Flowers are Blooming!

You can take a family photo just like these girls from the 1950s.

Ladies enjoying the roses at Elizabeth Park, circa 1910

Summer is right around the corner – the weather is getting warmer, the grass has turned a brighter green, and flowers are popping up in gardens all over the state! Perhaps one of the most amazing Connecticut gardens to view at this time of year is the Rose Garden at Elizabeth Park (Hartford, CT). The garden was created in 1904 by Theodore Wirth and spans just over 2 acres of land, filled with approximately 800 different varieties of roses. 

The Boys of Summer

A group of boys cool off in the swimming hole at their summer camp. The time is the mid-1930s and one of the boys is Stanley Budleski, the son of Polish immigrants living in Wallingford, Connecticut. Young Stanley was fascinated by airplanes and spent much time at the local airport.  Upon graduating from high school, he would become an airplane mechanic. On April 10, 1942, five months after Pearl Harbor, he would enlist in the Army Air Corps. On December 20, 1943, his plane would be shot down over Germany. He was initially listed as missing in action and his death was not confirmed until March 1944. The timeless quality of this photograph contains no hint of this coming tragedy. I can’t help wondering about those other boys in the photograph. We don’t know their names, but many of them must have wound up on battlefields in Europe or the Pacific.

“It’s Just Like Riding a Bike”

In my last post, I wrote about how much I love reclining and lounging. Lest anyone think I’m nothing but a couch potato, let me assure you that I enjoy getting outside and participating in summer activities (I haven’t found an activity to make me not hate winter yet, but I’m working on it). In the past few weeks, I’ve done yoga (not strictly a summer activity, but still), and gone swimming in lakes and hiking. My favorite summer activity, however, is bicycling.

Kids + Summer: A Secret Formula for Parents

Ah, summer. The time for all those summer kid activities: Camps, amusement parks, pools, education—SHHH! Bite your tongue, it’s summer! Well, just because kids are on summer vacation, doesn’t mean their minds need to shut down either.

Summertime and the living is easy

I just got back from a trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, which got me thinking about the value of parks. National parks are the crown jewels in our country’s network of public spaces, but state and local parks are great alternatives when all you’ve got is a weekend or an afternoon. One of my main goals in life is to be in a reclining position as often as possible, and parks are a great place to achieve this.