"Ancient Grim Reaper" - Postcard

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This week's Moo Mania challenge was "Things with Wings."

I created this using GIMP 2.10.10.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"Contemplation" - Postcard

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I created this using GIMP 2.10.10.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"Make a Mark" - Postcard

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This week's Try It On Tuesday challenge was "Make a Mark."

I created this using GIMP 2.10.10.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"Postal Bits" - Postcard

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This week's Three Muses  challenge was "Postal Bits."

I created this using GIMP 2.10.10.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"T Stands For Teddy On Bench" - Photograph

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I am joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth for this week's T Stands For challenge found here, for which I am late, but I will explain why below.

This is my summation of the past week:

Those are photos of Teddy looking at the water during our trip to Lakeview Cemetery in New Canaan, CT a few weeks ago. Teddy and I enjoy the tranquility of water settings.

The reason I'm late posting this week is because I needed a ticket into this week's T-gathering, and unexpectedly found myself without one. I had planned on taking a photo of Teddy with this week's grocery store flyer, however, when Teddy found out I went to "The Great Gatsby Mansion" (as he calls it), without him, he refused to pose for me. So I had to scramble to create an art piece as my ticket:

Coca Cola

This week was mostly sunny, but there was some rain, too. The weather was nice for all three days of the Memorial Day weekend, during which time I took photographs at an old cemetery and a haunted cemetery. Last week I also visited a small park, the reservoir, and an old colonial house.

Two weeks ago we had a Great White Shark in Long Island Sound, near Greenwich, CT, and this past week we had Black Bear sightings in lower Fairfield County. They said it is most likely the same bear, roaming through several towns. Teddy was thrilled when he heard about this, and said he hopes we run into the bear while we are out.

Fortunately, unlike Grizzly Bears, Black Bears usually leave humans alone, but they're still a potentially dangerous wild animal, so if we do see one, I'll make noise and slowly back away, like they say to do during an encounter. They also say not to have a bird feeder up, but last week I got a new one, to replace my old one, which got damaged, and intend to feed the birds all Summer.

I created more artwork, including Treasure Island, Bird Hat Lady, and Sun Eye.

Over the weekend, we watched The Night Of The Hunter (1955), Shadow On The Wall (1950), Key Largo (1948) Part 1 and Part 2, Sanctum (2011) (DVD), The Birds (1963) (DVD), Psycho (1960) (DVD), Jaws (1975) (DVD), and Caddyshack (1980) (DVD).

"Coca Cola" - Postcard

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I had The Great Gatsby on my mind, so the spectacles are a nod to that.

I created this using GIMP 2.10.10.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"The Great Gatsby" Mansion and Cottage Inspiration? - Photograph

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This past week, I took these photographs of the "cottage" and mansion in Westport, CT that may have inspired the descriptions used in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

According to a recent non-fiction book, in 1920 F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda spent five months living in a rental "cottage" built in 1758 at 244 Compo Road South in Westport, Connecticut, right next to the large estate of a millionaire, whose mansion was on a bay of Long Island Sound. And interestingly, the mansion faces Judy Point, where at least one house was probably located, just like in the movie / book, where Gatsby could see the green light at the end of the dock at Daisy's house across the bay. The mansion still stands, and is now The Inn at Longshore. The property is the Longshore Golf Course. The "cottage" is still at the corner of the vast property. You can read an article about the book claims here.

My photographs show the mansion facing the bay shore, the view across the bay, the front of the mansion, and the "cottage." In the second photo, the view across the bay is Judy Point in Westport, CT. (To the left, in the distance, and hard to see, is Long Island, NY.)

Ogden House Garden - Photograph

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I took these photographs at the Ogden House in Fairfield, CT this past week. It is located at the entrance to Oak Lawn Cemetery, where Mary Tyler Moore is buried.

In colonial times, houses near the CT shore used sea shells as mulch in their gardens, to prevent weed growth. If you look closely, you'll see that here.

Wolfpit Cemetery - Photograph

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I took these photographs at Wolfpit Cemetery in Bethel, CT this past week. It is located on Sunset Hill Rd, south of Wolfpits Rd and the intersection with Putnam Park Rd (Route 58).

Google map location:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/41%C2%B021'32.8%22N+73%C2%B022'44.0%22W/@41.3591,-73.379179,20z

Hookman's Cemetery (Great Hill Cemetery) - Photograph

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I took these photographs at Hookman's Cemetery (Great Hill Cemetery) in Seymour, CT this past week. It is located on Cemetery Rd, near the intersection with Holbrook Rd.

I didn't see anything supernatural here. There were a lot of bugs and several bats flying around catching them.

"Sun Eye" - Postcard

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This week's Sunday Postcard Art challenge was "Favorite Quote."

I illustrated a line (quote) from the song After The Flame by ATB:

"Don't take the sun from my eye"

I created this using GIMP 2.10.10.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

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You are the sun in my eye
You are the one who keeps me whole

After The Flame - ATB

"Bird Hat Lady" - Postcard

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This week's Three Muses  challenge was "Interesting or Amazing Hats."

