Shadow Shot Sunday - Prix Fixe Shadows

Shadows occur here and there, even at dinner. So for this edition of Shadow Shot Sunday 2, our fixed price dinner at local restaurant was tasty and I was satisfied with the food - and shadows. I had a rigatoni with sausage and the desert being an apple tart. The candlelight allowed for the best meal ending course...shadows!

Friday Hunt 2017.2.17 - Queens Borough

It has been an interesting week so far so I am ready for Teresa’s fun meme, Friday Hunt. 

Tuesday, our daughter Allegra and I travelled to Brooklyn to pick Cameron up at Kings County Hospital, his discharge at 8 P.M. We left home much earlier this rainy day with the typically thick NYC traffic. But it was worth it - our house is already set for my wheelchair so is perfect for him and his walker to recuperate (bear no weight on his right foot for 3 months!)

This week’s first prompt is Starts with ‘Q’. I requested that Allegra take pics on the road. So I am using the NYC Borough of Queens as my 'Q’. Our family lived in Bayside, Queens twice between 1957-1962, and remembered it as a good place to live as a kid. The first is on the Clearview Expressway in Bayside. This shows the 42nd Ave. footbridge, a bridge I walked across a lot when I was little. Next to it is on the Long Island Expressway and the message sign says QMT - which is the Queens-Midtown Tunnel...

Still on the way just before the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the BQE to the locals. I do not like this 1939 road, but it was the only way to go. At least the Manhattan skyline views from the BQE are cool. Finally, the final pic shows four of the five Villers children in 1962 in front of our apartment at 203-42nd Avenue in Bayside Queens. Odd what one remembers from over five decades...

Orange. I believe the carrots, cheese and some of the tomatoes on this large appetizer board are...

Animal. I can only think of one, furry, funny family feline Linus McDonald captured by Patti with these glowing eyes for Halloween. A real animal who sleeps too much to really act like one :)

Wordless Wednesday - Blacksmith Artisan

Nice to see a blacksmith today at Sue's WW - we saw a blacksmith artist locally last year. It is hard to believe that this brutish hard work with fire allows this gentleman to create such delicate jewelry. A true artist!

Ruby Tuesday Too - Ruby Shrimp

Red is among my favorite colors, and Ruby Tuesday Too is a fine place to show that. The meal is mundane, shrimp and pasta, but the plate and diced tomatoes are a delicious expression of ruby. Oh, the food was good too!

Shadow Shot Sunday - Repurposed RR

Shadows often call attention to themselves wether or not we expect it - creating opportunities perfect for Shadow Shot Sunday 2.

Upon leaving the classic Tea Room in Cromwell, CT last month, we passed by an abandoned train line, depot and railcar that had been transformed into a spa.

With camera in hand, the always lovely Patti captured the reclaimed track and rail cars under an early autumn sun. The past and present intersect nicely in a quiet way in a quiet town...

Friday Hunt 2017.2.16

It has been interesting week with our son in Brooklyn having a major operation to repaired fractured his hip in a bicycling accident and will be convalescing back home (he already works from home with a company supplied laptop and phone).

So happily, reality can be swept aside and I can enjoy this week’s great Meme, Friday Hunt, kindly hosted by Teresa. On to the prompts…

Starts with P. This letter has lots of possibilities. On Top, the always lovely Patti as a passenger taking a photograph. In the middle, the iconic Eiffel Tower in the city of light, Paris. Our daughter Allegra captured this on a tour bus when on a school trip. Finally, we are grilling Portuguese Bread along with Pork and dining on our Patio. This is a Pretty good selection of the letter P :)

Surprise. I did have to look around and this looks like surprise to me anyway - and to Allegra at her second birthday party with her mom adding to the surprise. Or not, perhaps this is the first time she had to blow out the candles…

Looking up. Well, true to my blogging namesake, it would be in the air. Both pics were scanned from prints from decades ago - and they are planes (another ‘p’), First is from 1983 a USAF C5-A approaching Runway 24 at Bradley International (Hartford CT). Below that was at an air show in 1985, and it is a wing walker. Naturally, I had to look up to catch movement in the sky. Great prompts this week Teresa!

Post-Op - Where to convalesce and get better?

I had a great long conversation with our son (with the hip fracture) today. He called from Brooklyn’s Kings County Hospital. His opinion is that he wants to convalesce at our Ansonia abode, which I agree would be the safest alternative. 

Since I use a power wheelchair, the house is much better for someone who has to safer to move around in There are a few reasons that makes the most sense : 

1) He works remotely for his Canadian employer with a company furnished laptop and phone that means…he can work anywhere.

2) Our house is a ranch and we have laminate floors with no obstructions 

3) Our house has a ramp into the house with an ADA 1:12 slope ramp and 36” wide doors; 

4) It has a full ADA bathroom with a 5-ft turn radius, a tall toilet and a roll-in shower with full width shower bench; 

As for his apartment in the Ditmas section of Brooklyn: 

1) He has a tiny bathroom with a tub, low toilet - and about 15 sq. ft of floor to move on - crutches are not welcome. 

