What a Fortnight!

Sis had the flu and now she has pneumonia.  It's been a rough two weeks for her and, while she is on oral meds at home, she is still coughing and exhausted.  We have reassurances from school that she'll catch up--they'll adjust her assignments and excuse the absences with a doctor's note.  Right now, she's too tired even to contemplate work.  She's not even going to see her horse often, so you know she doesn't feel well.

And right in the middle of that, Bud started throwing up and missed a few days of school himself.  We thought he might be getting the flu, too, but we were all tested and are negative.  It just must have been some virus that thankfully we didn't all catch.  Now he's just jealous that his sister doesn't have to go to school, even if she's sick.

What else?  I think I have a whole list of things to mention (pardon the repeat from my email in some bullet points, Lambeth!)

• Did I ever even talk about Halloween?  Sis was Dean, from the tv show "Supernatural," one of the demon-and-monster fighting brothers in a show that crosses "X-Files" and "Buffy."  Bud was Dipper, from the animated show "Gravity Falls;" he's a code-breaking sleuth.  We went to the office Halloween party and then, night of, they had friends over for pizza and trick or treating and a huge candy swap at the end.  I love that they still want to trick or treat as teenagers AND that are neighbors don't seem to care about their age.
• About the same time, I had my own party:  a hygge party, based on the Scandinavian idea of coziness.  I had a few close friends over for a casual night of comfy clothes, Frito chili pie, hot buttered rum, almond cake, candles, fairy lights, and conversation.  And we all thoroughly enjoyed it.  I didn't rush around preparing, nor did my friends expect any sophisticated entertaining--we actually curled up on the couches under various afghans! I even gave them all fluffy socks and little candles.  Delightful!
• Our cat Hermione has developed arthritis.  She moves awkwardly and slowly, preferring little cat stairs to get on the bed or couch.  And she is always looking for warmth and so sleeps behind my knees in the bend in my legs, sits next to anyone on the couch, follows the sun patches around the house through the day, or curls up in her special heat-generating "poofs" (which have a layer of that silver-ish, heat-reflecting material they give to marathoners and people in crisis.)  Though, she can still "high tail" it for food or to chase the other female cat, Eris. To help Hermione out a bit, we're now giving her CBD oil, the non-hallucinogenic substance in marijuana (as opposed to TCH.)  They say it has a physical effect sort of like a warm bath; she does seem a bit more physically relaxed.  She has definitely relaxed a bit about Eris, so that Eris can now sleep on the big master bed during the day and was even curled up not too far from Hermione the other day (though definitely not touching.)  And our new Romeo is settling in, spending his days with Sis, who curls up in a big, soft, pink, fluffy blanket.  He even sleeps with her (which is good because Hermione won't let him on the bed in our room.)  he'll miss her when she's well, though at least he will have the blanket.
• We have a new street!  After a few years of widening pot holes and deteriorating asphalt, the street has been re-paved.  It's lovely, though we still don't have curbs.  I've got my fingers crossed for curbs so that the water doesn't erode my yard where it meets the road as it has for a few years now, creating a wider and deeper ditch that I have to specially mark so people don't trip (especially on Halloween!)  Good thing people don't walk around much, I suppose.  Because we won't ever get sidewalks!
• I am taking two classes at seminary (though, online) come springtime as I begin work on my MA of Religious Studies in order to become a board-certified chaplain.  One class is the history of Christianity, which will look at the different iterations (Ethiopian cave churches, Roman catacombs, evangelical tent revivals) from the early church to present.  I think it will have a lot of archaeology, which I especially like.  Second is "There's Something about Mary," which examines the different Marys of the Bible in a socio-historical and also (oh, the lingo) a "womanist biblical hermeneutics"!!!!!  The final project is to examine a contemporary representation of a Mary--I'm thinking Andrew Lloyd Webber's hippy Magdalene or the almost-Booker prize winner Colm Toibin's Testament of Mary, which depicts the Virgin as a depressed, isolated, and bitter older woman resenting her son's disciples.   I love school.  And I'm really excited to become a "real" chaplain.  Somebody needs to be there at hospice for people who aren't mainstream Christians (the Catholics have hospice covered!)--who are members of other religions, no religions, a mixture, unchurched, spiritual but not religious, atheists.  And I think I'm that somebody to offer solace and comfort (but not answers.)
• In preparation for our Thailand trip, I'm reading a book on the Buddha which answers a question I've often wondered:  why is there no single Buddhists sacred text the way there is the Bible or Koran?  Apparently, stories of Buddha were preserved orally and only written down later (hundreds of years later), but by competing sects who slightly altered the narrative, so that they don't really agree on a particular canon.  Add to that, even those manuscripts don't survive well--I think I read that the oldest extant Pali canon manuscript is only a few hundred years old.  Nothing like Dead Sea Scrolls.  And Buddhists don't quite see the texts as "in the beginning was the Word;" textual exegesis just isn't as central to the religion.  
• I watched the funeral of Bush 41 yesterday.  Solemn rituals and big, dramatic occasions always get to me, even if I wasn't quite mourning the late president.  The eulogies were informative--and entertaining in the way they lectured  #45 on character and charity and bi-partisanship.  I slightly remember Bush 41--I paid much less attention to politics then, but it was also less emotional, polarized, us vs them, angry.  I remember first getting riled about politics when Republicans kept trashing and attacking the Clintons, though if I think hard on it, I remember people not liking Reagan (though, much of that grew up afterwards.)  It's been downhill, civility-wise, since then.  Though I think it has also gotten dirtier--just look at Wisconsin GOP stripping the governor's office of power now that a Dem has defeated Republican governor Scott Walker--they didn't feel like he needed his power stripped when he was in office!  It's just ugly and there are few political remedies.  

