Stamford By Foot

Today’s walk was going to be my usual walk to downtown Stamford. The unusual started even before I left the house.

I noticed looking out the window a police officer had parked their cruiser on Silver Hill Road 60 feet from the intersection and the stop sign. Nothing unusual yet. The police often stop there for a few minutes. I watched one car come to the stop sign and it actually stopped, then another car stopped at the stop sign. A third car came to the stop sign and the driver did not stop. Not good. As they drove past the police car it turned on the flashing lights and pulled them over. I thought, did they not see the police car there. It was good seeing the police enforce the law.  Very few people stop at stop signs these days in Stamford.

Then on to my walk. Walking down Summer Street I crossed over to Broad Street and headed East.

I must say I did not expect to see a statue of the dancing Hippo at the library.  It is quite imposing. The hippo will be joined later by painted duck statues in June. You should try to see the display sometime this summer.

Okay, my afternoon walk is to Harborside and Kosciusko Park. As I approached Harborside I saw a large mast sticking out. I thought it must be an old sailing vessel. It was.

The boat is the Amistad and is a replica of the original. The original Amistad was a slave boat and the slaves revolted and ended up in New Haven. There was a court case that went up to the Supreme Court for a decision.  There is a movie about the boat.

Finally, I headed to the train station to take the bus home.  The bus 331 was late. It is always late at this time of day. I took bus 333 and had to walk a different way from the bus stop.  Almost home and my last discovery.

I am always finding money and the dime was the icing on the cake today.

Another day of walking lies ahead.  What will I discover tomorrow?

No, I am not leaving the blog. However, I have to say goodbye to my hat. My hat has served me well for many years. It kept me warm in the winter. It kept the sun off my face.

More importantly it allowed people to reach out to me. Almost every day someone would say I like your hat, or you look like Indiana Jones or a cowboy. It was a great way for people to open conversations with me.

I realize that people are looking for ways to talk to someone. My hat was the icebreaker.

Alas my hat wore out and I had to say goodbye.

I have a new hat. Hopefully it will draw the same attention as my old hat.

The other day I decided to take the train to New Canaan.  I have many different paths to walk home from New Canaan. I can walk to Darien and take the train. I can take the back roads to Stamford.  There are many beautiful houses and nature to enjoy on the walk.  That day I decided to walk to Pound Ridge, New York.

This is where walking home comes into play.  I was born in Stamford, CT. But I grew up in Pound Ridge  and lived there until I got married. My walk would consist of me going home and I planned to walk by the house I grew up in.

Pound Ridge is a big town and we lived right on the New Canaan border. Walking to Pound Ridge on Oenoke Road was like walking on memory lane. I

was a teenager when this wall was assembled.  The house was the weekend house for the mayor of Mexico City.  There was a house that had solar heating built in the 1950’s

I approached Barnegat Road. The road I grew up on.  There is a church and a

graveyard at the beginning of the street.  As a child my mother would walk us all the time to the church.  There was also a working farm at the time when I was a child.

Walking down the road my thoughts go to the people and houses that were an integral part of my life. There is a sloping yard where the Fossil’s barn was.  It caught on fire and burned to the ground.

The house I grew up in has been expanded dramatically since my mother sold the house.  It just not the same anymore.

But there is the rock.  My brother and sister and I would climb this rock all the time when we were living in Pound Ridge.  I even taught my daughters to climb the rock when we visited my parents.

After passing my house I continued to Stamford and finally caught the bus at the Fire House on High Ridge Road.  Next to the fire house was a house with a store attached to it.  The store is empty now.  When I was a child, my father would go to the store often with me. Usually, we would make the trip when we spent the whole day shoveling snow from our driveway.

It was a nice walk going home.  I have driven by my old house often.  Walking is so much better. You have time to bring up the old memories and reminisce about them.

The other day I had a good day walking. The morning walk consisted of walking to downtown Stamford.  From there I took the bus to Glenbrook and proceeded to walk to Springdale.

I then headed back to my house going by Sleepy Hollow Park.  I envy the people living on the east side of the park.  They have no cut thru traffic. It must be nice to live on a quiet street in Springdale.

That afternoon I walked up to Trader Joe’s. I was on the lookout for nice plants and a different soy sauce. No luck on either.

I then decided to go downtown and see if the Japanese store Maruichi might have some different soy sauce. They did. I bought an aromatic soy sauce. A nice change in taste.

At that point I have walked over twelve miles and I am going to take the bus home. It is fifteen minutes until the bus arrives. 

I am not one to stand around and wait.  I start walking again and plan on catching the bus a couple of stops closer to home.

I am waiting for the light to turn green.  The bus stop is just on the other side of the road and I have two minutes till the bus arrives.  As I cross the road the bus 331 passes me by. Just tragic, all my calculations for nothing.  The next bus is twenty minutes away.

I started walking again. I really did not feel like walking the last mile and half to get home but I did not want to stand around.

