Night Sounds

There's a full moon out tonight but I'm not sure if I'm going to get the chance to go chase it down and try to take pictures or not as I'm working the evening shift so that a fellow employee can spend time with his family to celebrate his daughter's birthday. Actually, when Kevin first asked me about covering the shift for him I almost said "no" because I wanted to go out and take pictures but then I thought that was silly and took the shift instead. If the weather is good, perhaps I'll be able to go take some pictures when I get out of work at 11:00 and if not, there's always next month when I believe that the full moon will come around while I'm at the Rhode Island shore vacationing with some fellow bloggers. Now that would be a good time to go take some pictures!

In the meantime, I thought I would share this picture with you that I took last week while I was skulking around in the dark at Eastern Point in Groton. As you can see, there were a few clouds out and about but I thought it just made the moon that much more interesting and I was still able to capture a star or two. I named this picture "Night Sounds" because it was night and the moon is reflecting off of the Long Island Sound - kind of corny, eh?

Maybe it's just me but I find this picture to be very peaceful and serene as I just love the moonlight reflecting off of the water. I think it's definitely one of my favorites out of the pictures I've taken recently.

So tell me, what do you think?

Traffic Accident Claims the Life of a Mississippi Police Officer

A member of a Mississippi Police Department's Traffic Division died as a result of injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident on Thursday, August 14th.

Lieutenant Robert Curry, a motorcycle officer with the Gulfport Police Department, was on his way to meet fellow officers called to escort a funeral procession from a nearby funeral home when another vehicle turned in front of him. Lt. Curry was transported to Garden Park Hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.

A 14-year veteran of the Gulfport PD, Lt. Curry had recently been assigned as the Officer-In-Charge of the Traffic Division and operated a police motorcycle every day. He was also a long term member of STORM, a state DUI officer association.

Attorney David Morrison, a former police officer, said Curry's loss "is felt by the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast as well as the larger law enforcement family throughout the world. These officers serve us day and night, 365 days a year, and we should return some of that respect and devotion by offering the Curry family our assistance. They need us."

Lt. Curry, age 39, leaves behind his wife of thirteen years, Leslee, who is also a lieutenant with the Gulfport PD, as well as a son and daughter and a police family that is tremendously saddened by the loss of one of their own.

"Steeplechasing" in Norwich, Part I

My friend Patti of the blog Late Bloomer Boomer recently did a series of three posts entitled Steeplechase, the first of which you can check out here. Patti decided to take a drive around her town of Ansonia, Connecticut and take pictures of some of the lovely churches, and in particular the steeples, that could be found there. I told her I thought that it was an excellent idea for a post and hoped she wouldn't mind if I "borrowed" it - or did I say "steal"?? Hmm ... well, either way Patti told me to go for it so I decided to take to the streets of Norwich with my camera in hand and chase a few steeples of my own.

Like Patti before me, I'm going to do this in parts so as not to make this too incredibly long of a post. Plus I think I have a few more steeples to chase down before I have all of them that I want! You never know where steeples are going to be hiding so it might take me some time to find the more elusive ones around town!

I'm going to start this series with three of the Catholic churches that can be found here in Norwich - two of which are somewhat similar in style and structure and one that looks completely different from the other two.

The first church on my search was Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church located in the Greenville section of Norwich. The original church was dedicated on March 17th, 1845 but by the end of the 1850's it was inadequate to accommodate the increasing Catholic population in Norwich so in 1857-1858 it was enlarged to its current size and was rededicated on May 16th,1858.

An interesting fact about Saint Mary's - the original church was built in the mid-1840's for the sum of $1,300; when it was rebuilt in the late 1850's, the total cost then was $9,400.

In 1868 it became apparent that Norwich was need in of a second bigger church so ground was broken on land that belonged to Saint Mary's Parish on Broadway for a magnificent Gothic structure that was to become Saint Patrick's Cathedral, the crown jewel of the Diocese of Norwich.

The cost for building this magnificent structure with a main tower that stands 216 feet high was estimated to be $300,000 which was a LOT of money back then. All of the money for the church was raised by parishioners who also dedicated their time and labor to build their new church which was formally opened and dedicated on September 28th, 1879.

The last church on Part I of my Steeplechase is the Sacred Heart Church in Norwichtown. So far I haven't been able to find out too much about this church other than that it has a cornerstone dated 1837.

Sacred Heart is definitely a more "humbler" church than the other two Catholic churches I've featured in this post but I think it's a lovely church nonetheless with a beautiful wooden steeple that holds a lovely bell.

I hope you've enjoyed going on this Steeplechase with me and seeing just three of the churches that grace Norwich and I certainly hope you'll be back for Part II and subsequent posts that are sure to follow. Why, I even bet that if you'd like to start your own "Steeplechase" that Patti wouldn't mind at all - would you, Patti?

Take Your Brain Out to Play!