• 

  Tulip stitch

  Even in the midst of all that, I have had time for my favorite hobbies.  I've crocheted blankets for a friend and a local fun-run raffle, even learning a new stitch, the tulip stitch.  I've been tangling as part of several online challenges, including Gratitangles 2018 and now 12 Days of Zentangle.  I love my meditative drawing practice.  I've also been reading more and have a book for downstairs, a book for upstairs before bed, and a book for the bathtub.  I've recently read a mystery featuring Fidelma, Irish nun-detective in 7th-century Ireland; the fifth and sixth Outlander books; a page or two of The Case for God, which is slow reading; the Buddha biography by the same author; and others I can't quite recall.  
• We've also been watching a lot of tv, with two sick kids.  They are working their way through a dozen or more seasons of Supernatural.  We enjoyed British comedian Sue Perkins's exploration of the Mekong River and especially love her on the Great British Bake Off (I think we are currently watching the newly-released season 3.)  Sis has started Outlander, though without the abusive sex parts.  Bud has a few animated series he's following, including Hilda-something.  I caught up with Grantchester, the Arrow, and can't wait to watch the second season of Mrs. Maisel.  We only have one tv plugged in right now and also use it for video games--they are all playing the new Pokemon game.
• I will delve into this at a later time:  I found proof that my ancestors on two branches of my family tree owned slaves. I have two partial names and the reference to four others. I always suspected as much, with many family members serving in the Confederacy and relatives having been in the south a century or more before the war, but learning it for fact has me overwhelmed and sad. I'm not quite sure what to do with this knowledge now....but I will do something. And acknowledging it has to be the first step.  I've joined a FB group, Coming to the Table, which connects descendants of both slave owners and enslaved peoples.  It's been informative, especially the resources page about reparations, financial and otherwise.  
• Sadness:  on our drive to the doctor's office on Tuesday, I hit an owl which flew up in front of my car. I never saw it coming, though I was going the speed limit; we just felt the thump and then I saw the round-faced, speckle-winged bird above my left headlight, flapping backwards. We pulled over but couldn't find it.  So it didn't die right there but somehow managed to leave.  My friends think this is a good sign; I'm a bit more pessimistic.  What chance does a bird, even a big one, have against a car?  Why did it have to be a beautiful bird of prey? I'm so sad.  (And no, I'm not ready to debate why it's sadder that something I like and is beautiful died vs. something ugly or not liked, like a snake. I know it's subjective and hypocritical.)
• Illusionists:  On Saturday, leaving Sis at home with what we then thought was the flu, we went to see a magic show on Broadway for Bud's Christmas present.  What a great show!  We especially liked the card tricks of Shin Lim, the mind-reading of Colin Cloud, and the sleight-of-hand of Darcy Oake.  In fact, Bud and I were both picked for separate tricks.  Colin Cloud read my mind!  He had me flip through a book and choose the top word on the left-hand page and remember it; he asked the same of two other audience members.  And then he "read" the word from my mind, "professional."  It really was astounding; and while I know there's a trick, I don't know what it is.  During his turn (we were seated very close to the stage in the second row), Bud was given an empty bottle in a box-inside-a-box to hold and then he chose a card out of a deck; later, of course, the card was in a corked glass bottle in the box-inside-a-box!  Now, the main "tell" that this was sleight of hand is that Oake did the same trick on Penn and Teller using the SAME CARD (5 of hearts) that Bud "chose."  I'm guessing it's a force of some kind but honestly neither Bud nor I saw it.  After the show and lunch at a nearby ramen place (Zen Ramen, not Sapporo because that dear old place has closed, forced out by raised rents), we went to Tannen's, the premiere NYC magic shop down by Macy's.  Bud had a great time conversing with the different magicians and seeing some of their tricks.  He bought a trick, a book, a beautiful Momento Mori deck, and a special card trick mat.  
