Treat. Definitely a Treat.

[gerisullivan]

All 100 or so people in yesterday's jury pool ended up sitting in the surprisingly comfortable and civilized Hamden County jury pool room for 4 hours yesterday, then were dismissed. They'd expected to seat two juries yesterday. One settlement was reached and the other folks were still futzing around with paperwork, so as soon as it was clear they wouldn't be ready until Monday, we all got to leave.

Prospective jurors were allowed to use cell phones except for when the live judge was in the room, and I could have even taken my laptop in and worked while we were all sitting around waiting. I didn't even ask because everything I'd heard from other places made it clear that sort of thing would be out of the question. That'll show me, and next time, I'll know. (I will confirm it then, presuming there is a next time.)

That's how I ended up down in Waterbury several hours before benyalow left NYC. Naugatuck is just a few miles further on, so I had the pleasure of showing up on the Brennan doorstep with a friendly greeting of "Trick or Treat!" for Elaine and Dot. elaine_brennan and I had a wonderful afternoon. As we were driving back to the house after an outing to the cemetery and new A&P near by, we suddenly broke into laughter. There, a block from her home, was the most amazing Halloween display I've ever seen. It was all homemade, themed on a circus. A large spinning wheel held a life-sized mannequin who was the bloody victim of a hatchet-throwing trick gone horribly awry. We'd never seen anything like it. We quickly unloaded the groceries, I grabbed my camera, and we headed back down Millville Avenue for a closer look.

Bearded Lady This woman is part of the team who put together a fabulous Halloween Circus display at her home on Millville Avenue in Naugatuck, CT. The beard blends with her hair so well because it's actually made from hair she had cut off last year. That's her natural curl.

Click through on the picture for my full set, or see elaine_brennan's through the link from her post about the fun. Do be warned, there's a lot of creepy Halloween and circus sideshow imagery, including some creative mutilation and surgery involving baby dolls.

That brings us up to last night. Today, Ben and I went up to Sheffield, MA to see an exhibit of paper sculptures designed by Seymour "Rob" Robins, madrobins' father. They were wonderful! More details about the show in my next post, I hope. We're heading out to see Rave On: The Music of Buddy Holly in a few minutes, so I'm out of time now.

Yep, a treat. Definitely a treat. There was even hot lobster roll and French onion soup for dinner last night.

Onward!

Comments

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

I love the Hallowee/Circus connection, very natural, I'm surprised no one's thought of it before*. Yeah!

* That I know of, at least.

[lesliet-ma.livejournal.com]

Oooh - Buddy Holly music. That should be fun.

My day was not quite so enjoyable, as I was canvassing for Obama in NH and happened to be assigned to a terribly conservative area. Many people had bought into the various lies told by the McCain campaign (he associates with terrorists, his wife doesn't love America, he's going to raise taxes, etc., etc.), so it was a bit depressing. No one was actively nasty, but it was sad to see all the apprehension and fear.

We did stop for a late lunch at a very nice seafood restaurant afterward, so I got to enjoy a lobster roll, too. (I figured I needed a reward for getting through the first part of the day.)

And I got to know a couple of nice people from Watertown that I carpooled up with. So that was good.