The Weekend Roundup, 'L'

 A cool if nice weekend awaits and so a perfect time for Tom’s fun meme The Weekend Roundup. Our prompt this week includes the twelfth letter…

 Starts with "L" I am choosing the Ansonia Public Library. Opened in 1892, the architect was George Kellar and it is beautiful in its Longmeadow redstone. I am including a look to the outside and from the inside.

Lake. I offer a pair of lake views from the past, the top is Big Stony Lake, located near Park Rapids in northwest Minnesota. This early morning view was taken in 1983. Below that is a wedding in 2004 where the bride and groom announcing their vows at Candlewood Lake, the largest lake in Connecticut. Both days were beautiful!

A Favorite. Here are a pair of geese with their Long necks chilling at Osbornedale State Park. They may be obnoxious at times, but geese always look lovely (to me anyway :)...

The Weekend Roundup, 'J'

Time again for Tom's fun meme, The Weekend Roundup. 'J' is our prompt today; however, I'll be a bit creative today in my choices to meet the prompt accordingly...

Jump! Naturally in order to bounce one has to Jump first, the higher the jump is proportionate to the intensity of bounce of course...

A major international gateway in New York City is JFK Airport in Rockaway NY. Here is Dad exiting his flight in the then new Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet, March 1970.

The New Jersey shore is a fine 'J'. (Top) Grandma Agnes sits on the seawall in Brigantine, NJ in July 1972 while Grandpa Ralph is along the famed Boardwalk in Atlantic City, NJ in June 1961. 

A Favorite. We like squirrels in our yard (they and the birds get along fine, here at last :) yesterday. Have a great week all!

The Weekend Roundup, 'G'

I am happy to be back for this week's installment of Tom's fun meme The Weekend Roundup. Today's letter prompt is 'G' so I'll offer an eclectic look at said letter...

Starting with 'G' and my Favorite today is Golden Retriever. Last week we met Max, an energetic and outgoing 11 month old 85 lb / 39 kg beauty! I love the 'smile' we so often see in this breed. He is as friendly as he looks!

The always lovely Patti has a yard full of very friendly Gnomes. This one is awaiting his instructions for the day :)

How about a tantalizing bowl of Gnocchi Bolognese at Copper City Cafe in our burg of Ansonia, Connecticut? 

Here is the Derby Connecticut town Green absolutely full of green...

Finally, here is the ubiquitous and classic white Congregational church on the town green in Goshen Connecticut. This is the classic old New England view everywhere. Have a great week all!

The Weekend Roundup, 'E'

As Saturday beckons, It's time for Tom's fun meme The Weekend Roundup. The second vowel is the prompt and although some of these may have been seen before, they answer the letter prompt nicely :)

Having grown up in East Hartford Connecticut, the top memory is from Easter Sunday 1964 and the then six Villers childre. I'm resplendent in my red blazer...

Here is a few months earlier in December 1963 at my East Hartford home. Back then, even boys jumped rope!

Next is a 1959 Edsel automobile. It was Ford's folly, only being produced for three model years (1958-1960). Ford lost over $200 Million dollars in their writedown, about $1.7 Billion today! Here is a nicely restored example...

Here is my old Ford E150 Club Wagon. I sold it with 158,000 miles on it and it had another 100,000 miles of life left in it - a durable vehicle!

A Favorite is last night's moon in it's in waxing gibbous phase at 89 percent illumination on a beautiful and clear night sky. Have a great week all!

The Weekend Roundup, 'D'

It is the eve of the week's last two days and a perfect time for Tom's fun meme The Weekend Roundup. The fourth letter of the alphabet is our prompt today...

First off is Dolly the Merino sheep. She lives at Twitchell-Rowland Homestead in Oxford CT. Taken in the Spring, I wouldn't mind seeing this ewe in her soft luxurious Merino wool coat!

Our Daughter marched for the Derby Historical Society for the Derby-Shelton Memorial Day parade a few years ago...

After her part of the parade was finished, Dad (guess who :) and Daughter watched as the parade continued

An egg with a Double Yolk found its way into our refrigerator...

A Favorite. This morning, the always lovely Patti captured this Kalanchoe outside our home full of raindrops from last night's thunderstorm. I love the texture and soft red hues. Have a great week all!

The Weekend Roundup, 'C'

The weekend is in full swing so now is the perfect time to post in Tom's fun meme, The Weekend Roundup. The third letter of the alphabet is featured this week...

Here is a look at 1996 when our son Cameron was working on an early Pentium Computer. It must've left an impression as he is a software developer today... 

Here is one of Grandpa's last cars, an enormous 1971 Chrysler Three Hundred. This was a true land barge, huge, powerful and quiet. It was a handful for me to drive being used to much smaller vehicles. With is famous 440 RB engine, it was quite fast and passed everything in sight (except a gas /petrol station of course...)