• Thanksgiving:  did I mention Thanksgiving at all? We watched the parade in our jammies that morning, particularly liking that there were two female hosts (bye, Matt Lauer!!!)  And we liked the performance by the Prom cast, complete with kissing lesbian leads (it's about a girl who can't take her girlfriend to the prom so she enlists help!)  We bought tickets on the spot, to support the show and NBC for fairing the no-doubt controversial scene.  In the afternoon, we had Mama Teacher and her son over for muffalettas, snacks, conversation, and video games, since they were celebrating on a different day, just like we were. We all played MarioKart--and had a great time.  (Sis actually came down with a fever on that Thursday night but the clinic said on Friday that it was NOT the flu.  Harrumphf.)  We went to Goo's on Saturday, because he had been working at the hospital the other days.  I made Chex mix, the sweet potatoes, the green bean casserole, the cranberry-horseradish relish, and a lemon pie.  Goo did everything else, including a lovely charcuterie.  And Mama and her parents spent the day arranging and rearranging post-its in order to organize our trip.  In the evening after dinner, the kids and Goo played video games, including this fast one where you drum to the rhythm prescribed by the game, while making little characters dance to the music.  Very Japanese.
• BTS--Bud and I are still very much enamored of Kpop band BTS.  He practices their dance moves and I enjoy listening to the music in the car.  And we watch videos together sometimes.  When we were in NYC, for the magic show, we even went to the Line store, which sells BT21, a line of animated characters drawn by the members of BTS.  Bud got a few items, like J-Hope's horse character pillow and a key chain, and I even got a Koya (Koala, by RM) headband.  Yes, it's a cult.
• Reiki--and no, I didn't think of Reiki next because it is a cult (ahem)--I had my second Reiki  on Sunday, with the same teacher and students as last time.  This section added some words and hand signs, which really did make it seem more like an occult thing than the hands-on meditation did.  But there was also more references to Buddhism--"the light in me sees the light in you," connecting to your higher Self or buddhahood, and forget what else.  The next session has crystals and angels, but I think I'll stop here; crystals and angels and the Reiki grid which can create continuous Reiki without your participation just takes it all a few steps too far for me.  Hands on meditation that contributes to relaxation and peace, I can handle (though, true practitioners would see it more as aligning the chakra energy wheels than simple meditation.)  And I'm looking forward to using it with hospice patients, as just another modality for care and comfort.  I did try it on the kids when they were sick (mainly because they didn't want me to tell my teacher that they had said no!) and both were relaxed afterwards, as you would be lying still with your mom's hand on your head or shoulders or chest.  I did it on myself a few days later, when my neck was stiff from too much driving, and it did release the tension, just like mindfulness meditation releases tension in my mind.  It's all from the same place, I think.  
• In fact, I'll be going back to my PT soon to have her use her own therapy techniques (a unique combo of Western medicine and less scientific treatments) on the almost softball-sized scar tissue that has grown up in my lower abdomen and pelvic region from all the scars.  After consulting both my GI doctor and GYN and going through their tests, as well as talking at length with my caring and supportive GP, I decided that surgery isn't the answer for scar tissue which is pulling and pushing and causing regular discomfort; it'll just make more scar tissue.  I'm trying PT to try to break down some of the adhesions and meditation (particularly self-compassion from Kristin Neff) to assist my anxiety about the discomfort when it arises.  I hope it helps.

Whew, I think that's it for now.  I've blown through 30% of my laptop battery and a full hour of quiet between Mama's departure for work, Bud's departure for school, and now Sis's late arising.  Time to get up and get to the rest of my list . . . . 

