New England Architecture

These two photos were taken in a small town called Pine Meadow, CT (map). I have gone past this house and church a thousand times, but this is the first time I ever got out to look at them closely and appreciate the architecture. One of the photos is a church and the other is a house for sale. (Hmmm, wonder how much.)

Blind vs. Hidden Driveway

 

Driving around residential Connecticut we saw a lot of blind and hidden driveway warning signs. After a while, we started to wonder what the difference is between a blind driveway and hidden driveway road sign. Our guess is this: to the driver on a road, a driveway can be hidden (HIDDEN sign). And, that same driver should be careful because drivers emerging from the driveway are blind to what’s coming on the road (BLIND sign). In general, it's best to interpret both as BE CAREFUL. 

We never did find a suitable but did find some fun sites where you can learn more about traffic signs: 

• Manual of Traffic Signs
• Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD)
• Wisconsin DOT says signs like HIDDEN and BLIND are not in MUTCD. 
• Overview of diamond signs - the photos here are from this site

New England State Nicknames

Do you know the nickname of your state? Your neighboring states? Didn’t think so. While in New England this week, we got to thinking about state nicknames. The “official” nicknames for some New England states are: Connecticut the Consitution State, Maine the Pine Tree State, Massachusetts the Bay State, New Hamsphire the Granite State, Rhode Island the Ocean State, and Vermont the Green Mountain State.

An unofficial nickname for Connecticut is “Nutmeg State” which always baffled me. It’s not because nutmeg (Myristica fragans) was grown there. The common explanation is that shrewd peddlers would sell small carved nobs of wood shaped like nutmeg to unsuspecting customers wanting a little something from the spice islands. Try grinding that for your pumpkin pie. [ref]

Quahog Clam

After just a few days in the Cape and you can’t help but run into the word “quahog” - pronounced "ko-hog". It is a type of clam that are particularly common from Cape Cod to New Jersey. Quahogs can also be referred to other names based on their size, e.g. littlenecks, topnecks, cherrystones, etc. The distinctive name comes from the once-extinct-and-now-partially-revived Narragansett (Algonquin) language.

The bucket of quahogs attached to this post are from a clambake we had on the beach. Tough life, we know.