As I mentioned briefly in a previous post, Amanda is down visiting Darci and her family in New Jersey for a couple of weeks and, with Jamie back in Florida, I'm enjoying a little free time to myself. Unfortunately, though, a lot of that time is being taken up with covering extra shifts at work as for some reason people seem to think it's a good idea to go on vacation in August! The nerve! Of course, I could have just said "no" and let someone else do it but I like to think of myself as a team player when it comes to my job and always hold out the hope that if I cover for someone else, in the future he or she may cover for me when I need it. And trust me, in dispatch you need it more often than not!

Anyway, due to my expanded work hours and the fact that I have some mandatory training thrown in to boot, I haven't had a whole lot of time to spend on the computer lately. I did manage to get caught up on my Google Reader but with another 16-hour shift to put in today behind the dispatch console, by the time I get to it again I'm probably going to be afraid to look! Add on the fact that I try to throw up something new (hmm, perhaps not the best choice of words?) each day for you to read and time becomes a bit of a rare commodity! I'm sure you are all familiar with this dilemma of blogging, right - real life just gets in the way sometimes!

All of this is just the long way around saying, I don't have a lot of time so I'm going to post something here that I got in my email from my friend Paula that you can have a little fun with! Would have been easier had I just come out and said, that wouldn't it? Heehee! What was it Patti called me once? Prolific? Hmm, long-winded might be a better description!

Anyhow, without further ado, I'm going to give you a link to click on that will take you to another website where you can play a quick little game to see how old your brain is compared to the rest of you. The text on the website is written in Japanese so unless you can actually read Japanese (and kudos to you if you can!) what you want to do is this -

1. Touch 'start'
2. Wait for 3, 2, 1.
3. Memorize the number's position on the screen, then click the circle from the smallest number to the biggest number.
4. At the end of game, the computer will tell you how old your brain is.

The main thing to remember here is that you want to memorize the smallest number to the biggest number. The first time I tried it I couldn't remember whether I was supposed to go from higher to lower or vice versa and I got a mental age of "40" but when I reread the instructions and tried it again, I then got a mental age of "31". The third time I tried it I managed to get my brain down to the nice young age of "23" and that's where I think I shall rest on my laurels as that sounds like a darned fine age to me!

So ... go give it a try and then come back and leave me a comment letting me know "how old your brain is". It's quick, it's fun, and it gave me a nice post for today! Thanks, Paula!

Click here for the Flash Fabrica Game and don't forget to come back and tell me how you did! As the Japanese may say:

好奇心は知りたいと思う!
Translated: Inquiring minds wanna know!

I've Got a Question - You've Got an Answer

Ah, August ... the last month of summer. That time of year when kids starting thinking about going back to school, when people start trying to fit in that final summer vacation, when you really notice the days starting to become shorter, and when my allergies start causing me grief!

Yep, it's time for the attack of the dreaded ambrosia artemisiifolia - otherwise known as common ragweed - the most dreaded of all allergens as far as I'm concerned. Common ragweed is highly allergenic, generally considered the greatest allergen of all pollens, and the prime cause of hay fever in North America probably due to the fact that each plant reportedly produces about a billion grains of pollen over the course of its life. Yep, I said a billion!

Even without a calendar I would know that it's August because it's during that month every year that those billions of grains of pollen are born by the wind directly into my nose, eyes, and throat giving me a runny nose, itchy eyes, crud in the back of my throat, and fits of sneezing that I have no other time of the year. Of course, looking at a picture of those lovely little pollen balls it's no wonder I sneeze with billions of those things floating around!

Some people have Spring allergies, I have Fall allergies so for the next few months I'll be a regular customer at the local CVS or Walgreens buying up boxes of over-the-counter allergy medications as well as tissues to help me make it through until we get a cold snap and the dreaded common ragweed is once again put down for the season. As much as I love autumn, it doesn't seem to love me back - at least not when it comes to allergies!

And that finally brings us to the question for this post! How about you? ...

Do you suffer from allergies at all?

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go pop some Alavert and grab some tissues before heading out for the day! And if that was you I just heard sneezing then bless you!

Creative Photography Contest

With barely a day to spare as the contest list closes on Wednesday afternoon, I have finally come up with an entry for Roger's Creative Photography Contest #9!

With Amanda away in New Jersey at Darci's, you would think I'd have more time to spend on the computer but such is not the case as I have picked up some extra hours at work this week covering for people who are on vacation and the like so my time at home and on the computer has been somewhat limited. That didn't give me a lot of time to pick a photo for this week's contest but after some debate I decided on the following picture that I took this past Saturday night after spending a lovely afternoon/evening with Patti, Ralph, and their lovely daughter, the Lady A.

After parting company, I decided to head down to Eastern Point Beach which overlooks the Thames River where it meets the Long Island Sound in Groton, Connecticut. It was getting close to 9:30 at that point and I wanted to try my hand at some more night photography. This picture shows the light from the New London Harbor Lighthouse reflecting on the Thames River across to where I was standing on the rocks at Eastern Point. If you look closely you can even see some of the stars that had come out in the night sky. It was a beautiful night out and I think this picture reflects that.

I've really taken a liking to going out into the dark to see what my camera can capture but I guess if I'm going to be doing a lot more skulking around in the shadows, perhaps I should think about taking someone along with me - just in case. Even though I was a police dispatcher for years and know that there are some pretty undesirable people out there walking around, I tend to forget that sometimes and think of nothing of going out poking around by myself in the dark. Not too smart I suppose but I do enjoy the peace and quiet of just myself, my camera, and the night sky.

