Monthly Archives: December 2019

Thinking About Regifting? Read More on This and Other Holiday Confessions

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Thinking about regifiting one (or more) of those wonderful gifts you received on Wednesday?  Well, you’re not alone since according to a Holiday Confessions Survey, published on Reviews.org, more than half of Americans (58.52%) admit that they’ve regifted a present!

Read the full article with lots more confessions (e.g., more than two-thirds of us have peeked at our holiday presents early, three-quarters of us have kept a present we bought for someone else, and almost 30 percent of us have gone more than $500 into debt to pay for our holiday shopping) at this link.

Talking Transportation: Pre-Cursor of the Tesla, the Dymaxion Car has Connecticut Roots

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Jim Cameron

Did you know that Bridgeport was once the home of “the car of the future”?  It was the Tesla of its era, but only three were ever built.

This mystery vehicle?  The Dymaxion Car.  The designer?  Buckminster Fuller.

Best known for his pioneering 1940s architectural design of the geodesic dome, a decade earlier Fuller was already inventing other things.  It was the 1930s and the country was struggling through the Depression.  Fuller saw the need for innovation, for “doing more with less,” and conceived of a mass-produced, pre-fabricated circular house modeled after a grain silo.

Built with aluminum, Fuller only saw two prototypes of the dwelling constructed and even those weren’t actually built until 1945.  Fuller called his design The Dymaxion House … Dy for Dynamic, Max for Maximum and Ion for tension.

It was a major flop.

The Dymaxion Car

Next, Fuller moved on to transportation, conceiving the Dymaxion Car, an 11-person, three-wheeled vehicle that he hoped might one day would even be able to fly using what he called “jet stilts”… and this was decades before the invention of the jet engine.

Indeed, the Dymaxion Car looked a lot like a stubby zeppelin with a forward-facing cockpit and tapered, aerodynamic tail.  Equipped with a rear-mounted engine that could run on alcohol, it could go 90 mph and get 30 miles to the gallon.  The car had dual steel frames while a wooden lattice-work held the outside aluminum panels in place.  The single rear wheel could pivot 90 degrees making parking a breeze.

Bankrolled with $5000 from wealthy investor and socialite Philip Pearson of Philadelphia, Fuller needed a place to build a prototype and ended up at the old Locomobile plant on Atlantic Street in Bridgeport’s Tongue Point neighborhood.  Don’t bother looking for this piece of history.  It’s long gone as the land is now home to the PG&E power plant.

When Fuller set up the auto workshop in March 1933, he hired naval architect Starling Burgess, who recruited 27 workmen, many of them from Rolls Royce, from the 1,000 applications he received.  In just three months, the first prototype was completed and rolled out onto the streets of Bridgeport on Fuller’s 38th birthday.  The car was immediately shipped to Chicago for display at the World Fair.

Sadly, the prototype was totaled after it was involved in a car crash, flipped over and killed its driver and left VIP passengers injured.  Initial orders for the Dymaxion started to evaporate over safety fears even though it turns out the Fuller car had been sideswiped.

A second prototype emerged from the Bridgeport plant six months later.  Fuller had hoped to display the Dymaxion at the 1934 New York Auto Show but pressure from Chrysler locked him out, literally.  Not to be outdone, Fuller parked prototype #2 right by the front door of the show and got more attention than he might have done on the exhibit floor.

Fuller even brought the car back for the last year of the Chicago World Fair in 1934 but public curiosity didn’t turn into sales.  Fuller eventually sold this second prototype to his plant workers while a third model — this one equipped with a stabilizing vertical fin — went to conductor Leopold Stokowski.

Only one of the three Dymaxions survived, car #2, which is now at an auto museum in Reno, NV.  But Bucky Fuller fans have built replicas, some of which are still on the roads today 80 years later.

Posted with permission of Hearst CT Media.

