June 30, 2011

The last day of the month! I was generally disappointed in the number of really unusual, perhaps homemade, displays that includes an American flag.

I always attempt to make the last day of a month and the first day of the new month share their monthly themes. I am going to try something in July: playing with photo apps on the iPad or iPhone. I took in a one-day class in New York on iPhone photography, and I downloaded several apps that do Photoshop-y things to pictures. So the picture for today was taken with my iPad, but there is no special effects treatment on today's. For special effects, be sure to check out the July blog.

We went to a New Britain Rock Cats baseball game tonight. This picture shows a guy in the stands wearing a great tee-shirt with a flag. Just a tiny part of the picture. It was a beautiful night, cool (for the time of year) and sunny.

P.S. We left after the sixth inning, but when we left, the Cats were behind 4-0.

June 29, 2011

Today I stuck really close to home. This is one of the flower boxes under the windows at the New Hartford post office. I just didn't have time to do anything more interesting or unusual.

June 28, 2011

On the way to Riverton yesterday, I passed this factory and did not stop. Today, I made a quick trip back to get the picture. It's the workshop of Century Woodworking on Route 181 in Barkhamsted.

June 27, 2011

We drove up to Riverton today, up West River Road and back down East River Road. (My favorite house up there is for sale!!) I took two pictures, but the first one is the "official" one for today. It is the upper floor of the Riverton General Store. There were four of these groupings of little flags.

The second picture is a retake of a picture I took for Picture-A-Day four or five years ago. It is a tiny cemetery on East River Road, just four gravestones which are quite old. I'm embarrassed to admit I've never gone in to see who is buried there, but one of the graves always has a fresh flag. So for sentimental reasons, here is tiny cemetery.

June 26, 2011

It seems to be my month to ask complete strangers if I may take their picture. This was a couple of people who came out of Stop 'n' Shop, Winsted, just as I got there. I would probably have tried to set up a slightly more artistic shot or at least worked to make the background less cluttered, but there they were, so I had to just ask and shoot.

June 25, 2011

I've seen a lot of patriotic tee-shirts, but this one was over the top -- just huge. So I had to ask the guy if I could take his pictures. He's an ex-Marine. This was taken in the New Hartford Home Depot.

Semper Fi!!

June 24, 2011

I knew I'd have to get a picture this month of a very well-known house in Torrington. They go hog wild at Christmas (even calling their house "The Christmas House"), but they also decorate for Easter, Valentine's Day, Hallowe'en, and the Fourth of July.

It was raining when I drove down to Torrington, so I had to settle for what I could get from the car. Not great, but flaggy nonetheless.

June 23, 2011

It rained all day, and I thought about taking a picture of one of the flags hanging on the poles on Maine Street, all wet and twisted on their poles, but they wouldn't have been very good pictures. And I would have to get wet to take them.

Instead, I drove through this intersection, saw the flag, and determined to return when the rain stopped. It did, and I did.

This is the corner of Route 4 and Route 177 in Unionville.

June 22, 2011

It was good to finally be home except for a few errands. This picture was taken in Simsbury, on Route 10. Young Lady Liberty is hanging from the sign of a toy store there.

June 21, 2011

Summer started today officially at 1:16 pm. We were at that point driving down from Orland towards Augusta, heading home. I took two pictures and can't decide which I like better, so one is for today as a day in the month of June, and the other is just because it's the summer solstice.

I also got a picture contributed from my friend Naomi, and hers will be beneath mine.

This one was taken in Searsport, on Route 1/Route 3:

The lupines everywhere were just stunningly beautiful. I'm glad I got some in a picture. The following picture was taken a few miles down the road, still near Searsport:

Naomi sent the following picture, which I would have taken if I had ever seen it. I LOVE this picture!!! Thank you Naomi. It's of a barn in East Cornwall, CT:

June 20, 2011

You'd think all we did in Maine was go to junk barns, but today we went to one in Ellsworth, not far from Orland, called The Big Chicken Barn. The entire second floor is books, but the first floor is classic group mall.

The booth in the picture not only had a full-sized flag, but it also had a Lego flag. I bought a crystal decanter with a shaker top for bitters but not from this dealer.

June 19, 2011

We headed further down the coast today, to Orland, to visit friends there.  We stopped in at a junk barn called Trash & Treasures Barn in Searsport, where I took this picture:

I bought a 1942 Maine license plate.

June 18, 2011

A quick trip to Maine brought me some fresh scenery -- and new flags.

This one was taken on Mile Stretch Road in Biddeford Pool. Directly behind the garage/shed building is the tidal "pool" that defines the little community.

June 17, 2011

It was cold and rainy today, and I had occasion to drive up West Hill Road in New Hartford, and it is much higher than the center of town down here by the river. It was so foggy up there, it was hard to see very far down the road ahead, and everybody had to drive with lights on.

I happened upon this flag on a tree at the edge of the road. The fog simply made the picture even better, and Photoshop was brought in to enhance the eerieness and bring out the color that the fog washed out.

June 16, 2011

Today's picture is my favorite so far! I had taken a picture of an old pickup truck with swags of bunting on its back half, and it was an okay, but dull, picture. Then on our way to Granby for dinner, we passed this on Route 20, close to the center of Granby:

Welcome home Sergeant Jeffries indeed!!!

June 15, 2011

Today's picture does not convey the subject very well. But the huge, spreading evergreen tree in front of the house blocks any attempt to get a good photo.

This house is in Collinsville, on the road that comes from Route 44 into the center of town.

