The past couple of weeks have been spectacular.* This has been one of the most astonishing, longest-lasting autumns I can recall. Every day brings new beauty.
Soon, of course, all the leaves will be underfoot. That’s the way it happens. Trees will be bare, and before we know it the snow will fly.
Before that happens, here’s a special gallery: Fall in Westport and Weston, 2021.
Bookmark this page. You’ll want to see it in mid-February, 2022.
*Not counting yesterday afternoon.
Devil’s Den (Photo/Claudia Sherwood Servidio)
Whitney Street (Molly Alger)
Japanese maples, outside Jerry Kuyper’s office on Rayfield Road. (Photo/Jerry Kuyper)
Longshore (Photo/Patricia McMahon)
Iris Lane, Greens Farms (Elena Nasereddin)
Joann Circle (Photo/Celia Campbell-Mohn)
Mayflower Parkway (Photo/Amy Schneider)
Finally, a rare fall rainbow over Dogwood Lane, yesterday. (Photo/Eric Roth)
Longshore entrance road, looking toward South Compo. Photographer Elisabeth Lewey says, “This is my 4th fall here since moving from South Africa. I still can’t quite process the beauty of fall colors.”
Same view, opposite direction. (Photo/Joe Massoud)
Now through 6 p.m., the Sconset Square store is collecting non-perishable food items for Connecticut Foodshare.
You can give cash or online too (click here). There’s a free gift from Brooks for donations over $100 — and you’re entered into a raffle to win a Brooks running shoe.
There was a lot of action at the Staples stadium last night.
The football team honored its seniors. Then the Wreckers beat Ridgefield 26-10, keeping their postseason tournament hopes alive.
They also dedicated “Paul Lane Field.” The legendary coach died in June, at 93.
On hand were many former players, and family members. Among them: Skip Lane. The star — who was coached by his father — sported his Super Bowl ring, earned as a member of what was then called the Washington Redskins.
Skip Lane, with his Super Bowl ring. (Photo/Baxter Urist)
One more “Oaktober” event (slightly delayed from November).
On Thursday, the Westport Garden Club planted a swamp white oak at Grace Salmon Park. Club members will mulch and water it for the first 2 important years after transplant.
It’s a fitting spot. Grace Salmon was an early member of the club.
A hat tip to Frank Geiger of Greenscape Design in Fairfield. He provided the tree at a reasonable price. His staff then carefully planted it close to the water.
The Westport Astronomical Society’s 2022 calendar is available now.
Amateur astro-photographers — led by president Shannon Calvert — took the photos. There’s daily astronomical data too, courtesy of Phil Harrington.
The cost is $15 for members, $20 for non-members. Shipping is $5 for 1 or 2 calendars, $10 for 3 to 5. It can also be picked up at WAS events, To order, email alex@was-ct.org,
Longtime Westporter and noted hair stylist Frank Migliarese died unexpectedly last week. He was 88 years old.
Following graduation from Staples High School, Frank served his nation in the Army.
Returning to his beloved Westport, he enrolled in the Sassoon Academy and began a career in cosmetology. With his haircutting skills and charming personality, he won the hearts of many.
He owned Salon Coiffeur in down Westport, where he made his mark in the world of beauty. He loved his customers, and worked well into his 80s.
When he was not at his salon, Frank enjoyed Compo Beach, a special place all his life.
Frank’s obituary calls him “family-oriented, warm, personable, well-dressed, understanding, with a great sense of humor.”
A funeral is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday, November 17 at Assumption Church. Interment will be private. The family will receive friends in the Harding Funeral Home on Tuesday, November 16, from 4 to 8 p.m. Click here to leave online condolences.
Many Westporters support Adam J. Lewis Academy, the innovative Bridgeport elementary school that for nearly a decade has changed many lives.
On November 18, they’ll unveil a “Hope Quilt.” Artist Lizzy Rockwell led a community production with over 200 volunteers. The quilt will hang proudly in the school.
For more information on Adam J. Lewis Academy, click here.
Congratulations to Staples’ November Students of the Month!
Alonzo Darby, Nina Driscoll, Max Levy, Christina Meehan, Maria-Despina Mutescu, Michael Porzio, Tyler Rockwell and Chanel Wash “help make Staples a welcoming place for peers and teachers alike. They are the ‘glue’ of the Staples community: the type of kind, cheerful, hard-working, trustworthy students that keep the high school together, making it the special place that it is.”