Anyway, all that aside, to see what other people entered into this week's Creative Photography contest, go by Roger's Creative Photography blog and check out the links - I'm sure you'll find some amazing pictures to ooh and aah over. I know I always do!

A Cloudy Musical Interlude

Having amassed quite a collection of cloud pictures myself as well as now having Amanda sending me pictures via cell phone of some of the interesting clouds she saw on her way down to New Jersey the other day (I have taught her well!), I wasn't exactly sure what to do with them until it dawned on me that I could make a slideshow out of them and even put them to music which might make it even nicer. Of course, then the problem became one of what kind of music does one display cloud pictures to? Hmmm .... and then it hit me - Josh Groban! That guy has a voice like an angel and clouds are usually associated with angels so it was a perfect blend! Least ways I sure hope so and that you enjoy this musical and visual interlude while I am away from the Blogosphere working way too many hours once again.

I'll be back sometime late Tuesday to try to catch up with everyone. In the meantime, you guys behave yourself and enjoy the clouds while I'm gone!

Dining With Royalty

Saturday was what one could call a perfect New England day - the weather was absolutely beautiful with moderate temperatures, no humidity to speak of, and a big blue sky full of beautiful white puffy clouds that just cried out to have their pictures taken. Well, at least to me they did!

The day was made even more perfect as I got to meet some fellow bloggers for an early dinner - the Princess Patti of Late Bloomer Boomer and her entourage, Prince Ralph and Lady A! Patti and I had been talking about getting together again ever since our first meeting last March with Mimi, the Queen of Memes, who designated us both to be Blogging Royalty at that time. Even though she didn't have her scepter with her and have us kneel to accept our royal titles, I believe that we are still legitimate Blogging Royalty and certainly do our best to act as such when out in public places!

Patti and Ralph live somewhat to the south and west of me and even though we had talked of meeting somewhere in the middle, it ended up being a lot closer to my part of Connecticut as we decided to meet at the Olive Garden in Waterford. Princess Patti and Prince Ralph set out along with Lady A in their Royal Ride with the goal of reaching our designated dining area at 4:00 p.m. but alas, Interstate 95 Northbound ended up being more of a parking lot than a highway so they were running a bit late. After Patti called me on her cell phone to advise me that they were running late, I went into the restaurant and gave the hostess my name along with our table requirements as Ralph is disabled and has an electric chair. I had a feeling the place was going to start to fill up fast as good dining options are at a premium on Saturday nights and I was pretty sure that people would start pouring in soon.

After speaking to the hostess who assured me they would have a nice table waiting for us when the rest of the Royal Party arrived I went back outside and took up a spot on one of the wrought iron benches they have out front and decided to take a few more pictures of the clouds. The moon was starting to come out a little bit so I was trying in vain to get a picture of it also. At that point one of the waiters who was going into work walked by and asked "New toy?" in reference to my camera. I had to laugh as I answered him as my camera is definitely not new though it's most definitely a favorite toy!

Shortly thereafter my dining partners arrived and after being introduced to Prince Ralph and the Lady A, we adjourned to our table in the corner - in the back. It was almost as if they knew that we were bloggers and they wanted to give us some privacy in an area away from everyone else! How thoughtful! Of course, like any good blogger does in this sort of situation, we all whipped out our cameras and started taking pictures! Here you can see Prince Ralph and Lady A doing their best to emulate Queen Mimi!

I'm afraid I don't have any pictures of myself and Princess Patti as we were sitting on the same side of the table and it seemed somewhat rude to shove a camera in her face. I do believe that some pictures were taken from the other side of the table, though, and those might show up on Late Bloomer Boomer or Airhead 55, which is the blog of Prince Ralph. I don't believe that Lady A has been bitten by the blogging bug yet but she's probably got her hands full going into her third year of college where she's majoring in history. Now there's a girl right after my heart; I would love to have majored in history! Also, for the record, I thought that Lady A looked strikingly like her mother and had her warm wonderful smile, too. Of course sitting right next to her father, you could see the family resemblance there, too. Along with that she was polite and nice and intelligent and seemed like a wonderful daughter - what a joy she must be to Ralph and Patti!

Dinner began with an offer from the waitress to sample some wine so Prince Ralph had a nice Reisling while Princess Patti and I opted for a Pinot Gregio. It was very tasty but not having had anything to eat for quite some time, I could feel even that slight little bit going to my head. Good grief, am I ever a cheap drunk! Once our dinners arrived and I got some solid food into my stomach, I settled down nicely and don't think I did anything too embarrassing in the interim like dance on the table or break out into a rousing rendition of "Fly Me to the Moon"! If I did, then I truly apologize for actions unbecoming royalty!

This good looking plate of food is my Chicken Parmesan

while Patti had ordered the Garlic Grilled Shrimp with vegetables.

Naturally when dinner arrived we all took out our cameras for pictures before digging in - even Lady A who is definitely a blogger-in-training!

