Ahhh, Sunday. What a fine day for a return visit to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art up in Hartford, CT. Again, this little trip was “suggested,” but I’m not complaining. Me complain? I don’t think so.
I don’t want to make a long post out of this. All I really want to show you is a really neat painting that I haven’t see before. It’s called:
Interior of a Picture Gallery with the Collection of Cardinal Silvio Valenti Gonzaga
Artist: Giovanni Paolo Panini
(Italian, 1691-1765)
1740
Interior of a Picture Gallery with the Collection of Cardinal Silvio Valenti Gonzaga
It was a really great painting to look at. I have always said that I enjoy really detailed art as opposed to paintings that look like someone just splattered different colors of paint at a canvas. I don’t know art, so I am not going to attempt a name for that type. All I know is that I like stuff that takes time to do.
You really should see this painting up close. It’s interesting how someone is so capable at doing something so complex. I wouldn’t be able to copy one small item in this painting, even if I traced it. How is that? How are people’s brains to different from one another? Who knows.
Anyway, enjoy the painting and you really should take a trip to this museum. It’s a great place and they do a nice job with their collections.
Yesterday, I was humming away, working outside and minding my own business when the sky started getting dark. I kept on working until the sky was a little too dark for my liking. I grabbed my tools and walked into the garage.
About five minutes later, the sky fell. It was crazy. The wind picked up and there was like a sheet of rain falling from above. Then, the hail started. I am so glad the cars were in the garage because I am almost sure they would have been all dented up from the hail. Some pieces were really big. They were actually bouncing off the grass and rolling down the front yard.
The storm lasted for about 15 minutes and then slowed down. I looked outside and there was a complete mess. Leaves everywhere. There are now holes in many of our plant leaves because of the hail.
Everything was cool for a while and then the power went out. It just came back on this morning. Ugh. That really stunk.
Here are some pictures. I didn’t get any of the big hail, but my brother’s verbal abuse will make me remember for next time.
This was an unexpected little scene that occurred on our way back from Costco this afternoon.
While driving down 91 south, towards Hartford (in the HOV lane – luckily) today, we saw some signs lit up warning us of an accident further south, near Interstate 84. I didn’t really think anything of it, because the signs actually said the accident was on 84 west, not 91. When we rounded a bend in the highway, I asked Laura if she saw smoke. She said yes and this is what we saw when we were forced to stop by a police officer.
Car fire on 91 south, near Hartford, CT – March 25, 2009 – Photo 1
Car fire on 91 south, near Hartford, CT – March 25, 2009 – Photo 2
Car fire on 91 south, near Hartford, CT – March 25, 2009 – Photo 3
Car fire on 91 south, near Hartford, CT – March 25, 2009 – Photo 4
Car fire on 91 south, near Hartford, CT – March 25, 2009 – Photo 5
Car fire on 91 south, near Hartford, CT – March 25, 2009 – Photo 6
It wasn’t bad until the fire department started spraying the car. When they did that, the smoke got all white and came near us. I turned off the car vent, but some smoke still got in to give me a headache. Burning rubber and plastic really smells.
While I was sitting there taking pictures, I noticed the guy in back of us doing the same thing. It was a race to get back to see who could post it on their blog faster.
If you have gone outside over the past couple of days, you may have noticed that it’s fairly cold out there. It doesn’t really feel much colder than it normally does for this time of year, but the time-to-being-frozen is a heck of a lot shorter.
Being this cold really isn’t my cup of tea. The house is a little colder than it normally is, which makes my arms numb when I type on the computer. It’s not that cold in here…I’m just sensitive. Also, we can’t really go outside walking, which gets on my nerves. Anything under 20 degrees is usually our cutoff.
Since this is such a drop from our regular average temperature, I was wondering what the average temperature usually is around here for this time of year. I did a quick search for “hartford, ct average temperatures” and came across this website. Basically, this is what I was looking for.