"Lazy Circles in the Sky"

Yesterday, we had a delightful afternoon yesterday, attending an Audubon program about hawks.  As you know, I'm fond of raptors, as is Mama--owls, falcons, hawks.  We've seen birds-of-prey shows, gone on an "owl prowl," taken falconry lessons, gone on a nighttime owl-tagging program, and taken every chance we can to see and learn about raptors.  And yesterday, we had another chance--we spent an hour or so learning about the body shapes, markings, flying profiles, behaviors, diet, "profession," and migration of hawks.

Just a few takeaways:

• Most hawks follow their food sources.  Some hawks eat small mammals mostly--like the Red-Tail Hawk--so they can stay up north during the winter.  Other hawks and raptors eat dragonflies and snakes and have to migrate south to find them.   Apparently, the peregrine will go from Greenland all the way to Tierra del Fuego!  On one occasion a few years ago, so many raptors passed through Panama City, that they had to close the airport--there were 2 million birds in the air that day!  Of course, some raptors stay closer--arctic birds think Buffalo is paradise in winter.  Connecticut is apparently one of the migration "funnels"--birds come from New England and Canada and see the Sound and turn right through Connecticut, which is why there are several official Hawk Watch spots here.  
• You can even tell the original location of a bird somewhat by size.  Northern birds tend to be larger because it helps them save more body heat for winter.  (And of course, female birds are larger than male birds.)
• The Audubon education specialist gave so much information (some of it via avian interpretative dance!) that I can't recall it all and might have mixed it up.  A bald eagle looks like a "barn door in the sky," while ospreys look like an "M."  Goshawks will fly like Luke Skywalker through trees (my comparison!), while harriers will sail low over trees or the brush near the coast.  
• I couldn't keep track all of the markings--horizontal stripes, vertical stripes, thick, thin, brown, red, gray, all changing based on the age or gender of the raptor.  I know that juvie bald eagles are brownish and don't get that distinctive white head until they are about five years old.  A Northern Harrier female is brown and a male is white with gray, "the Gray Ghost."  
• And I really doubt I'll be able to keep the size differentials of, say, the Red-Tail vs. the Red-Shouldered Hawk (smaller), straight.  I can recognize the tiny kestrel vs. a turkey vulture, though.  As my dad says, if you guess Red-Tail Hawk, you'll be right 90% of the time.  
• For more information, go to Hawk Watch International.  There are some helpful fact sheets.  There will also be a Great Hawk Festival at Greenwich Audubon on September 16-17.

Then we headed out to the field with our binoculars to spot some hawks.  I've never been very good with binoculars, but I'm getting better.  We have a nice pair from Pop and borrowed a few kids pairs so we could all look.  And the first thing we saw was a turkey vulture, of course.  But soon, there was an "accipiter"--some kind of red hawk--who actually attacked two turkey vultures repeatedly, high in the air.  It was fascinating.  And we all got to see it!  The official Hawk Watch volunteers (who are there everyday from mid-August to the beginning of December to count migrating raptors) also spotted an osprey, but I don't think the rest of us saw it.  (I did see an "M" osprey over the river driving to pick up Sis from horseback riding lessons today.)

It was a lovely afternoon and I'm so excited to try out my new knowledge.  Though, it's pretty easy to identify a Snowy Owl!

Beginner Birding

I think I'm a beginner bird nerd!

Of course, I come by it naturally.  I heard my dad's duck calls for all of my childhood, both his and the ones on the records and tapes he listened to.  Decoys hung from the rafters of the garage and there was a lot of camo (he spent weeks designing and painting his own camo on an aluminum boat in our driveway); and yes, there were guns and even his own shell-loading machine.  We didn't eat duck much that I recall (and never goose); I think he often gave it away.  But there was that time I found the frozen duck, fully feathered, in the freezer . . . but I won't dwell on his hunting days.

Now, of course, he is an avid naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, and bird watcher, mostly waterfowl.  He has built a wildlife refuge in central Texas, protecting the wood ducks, for which he maintains a lovely pond (without the help of the local beavers.)  He keeps a log of his birds, and takes photos and videos of ducks.  When he visits up here, he checks out the local ponds--he found the special birder spot long before I did.  He belongs to all sorts of organizations--Audubon, Sierra Club, etc.--and worries about the future of the planet, as he watches bird migration patterns change.

