Dragonfly

This little guy was also admiring the lotus flowers from yesterday's post.

Lotus Flower

Somewhere up near Narragansett, RI is this wonderful roadside lotus flower garden.  So unusual to see them growing in the wild rather than at a botanic garden.  Beautiful and large arising from the mud they are a sign of resurrection and growth.

Buttonwood Farm

Every year Buttonwood Farm offers Sunflowers for wishes to raise money for Make a Wish Foundation.  I went with a friend this past week, the flowers were gorgeous.  Lots of people around viewing the flowers, eating ice cream and taking hay rides into the fields. 

 The farm is in Griswold, CT

Red Admiral Butterfly

This guy decided to sit down on the concrete next to me for a rest. First, in the above photo, he had just landed.  I was surprised at how close he let me get.  Middle shot he is beginning to doze off.

Now he is in the resting position for a butterfly.

Friday at the Feeder

Hummingbird Happiness

This last shot taken with my iPhone.

Q Bridge aka Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge and Interchange Tour

I guess only real nerds take tours of the Q Bridge construction site on their vacation.  And so I did with the Meet Up group, Amazing Events.  This was truly a fascinating tour.  A construction engineer for the Bridge and then an engineer for the interchange improvement program gave a talk and slide presentation at the DOT in New Haven.  I learned so much I can't even begin to repeat it all.  I have a whole new regard for the DOT, engineers and workers.

 "Extradosed bridges have structural characteristics similar to those of concrete box girder and cable-stayed bridges and have been used for many years in Europe and Japan."  It's the first of it's kind in the US.  "The original Q-Bridge, a girder and floor beam design, was opened to traffic in 1958 and had only 3 lanes traveling in each direction.  By 2015, 140,000 vehicles are expected to travel over the Pearl Harbor Memorial (Q) Bridge DAILY." (my emphasis)

This tops a robe and stole.

They promised by November of 2016 it'll all be done!!!!

What a difference a day makes and another

Mystic Pizza

Mystic Pizza hole in the wall restaurant made famous by the movie with Julia Roberts, Mystic Pizza. Click 'MYSTIC PIZZA" for a trailer of the classic movie.

Mystic Drawbridge

Above is before we walked over the bridge.  As we were in it the whistles blew letting us know to get a move on it.

As the drawbridge was lifting the HUGER than life concrete blocks began their descent lifting the bridge.  It happens once an hour.

Seems like there has to be an easier way.

Nice view

 This is the view as you sit and eat lobster from Abbot's Lobster in the Rough.  Not bad.

Abbot's Lobster in the Rough

 A favorite in Noank, CT.  They have the BEST lobster roll in the State of CT...in my opinion.

It was early in the day so there were no crowds just yet.

But there was a busload of people who all ordered lobstah's.