2013)
The Hartford Times Again. (Naples and Hartford in Season, 5/18/2013)
Saturday, November 30, 2013
On This Date in 1998
Actually, JoAnna told me today that this is her last week at work since she has vacation through January 5th. It will be interesting to see what turns up for her. So far she hasn’t done much investigating, but then this time of year, between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, is not the best time to conduct a job search. Not that she has anything to worry about.
The possibility of reduced family income, at least temporarily, hasn’t put a lid on our Christmas shopping. Yesterday JoAnna and I spent $650, although that amount did include a birthday present for Eddie (a large X-wing Star Wars toy) and a couple items for Al and Cyndi’s baby. We were able to check a few names off our gift list: Albert, Larry R., Christie, Larry Jr. We also bought the boys’ big gifts, a Play Station game system for Andy and a set of Lego underwater vehicles for Eddie, designed for imaginary water play. While cruising the aisles of Toys R Us, we found a 100-piece set of little toy soldiers and equipment that Eddie will just love, as well as an additional “bucket” of plastic soldiers. You can tell from Andy’s gift list that he’s no longer a little boy. He included clothes, specifically jeans and mock turtlenecks. We didn’t find any turtlenecks in the boys’ department at Kohl’s so we ended up buying him a small in men’s size. I’m sure they’ll fit since he’s fairly broad in the chest and shoulders for an 11 year old. Last week we bought presents for JoAnna’s dad and Larry and Dale. Considering that we’re still 5 ½ hours from December, we’re off to a good start this year. Shifting gears, I need to remember to get my wife something for her birthday this week. She’s given me a number of suggestions. A cookbook of Cajun recipes. A membership to Harbor Athletic Club, which, if she’s unemployed for awhile, might be just the thing to keep her active. I suppose just about anything on the Civil War will do, too. That’s the trouble with December birthdays: there’s too much other stuff going on, or at least the anticipation of things about to happen. I can see how they can get overlooked or, more commonly, I suppose, underemphasized.
JoAnna wants to go for a walk, so I’m going to have to take a break from this letter unless I can think of something significant to write about. I’ve been in a lowkey mood lately, not necessarily lethargic or unenthusiastic or uninspired or even blah. I guess I feel I should be more excited about life right now. I don’t know how else to express it. It’s not like this family has been unproductive this year or doesn’t have anything to look forward to. Maybe it’s the warm weather that’s responsible for this puzzling feeling. Sometimes I think I’d rather see some snow on the ground and have the temperature get down into the teens every night. I’m ready to get into the proper Christmas spirit but I need the appropriate weather conditions to do so.
Well, I’m just babbling now. Time to get some exercise and clear my head. We’re all counting the days until Christmas vacation, looking forward to two weeks of family visits.
I’ll add a postscript while Andy practices his trumpet. That certainly won’t help my concentration. JoAnna is sitting with Eddie right now, helping him get through his 15 minutes of reading. I worked with him last night and, even though he made improvement, he still has a long way to go. He’s still very hesitant with very basic vocabulary. His inability to retain words also concerns me. If he has difficulty with a word, sounds it out or waits for Mom or Dad to pronounce it for him, and then comes across that same word in the following sentence, it’s as if the past ten or so seconds didn’t happen. He stops and tries to figure out the word all over again.
JoAnna and I walked for 40 minutes while the boys, with our permission, watched a Christmas special on TV. A lot of houses on the route we took, through one of Middleton’s more upscale neighborhoods, are decorated with lights. The icicle lights are very popular this year, as are white lights in general. We haven’t done any decorating yet. We don’t plan to buy a tree as we’ll be gone for two weeks over the holidays. We were expecting the delivery of a wreath yesterday, but it never arrived. Saturday provided the ideal conditions for putting up outdoor lights, but once we got home from Two Rivers, there were too many “in-household” chores to be tackled. In fact, Christmas lights weren’t even on my radar screen. A mist fell all day yesterday, creating uncomfortable but not impossible working conditions. Our top priority, though, was Christmas shopping, plus we had to watch the Packer game, which almost turned out to be too much to bear, Green Bay barely squeaking by the hapless Eagles.
