Welcome to today’s flowers-and-water edition of our online art gallery.
Yet no matter what subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.
Age, level of experience, subject matter — there are no restrictions. Everyone is invited to contribute.
Email it to 06880blog@gmail.com. Please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.
“Oh What a Beautiful Morning” (Karen Weingarten)
“Still Life” (Ellen Wentworth)
“Boats on Dry Dock at Cove Marina” — watercolor and pen (Kathleen Burke)
“The Blessing of the Fleet” — Southport Harbor (Laurie Sorensen)
“Would This Little House Be a Teardown?” (Nina Marino)
“New York Botanical Garden Conservatory Gala Night” (Richard Stein)
“Sensual #1” (Tom Doran)
“Rare Highwatt Puffins” (Mike Hibbard)
“4-F” (Jo Ann Miler)
“Taking a Breather” (Lawrence Weisman)
“Does My Hair Look Okay?” — watercolor (Steve Stein)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
Christmas finds its way into a few pieces in today’s online art gallery.
So, of course, do the usual subjects. Which is to say: Everything else under the sun.
When you enter our “06880” gallery, you never know what you’ll find. But you’ll always find works of interest.
This is your gallery. We welcome all kinds of submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — whatever you’ve got.
Email it to 06880blog@gmail.com. Share your work with the world! (PS: Please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.)
Age, level of experience, subject matter — there are no restrictions. Everyone is invited to contribute.
“Merry Christmas Mona” (Ken Runkel)
“3D Origami” (Claire Faucher)
“Milky Way” (Jerry Kuyper)
“Chaos” (Jo Ann Miller)
“Reflections of Winter” — impasto/gold leaf (Dorothy Robertshaw)
“Basket Full of Happy Peruvian Dolls for Christmas” (Mike Hibbard)
“Ornament All Year Round — My Victorian Bell Buoy” — Photographer Peter Barlow says, “The photo shows the top half of a very heavy object about 5 feet tall. I acquired it some 50 years ago for my back yard in Westport, and now it’s in my yard in Pawcatuck. I love it, but I don’t know anything more of its history.”
“Compo Post Season” — digital illustration (Maj Kalfus)
“Contemplation” (Lawrence Weisman)
“110 to Anywhere” (Andrew Colabella)
“Give Me That Old Time Religion! It’s an Olive Branch — Not Mistletoe!” (Steve Stein)
Untitled (Jon Nicholson)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
The holidays were on the minds of a few artists this week. Next week’s online gallery should be filled with more.
As always, we welcome all kinds of art. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — whatever you’ve got.
Email it to 06880blog@gmail.com. Share your work with the world! (PS: Please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.)
Age, level of experience, subject matter — there are no restrictions. Everyone is invited to contribute.
“Profile of Marley” (Peter Barlow)
“Window Shopping” (Mary Madelyn Attanasio)
Dorothy Robertshaw writes: “It is a tradition: handmade gifts for the holidays. My husband’s woven cloths … one of his latest hobbies since the pandemic. A big ❤️ and oyster shell, ornaments, and handcrafted wood-burned serving supplies. One of my favorite crafts from the 1980s ❤️❤️👩🏼🎤”
“Santa’s New Helpers” (Ken Runkel)
Untitled (Jo Ann Miller)
“Sacred Structure” (Tom Doran)
“This is the Last Free Ride You Get!” (Mike Hibbard)
“Angle of Repose” (Lawrence Weisman)
“The Last Leaves of Autumn at 06880-1927” (Steve Stein)
“December Sunrise in Connecticut” (Rosemary C. Williams)
“Sailors Take Warning” — Southport Harbor (Jan Carpenter)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
A sign on the door of the clothing and outdoor gear retailer smack in the middle of downtown says: “Thank you, Westport, for letting us be a part of the neighborhood for the last 18 years. It’s been an honor to call this community home.”
Patagonia products can still be found at their wholesale partner, ASF Sports & Outdoors.
Meanwhile, we could make the snarky remark that the valuable property could be replaced by a bank.
Except that’s what it was, for its first 8 or so decades of existence. (Hat tip: Sal Liccione)
Only 23 shopping days until it’s “Pata-gone-ia.”
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Looking for a good read (or holiday gift)?
Westport’s own Jo Ann Miller and Carl Addison Swanson’s “A Marathon of Changes” was called “a very interesting and motivating book for the new year,” by BookList.
Jo Ann — daughter of famed fighter pilot Thomas H. Miller. and goddaughter of astronaut John Glenn (who wrote the foreward) — grew up amid constant change, and in the shadow of the Marine Corps.
After emerging as a beautiful young career woman, the stress of work and life took its toll on her personality as well as her body. Faced with obesity, draining work demands and horrid tragic events in her past, she decided to change her life.
The culmination was the 2006 Marine Corps Marathon. The book follows her through each mile, as she reflects on the demands of the race as well as the remembrances of her past.
The book deals with the loneliness of obesity, the challenge of gastric bypass surgery, the tragedy of life and death, the intimate anger of rape, and finally the joy of financial freedom and newfound love. Click here to purchase.