Following our very tasty meals and a lot of good conversation, we split two servings of a really delicious tiramisu between the four of us while Ralph had what looked like a very yummy cappucino and Patti and I had coffee - very hot coffee! As soon as Patti took a sip of hers she had to spit it back out as it was so scolding hot that it burnt her tongue. Thankfully it wasn't so bad that she was lisping for the rest of the evening but it was easy to see that it definitely hurt. I wonder if they could write "Warning! Coffee may be scalding!" on the inside of the coffee cups along with the other writing that's there? Of course, if it's in Italian not too many of us would know what it says but still ... might save someone else from burning the beejeebers out of their tongue!

After dinner, I followed the Royal Family out to the parking lot to take a look at their Royal Ride which is quite the noble steed! With the way his conversion van is set up with his chair lift and such, Ralph can get in and out of the vehicle very efficiently and safely even when he's on his own. It's quite large inside and is very useful when it comes to hauling large objects around as well as stacking as much stuff as possible in for a dump run! The van also comes well-equipped with a bevy of bears in all shapes and sizes! Hey - they make great traveling companions when Prince Ralph is out and about on his own!

After talking for awhile longer in the parking lot with Patti and I both attempting to take some decent shots of the half moon that was glowing above us, it was agreed that our next meeting should be at their royal estate in Ansonia where I could meet the boys - Linus and Rigby - and tour a little bit of what that part of Connecticut has to offer. That sounds like a wonderful idea to me - I'm thinking it would be very pretty there when the leaves change in the fall.

Prince Ralph and Lady A - it was a pleasure meeting the both of you! As for you Princess Patti, you are just as wonderful as I remember you to be from March! I look forward to spending more time with you all in the future!

Quick Quirkiness?

I woke up this morning to find that my friend Maddy of the blogs Whitterer on Autism and Alien in a Foreign Field had tagged me for a supposedly quick meme that she had been tagged for by Michelle at Just a Minute who originally was tagged by Amber at Bringing Good Home who was tagged by Lord only knows who as trying to follow back who tagged who is certainly not a quick task and one I'm just not up for this morning! Anyway, in this reportedly quick meme, I'm to list six quirky details about myself and then tag another six bloggers to reveal six quirky things about themselves. Quick and easy, right? Uhm ... not really!

Now perhaps it was quick for Maddy to come up with six quirky facts about herself being that she's a former butter-limbed Brit who routinely fell out of trees that now lives on the West Coast where quirkiness abounds but I'm just a boring native -born American who lives in Connecticut where quirkiness is frowned up! Still, a tag is a tag is a tag and even though I am a Duchess, who am I to say "nay" when there is a Queen of Memes out there monitoring these sorts of things?

Therefore the Quick Rules for the Quick Quirky Meme are as follows:

1. Link to the person who tagged me.
2. Mention the rules.
3. Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about myself.
4. Tag six other bloggers by linking to them.
5. Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged.

Being that I have already linked to the person who tagged me (and as a bonus linked to the person who tagged her and the person before that!), I guess it's now on with the quirkiness - provided I can think of six quick quirky characteristics!

1. I cannot sleep in a room with an open closet door. This stems back to a house that we lived in when I was about six years old in Tucson, Arizona. I swear that house was big-time haunted and the things that came out of my closet would have been great fodder for a Stephen King novel! To this day, closet doors stay tightly closed!

2. When I was a freshman in high school I was obsessed with the original Speed Racer cartoons and would drop everything to watch them. I refused to see the new movie version as I knew it wouldn't hold up to the original cartoon series!

3. One of my very favorite movies of all time is Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles and I can quote way too many lines from the film - especially at work as nothing brings out movie quotes more than a stressful day in dispatch!

4. I have trouble eating Cheerios as I once told a lie about blowing bubbles in my room when I was about six, got my mouth washed out with Ivory soap, and ate Cheerios afterwards. To this day, Cheerios taste like Ivory Soap!

5. I have an absolutely horrible time finding shoes that I like so spend most of my time in sneakers, preferably white New Balance ones! My mother, on the other hand, has so many shoes that I call her the Imelda Marcos of Canterbury!

6. I hate clowns. They creep me out. I find nothing at all funny about clowns and think they should be banned from the face of the earth!

Alright then, now that I've dug up six what I hope are quirky facts about myself it's time to tag a few other unsuspecting bloggers. Hmmm, who would I really want to know six quirky facts about??

1. Let's start with the Queen of Memes herself - Mimi - as I'm sure that quirkiness abounds at Bloggingham Castle!
2. Next I'll tag my favorite Michigan retailer Morgen as he owns his own shop and there has got to be some quirkiness there!
3. I definitely have to pick Mags as I know that woman has got quirkiness down to an art just based on her Randomivity posts she does each week!
4. Lois just spent 100 days living in her trella so based on that alone, I've got to pick her for this meme!
5. I'd like to see what Ivana has for quirky habits so I'm tagging her, too.
6. And the last tag shall go to Mighty Mom because with her work schedule and three children at home plus a SubVet in the house, she's got to have some quirkiness going on!

