Zydeco under the Stars in West Hartford

One of the best local activities of the summer has got to be the Elizabeth Park Wednesday Night concert series (schedule here) which starts on June 27th and runs through August 29th. It's a great time for friends and family to bring lawn chairs, blankets, and dinner of choice and hang out, socialize, and even dance under the stars to the music of various bands from different genres. It is the best run, best attended music series in the region!

For the annual attendees, it's really a fun reunion of sorts, as each year, the same familiar faces tend to meet up with each other, and catch up on the latest news and gossip while listening to the sounds of some darn good amateur bands.

Most amazing is that the event is very typically "West Hartford" to the point where you just look around and giggle to yourself. The diversity on the green matches West Hartford's - often disregarded diversity of population. On one side of us, a group of well-dressed ladies were drinking $150 bottles of wine and enjoying select cheese carvings, to our right - another group of younger guys were sitting around drinking bud light and munching on ham sandwiches. And then a bus pulled up and out popped about twelve members of the senior community (we helped set up their chairs), and then you have the "who's who" in town - back at the edge of the rose garden hanging out at the tent sipping IPA and gabbing about the latest town scandals.

And of course, mixed in, there are the West Hartford families - with lots of children (including my own) running around, singing, dancing, and laughing! This is the blend that makes West Hartford a great community!

And no matter what music is playing (the bands range from Country to Symphonic), its always a great time. And it makes "hump day" a little easier for us working folks!

Last night was the always anticipated, always loved - "Zydeco Night" staring River City Slim & the Zydeco Hogs! The fast beat, and cheerful Louisiana style music made everyone get up and dance their hearts out in front of the stage! Even I got up to the stage with my laughing two year old daughter and did a little Zydeco shuffle. There's something about Zydeco that tends to bring out the positive vibes, and smiles everywhere - and last night was no different.

Thanks to the Elizabeth Park Committee and organizers for making this series possible! All of us appreciate all of the hard work and organization that it takes to make this wonderful element of West Hartford Life possible.

And if you live locally, and haven't been to a concert - you are missing out. Stop by next Wednesday around 6:30 pm, set up shop, and enjoy the atmosphere! Oh, in did I mention that its also - FREE.

West Hartford

In Need of Spring!

I'm not feeling particularly creative this morning, but I do find myself a tad bit cranky which is probably a bad thing considering that I've opted to start blogging today. It also might be the fact that the new daylight saving scheme is kicking in and I'm realizing that I've lost an hour of sleep, or it could be that when I went to make my usual morning coffee that I found none in the house! Argggh!

Well, I had to settle for black tea. Some brand called The Republic of Tea: Republic Chai - Travelers Tea. The tea can had dust on it but the seal wasn't broken, so I gather its safe enough for consumption. Looks like it has herbs and spices which I do not really care about when all I really want is bloody caffine!

Of course there is plenty to be happy about including the fact that dreary winter is almost over and Spring is just around the corner. Spring is more than March Madness, Golf, Grapefruit League, and Champions League - it's being able to get shed layers of heavy clothing and just get outside and get active.

In my lowly West Hartford neighboorhood, its as if everyone tends to hibernate for the winter. Occassionally you see people out shoveling snow or venturing out for the occassional six pack, but for for the most part my street resembles Tombstone in Winter.

The truth is - I'm tired of winter. It's too confining for my tastes, and I can't stand the cold weather. Winter is fun around Christmas time will all the ho ho ho and festive activity, but wears on you in January, and by February - it's darn right frusterating. And March, well that's really meant to be a spring month, so my view on late winter storms is that they are a huge waste of time. But let's face it, for us New Englanders - experience shows that March plays too many games to be taken seriously as a spring month.

I have about a dozen projects to get underway around the homestead, and I need the weather to cooperate a bit to begin slaving away comfortably. And I need to get much of it done before Baby number 2 arrives in May. So the race it get things done is on! And I hear we may hit the mid-60s next week, so that's a good sign!

Sports

It was good to see the English Premier League (EPL) teams not draw against each other in Champions League competition. No doubt there will be cries of conspiracies by the French and other lackluster Leagues who hate British Soccer (football). Odds tend to favor all-EPL final which I tend to favor anyway. Clearly Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea are the better teams anyway.

It was particularly great to see Manchester United beat Lille this past week. All the whining about an unfair goal in the previous round was quited by Man U's victory at home which sent the French packing and out of the competition all-together. And it's always wonderful to see a French team eliminated from any competition.

Next focus is to see how Man U do against Roma, which will be a classic game since at no time in the past have either team met. I'm just hoping that ESPN gets the rights to this game so those of us in the States can watch this epic clash live!

The Red Sox seem to be doing well in Grapefruit League games. Looks like our new starter Dice-K is getting acclimated to Red Sox Nation. Schiling looks a little out of shape, but he's throwing in good form based on this weeks' outings. Remember that Grapefruit competition isn't real in a sense that its not a legitimate contest. It's a chance for teams to try new things and warm up before the real season begins April 1.

Ok, for a first post - you didn't find much controversy. But it's my first post, and the Republic Chai tea just didn't do it caffine-wise!

So, with Spring in the air, it's going to be a good day to get outside. We will probably head to the West Hartford Reservoir or Elizabeth Park with the family and enjoy the day! Hope yours is a good one too!