Happy Autumn! The leaves are starting to turn, and it was... 28 degrees yesterday. Nice weather for JUNE. Bizarre. Reminds me of the Simpsons' newscaster Kent Brockman's line about an unseasonable warm snap in the middle of winter (in the Mr. Plow episode): "Could this record-breaking heat wave be the result of the dreaded 'Greenhouse Effect'? Well, if 70-degree days in the middle of winter are the 'price' of car pollution, you'll forgive me if I keep my old Pontiac."

It seems that I have been premature in writing off Hartford's arts community. I spent my lunch hour yesterday continuing my tour through the Wadsworth Athenium art gallery, not huge, but possessed of a truly amazing collection for its size. Besides an excellent selection of American art, the Wadsworth boasts a fine collection of Italian and Spanish baroque, and twentieth century surrealist and modernist works. It also has a great lunch cafe. Admission is free for those with Travelers ID badges, like me.

Also yesterday, I went to the Hartford Stage Company's production of Much Ado About Nothing with a few of my colleagues. The play is quite familiar to me, as I just saw the 1993 Kenneth Branagh version last year. It was a fine production, though it really needed to be for the $48 (U.S.) ticket price... Still, Shakespeare's text was delivered almost flawlessly, and the many jokes came through easily. It's a great play, and an impressive company. Unbelievable that in a small city like Hartford they can stage a play for a whole month, and sell out many of the shows. Last night there were no empty seats.

So I take it all back! There are some things to do in Hartford, and it does have a rich community, despite the mostly empty streets after sunset.

'Course I'm still looking forward to finishing the project and coming home...
posted by Tom at 11:41 AM | link |