So, there 'tis, it wasn't exactly quick and it might not be exactly quirky but at least I got 'er done as the saying goes!

2008 Toll Rises With Three More Line of Duty Deaths

An on-duty officer with the Bushnell Police Department was killed Tuesday, August 5th, in a head-on collision north of Tampa in Sumter County, Florida. Detective Sandra Joyce Bullock, 59, a 15-year-veteran with the department, was driving home in her unmarked Ford Crown Victoria about 6 p.m. Tuesday when the accident occurred.

According to a Florida Highway Patrol report, she had been driving north when a 2005 Jeep that was driving in the opposite direction tried to pass a car in front of it and ended up in the path of Bullock's oncoming vehicle. Detective Bullock veered right and braked in a futile attempt to avoid striking the oncoming Jeep. The collision sent her squad car spinning, and it landed on its right side. Detective Bullock died at the scene.

Police Chief Joyce Wells of the Bullock Police Department stated, "We are all still shocked. She was a dedicated officer who was concerned with citizens, especially children."

Bullock had previously worked as an investigator with the Lady Lake Police Department with then-detective Sgt. Ed Nathanson. "She was a good person and police officer," said Nathanson, now the chief of Lady Lake's police department. "It's a tragic loss and our hearts go out to her."

In South Carolina, Colleton County Deputy Sheriff Dennis C. Compton, 39, was shot Wednesday, August 6th, when he responded to an alarm at an empty house at approximately 3:00 a.m. in the town of Smoak. Deputy Compton's body was found by the homeowners' son who had been called to the home by the alarm company also. The son used the slain deputy's radio to report Compton had been shot.

Deputy Compton had worked for the sheriff's office for two years -- first as a jailer and for the past 16 months as a deputy, Colleton County Sheriff George Malone said. "Deputy Compton was an honorable man, he was a family man," said Malone, who called the deputy "one of the best officers I had."

A married father of four, Deputy Compton leaves behind his wife Tabatha; daughters Tabitha, Kaylee, and Jayden; and son Jason.

In an undercover drug operation that went horribly wrong, Detective Michael Smith Phillips of the Virginia Beach Police Department was shot to death as he sat in a pickup late Thursday night, August 7th, trying to buy a half-pound of marijuana from the suspected drug dealer sitting next to him. When another man walked up to the pickup and began firing Detective Phillips, who was armed but not wearing a bulletproof vest, took three shots to the torso. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to Virginia Beach Police Chief Jake Jacocks, the suspected shooter was arrested as he hovered over Phillips' body and attempted to steal the undercover officer's cash. "It all went as it was planned to go up until the shots were fired. It was very quick, totally unexpected," Jacocks said. This was the first time a Virginia Beach police officer has been killed in an undercover operation.

A six-year veteran of the Virginia Beach Police Department, Detective Phillips served in the Air Force from 1990 until 1994. In 1999, he began working as a patrol officer with Hampton Police Division. Three years later, he joined the Virginia Beach department where he had spent the last two years in Special Investigations.

Detective Phillips, age 37, is survived by his wife and two sons, ages 8 and 12.

What a Girl Needs

A week ago I was hit with a tag for a meme by none other than the Queen of Memes herself, Mimi! The meme had something to do with corsets but I was never able to figure out exactly what that was all about so I decided to skip that part and just go with the basic meme. Even though I am royalty myself - as proclaimed by Queen Mimi I am officially Linda, Duchess of Norwich Upon the Thames as bestowed upon me this past March in a half-face-to-face meeting with her majesty and Princess Patti - and have been granted a lifetime "Get Out of the Dungeon Free" pass, I didn't want to blow off the tag just in case the Queen was in a mood and feeling temperamental. After all, if you're wearing a corset all the time, you're apt to get cranky!

So with no further ado and excuses, I present to you The Needs Meme which the Queen got from Shannon's Moments of Introspection who got it from Dawn's Daily Life who got it from Lord knows who as the Queen didn't feel like following the meme's lineage back any further! For all we know it could be a rogue meme that was circling the galaxy of the Blogosphere before landing at some unsuspecting blog but if the Queen says DO IT! then we do it or risk the dungeon, which is not a nice place in August I've heard!

The rules of this meme are quite easy as far as meme rules go: simply type your first name into Google with the word "needs" behind it, see what pops up and then post the results. You can then tag anyone left in the Blogosphere whom the Queen did not tag (believe it or not, there are a few!) or you can do what I'm going to do and not tag anyone but offer it up to anyone who wishes to use it as a free meme up for grabs!

Now, let's see what Linda needs, shall we? ...

Linda needs to improve her acting. - ("to be or not to be ..." what's wrong with my acting?!?)

Linda needs to be honest with Willy. - (in which case Linda needs to be honest with Claire!)

Linda needs name recognition. - (well, of course some name recognition would be nice - sure!)

Linda needs to kill herself. - (There are times, like when back is acting up, that I think this very same thing and yet I wouldn't do it as I would be afraid that I would miss something.)

Linda needs improvement and more refinement in her singing. - (Uhm, did someone get a hold of the video of Jamie and I playing Rock Band? Give me a break, the lead singer of Disturbed is hard to imitate!)