One minute into the walk I heard a horn honk. I look back to see why the person is honking.  I am gathering information on why there is so much honking in Stamford.

It was my bus 331 the driver saw me and she knew I wanted to catch the bus and let me know she was passing me.  I waved and ran to the bus stop and joyfully sat down on the bus. Triumph snatched from Tragedy. The Stamford Bus Drivers are the best.  They are always looking out for me and my fellow passengers

These two pictures represent the last of winter hopefully and the beginning of growing season.

The snow is at the parking lot of Stop and Shop in Stamford and the Oak and Cherry trees are on High Ridge Road.

I will be posting these two spots every third day.  We can watch the progress of leaves and flowers arrive.  We can also see when the last of the snow melts.

Today is March 28^th.  I am going to venture a guess that the snow will be gone in two weeks.

As I walk all over Stamford, I observe a lot.  The sights and sounds of Stamford run the gamut from amazing to dumb and dumber.

Unfortunately, I do see a lot of dumb things. Car drivers making right turns from the left lane. Pedestrians crossing High Ridge Road and being stuck in the middle waiting for traffic to clear.

The other day I truly saw dumb and dumber twice within two minutes.

I am at Bridge St and Washington Blvd waiting to cross Bridge St. The left turn signal on Bridge St is green.  The car in front does not move.  The car behind the front car pulls left into the oncoming traffic lane and passes the stopped car.  Dumb. Now the dumber part.  The first car was a police vehicle.  The police officer now makes the left turn and pulls the first car over. I don’t think the driver got a ticket. They both left within a minute of being pulled over.

Now the second dumb incident.  I am waiting to cross Washington Blvd and I see a person with a fidgeting dog crossing Washington Blvd because there was no traffic on their side.  Of course, they get stuck in the middle because traffic is coming the other way. I don’t get it, why do people do dumb things. I also caught up to them within two hundred feet.  They risked their safety for what. Five seconds saved.

The Glass House is behind the stonewall.  The Glass House was designed by Philip Johnson, a world-famous architect. This building was his weekend retreat.

The structure is located in New Canaan CT and you are able to take tours of the house and grounds from April to November.

I have not taken the tour yet. However every time I walk this area I take a peek at the house.

The other day I took the train to New Canaan and my goal was to walk back to my house in Stamford.  It is about a two hour walk.

Of course, the train was late. I had mapped out my walk. But I took the road above the train station by mistake, and when I realized my mistake, it did not make sense to turnaround.  It was going to be a longer walk than I expected.

That’s okay. New Canaan is a beautiful town with many interesting houses and stone walls. The road I took had many of them.

Here is a picture of a stone wall I walked by.  I have been going to this stone wall for the last twenty years.  It is always enjoyable to do this part of the walk.

Next time, I will tell you what is behind the stone wall that draws me to it all the time.

The last few days we had snow- and snow-covered sidewalks.  I was afraid my streak was going to end. Of course, I did not let snow stop me from walking. I used to be a mailman many moons ago and their motto is Neither snow rain or sleet will stop them. That is my philosophy now.

The streak is finding coins on my walk. The streak has lasted a month and half.  Everyday I find coins. Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.

The strange thing is where I find the coins. Downtown Stamford is always good for finding coins. I also find coins on roads where there is no bus stop or little pedestrian traffic.

I figured the day of the storm my streak would end with the roads and sidewalks being covered in snow. But to my delight I found one coin. The streak continues for now.

On a similar vein I read an article in the NY Times titled “How to feel alive”. The main point is to commit to noticing the world around you. That is what I do when I walk and finding coins is a part of noticing the world.

A Not So Typical Morning Walk

Usually, my morning walks start at my house. Today was different. I went with my wife to my daughter’s house to feed the cats. 

I started my walk at the corner of Westover Road and Westover Ave.  Why do they always use the same name and only change road, street, avenue or Court. It used to upset me when I thought I was on the correct road. Now with GPS it is not so bad.

I start my walk heading south on Westover Ave.  I have not walked on Westover Ave and I am looking forward to the sights.

The road has many trees along the way plus a park.  One nice sight is moss.  You see it often on the north side of roads.

Suddenly the road has a new name.  This happens all the time in Stamford.

Here at least the change is due to the road entering Greenwich.

The road parallels the Mystic River and at one point the Mystic River is right next to the road.

The road ends at Palmer Hill and I head back to Stamford.  The stone walls on Palmer Hill are beautiful and look quite old.

There is an electronic speed sign and it is always interesting to see how the speed limits are disregarded around Stamford.

I am on Stillwater Road approaching downtown when I spot a nice sculpture. Stamford is full of art and sculpture.

Did you notice the barbershop in the background?  There are barbershops and hair salons all over Stamford.  Some day I will have to do a census of them. The must be at least 100 in Stamford.

Finally downtown Stamford.  I am off to the Mall for some tea at Barnes and Noble.

The walk was five miles and it took less than two hours. I enjoyed going from rural to urban in that short time frame.