I have a couple loads of laundry that are waiting to be folded and it’s time to say goodnight to the boys.
And how was the serenade? Considering how seldom Andy practices the trumpet, he sounded pretty good. Not too many missed notes, or brassy fart sounds, although he was happy to play me a few of those noises just for laughs.
Friday, November 29, 2013
On This Date in 1998
I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. Ours was a brief but pleasant getaway. We spent Thursday and Friday in Two Rivers. We didn’t leave Middleton until nearly 8:30 Wednesday evening as Andy had a basketball practice scheduled from 6:00 to 7:30. As a result of our later departure, we missed the peak traffic period. We encountered no delays, but then all roads don’t lead to Two Rivers at Thanksgiving.
Taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather, JoAnna and I took a walk along Lake Michigan Thursday morning, hardly needing the light jackets we wore. The lake was very calm, a slight breeze blowing out of the west having no effect on the water. Alice had most of the meal preparations in hand, so JoAnna didn’t feel guilty getting out of the house for a little while. We watched football during the afternoon, catching the coin toss controversy in the Steelers game. I suppose Dale had a few comments to make about this incident. I have to admit that it was the worst officiated game I have ever seen, both teams the victims of numerous bad calls. The coin toss, though, was definitely the low point of a game that the official seemed not to want to be at.
We ate Thanksgiving dinner at 4:30 and enjoyed the usual feast of turkey with all the trimmings. There were 12 around the table, including Cindy, her friend Mayra, and Mayra’s four brothers. After the clean up, some of the adults played cards for awhile.
The warm weather continued on Friday. JoAnna and I took another walk during the morning, stopping at Schroeder’s, a department store, for some café mocha at their coffee bar. During the early afternoon, Andy and I played catch with the football in the street in front of the Richard’s house (they live on a quiet street). Later on, at JoAnna’s suggestion, we walked to a nearby park to kick field goals over one of the goal posts. Unfortunately, all the entry gates were locked, so we couldn’t get in. I didn’t think it advisable for us to climb over the fence.
After supper (ham and scalloped potatoes – we had leftovers for lunch), we met Cindy in Manitowoc and went to see A Bug’s Life, the new computer-animated Disney film. It’s quite a visual feast, almost too much for the eyes to take in at one time and, for that reason, certainly worth a second viewing. The showing we attended was mostly parents with small (i.e., preschool) children, many of whom did not hesitate to ask their parents questions about what was happening in the movie. A couple parts of the movie seemed that they might be too intense for young kids. The initial appearance of the grasshoppers and of a monstrous looking red-and-yellow bird, was probably a jolting experience for the tykes in the audience, perhaps not so much for the shock value but rather the pounding volume of the soundtrack. It was a loud movie at times.
We left Two Rivers at 11 o’clock Saturday morning with the sun beating down on us as if were a warm Easter weekend. In fact, we saw golfers on the municipal course in Manitowoc. I was sweltering in the driver’s seat of the van, but every time I turned on the fan to let some fresh air in through the vents, JoAnna complained about being cold, so I could only leave the fan on for 30-second intervals. A few miles from home, though, JoAnna complained about being hot and opened her window.
Even though I reminded the boys that there would be no TV until the van was unpacked, I still didn’t get much help. Once I got everything put away and a load of clothes in the washer, I read for awhile. I started reading Tom Wolfe’ s new book, A Man in Full, last weekend and am really enjoying it. It’s a long book, almost 800 pages, but I’m already more than halfway through it.
JoAnna and I took a late afternoon walk, without jackets, and then went to 5 o’clock mass with the boys. Andy is now serving at mass every other month. JoAnna signed him up for this responsibility in September. Yesterday was his second time. After church we went out to eat and then spent a quiet evening at home.
Although the warm weather is still with us today, general conditions are not too pleasant. It’s overcast and I can see a barely perceptible mist falling. After eating some lunch, JoAnna and I are going Christmas shopping, the only important item on our list of things to do today.