Linda needs to be guided in how to make proper overtures to others. - (Overtures? We don't need no stinking overtures!)

Linda needs to grow up and accept responsibility for her actions. - (I'm working on it!)

Linda needs to find $50 or $100 each month. - (Well, while I'm finding money, perhaps I could find a little more than that what with things being tight and all?)

Linda needs a new best friend. - (The hell I do! I have a wonderful best friend who just lives too darned far away on the other side of the country! I need to be able to see her more often is what I really need!)

Linda needs to be a part of a loving, committed marriage. (In which case Linda needs to find some guy who can accept her as she is - idiot-syncrasies and all! Trust me, that sort of man is very difficult to find as they have apparently gone into extinction!)

Linda needs as much free space at the front of the platform as possible. (Train platform? Speaking platform? Space is good no matter where it is!)

Lastly, Linda needs to become happy. - (Yeah, well, for the most part I am happy so get off my back, you stupid meme! Sure I'd be happier if I actually won the PowerBall but I don't see that happening anytime soon, do you?! No, I didn't think so! 'Nuff said!)

It's funny that the things I really do need - better time management, to lose some weight, more financial freedom, a back that doesn't go out on me for no good reason, a teenage daughter who knows how to actually clean up after herself - weren't listed anywhere but who knows? Maybe with this post, those things will make their way into a Google search and the next time this meme rolls around what I get is what I really need!

So what do YOU need?

An Orbs Redux

While having an IM conversation with my friend Mo last evening we were talking about photography a little bit and in particular about the picture that I had submitted for this week's Creative Photography contest - which I lost again, by the way, but that's because Sanni had a truly fantastic picture that took the prize this week! Oh well, there's always next week, right?

Anyhow, Mo had mentioned that he hadn't thought about lightening up dark pictures like I had with that picture and I told him that it was pretty cool to take night pictures and then see what pops out of them once you get them home and put them on the computer. That then led to a conversation about some pictures I had taken in one of my favorite local haunts about two years ago when I first started blogging. Rather than have you read the whole boring post, I decided to repost the pictures here for you to see. Both pictures were taken at the Yantic Cemetery here in Norwich shortly after nightfall when I was feeling particularly brave and decided I wanted to schlep around in a cemetery around dark!

I took this first picture towards the back of the cemetery and it is the Steadman Family plot. When I first got home and looked at the picture it was nothing but a black square but when I lightened it, orbs popped out all over the place just like the Steadmans were having a champagne party! I'm pretty sure that they aren't dust particles as I have other pictures from the same place in the cemetery that show nothing but graves and a dark sky. Needless to say, I about near fell out of my computer chair when I looked at this!

This next picture was taken more towards the middle of the cemetery but I forget the name on the big gravestone; it, too, was a black square until I added fill light. My friend Miz Cyn insisted that if you blew the picture up and looked towards the bottom of one of the stones, you could see what looks like a head rising from the ground as well as faces in the tree. I did just that, saw what she was talking about, and never did it again! I did, however, go back to the same cemetery the next night around the same time and took the same pictures and got ... nothing out of the ordinary!

I haven't been out to the Yantic Cemetery to take any night pictures yet this year so I think a journey may be in the offing before too long, especially as summer comes to an end and fall approaches. This cemetery is one of my favorite places in the fall due to all of the beautiful trees with leaves that change into glorious colors. Guess I'll put that on my list of things to do! ... Hey, Amanda, want to go for a ride sometime?

Sunrise - Sunset

I think I have must have been bitten by the Photography Bug or something as lately I have taken to grabbing a camera every time I walk out the door! Or is that just a whole part of the Blogging Bug? Somehow I get the sneaky feeling that they go hand-in-hand but whatever it is, it means that you folks have to put up with even more of my pictures than you did before! I hope that's okay!

I took the following two pictures from the back parking lot at work last Wednesday morning around 6:45 as I was going in to start my shift for the day. I got out of the car, I looked up at the sky, and thenI immediately reached for my camera that I had conveniently tossed into my lunch bag on the way out the door! Norwich looks so nice when you're looking up!

These next two pictures are once again from the group of pictures taken by the field of sunflowers in Griswold just outside of Norwich. I had stopped there on the way home last Thursday night to try to get some pictures of the beautiful red sunset that was just starting to fade from the sky but it was trickier than I thought given the lighting conditions.

I think that once I'm able to afford a camera that allows me to change lenses and that I can use filters with these pictures will come out even better but for now I think my trusty little Kodak EasyShare is not doing too shabby considering how much I've used it lately!

Everyone have a great Wednesday and I'll "see" you when I get home from work!

Creative Photography Contest

After being somewhat dismayed, confused, baffled by last week's Creative Photography Contest winner (how did he do that??), I wasn't sure what on earth I was going to come up with for this week myself.  People submit some really outstanding photographs for the contest and as far as photography goes, I am definitely still at rookie status!  Still, I enjoy joining in every week to not only look at everyone's great photos but to get some valuable feedback regarding my own photography skills - or lack thereof! - to see where I can improve.