This was taken on a beach on Cape Cod. We were stationed at Kalmus Beach on Hyannis Harbor.

A Favorite. This was on Wednesday with the peach hued clouds billowing up to the stratosphere it seemed. Have a great week all! 

The Weekend Roundup, 'B'

The second letter of the alphabet is this week's prompt at Tom's fun meme, The Weekend Roundup. This letter brings me back to 1964 and a vacation at the New Jersey Shore...

The beach town here is Brigantine, the barrier island north of Atlantic City. I am the only boy in our Big family posing on the sandy Beach...

On vacation on the famous Boardwalk in Atlantic we could once rent and ride Bicycles early mornings 

In Atlantic City, Grandpa took our pictures at Captain Starns Yacht Bar. I believe my little sister is posing in front of this Boat bar. 1964 was in the times before the glitz of the casinos along the Boardwalk and charming watering holes like this were all over this old resort town...

And back to the Boardwalk is the family vacation photog, Grandpa

A Favorite. Okay back to the present. On Thursday, our daughter felt like someone was staring at her - and she was right :) This squirrel with its Bushy tail was! I cannot say I am a big fan of these but this one is very winsome...Have a great week all!

The Weekend Roundup, 'V'

Friday's here, so time again for a favorite meme The Weekend Roundup hosted by Tom. Today's letter, the 22nd, has its charms, and given my last name, I'll start there...

Villers is our name so a family portrait of the extended Villers family is in order :) The time is July 1969, the place Brigantine, NJ. I'm on the upper left in gold. Note the late 1960s dress and hair styles!

More Villers, The time is in the summer of 1945 after V-J Day, the place along the Pennsylvania Turnpike to or from Atlantic City. Grandma Agnes (O'Hanon) Villers and my Aunt Terry. Note the license tag - he had these personalized 'RV' Ohio plates from the mid-1930s...

This is a Vietnam Veteran's memorial at the beach in West Haven, CT

Voluminous. Our son is a software developer in Manhattan  working from his Brooklyn apartment. His boss treated him to lunch from a take out. I'll let Cam describe it: 
"When the boss says you can order lunch, why not go all out? I finally tried a Pakistani place I've been meaning to check out.
Clockwise from top left: chicken biryani (slow cooked rice) and chicken kabobs, samosa chaat (chaat is fried potato pieces, fried bread pieces, onions, and chickpeas, in a yogurt sauce; all that over two potato samosas), paratha (flatbread).

The spice level is fine but to be honest I think the number of spices is a lot more interesting than the heat. I haven't had this many flavors at one time in two months."

The Weekend Roundup, 'U'

 It is Friday of a three-day weekend, so time again for Tom's fun meme The Weekend Roundup. The final vowel is featured today, and it is hard but not impossible to find a few examples in the photo archives...

This is the futuristic looking Unitarian Society of Hartford Ct. It was opened in 1964.

Here is the United Methodist Church in Derby, CT. The Romanesque style red sanctuary was opened in 1894, the second Methodist church built on the site.

Union Congregational Church in Rockville, CT. This is the third church on the site - the first two were constructed of wood and burned down. Given the name of the town, the surviving building is made of stone...

Many decades ago, (July 1983) United Air Lines flight 483 suffered a few flat tires upon landing at Minneapolis-St. Paul. I captured this as the passengers stood on the now closed runway. We were awaiting the busses to take us to the terminal. No sensations other than a bumps upon landing...

A Favorite. Patti captured a lilac in our yard under a very blue sky overhead. Have a great week all! 

The Weekend Roundup, 'S'

Friday appears for the week, so it's time again for Tom's meme, The Weekend Roundup. Today's letter prompt is easy - what's not easy is choosing among the hundreds of photos that match the prompt :) Here we go...

My heritage begins in Steubenville Ohio, so here were! I believe the year is 1946, my dad, in the USAAF and Aunt Terry are by the Market Street Bridge over the Ohio River to West Virginia. Built in 1906, it still stands and has that Steel bridge deck that I, and most drivers it seems, do not like to drive over...    

Sunrise also begins with 'S'. I've used this before, but like it enough to use it gain :) This was an early morning flight Atlanta-Philadelphia on a Delta Airlines 727 on Jan. 2, 1981. I believe we were over South Carolina. Note the faint curvature of the earth below at about 6:45 a.m.

Stainless Steel is another 'S', these tanks at the Two Roads Brewing Co. in Stratford Connecticut. My daughter and I took a brewery tour on March 7, one week before the lockdown in the state...

The Strand Theater in neighboring Seymour Connecticut is rather alliterative. And the Sterling Lion Players performed this offbeat play a couple of years ago.

A Favorite. During these times of lockdowns, some have kept their Christmas holiday light on their houses. We have kept ours inside - love the LED lights, snow person and reindeer. this - and takeout meals - are methods of coping. Have a great week all!