A Whirlwind Tour of our Connecticut State Buildings

Today we went on a free guided tour program that took us to the Legislative Office Building, the State Capitol, the Museum of Connecticut History and the Supreme court courtroom in a whirlwind 2 1/2 hour tour. Our first tour guide had us step lively to be able to fit in all she wanted to say before we had to go to the next program. The tours were informative and very interesting and we are glad to have been educated by the knowledgeable docents, but we would like to go back one day when we don't feel so rushed and do a self-guided tour. I didn't have time to photograph things the way I would have liked. It was hard to capture the awesome beauty of the architecture and gorgeous designs and statues as we rushed through, but here are what I was able to take.

These first ones are of the Legislative Office Building.

The floor.
 



Another time, I would take more pictures of these beautiful cherry wood doors. The middle panels were different in each door. This one had our state bird, the American robin.
 



Tribute to the armed forces.

From there we went to the State Capitol. Our first stop was this beautiful angel statue which one day will be placed on top of the building. It is called the Genius of Connecticut. The original one was removed when it became loose and during
the war was melted down. When this angel is put on top, we will be able to say that we touched her.

This is the view above the angel:

 

 

Next the docent spoke about our state hero as we gathered around the statue of Nathan Hale.

 

Looking up to the ceiling.
 

Then she took us to the statue of Prudence Crandall, our state heroine.

 

 

 

The rest of our Capitol tour:



Each state received a model of the Liberty Bell in 1950 to mark the start of the U.S Savings Bond Drive to raise money to help set off the national debt.

As a final treat our docent had each one of us sit in the Charter Oak Chair and took our picture.

 

From there we rushed over to the Museum of Connecticut History. There a tour guide gave an interesting presentation about Connecticut inventions. He only mentioned a few since there have been over 100,000! He mentioned things like helicopters and submarines to hamburgers, sub sandwiches, silly putty, the cotton gin and sewing machine to name a few.

When we finished, we had a few minutes to tour the rest of the museum.

Here is the Charter Oak:



Add caption

 

Pictures of some of the other exhibits there:

 

Civil War quilt

Voting machine



Colt firearms (this is a portion of a huge display)

Our final stop was the Supreme Court courtroom where Justice Richard Robinson addressed the visitors.

I wish this picture on the ceiling came out better. I appreciated the symbolism of this painting. The woman is reading to the boy from the book of knowledge. The spirits are bringing down torches to bring the knowledge to the dark ignorance and superstitions.

Thus ended our tour. Just from looking at these pictures, imagine seeing all this in a little over 2 hours. We will go back one day when we have time to see more, relish the history and beauty of the buildings. It was a treat that these buildings are free to tour, and parking in the legislative parking lot was also free. We enjoyed a reasonably priced lunch in the cafeteria. It is worth the trip and should be a must for all Connecticut residents.

 

 

 

 

Donating Blood

A few years ago, I gave blood for the first time and I realized it wasn't so bad or scary as some may think. I tried to give as often as I could, but lately it's been once a year. Now that I have a freer schedule, I hope to give as often as is allowed. It is one thing that I can do to help the world and it's easy.

I understand most summers there ends up being a shortage of blood, as there is now. I want to describe it to those of you who may have never donated and are nervous.

You may see signs for a blood drive and most will take walk-ins but you can also go on the American Red Cross site and put in your zip code. You may be surprised just how many places close to you sponsor blood drives. Within these three weeks, there are three places within ten miles--and I live in the country.

When you get there, you will be greeted by a volunteer who will have you sign in and give you a loose leaf binder that you need to read and a short questionnaire. You will also have to show your ID. You will take a seat and read the binder which has questions in regards to certain medications, travel to foreign countries and things like that. You return the binder as soon as you are done and they will assign you a number. It is a good idea to bring a book in case there is a little wait.

When your number is called, you will be escorted to a little cubicle. This is the second time that you will be asked to verify who you are. If you have gum in your mouth, you will be asked to throw it away. They will pin prick your finger to test your iron levels. It does not hurt. Then they take your blood pressure and temperature.

You will be asked some questions and then depending on the nurse, you may get to sit at the computer and answer the remaining on your own. After you finished that, they will ask you if your prefer a certain arm as long as the veins look easily accessible in either. Mine are both good and I requested my right arm because I know you are not supposed to lift heavy things afterwards and I am left handed and I was going to pick up a few groceries (besides my heavy pocketbook).

You are led to a cot. There is a small step stool to help you get on the cot. Your head goes on a paper covered pillow. You will be again asked your name and date of birth. They will be busy labeling the tubes and bag that will collect your blood and whatever else they label. They scan the labels into their scanner.