After looking through my files for a potentially good Creative Photography Contest submission, I decided to play with the  picture below that I took last Thursday evening while coming home from the airport after dropping Jamie off.  Yes, it's those sunflowers again that I've been posting pictures of all week but you can't tell that - yet! 

After playing around with the picture a bit using Picasa2, this is what I finally came up with! See!  There are sunflowers in all that darkness!

I rather like the way it came out as it almost has tones of a painting rather than a picture.  The light that you see glowing on the left side was from  the headlights of an oncoming car which I think adds to the picture.  Of course, it's my picture and I'm partial to it but still ... I think it's pretty cool! What do you guys think?

To see what other people are submitting this week, be sure to go over to Roger's Creative Photography blog and check out the linkies for Contest #8.  Good luck to everyone playing this week and thanks, Roger, for hosting this!

New York Trooper Dies in Line of Duty Near Canadian Border

In what could only be described as a freak accident, a veteran New York State Trooper was killed on Sunday, August 3rd, when he was electrocuted while assisting in changing a flat tire on a vintage firetruck.

Trooper Shawn W. Snow was assigned to the commercial vehicle enforcement unit of the New York State Police and was responsible for inspecting trucks crossing the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge and local roadways. On Sunday, at approximately 4:40 p.m., a vintage fire truck from the Canadian Fallen Firefighters Foundation was being returned to Canada from a parade near Syracuse when a tire went flat near the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge located about an hour south of Ottawa.

Trooper Snow went to assist the vehicle's driver in changing the flat and was underneath the truck fixing the tire while the driver of the vehicle, Pierre Surprenant of Quebec, Canada, was extending the truck's ladder to distribute the weight away from the flat right rear tire. As the truck was being jacked up the ladder suddenly dropped and hit a high voltage power line which electrified the area and killed both men instantly.

"How it ended up touching the wires, whether a piece of equipment failed and it slipped and touched the wires, or whether the act of jacking it up higher on one side caused it to touch, we just don't know yet," said Ogdensburg Police Chief Richard Polniak.

New York State Governor David A. Paterson has directed that flags on State government buildings throughout New York be flown at half-staff on August 7, 2008 for a period of 24-hours in honor of the fallen officer stating that, “I was saddened to learn of the tragic death of New York State Trooper Shawn W. Snow. His death reminds us of the dangers which our brave troopers face everyday while protecting and serving the public. Our state mourns alongside Trooper Snow's family, friends and the entire law enforcement community. We hope that his example of selfless devotion to the people of New York will serve as an inspiration to us all.”

A 19-year veteran of the New York State Police assigned to Troop B, Trooper Snow, age 47, leaves behind his wife Penny and two sons Eric and Jamie; three step-children Shelby, Heather, and Tony Hughes; his parents; two brothers; two sisters; and three grandchildren Mackenzie, Nolan and Jacob.

Shiny, Happy Faces!

I'll probably be back with another post or two later today but there are some things I really need to get done around the house so I'm going to try to resist the pull of the computer for at least a little while. I'm not going in search of the perfect CAT5e cable or anything like that but my house has become one cluttered mess that is shouting at me to do something with it other than move the stuff from one place to another so I need to do something with it and I also have some other errands to run.

As you guys know, it's way too easy to sit down at the computer for "just a few minutes" and have it turn into hours so I am going to resolve to not even turn the thing on again until later in the day. After all, what good is having a day off from sitting in front of a computer all day when all I do is then sit with a computer on my lap all day?!? My point exactly!

In the meamtime, here's a bit of photography fun for you - I took this picture of the Buttonwood Farm sunflowers that I mentioned in yesterday's Manic Monday post while on my way home from the airport last Thursday night after I had put Jamie on a plane for her trip back to Florida. I was feeling kind of bummed but as I drove home I noticed that the sun was going down and there was a gorgeous sunset so I pulled over next to the dark sunflower fields and distracted myself taking pictures for awhile. This is one of them which is completely untouched -

When I got home, I asked Amanda to take the original above and put some faces on the sunflowers for me as they looked like they needed some. This is Amanda's finished product and I think it's just too cute for words! -

Come on back later and perhaps I'll have some more sunflower pictures and maybe even a sunset or two for your perusal. In the meantime, have a great day and don't forget to smile!

A Really BIG Manic Monday!

If it's Monday then it must be manic at It's a Blog Eat Blog World, blog-home of my friend Morgen who is the host for the Manic Monday Meme where each week Mo gives his minions a word and then we scurry about and do our best to come up with a post based around that word. This week Morgen reached into his bag of words and pulled out the word "BIG".

Hmmm ... what to do for that? Here in Connecticut, the weather Sunday evening was about as perfect as you're going to get in New England in August with moderate temperatures and low humidity so I asked Amanda if she wanted to break away from the computer for a little while and head out in search of "BIG" with me. Once I mentioned the search would include ice cream that was enough for her to put up an away message and throw her shoes on!

After jumping into my trusty Mazda, I pointed it East and we took a drive out of town on Route 165 heading towards Griswold where one can find one of the biggest attractions on a summer day in this part of Connecticut ...