Teachers nominate students who are friendly to staff and fellow students, and make positive contributions in class as well as the Staples community.
From left: Max Levy, Alonzo Darby, Nina Driscoll, Tyler Rockwell, Maria-Despina, Mutescu, Christina Meehan, Michael Porzio. Missing: Chanel Wash.
Posted onNovember 13, 2021|Comments Off on 0*6*Art*Art*0 — Week 85 Gallery
We’re still in autumn mode this week. Let’s keep it going as long as we can!
Whatever your age and level of experience — professional or amateur, young or old — this feature is open to everyone.
All genres and styles are encouraged. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, lithographs, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage (and now needlepoint) — whatever you’ve got, email it to dwoog@optonline.net. Share your work with the world.
Untitled. Photographer Werner Liepolt says, “This has been a phenomenal year for those of us with fall blooming gardens. This is one of 7 fabulous spoon/spider chrysanthemums that made it to November.”
In the summer of 1955, 7-year-old Westporter Carl Addison Swanson had $12.34 in earnings, from his summer landscaping business.
His father marched him down to Southport Savings — a bank later purchased by People’s — to open a savings account.
Carl had his eye on a new baseball mitt. It did not happen. “Depression parents and all?” he wonders today.
Some 61 years later (and still a People’s Bank client), Swanson learned that an investment firm’s error (someone entered the wrong account number) resulted in the transfer of $28,000 from his checking account, to one of the firm’s clients.
People’s fixed the error relatively quickly (about 2 weeks).
But Swanson’s banking woes were not over.
In mid-August, he put a $10,000 check in his mail box to pay his credit card bill.
It never reached Chase. Instead it ended up in someone’s individual account, in a local TD bank.
The FBI, police, US Postal Service, People’s Bank and The Hartford (homeowner’s) insurance company have all tried to get restitution. It still has not happened.
Swanson — himself an attorney — says, “The banks have gotten too big to fail and to serve their customers. Bigger is not always better.”
Spent 20 minutes crawling from I-95 exit 17 to the Cribari Bridge, on traffic-filled Charles Street and Riverside Avenue
Spent 20 minutes trying to decide where to have dinner in Saugatuck: Rizzuto’s? Tutti’s? Harvest? Tarantino’s? Romanacci’s? Viva? Bistro du Soleil? The Whelk? Or a dozen or so others?
Rented a kayak, bought some ice cream or fresh bread, or visited another local merchant near the river
Taken a train to or from New York, or picked up or dropped off someone at the station
Looked at the concrete 4-story office building across from Luciano Park and thought, how the hell did this ever get built here?
… then you’ll be amazed by this week’s Friday Flashback.
It shows a Saugatuck we can’t even imagine.
Long before I-95 slashed through; before the Italians made the community their own; before, even, the factories and wharves along the river hummed with activities, this was what Saugatuck looked like.
Maybe.
Postcards have been known to stretch the truth.
But this Saugatuck scene looks nice — wherever it was.
Meanwhile, if you think you can identify the spot where these cows grazed, click “Comments” below.
On the heels of Veterans Day, Y’s Men member Jay Dirnberger has created a program about the Vietnam War for the Westport Library’s Oral History Project.
On November 23 (7 p.m., Westport Library) he and 3 other combat veterans — all now Westporters — will talk about their war experiences, reflect on its impact since leaving the military, then answer questions from the audience.
Captain Jay Dirnberger, US Army retired, came home from his last college final exam to find he’d been drafted. He missed his graduation to report to the Army. He completed helicopter flight training, was commissioned a Second Lieutenant and assigned to an assault helicopter battalion in Vietnam in 1968.
Also on the panel: Lieutenant JG Tucker Mays, US Navy retired. He served most of 2 9-month tours at Da Nang as a boat group commander,
Air Force Sergeant Bud Siegel was assigned to an air traffic control unit responsible for controlling fighter/bombers near the North Vietnam border.
The final member of the panel, Army Sergeant and Y’s Man Preston Koster, was first assigned to Vietnam as a combat engineer, then finished his tour of duty near Saigon.