And when I was young, I was definitely not interested in bird calls or camo and especially not in hunting. More recently, we've shared environmental concerns.  And then Mama and the kids and I became really interested in birds of prey.  I'd always liked the birds of prey show at the Renaissance Fairs; that was our gateway.  Then, as you know, we took a falconry lesson in England--wow!  And we saw  the Snowy Owl (one of them) that played Hedwig in Harry Potter.  And Mama and I went on a Saw Whet Owl banding excursion on Block Island.  And now, finally, a Snowy Owl has come to town.  And I've been looking for it.   I guess all those childhood influences will out.

As you know, we actually saw it last week, the kids and I, a tiny white speck on a log on the horizon. It was exciting, but I've wanted to see it again.  Sunday we took Goo to the special birding spot and saw a group of birders huddling, always a good sign.  And there, out on the breakwater, far far away, we thought we saw the owl.  We looked with scope and binoculars and all agreed.  Until a man with a bigger scope came and proved it was just a rock.  Such a disappointment.   But he was nice about it, didn't mean to burst bubbles, just wanted to make sure the reporting of the owl was accurate (all the birders seem to record their findings for scientists.)

Yesterday, I went out looking.  I saw a swan and some gulls and some ducks; I'm not great at identifying ducks yet--though, after a lifetime of hearing about ducks, I can at least recognize Mr. and Mrs. Mallard!   I had a nice talk with a birder (always identifiable by scope or at least binoculars, usually both)--a firefighter who drives home by way of local birding spots--and he had some great suggestions (eBird to report sightings and Merlin from Cornell Labs for bird identifications--it asks 5 questions and narrows down what you could be looking at and shows pictures!) and helped me identify some Snow Buntings and American Tree Sparrows, both apparently uncommon. All the birders I've met so far have been nice--from the first one we talked to who said she's a birder who looks for other birders because they know where the birds are (and that's how we saw the owl!), to those who have shared their scopes with higher resolution than my binoculars so we can see to the firefighter with the apps and help.  After we talked, it started to rain and I left.   And apparently, quite literally minutes later, the owl was chased around the breakwater by some gulls and some birders got great photos.  I hope the birder saw it.   I think the owl is teasing me.  But I'll go looking again today.  There's not much time left; as it gets warmer the bird will head back to the Arctic.

I tend to like these big, impressive birds of prey.  Hawks, eagles, owls.   I'm not sure I can usually get excited about sparrows and warblers and such.  I guess people specialize, like Pop likes ducks.    Who knows, maybe I'll expand.  We'll see if I go out in summer.  It's a good walk and a non-impact sport, as Pop says, and it gives us something to talk about besides Drumpf and the election, which is almost as depressing as climate change and the like (and certain to have long-lasting repercussions on the environment.)

And so I leave you with this video (because I'm heading out to the birding spot!),  "Sh*t Birders Say," which I find funny, having heard my dad talk like this for years.  Now I'm starting to as well.  See, beginner bird nerd.

OWL!!!!!

The kids were home sick today, more a result of being out late at Lincoln Center than actual full illness.  Sis's fever hasn't come back and Bud didn't have one, but both were listless with no appetite. By mid-afternoon, though, they had perked up and so I made them an offer:  come owling with me on the last nice day til the weekend and I will buy us lunch out.  Always game for take out, they agreed.

See, the snowy owl has been spotted in town again, even by very amateur or casual birders, not just the very dedicated ones.  And I wanted to try my hand at seeing him (most reports are that it's a male) before the rain drove him away.

So we headed down to the right beach, and even as we drove I swore I saw an owl fly over a few houses, the big chunky white body (compared to a gull), the distinctive flight.  I almost had a one-person car accident trying to keep my eye on the owl.  We circled the area a few times but gave up--probably sitting on someone's back deck somewhere (as it apparently has done before.)

Then we went to the beach and immediately noted a huddle of birders down on the edge of the marsh, with their binoculars and scopes on tripods.  We walked over and, sure enough, they had a snowy owl in their sights.  They pointed to a tiny bump on a log--albeit a very white bump--some 200 or 300 yards away.  How could they know it wasn't a plastic bag?  They let us look through the lens and sure enough:

SNOWY OWL!!!!!

There it was, right there, on a log, facing us full forward (not in the usual over-the-shoulder or side pose), with its oh-so-white body and some black specks.  Occasionally it would preen, cleaning around its left wing, but then it would go back to sitting stock still.  Like a white bump on a log.   Beautiful, just beautiful.

I couldn't believe it.

SNOWY OWL!!!!

