Weekend Twenty-One

It was raining Saturday morning while I prepared to take my place as a volunteer for the Park Road Parade, here in West Hartford. It rained even heavier while we stood outside under the umbrellas at A.C. Petersen’s, receiving our instructions and eating pastries from Shopright.  I thought for sure they would cancel the event. Even if the units agreed to march in the parade, there wouldn’t be anyone there to see them. Plastic sheet protectors were issued to cover our informational paperwork.

But a half-hour before the scheduled start, the rain lessened, then stopped. A miracle. I walked up Park Road to take up a position near South Quaker Lane, the end of the parade. My job along with two others was to keep the kids away from the vehicles as, although instructed not to throw candy, many did. Most importantly, I was to keep the units moving up the street so those behind them could keep the parade moving. This was often difficult, as they seem to have had no instruction as to where to go at the end of the parade, or chose to ignore those instructions. Since I was otherwise occupied Marie took most of these pictures.

Lt Governor Nancy Wyman walking the entire parade route in heels.

Me chewing out a parade organizer for breaking the rules.

That evening we went to the Mark Twain House for the opening of Steampunk Bizarre Exhibit: the Unknown. For the uninitiated, Steampunk Art is a subculture of sci-fi and fantasy; popular with Goths and gamers. Influenced by the era when steam power was relevant, the Art has a fairly Victorian feel, which is why it is a natural for the Mark Twain House.

In addition to pieces of their previously completed works, exhibitors each did a piece relating to a quote from Mark Twain. This also gave the opportunity to see how strange Mark Twain really was. Here is one quote, from a letter he wrote in 1898, I found interesting:

"I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can't conceal my frenzy 

from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin.  Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone."

Here are pics from the opening:

by James Muscarello

Bruce Rosenbaum

detail from above, painting by Brian Dow

Jessica Lilley

Don Higgins

We hurried over to the Millard Auditorium at the University of Hartford to hear a performance by the Hartt Symphony Orchestra. This was the debut for it’s new conductor, Edward Cumming. Tickets were general admission and the auditorium was packed, so we grabbed seats in the second row center.

The kids were all dressed in a wide range of black clothing. I think only the concertmaster wore a jacket and tie. Even Mr. Cumming removed his tux and tie for the second half. The program opened with Carnival by Dvorak and the Hayden Symphony No 104 closed the first half. The second consisted of Symphony No. 5 by Prokofiev. An interesting piece. All were performed well. At the intermission I found that our next door neighbors sat just two rows behind. As Greg teaches at Hartt, this came as no surprise. We didn’t stay for the reception as we had an early morning on Sunday.

It is just eighty minutes to the hill country of Conway, MA where we were showing my dogs at the Festival of the Hills. While it was pouring rain when we left West Hartford, we were able to carry the dogs across the muddy field to the craft tent and set up before the rains came. One would think this would kill any attendance, but the people of Conway came out to play, in spite of the downpour. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Skillet Toss