Y’s Man John Brandt, a Vietnam era Naval Reservist, though not a combat veteran, will moderate the discussion.
Jay Dirnberger served with the 1st Cavalry Division in South Vietnam.
They’re years away from military service. But Boy Scout Troop 100 had the honor of accompanying and supporting veterans during yesterday’s ceremony at VFW Post 399.
Led by Scoutmaster Alexey Syomichev, the troop has dedicated this year to supporting local veterans, and the VFW post. Scouts have built relationships with VFW members, and are dedicating service hours, and leadership and Eagle projects, to benefit and support those who served.
Before yesterday’s festivities, Troop 100 cleaned and painted the VFW parking lot, provided fresh painted lines and arrows, and cleaned up the VFW grounds.”
Boy Scout Troop 100, at yesterday’s VFW Veterans Day ceremony.
Speaking of the Playhouse: There’s no “doubt” that the current production of “Doubt: A Parable” — the first in-person play since the pandemic — is a hit.
It runs through November 21. Click on the trailer below. Then click here, for tickets and more information (including virtual tickets).
And finally … happy birthday to Booker T. Jones. The pianist/saxophonist/ songwriter/producer/Grammy Award Lifetime Achievement winner is 77 years old.
Go back for light bites at 4 p.m. Stay for drinks, and a sit-down dinner.
Or just pick up prepared foods, to bring home.
Allium Eatery’s menu is small. But there’s something for everyone at Westport’s newest restaurant,*
Allium has moved into the Railroad Place site previously occupied Romanacci (which relocated next door), and before that Cocoa Michelle.
Allium Eatery’s doors are open.
Owner/chef Michelle Greenfield eased in with a soft opening. Reviews have been raves, with plenty of repeat customers. Allium — Latin for bulbous herbs of the lily family. including onion, garlic, chive, leek and shallot — is now open Tuesday and Wednesday from breakfast through afternoon, adding dinner service Thursday through Saturday. It’s closed Sunday and Monday.
Greenfield — a Newtown native — worked in her first restaurant at 16. With a degree from the Culinary Institute of America, she headed to an Italian restaurant on Providence’s famed Federal Hill.
She returned to Connecticut to focus on French cooking, then catered in the Hudson Valley. After a stint at Jesup Hall with Bill Taibe, she led the team at the Schoolhouse at Cannondale. She had free rein there to hone her style: “modern American with French undertones, using playful, bold flavors.”
COVID closed that highly regarded restaurant. It also freed Greenfield to imagine her own place.
“I love fine dining, and boutique menus that change frequently,” she says.
“But how can you sustain a restaurant based on that, when the industry is changing so quickly?”
Fromage and more: part of Allium’s buvette (snacks and sip) service.
Her solution: a flexible eatery with sittings on weekends, but otherwise casual, with small plates and takeout items.
The train station location lends itself to grab-and-go meals. But with plenty of restaurants nearby, it’s considered a sit-down destination too.
Greenfield signed her lease last May. Since then she’s dealt with changing COVID mandates and construction delays, some caused by the broken supply chain.
Now she’s at the end of week 3. Breakfast sandwiches have been a surprise hit, with morning commuters coming in more frequently than she anticipated. They’re there to grab all-natural, free-range rotisserie chickens in the evening too.
Rotisserie chickens from Sport Hill Farm come with fingerling potatoes and orange cauliflower.
Diners love dinner items like Parisian gnocchi with smoked mushrooms, lardon, beet silk, Marconi almond pesto and lemon ricotta. Other dinner choices include braised short ribs, Sport Hill Farm squash and Pei mussels.
The menu will change frequently, with the weather and availability of fresh ingredients.
Buvette service — “snacks and sips,” starting at 4 p.m. — includes spiced nuts, crudite, duck riellette, fromage and saucisson.
Greenfield will also offer pre-orered Thanksgiving sides to go, holiday take- home meals, and events like wine tastings.
The restaurant industry is changing. So are Westport’s commuter habits. But it looks like Allium Eatery has already found a home by the train station.
Bon appétit!
*Along with Salsa Fresca, the fast-casual Mexican place, which opened on Monday at the former Qdoba, on Post Road East by the entrance to Playhouse Square.
Allium Eatery has completely designed the former Romanacci space.
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