And if the birders hadn't been there with their 20x scope, we would never have noticed it, perhaps even with our 8x binoculars (though, we could see it just enough with ours, once we found it.  Thanks for those, Pop!)  The kids were as jazzed as I was.  And so grateful to the birders for pointing him out and sharing the view.  If we'd arrived just 10 minutes later, we would have missed it completely.

They say there are 2 owls in the area and they've even been coming closer to the shore.  Some casual amateur birders--not intense ones like these who follow listserv updates on bird whereabouts--have even come across the owls very close up.

We stayed around a little while longer, marveling at our good fortune.  Perhaps hoping a bit that he take flight right towards us.  But no, he kept sitting on his log, safe in the confines of the marsh.  Such a beautiful bird.

And now we've seen one in the wild.

I think it just makes me want to see him again.

Can you see it?  It's right there!  Can't even see the white speck in the photo, but we could see it.

(For a sense of what he looked like, check out this Getty stock image, which is the closest "snowy owl on a log" result to what we saw today.  Now, make the image as small as possible and stand on the other side of your room and put up a rounded hand like a telescope--that's what it looked like.  About 1/2" tall in the scope.  Good thing they're white or we really never would've seen it.  And now I think I'll want a scope with a tripod!!)

-=-=-=-=-=-
Update:  Okay, I'm now geeking out on birding.  Just joined the Connecticut Ornithological Association which hosts the listserv that tracks sightings in our area (all the birders today recommended it) and also eBird, where I reported my sighting of the Snowy Owl!!  Should do the Audubon too (CT has its own chapter not affiliated with then national one, typical Connecticut.)  I don't think I'll ever be much of a real birder, but I do love those birds of prey--we see hawks all the time.  We've even already seen a few Bald Eagles in flight this year along the river.  If I had to list them, very unscientifically and incompletely, I'd say I've seen a Barn Owl, Northern Saw Whet Owl, Great Horned Owl, Snowy Owl, Red Tailed Hawk (though, admittedly, I have trouble telling them from Red Shouldered Hawks and Cooper's Hawks at a distance), Northern Harrier Hawk, and Bald Eagles.

Summer Fun: A Day for Birds of Prey

A barred owl (coincidentally, I believe
I spotted one on our drive out there)

Between morning kung fu and ice skating and an afternoon birthday party, also at the ice skating rink,  we headed to a special Birds of Prey festival sponsored by local wildlife rehabilitators, A Place Called Hope.  It was on the green of an old town, complete with meetinghouse, 1821 Academy, and 18th-century houses.  But we were most interested in the festival.  There were other animal charities--Audubon, Humane Society, a raccoon rescue group (I picked up a great crocheted raccoon scarf, like those old fox wraps!)--and lots of the usual kinds of crafts (something unusual--I picked up two make-your-own-tie-dyed-kite kits for the kids), plus a taco truck where we got a delicious lunch.

An Eastern Screech Owl, looking like tree bark

But the real draw were the birds.  The Eastern Screech, which I'd never seen in person, is so small.  And so was the American Kestrel, not pictured here, which they included in the presentation--tiny, for a falcon (apparently those tear-drop shadings by the eye are typical of falcons.)  I forget that owls can be that small--like the Saw Whet we saw in Block Island.  We also saw a Red-Tailed Hawk, which we often see near the river and even overhead.  It all brought back great memories of falconry lessons in England, various nature centers with rescued birds, and numerous Birds of Prey shows at Ren Faires and such.  Mama even inquired about becoming a wildlife rehabilitator (well, I inquired with her standing there.)  You take a class, pass a test, and then intern with a charity.  I hope she'd consider it--she'd love the birds (but probably not talking to the people so much!)

And our very common Red-Tailed Hawk

After the kids got ice cream treats, I headed to explore the Academy, which was open for visitors.  It had been an old school and is now an exhibition space of the local historical society.  The current show is about summer recreation and the tourist crowd that came to the CT shore before the hurricane of 1938.  There were some oppressive wool bathing suits and lovely white cotton dresses, since it was the thing to wear white for the summer (but not before Memorial Day or after Labor Day!) as proof that you were able to afford leisure time.  Even several straw hats and a discussion of the Straw Hat Day--men took off their felt bowlers on May 15 and wore straw until September 15, after which youths would snatch and stomp on any remaining straw hats.  There was even a Straw Hat riot when some unruly youths started snatching hats a few days before September 15 one year!  Who knew?

It was a short but sweet visit.  We'll keep our eye out for other interesting fairs and festivals in the area (including the hot air balloon one in August!)