If you brought a book to read, you can try to hold it up with one hand and read it while laying there. Don't bring a heavy hard cover. They will give you a rubber ball to squeeze in your other hand and ask you if you have an allergy to iodine. They then paint your arm around the vein with iodine.

Here comes the moment everyone dreads. "You will feel a pinch". I have had some so good that I didn't feel it go in and then I have others where I certainly did. Today I felt it and it was slightly uncomfortable for thirty seconds and then it wasn't noticeable. You start squeezing the ball gently (they did not tell me gently one time and I filled up the bag way quick!). This woman today said once every 2-5 seconds.

Now you get to lie there and read or count the ceiling panels or notice any abnormalities in the ceiling. You can glance around at the other people. One person was reading texts on his phone. You could close your eyes as long as you don't fall asleep and forget to squeeze the ball.

It doesn't take long before they tell you that you are done. You stop squeezing and they start detaching everything and more scanning. For some reason I was asked again my name--how could I have sneaked someone else in? They have you apply pressure with a gauze to the place where they took the blood and you leave your arm raised in the air for a couple of minutes.

Next they bandage it up. I was told to leave it on for 5 hours. They wipe off the iodine and if you don't feel dizzy, you can sit up and then go to the "canteen". This is a table with the rewards of your labor. Free juice, water and snacks. They vary according to where you give blood. I had cheesy crackers and apple juice today. Sometimes there are coupons or special rewards for your donation. They will also ask you if you want to sign up for the next blood drive. This one also had signs recruiting volunteers to work at these blood drives. It was funny that I was giving blood in a nearby town and when I got to the canteen, I sat next to one of my next door neighbors. It is a small world.

When you are ready, you can leave. The whole process took an hour for me. You are told to drink a lot of water, limit the caffeine and just to take it easy for a few hours. I have never had a bad experience or any ill side effects from giving blood. This is one little thing I can do to make a little difference, as the sticker says, or as the volunteer called it, "A badge of courage". It was not courageous. Courageous are the family members who stay at the hospital with their loved one who has had an accident or surgery or for some other reason that they will need blood. I hope that there will always be blood available when people need it and I hope that I have answered any questions that you may have had if you have never given blood. I feel I need to put in a disclaimer here. I am sure there are rare exceptions when things may not go so smoothly, but I have never seen that in all the times I have donated. It is only an hour of your time and a slight discomfort that outweighs the blessings that you are passing on to someone else. I hope to get into a pattern of giving as often as I can now that I have more time. I was afraid my years of donating were running out, but there is no age cap as long as you are healthy. I hope you will chose to make a difference too.

Vintage Baseball

Tonight we had the fun experience of watching a vintage baseball game. We had heard that there were teams that played in vintage costumes via vintage rules and were delighted when we found out that they would be playing in Torrington at Fuessenich Park. We got to see the Simsbury Taverneers vs. the Connecticut Picked Nine from Woodstock.

It was a fun evening and the entertainment was enhanced by the presence of President Abraham Lincoln (Howard Wright) who threw out the first pitch and local Civil War round table members who came in period costumes. Performer Thomas Hooker Hanford sang the Star Spangled Banner and entertained between innings. It has now come back to me that we have heard this talented singer years ago and I remember how impressed we were then with his smooth voice. Tonight he entertained with period songs including "Beautiful Dreamer" and of course, "Take me out to the Ballgame". President Lincoln  also told a couple of stories in between the innings. We have also been fortunate enough to have seen Howard Wright give a presentation as Abraham Lincoln in the past. He has been doing it for years and extremely well.



Abraham Lincoln on the ball field.



Thomas Hooker Hanford singing the "Star Spangled Banner"

The rules were told to us as things happened during the game. These brave players played without baseball mitts and one even played without shoes. The ball was leather and the bats larger than those used now. There were women on the team too.



barefoot player comes home
 

The terms (pitcher was the hurler, catcher was the behinder, just a couple for example) were fun to learn. It was also entertaining seeing them play by these old fashioned rules. If a ball bounced and was caught on the first bounce, it was an out. They could also do some trickery moves--like throwing an onion and not the ball to fake out the other players.

Rather than telling you all about it, I highly recommend you attend one of these extremely entertaining games if you have the chance. I appreciate the players who have kept this living history alive.

We sat behind Abraham Lincoln. Felt funny sitting behind him and "shooting" his picture.



These ladies sat in front of us too.



Thomas Hooker Hanford