Buttonwood Farm first opened for business in 1997 making their own ice cream from their own dairy cows right there on the farm and to say that it's absolutely delicious would not be doing it justice!

This is my big double-scoop waffle cone with Almond Joy and Coffee Mocha Crunch ice cream.

Here we have Amanda's big cone of Chocolate Silk and Chocolate Almond Fudge and, as you can see, she had already taken a big lick out of it before I grabbed the camera! Who can blame her??

This place draws a pretty big crowd!

Some of that big crowd likes to eat their ice cream underneath the big gazebo next to the ice cream stand.

In addition to the fabulous ice cream, a lot of people go out to Buttonwood Farm to look at their acres and acres of beautiful sunflowers. Each year they plant thousands of plants for people to come and enjoy. When the big blooms are cut, the bouquets are sold for $5.00 a bunch with 100% of the proceeds going to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. The program is called Sunflowers for Wishes and it's a big fundraiser for the non-profit organization that is devoted to making wishes possible for children with life-threatening medical conditions.

People come from miles away to see these big sunflowers and to take pictures of them - just like Amanda and I did and who can blame them? Aren't they beautiful?

While we were admiring the sunflowers, Amanda was startled by a very big ant that was climbing on the stone wall next to her. She shrieked and took a big step backwards but then decided a picture was in order!

There were some big clouds hovering over the sunflower fields so, of course, I had to take a picture of them along with the big sun shining in the sky!

On the way back to Norwich I noticed that the corn was getting pretty big so I pulled over to take a picture of it, too, as this post is all about BIG, right?

These ears will eventually get bigger but for now that was more than big enough for a picture for this meme!

Before I continued on to find some more "BIG" pictures, I dropped Amanda off at home as she wanted to get back to her latest big obsession - World of Warcraft. She used to play it awhile back but the file was too big for the computer and I had removed it but after she took off some other stuff and reloaded it last night it didn't seem to take up as much room and she could go back to working on her characters.

This is Amanda's Druid Night Elf; she's only a Level 12 which isn't too big but I'm sure that will change once she spends way too much time trying to level up.

This one is her other character which is a Level 6 Undead Rogue, doesn't that just sound lovely? Hey, Asara, any of this sound familiar?!? I know that you're definitely big into WoW!

After dropping Amanda at the house I continued on my hunt for the next "BIG" thing next stopping at the old Norwich State Hospital grounds which is right up the road from my house. I was very careful not to actually go on the hospital grounds as they are clearly marked "No Trespassing" with big signs all over the place but I figured that the security guards that roam the place in SUVs wouldn't throw too big of a fit if I was just on the edge of the property using a zoom lens. I didn't see any of them to tell me otherwise so I figured it was okay but I didn't take a big chance and dilly-dally too long!

Built in 1904 and covering over 100 acres, the Norwich State Mental Hospital for the Insane was one of the biggest mental health facilities in the State of Connecticut until it closed in 1996. The patient population was at its biggest in the 1950's with over 3,000 patients and rumors now abound that the grounds and buildings are haunted by some of the lost and tortured souls who were treated here. The place is a big attraction for local ghost-hunters, or wanna be ones!, and that's part of the reason for all the big security. This picture shows the Administration Building which was obviously quite grand-looking but is now falling apart big-time as it sits there abandoned and neglected.

This picture shows the back side of the same big building pictured above. I took it from a vantage point across the Thames River in one of the big parking lots of the Mohegan Sun Casino.

Speaking of the Mohegan Sun Casino, that would be this place - the second biggest casino in the world and literally sitting in my backyard! That big shiny building is the hotel with the casino sprawled below it. I used to work here as a blackjack dealer back in 2002-2003 and will be going back to work here soon as a part-time dispatcher for the Mohegan Tribe at their Public Safety Complex once I get through with my background investigation and all. No doubt I'll fill you in more on that in future posts!

Did I mention the Thames River? Ah yes, I believe I did! That would be this big river! I took this picture from the Mohegan Sun grounds looking towards Norwich. I live on the right side of the river as you're looking at it and work on the left side just across from the Marina at American Wharf (which my big boss also owns!). I've yet to get them to put in a zip-line for me so I could just skip the whole driving commute but at least I only have about 1-1/2 miles through downtown to get there. That really helps big when it comes to saving on gas!

This is a slightly different angle of the big river that runs south for 15 miles through eastern Connecticut. The Thames (rhymes with James) River is primarily a tidal estuary along which is located the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London and a U.S. Navy Submarine Base in Groton. The river forms at the junction of the Yantic and Shetucket Rivers in Norwich and ends at the mouth of the Long Island Sound in Groton near Eastern Point Beach where I have taken fireworks pictures.

Finally, I had reached the end of my "BIG" journey but on my way back home I saw these beautiful big red clouds floating in the sky over my head and how could I possibly resist taking a picture of them? I couldn't! You may have noticed that I am a big pushover lately when it comes to clouds!

I hope you enjoyed this "BIG" journey through my little part of Connecticut! If you'd like to see what other people thought of when Mo said "BIG", be sure to check out the Big Linkies at It's a Blog Eat Blog World!