2) The building was built in 1927 - if the one elevator failed, how would he get to the third floor when he cannot bear weight on his right side and thus not be able to use the stairs. 

I advised him that he has to advise the hospital social workers that he has to come back to Ansonia because otherwise it will not be a ‘Safe Discharge’. 

And it cannot occur until at least Saturday when Allegra and I can drive to the borough of Kings and she can get items out of his apartment while I artfully double park in the meantime :)

Remember the term ‘Safe Discharge’…I’ve seen terrible discharge plans at nursing homes when I worked MFP, so I advised that he use the term ‘Safe Discharge’ often when he’s speaking to the hospital staff. When you do that, you are telling them you are an informed consumer. 

I also suggested he ask the social worker to let read his discharge plan as it currently exists and as it is updated. It has to be safe…

The hospital has to advise that his follow-up care be in Connecticut. I would imagine that insurance would allow this - but he should go back to the safe discharge and local doctors can deal with the follow-up. 

Appeal the insurer if necessary.I see Cam making the best case. If not, I’ll drive him to Brooklyn for appointments, but that shouldn’t happen.

Every other detail that needs to be attended to up here can easily be done. Being a great self-advocate is a great place to be!

Ruby Tuesday Too - Grand Reopening

Ruby Tuesday Too highlights one of our favorite colors, Red. Last Friday in Ansonia, a great Ansonia lighting store, Valley Lighting and Home Decor. after a renovation. Outside and in, there is plenty of red - and this makes us want to replace many a light fixture in our home...and this looks like the place! We featured  it today in our Valley-Voice newsletter. Red is as red does!

Shadow Shot Sunday - Urban Bucolic

For this week's Shadow Shot Sunday 2, I look at our neighbor to the north, Seymour CT. The lower Naugatuck Valley has been very industrial, but you'd never know it in On top, we see the river looking east from Derby Avenue; below from the Broad Street Bridge. I chose bucolic as that is how it feels - if we don't look too hard, the urban disappears completely...

Friday Hunt 2017.2.15

The seasonal weather is changing, but not the fun Friday meme Friday Hunt, hosted by Teresa.

Starts with ‘O’. I have a few and some could be linked to a city or town too. The first is Ohio, and in this shot, probably taken in 1977 is Grandpa holding two license plates from 1937 (40th year?), his Ohio license tag and I believe his Ohio radio license. Grandpa was 75 in 1977 who lived in the city of Steubenville, Ohio…

Then there is Omaha, Nebraska. First, my sister Michele in 1964 (age 10) who with my grandparents visited My Aunt Terry in the Missouri River city.

Another Omaha shot was taken by me in 1983 visiting my sister who was in the USAF (SAC HDQ., Offutt AFB). Unknown to me, two houses away was a park at President Gerald Ford’s birthplace. Just a little neighborhood park that was a great find...

Purple. Two with a purple hue (to my mind at least :). First pic was taken at the Jones Family Farm Winery in Shelton CT. Nice lavender flowers.

This one was taken on our patio this summer. I can’t explain it, the the wine bottle in the late afternoon is a pic Patti and I love - perhaps it was a warm but not humid day with a tasty grilled meat and red wine just relaxing on a great day. The label on the bottle looks purple. Nice prompts this week!

Wordless Wednesday - Urban Sunset

We live in shall town Ansonia CT, much of it old (the newest downtown building on Main St.was built in 1989). However, the old rooflines, chimneys and utility poles nicely accent the brilliant autumnal sunset on Saturday.See more WW at NC Sue!

Shadow Shot Sunday - Local

Vendors at the Ansonia Harvest Festival last Saturday. 

Bell at First Baptist Church, Ansonia

Geese having a conversation on the Housatonic River, Derby

The start of last week's 5K for The  Center for Cancer Care at Griffin Hospital, Derby

It has been a busy week with the Ansonia Harvest Festival last Saturday and work in the way. But now I am back for the fun meme Shadow Shot Sunday 2. Today, I am staying local and looking for shadows and finding a few. We can find many a shadow in nearby environs - we merely have to take a peek...

Friday Hunt 2017.2.14

After a busy week, it is good to be back ate Teresa's fun meme, Friday Hunt. I am follow the prompts so now I am ready :) Some may have been used in other memes, but fits today's meme themes nicely :)

Starts with 'N'. First is Northern Boulevard in the borough of Queens in the City of New York

 Of course, there is Nikon...

Finally, there is the Ansonia Nature and Recreation Center. For an small city, this is a gem, a community place of animals, playground, woods and soccer fields only five minutes from home.

Sky. Patti captured this wonderful sky view on Wednesday. The cross is a wonderful feature of this sky scene.

Silhouette. This would be me in 1999 with my silhouette from the bridge of my nose to my chin. It's great to be back this week!