We missed Larry, JoAnna’s brother, by seven hours. He’ll be in Two Rivers for the next two weeks. JoAnna plans to spend a few days there next week (Monday-Wednesday), as she can basically take the rest of the year off considering all the time she has put into her job already this year. She didn’t get the job offer from Tammy Baldwin and, earlier this month, gave her resignation at her current job effective at the end of the year. So now JoAnna has to do some serious job-hunting.
Taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather, JoAnna and I took a walk along Lake Michigan Thursday morning, hardly needing the light jackets we wore. The lake was very calm, a slight breeze blowing out of the west having no effect on the water. Alice had most of the meal preparations in hand, so JoAnna didn’t feel guilty getting out of the house for a little while. We watched football during the afternoon, catching the coin toss controversy in the Steelers game. I suppose Dale had a few comments to make about this incident. I have to admit that it was the worst officiated game I have ever seen, both teams the victims of numerous bad calls. The coin toss, though, was definitely the low point of a game that the official seemed not to want to be at.
We ate Thanksgiving dinner at 4:30 and enjoyed the usual feast of turkey with all the trimmings. There were 12 around the table, including Cindy, her friend Mayra, and Mayra’s four brothers. After the clean up, some of the adults played cards for awhile.
The warm weather continued on Friday. JoAnna and I took another walk during the morning, stopping at Schroeder’s, a department store, for some café mocha at their coffee bar. During the early afternoon, Andy and I played catch with the football in the street in front of the Richard’s house (they live on a quiet street). Later on, at JoAnna’s suggestion, we walked to a nearby park to kick field goals over one of the goal posts. Unfortunately, all the entry gates were locked, so we couldn’t get in. I didn’t think it advisable for us to climb over the fence.
After supper (ham and scalloped potatoes – we had leftovers for lunch), we met Cindy in Manitowoc and went to see A Bug’s Life, the new computer-animated Disney film. It’s quite a visual feast, almost too much for the eyes to take in at one time and, for that reason, certainly worth a second viewing. The showing we attended was mostly parents with small (i.e., preschool) children, many of whom did not hesitate to ask their parents questions about what was happening in the movie. A couple parts of the movie seemed that they might be too intense for young kids. The initial appearance of the grasshoppers and of a monstrous looking red-and-yellow bird, was probably a jolting experience for the tykes in the audience, perhaps not so much for the shock value but rather the pounding volume of the soundtrack. It was a loud movie at times.
We left Two Rivers at 11 o’clock Saturday morning with the sun beating down on us as if were a warm Easter weekend. In fact, we saw golfers on the municipal course in Manitowoc. I was sweltering in the driver’s seat of the van, but every time I turned on the fan to let some fresh air in through the vents, JoAnna complained about being cold, so I could only leave the fan on for 30-second intervals. A few miles from home, though, JoAnna complained about being hot and opened her window.
Even though I reminded the boys that there would be no TV until the van was unpacked, I still didn’t get much help. Once I got everything put away and a load of clothes in the washer, I read for awhile. I started reading Tom Wolfe’ s new book, A Man in Full, last weekend and am really enjoying it. It’s a long book, almost 800 pages, but I’m already more than halfway through it.
JoAnna and I took a late afternoon walk, without jackets, and then went to 5 o’clock mass with the boys. Andy is now serving at mass every other month. JoAnna signed him up for this responsibility in September. Yesterday was his second time. After church we went out to eat and then spent a quiet evening at home.
Although the warm weather is still with us today, general conditions are not too pleasant. It’s overcast and I can see a barely perceptible mist falling. After eating some lunch, JoAnna and I are going Christmas shopping, the only important item on our list of things to do today.
We missed Larry, JoAnna’s brother, by seven hours. He’ll be in Two Rivers for the next two weeks. JoAnna plans to spend a few days there next week (Monday-Wednesday), as she can basically take the rest of the year off considering all the time she has put into her job already this year. She didn’t get the job offer from Tammy Baldwin and, earlier this month, gave her resignation at her current job effective at the end of the year. So now JoAnna has to do some serious job-hunting.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
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