The death yesterday of Sandra Day O’Connor brought tributes to the first female Supreme Court justice from around the country.
Westporter Howard Matson remembered a dinner he hosted for her 9 years ago, at New York’s Union League Club.
“She was very gracious,” he told “06880.”
“She spoke at length about her years after leaving the Supreme Court. Her favorite project was a curriculum developed to teach civics online to students. Justice O’Connor felt that there was a profound lack of understanding of the American government structure.”
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Howard Matson.
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Before you know it, Christmas will be here.
And the kids will be out of school.
MoCA Westport can help!
Their winter recess Art Camp for Kids runs December 18-22 and 26-29.
Morning sessions (9;30 to 11:30 a.m.) are for nursery schoolers and kindergartners. Participants must be “fully potty trained.”
Full-day sessions (9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.) are for kindergartners through 2nd graders.
One of the first compelling events of the new year is January 10.
Chabad of Westport sponsors an evening of hope and inspiration (7:30 p.m.). Esther Basch — the Honey Girl of Auschwitz — will tell her gripping story of survival and resilience. At 95, she is one of the world’s few remaining Auschwitz survivors.
Esther was transported to the death camp on her 16th birthday in a cattle car. she later faced a death march to the Salzwedel concentration Camp, where she was liberated by American soldiers in April 1945.
Despite the horrors she experienced, Esther’s unshakable faith and universal love for humankind helped her survive, then motivated her to share her story globally.
The event is part of Chabad’s new “Critical Conversation Series,” addressing contemporary Jewish and timely issues.
And finally … On this date in 1942, a Manhattan Project team led by Enrico Fermi initiated the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
(Only 23 shopping days left at Patagonia. But you can make a donation to “06880′ any time. Just click here. Thank you!)
“Five Mile River, Rowayton/Darien” (Kathleen Burke)
Untitled (June Rose Whittaker)
Untitled (Tom Doran)
“Dark Times” (Jo Ann Miller)
“Ridgeline” — digital image (Ken Runkel)
Untitled — Norway (Lauri Weiser)
“Coral Head Sculpture.” Artist Dorothy Robertshaw explains: “Thanks to Nancy Breakstone’s generosity and sharing her coral and shell collection, I created Jimmy Durante, Mr. Potato Head, Harry… and I think he looks like Bert from Sesame Street. His frame is a refurbished broken clock.”
“Aerin’s Thermal” — Steve Stein says: “Thiswas done by our 12-year-old grand child. Thermal art is done on a thermoluminescent screen, It is evanescent, and has to be done quickly before it fades away forever (unless granddad takes a screen shot!).”
“Waiting #3” (Lawrence Weisman)
Photographer Mike Hibbard’s caption: “Okay, they’re watching the elephants. You grab the lunch bags, and I’ll meet you in the trees.”
Untitled (Cohl Katz)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
Jo Ann Miller — a longtime Westporter and resident and realtor here — is in Columbus, Ohio this weekend to say goodbye to her godfather, John Glenn. The astronaut/senator/American hero died last week, at 95.
John Glenn and his wife, Annie.
Jo Ann’s late father, Lt. Gen. Thomas Miller, went to flight school with Glenn at the outbreak of World War II. They flew together at Midway, and several years later in the same squadron in Korea (along with baseball great Ted Williams). Glenn and Miller grew as tight as brothers, and built identical houses next to each other in Arlington, Virginia in 1958. Their combined brood of 5 children became great friends.
In 1962, when Glenn made his historic orbits around the eaerth, Jo Ann served coffee and donuts to the press in Arlington.
Despite the scenes in the movie “The Right Stuff,” Vice President Lyndon Johnson never visited the house. Jo Ann’s “Aunt Annie” — Glenn’s wife of 73 years — was not afraid of anyone, Jo Ann says. “Especially LBJ.”
Jo Ann attended the 1980 Democratic Convention, when Glenn gave the keynote address, and in 1984 when he attempted to gain the nomination for President.
She and her father were at Cape Canaveral in 1997, providing commentary for NBC News, when Glenn returned to space at 77 years old.
Jo Ann Miller and John Glenn at Ohio State University.
Jo Ann also watched Glenn give the commencement address at Ohio State University in 2009, where the school of public affairs is named for him. Her “Uncle Johnny” shook hands with over 8,000 graduates — and had his picture taken with every one.
“John Glenn was a great American patriot who served his country for 47 years,” Jo Ann says. “He was a courageous hero who believed in God, family and country.
“But I knew him as a man of kindness, humility and compassion. Those are the traits I will remember him by.”
Glenn will be memorialized at Ohio State today by Vice President Joe Biden, and over 3,000 guests. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery on April 6th — his wedding anniversary.
This month marks the 50th anniversary of John Glenn’s historic orbit of the earth. For a few days, the spotlight will shine again on the heroic astronaut — and, later, US senator — who helped usher in the Space Age.