June 14, 2011

TODAY IS FLAG DAY!! And I didn't find a flag display anywhere that tempted me. This picture was actually taken at about 1:30 in the morning on my way home from the airport. Not really good enough for Flag Day.

This is a consignment shop in Canton on Route 44.

June 13, 2011

A travel day, leaving Arizona and coming home to Connecticut. I thought I'd find lots of flags in airport shops, and I did (see bottom picture) find a few. But the picture I'm choosing to put first was actually taken on Tangerine Road going from Oro Valley AZ to Interstate 10 to go to Phoenix, through Marana. If there is a town or even a neighborhood in Marana, I didn't see it. Unrelieved desert. Most of the street pole signs were bright blue with "Welcome to Marana." This one was different, and I was at a stop light.

The following two pictures were taken in the Las Vegas airport. Both were really terrible pictures, so I combined them and put them in just for the fun of it -- especially the underwear.

June 12, 2011

Today we took a drive further out into the desert, not in search of flags but to go to a church which has been built pretty far out from the main drag of Oro Valley.

On the way, we saw a flag along Tangerine Road. It is just a flag. No building next to it, no sign explaining it.

Just to put it in context a little more, this is what it looked like to see it as we drove down the road:

June 11, 2011

Today we went to a mall to the movies, and I looked for flag displays in stores and their windows. There was nothing creative or artistic, but lots of plastic and canned holiday decor.

This tower of balloons was the best I could find -- it can't get much worse, can it???

June 10, 2011

Honestly, I'm trying! And when I do see a flag, I at least attempt to make a good picture. The last two days hardly qualify as pictures, much less GOOD ones.

Today, one of the neighbors here in Oro Valley (not really Tucson as I've claimed for the last couple of days) flies the flag. Behind his house are the peaks of Putsch Ridge (I may be wrong about the name). The sky is the most solid blue I've ever seen. I think I miss seeing clouds!

June 9, 2011

Still in flag-barren Tucson! Today's picture is from a supermarket display of lawn chairs.

June 8, 2011

Welcome to Arizona. I thought this would be the state where the American flag was tattooed on everyone's foreheads or emblazoned on every T-shirt. I was wrong, or Tucson is not really Arizona. Not the Arizona of John McCain anyway. This is Gabrielle Gifford's home turf, and there are not many flags around except on poles.

The best I could do today is this license plate:

June 7, 2011

On the road -- or more accurately, in the air -- to Arizona. There were a few flag displays in the airport, but when I saw the Southwest captain walk by in this tie, I knew I had to get the picture.

June 6, 2011

Anniversary of D-Day. I was hoping to find a patriotic display around one of the war monuments, but since most of those are for the Civil War, I'm not surprised that I didn't see any. However, on the way to Suffield for dinner, we passed an ice cream shop that had a flag in the window. We had to turn around by going around the block, and in so doing, came across this house and front yard. MUCH better than the ice cream shop (which I never even bothered to photograph). This is in the town of Granby.

June 5, 2011

I went to a miniatures show in Sturbridge today. Quite unexpectedly, I saw this little matchbox dollhouse with the flag design and patriotic theme. The extreme closeup is not sharp, but the little box is only about two and a half inches high.

I also got two great contributed photos today taken in New York by Andrew. They are to be viewed as a pair. Thank you, Andrew!

June 4, 2011

Got up early to go to West Cornwall for an Audubon Society bird event. Again, I was hoping to see flags painted on barns or something exotic. I forgot about this wonderful horse on a farm in Goshen, Route 4 not far from the rotary of Route 63.

June 3, 2011

In a desperate attempt to NOT take a picture of a flag hanging from a flagpole, I drove up to Winsted, hoping to find a flag painted on a building or on the back of a pickup truck. Didn't see anything. Discouraged, I headed back to my car and saw the reflection of two of the Main Street flags in a storefront window.

Yes, they are still flags hanging from poles, but not directly anyway.

June 2, 2011

Seemed like the day just flew by in a few minutes! Spent a bunch of time on the phone and made a lengthy trip to Stop 'n' Shop.

However, I also went out to get this picture, which I had originally wanted for yesterday's picture because of the door AND the flag. But yesterday I never got out to take it.

This is the barn at Wild Carrot Farms (also or formerly Bristol Farm) on Route 44 in Canton, not far from the Saybrook Fish House.

I also got some contributions from friends and family. The first one was sent to me by Naomi. It was taken at the Memorial Day parade in Torrington on Monday. She tells me she was totally moved emotionally as this truck drove by with the flag-draped coffin, in memory of all the men and women who have died in the service of our country. A wonderful picture! Thank you, Naomi!!

On a much lighter note is this picture sent by Karolen. Her daughter Tara is at the wheel of a speedboat of the Gulf coast of Florida. Thank you, K!!

I love spotting the flag or just little parts of its design. Where do you find them? Big ones, little ones. Take pictures and send them on!

June 1, 2011

About four or five years ago, I did Picture-A-Day with the theme of the Flag. June 14th is a minor Amercan holiday, Flag Day. I found out that the commemoration was started in Wisconsin; we happened to be in Wisconsin at the time, so our friends there took us to a school building that had a plaque about the teacher who, in that school, had started Flag Day.

Anyway, most people think of flag months and think of July because of the Fourth. it's cooler to know that June 14th is FLAG DAY.

As I like to do, the picture for today, the 1st of the month, is a combination of this month's theme (the flag) and last month's (doors and/or windows).

This picture was taken on upper Main Street in Torrington.