Fortunately women's fashion no longer kills birds to put them on women's hats.

I created this using GIMP 2.10.10.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Great Blue Heron, Butterfly, Wild Turkey - Photograph

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I took these photographs at the reservoir in Easton, CT this past week.

Water Views - Photograph

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This is 1 of 2 posts of photographs that I took at Mill Hollow Park in Fairfield, CT this past week.

Wood Plank Path In Woods - Photograph

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This is 2 of 2 posts of photographs that I took at Mill Hollow Park in Fairfield, CT this past week.

Easton Reservoir Sights - Photograph

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I took these photographs at the reservoir in Easton, CT this past week.

"Treasure Island" - Postcard

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I created this using GIMP 2.10.10.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"T Stands For Teddy Looking At Baseball Field" - Photograph

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I am joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth for this week's T Stands For challenge found here.

This is my summation of the past week:

Those are more photos of Teddy from our trip to Aspetuck Park two weeks ago. I made sure this high perch was safe before I allowed Teddy to pose on it. I didn't want another mishap of him tumbling to the ground below.

I needed a ticket into this week's T-gathering, and Teddy pointed out there is a glass of orange juice on the table in this magazine photo:

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It was another week of mixed rain and sunshine. I was thrilled to get my first photograph of a Bald Eagle at the reservoir. I'm hoping it has a nest nearby and will return every year. I also went to the Mark Twain Library in Redding, CT. I didn't learn until I was an adult that Mark Twain spent his final years living at Stormfield in Redding, CT. Prior to that, he had lived in Hartford, CT. I visited the Mark Twain House in 2015, but unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos inside, which was gorgeous.

I created more artwork, including an Automobile, Seaworld Starfish tag and postcard, and I had the honor of being this week's guest host at Sunday Postcard Art, with a theme of Stars. If you like making postcard art sized 4" x 6" / 6" x 4" I hope you can join us this week.

Over the weekend, we watched Guest In The House (1944), Dear Murderer (1947), The Lodger (1944), The Scar (1948), and The Great Gatsby (1974) (DVD).

The Great Gatsby is a wonderful movie, but I hadn't seen it in a long time. When I watched it this time, I realized the main love story plot was similar to that of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: poor guy loves woman, they are separated for a time, and he returns rich, but she is now married to someone else.

Recently I heard about a non-fiction book that asserted that The Great Gatsby was inspired by the five months in 1920 that F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda spent in a rental "cottage" built in 1758 at 244 Compo Road South in Westport, Connecticut, right next to the large estate of a millionaire, whose mansion was on a bay of Long Island Sound. And interestingly, the mansion faces Judy Point, where at least one house was probably located, just like in the movie / book, where Gatsby could see the green light at the end of the dock at Daisy's house across the bay. The mansion still stands, and is now The Inn at Longshore. The property is the Longshore Golf Course. The "cottage" is still at the corner of the vast property. You can read an article about the book claims here.

Speaking of Long Island Sound, a Great White Shark was tracked off the coast of Greenwich, CT yesterday by OCEARCH. This is very unusual, but not unheard of. The shark, named Cabot, tweeted a greeting, but as word spread about the visitor, interested viewers overloaded the OCEARCH website.

Divers and Sundry had a blog post about a science fiction TV show called The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, which sounded interesting, so I created my own blog post with a link to all of the episodes that I could find, so I can watch them online, and in case anyone else wants to do the same thing. And for fans of the TV series Columbo, I have a link to all of the episodes here.

"At the Seaside" - Postcard

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This week's Take a Word challenge was "At the Seaside."

I'm not completely happy with my result.

I created this using GIMP 2.10.10.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"Seaworld Starfish" - Postcard

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I made this using the same images as the ones in this tag.

I created this using GIMP 2.10.10.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"Seaworld Starfish" - Tag

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This week's Tag Tuesday  challenge was "Seaworld."

I created this using GIMP 2.10.10.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"Stars (Constellations)" - Postcard

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This week I have the honor of being the guest host at Sunday Postcard Art and I chose the challenge theme of "Stars."

The dragon in this piece is Draco, a Greek constellation that "represents Ladon, the dragon that guarded the gardens of the Hesperides in Greek mythology."

I created this using GIMP 2.10.10.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"Wistful" - Postcard

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I created this using GIMP 2.10.10.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

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Take my life
Time has been twisting the knife
I don't recognise
People I care for

The Strangest Thing - George Michael

"Sadness" - Postcard

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I created this using GIMP 2.10.10.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

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I'd give it all and then I'd, give some more
If you would only love me like you had before

And from this moment on
I'll be crying, crying

That's How Much - Ambrosia

Crying - Roy Orbison

Mark Twain Library Statues - Photograph

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This is 1 of 2 posts of photographs that I took at the Mark Twain Library in Redding, CT this past week.

The horse sculpture is The Torch Bearers by local artist Anna Hyatt Huntington.

Mark Twain Library Water Views - Photograph

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This is 2 of 2 posts of photographs that I took at the Mark Twain Library in Redding, CT this past week.

The library is surrounded by flowing water, which creates a tranquil setting.