For many Americans, John Glenn is a distant memory. For Westporter Jo Ann Miller, he is a lifelong friend.
Jo Ann — a realtor, marathon runner and author (“A Marathon of Changes: The Radical Transformation of a Baby Boomer“) — is the daughter of Lieutenant General Thomas H. Miller, the former head of Marine Aviation. Miller and Glenn attended flight school together, flew at Midway during World War II, and served in the same squadron in Korea (alongside Ted Williams).
The Glenn and Miller families were so close, they built houses next to each other in Arlington, Virginia. Jo Ann was there during those exciting days in 1960s. She recalls:
There were 5 postponements over a month leading up to the February 20 liftoff date. Each time, my parents, brother, sister and I got up at 4 a.m. to get our house ready for the press.
John Glenn in his capsule. The inscription on the right reads: "To Joannie -- A great 20th anniversary party! Uncle Johnny."
My father, granted special permission from the Marine Corps to be off during the flight, would get donuts. The rest of us set up tables and made coffee. By sunlight, hundreds of reporters and news trucks invaded our quiet neighborhood across the street from Williamsburg Middle School.
We Miller kids were allowed to be off from school, while our house turned into a media station. Meanwhile my parents and the Glenn family, along with the local pastor, stayed at their house next door watching television.
Dave and Lyn Glenn, the 2 children, occasionally visited us via the backyard. The press stampeded toward them, trying to get a story. Nancy Dickerson of NBC interviewed me at our house during the delays. It never aired, but I felt very important.
Despite the hoopla, by the 5th delay the routine got tiresome.
John and Annie Glenn.
In The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe said that Vice President Lyndon Johnson also attempted to visit the Glenn house, but Annie Glenn refused access due to shyness about her stuttering. That was a total fabrication. Not only did LBJ never visit but “Aunt Annie,” while nervous in front of the press, never refused any interview. (Thanks to a 1973 intensive program at Hollins University she now speaks freely, and has her own school of speech pathology at Ohio State).
The delays took a toll on “Uncle Johnny” too. On January 30 and February 15 he was in the capsule waiting for a countdown. He said, “I got so bored up there that I figured I might as well have some fun. So I started rocking back and forth. The rocket started to shake and it started the engineers on a mad chase to find out what was going on. It was one way to pass the time.”
Finally on February 20, with the fuel tanks fixed and the weather clear, the MA-6 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral. We all sat glued to the Glenns’ black and white television, excited but with obvious trepidation. My mother held Annie’s hand the entire time; my father paced the living room. It became especially dramatic and nerve-wracking when we were told that NASA had decided to cut the flight short due to a faulty heat shield. Finally, after over 4 hours in space, the capsule fell gently to the sea. We all relaxed.
President Kennedy; Lyn, Annie and John Glenn; Vice President Johnson, in Florida soon after the orbital flight.
Uncle Johnny wanted to go up into space again, but President Kennedy denied any future missions. “America needs a hero, John, and we aren’t about to lose you!” he said.
He got another chance, however, 36 years later — during in his 4th term in the Senate. At the tender age of 77, he once again flew in space. This time, the entire Glenn and Miller families were in Florida to watch liftoff. My father added commentary for NBC News. They didn’t ask me for an interview.
Last July, John celebrated his 90th birthday. He still flies his own plane, and with help from Annie helps run the John Glenn Graduate School of Public Affairs at Ohio State. He calls often, to remind me that you are only as young as you feel!
Jo Ann Miller and John Glenn in June 2010, just prior to his commencement address at Ohio State University.
One year from today, Americans will celebrate the 50th anniversary of John Glenn’s historic 4 1/2-hour, 3-orbit tour of earth.
This morning, only CBS’s “Sunday Morning” took note of the day. But one Westporter watched avidly — and recalled the events of February 20, 1962.
Jo Ann Miller’s family lived next door to the Glenns in Arlington, Virginia. Her father, Lt. Gen. Thomas Miller, went to flight school with Glenn in 1941, and flew with him at Midway and Korea. Glenn is godfather to Jo Ann and her 2 siblings.
John Glenn (Photo/Wikipedia)
After this morning’s show, Jo Ann emailed Glenn. She recalled the many postponements leading up the historic flight — and how each time, her parents woke the Miller kids at 5 a.m. to set up borrowed cafeteria tables and coffee makers for the press who descended on the house next door to the Glenns.
After Glenn retired from the space program, Ohioans elected him to 4 terms in the Senate. In 1984 he ran for president. Then, in 1998, he returned to space. At age 77, he spent 9 days on a shuttle mission.
Jo Ann traveled to Florida for the launch. She stood with her father — a special commentator for NBC. He was “so proud and happy for you,” Jo Ann said in today’s e-mail to her godfather.
Though Jo Ann Miller eagerly watched this morning’s CBS piece, John Glenn missed it. He doesn’t sit around much. He’s 89 years old — and still flying a plane.
(Click here to see Charles Osgood’s “Sunday Morning” piece on John Glenn.)
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Untitled (Cohl Katz)