The website tells me that January’s average temperature in Hartford, CT is usually 25.7F. That’s not too bad. I was telling my brother last night that when it hits 20 degrees again at night, it’s going to be like a heat wave.
If you want to check your town’s average temperature, just visit the website I linked to above and click the logo in the upper left corner. From there, you will be able to locate your state and city to see what you are up against.
I hate to use the word “later” when it gets dark a few minutes after you get up in the morning, but later it is. Yes, it’s true, starting December 14 (or a few days before), the sun will be setting later than the time it set the day before.
Oh, I can here it now. “No Jay, you are wrong. Very handsome, but wrong. December 21 is the Winter solstice and therefore the shortest day of the year.”
Boy, you are smart, but listen to this; true the Winter solstice is still a few days off and also true, it is the shortest day of the year, but as I said, it is getting darker later right now.
Today, the sun set at 4:20PM in Hartford, CT (take a look). Tomorrow, the sun will set at 4:21PM in Hartford, CT. That’s good news. What’s happening? I guess the sun is still rising later and later in the morning, but starting a few days ago, the sun is starting to set a bit later too. The days are still getting shorter, but…oh, you get the idea.
So, go enjoy all that new daylight. Go swimming or something.
Yesterday was an action packed day. I am telling you, ACTION PACKED!!! It was packed with action.
Okay, we started off by driving up to Hartford to pick up Laura’s friend. She lives near White Plains, but doesn’t have a car. She figured that the easiest way to get here would be to take Amtrak to New Haven and then a bus to Hartford. According to her, it was a very easy trip. In case you were interested, there is an Amtrak station in New Rochelle. How cool is that?
Anyway, we hopped in the car to go get her at the bus/Amtrak station in downtown Hartford. Now, just to let you know, I have never actually been to downtown Hartford, so I didn’t know what to expect. I have only driven by it a few dozen times. I usually expect the worst and really don’t enjoy being in congested areas.
I am going to give you a little play by play, just in case you Googled “Downtown Hartford” to see what it looks like. Just a word of warning, I am using Live Maps to assist me in this little walking (well, driving) tour.
Here we go…We drove over Founders Bridge onto State Street. We stopped at the stop light and I said, “Hey, this isn’t bad at all. Actually, it’s pretty damn nice.” I noticed all the signs promoting the festival of lights and all sorts of other stuff hanging from the bridge in front of us. I quickly grabbed my trusted camera to start snapping shots.
These are two that I got yesterday (Friday) morning.
Intersection of Central Row and Main Street.
We made our way onto Central Row, took a right onto Main Street and then a left onto Asylum Street to head straight down to the bus station.
While at the bus station, I was sitting in the car. Two cops pulled in front of me on their cop motorcycles and parked. I thought a picture of their cool motorcycles would be nice.
Police motorcycles - Hartford, CT
Those are the only two pictures I got on Friday morning. This morning (Saturday), we drove back up to drop her friend off. I took a lot more pictures, plus, today’s weather was much nicer.
Intersection of High Street, Asylum Street and Ford Street, Hartford.
Driving up Trinity Street, through the arch.
Back of the state capitol building (I think).
Intersection of Trinity Street, Capitol Avenue, Lafayette Street and Washington Street, Hartford, CT.
A statue at the same intersection.
The front of the capitol building on Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT.
Driving east on Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT.
Front of the capitol building on Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT.
Intersection of Capitol Avenue and Main Street, Hartford, CT.
Driving north on Main Steet, Hartford, CT.
Driving north on Main Steet, Hartford, CT.
Intersection of Main Street and Pearl Street, Hartford, CT.
Those are all the photos I have.
I must say, I was quite impressed with downtown Hartford. I always thought it was a city strictly about work, but there were a lot of people out and about, walking through the parks and doing shopping. Also, it was much cleaner than I thought it would be and very well kept up, with the banners and decorations. At one point, I turned to Laura and said, “You know, this is a very walkable city.” She just smiled, nodded and continued gazing into my eyes.
