Tag Archives: Summer

Meadow Walk

A Bluebird invited us to “come on in” as he flitted off into the meadow at the entrance to the Audubon Center at Bent of the River in Southbury.

Butterflies proved elusive  as they examined the blooming milkweed, with seemingly random flight patterns.

We were last here in March when there was a foot of snow on the ground. On Sunday the meadow was overrun with flowers reaching for the sun.

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The Road Unintended

We seldom leave the house without a destination in mind. Mindful of the holiday traffic, today we headed south with a plan to cross the Connecticut River on the East Haddam Bridge then poke around headed towards Lyme.

As we were approaching the bridge cars were stopped ahead of us with the gate signaling that the swing bridge was about to open or close. The line of cars was short so we were able to turn into Eagle Landing State Park hoping to get some shots.

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The East Haddam Swing Bridge is a steel, movable truss bridge composed of two main spans crossing the Connecticut River between Haddam, Connecticut and East Haddam, Connecticut.

The bridge was just opening as we parked. After two boats passed through and the bridge closed we strolled down the park. We spotted the Osprey who reside on top of the moving portion of the bridge on the community funded platform.

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Nesting platform on the brige.

Other small birds were hanging around.

Resting on a rope railing
Resting on a rope railing

The Becky Thatcher headed north which could only mean that the Essex Steam Train would be coming into Deep River Landing to swap passengers.

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The Becky Thatcher

We jumped in the car and made it to Deep River Landing well ahead of the train.

Click on any photo for larger view.

A little further south we saw the train again as it passed Pratt Cove.

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Lyme will have to wait for another day.

Classic Cars

I’m not that interested in cars, but the Middletown Cruise on Main was a great photo-op. The name of the event is a mis-nomer as the cars don’t cruise anywhere except their trip to get there. Main Street is closed to vehicle traffic for about a half mile then the classic cars fill it up–four wide much of the way and in most of the on street parking spots.

Spectators are then free to walk around the cars, oohing and ahhing, the air filled with “I always wanted one of those!” and “I remember when…”.

Full view shots were not possible on most of the cars so I focused on the wonderful car names and logos of days gone by. There was a wide range of colors with the aquamarines and yellows catching my eye and the “MercOMatic” takes my award for best name.

Click on any photo to see larger or open slide show.