About the author: Jim Cameron is founder of The Commuter Action Group, and a member of the Darien RTM.  The opinions expressed in this column are only his own. You can reach him at CommuterActionGroup@gmail.com  For a full collection of  “Talking Transportation” columns, visit www.talkingtransportation.blogspot.com

A la Carte: A Day for Dauphinois (aka Scalloped Potatoes)

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If you are reading this column today, you know that yesterday was Christmas. If you have little ones, they probably woke you up at dawn, to let you know that Santa had arrived.

When our little ones were young, we spent Christmas with my husband’s sister in East Bloomfield, N.Y. We arrived on Christmas Eve, early enough to get to my in-laws’ church in Rochester. There my husband turned the pages of the lovely old pipe organ as my father-in-law played.

After that, we all drove to Roslyn’s house. Our children, our parents and we slept everywhere—kids in sleeping bags in the living room and family room, our parents in the bedrooms upstairs/ Doug and I slept in a Sofabed  two rooms away from the living room (that room, much later, became the bird room, but that’s another long story).

I’m not sure how Ros made this happen, but no presents were open until we had a full breakfast, waffles or pancakes or French toast, bacon and sausage and, for us, gallons of coffee. Then the fun began.

Wrapping paper and bows filled the living room and the kids squealed. We adults opened our gifts one at a time, exclaimed how thrilled we were with every present. We showed each of our treasures to the others. And every year we gave Roslyn a special one—always a gag gift, often naughty. She was supposed to show them to our parents.  Sometimes she didn’t.

Dinner, around 4 p.m., was easy: often prime rib, which came out of the oven as we turned the heat to 450 degrees. Then we placed the pan of Yorkshire pudding, which, of course, is not a pudding at all. Sometimes it was a ham, instead. If it was, there would be scalloped potatoes, which everyone loved. 

Today I am making a big ham for my neighbors, their son and his teenage daughter. If I could have gotten one, it would be a spiral sliced, Honey Baked Ham. It may not be local and it may be overly sweet, but I love that ham. There will be sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese (for my neighbors’ granddaughter), lots of vegetables and for dessert something special—perhaps crème brulee or chocolate pots de crème. The next day I will make a very French scalloped potatoes with slivered left-over ham nestled inside.

I love this recipe! (See below)

Gratin Dauphinois

From A Passion for Potatoes by Lydie Marshall (Harper Perennial, New York, 1992)

1 large garlic clove, peeled and minced
2 pounds Yukon Gold or russet potatoes, peeled and sliced one-eighth- to one-sixteenth-inch thick
1 and one-half teaspoons sat*
1 and one-third cups half-and-half cream
1 tablespoons cold butter
One-half cup heavy cream

Yield: serves 4 to 6 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 2-quart rectangular or oval dish 14 by 8 by 2 inches.  Scatter the minced garlic in the dish.

Overlap 3 layers of potatoes in the pan, sprinkling salt between each layer. Dribble in the half and half, barely covering them. Dot the top with butter.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes. Pour the heavy cream on top of the potatoes and tilt the pan to baste the top layer. Bake for 45 minutes more, or until golden brown.

*If you are adding ham to the gratin, leave out the salt in the recipe, but serve with a nice finishing salt at the table.

About the author: Lee White has been writing about restaurants and cooking since 1976 and has been extensively published in the Worcester (Mass.) Magazine, The Day, Norwich Bulletin, and Hartford Courant. She currently writes Nibbles and a cooking column called A La Carte for LymeLine.com, and the Shore Publishing and the Times newspapers, both of which are owned by The Day.

Letter to the Editor: ‘Tis the Season for … Vandalism in Old Lyme? What on Earth are the Perpetrators Thinking?

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To the Editor:

A view from my porch: some sorrow and anger.

It’s the holiday season, right? “Peace on earth to men and women of goodwill”, right? However, as I looked out from my porch window this morning, there was something that was clearly amiss.  One of my neighbor’s beautiful flower pots was missing and lay smashed and broken near my driveway on Library Lane. This was not a small pot, but probably weighed, filled with soil, a few hundred pounds. So, it took some vandalistic effort. Then, as I walked down the street, I saw that those vandals had also seriously damaged five mail boxes,  and even one of those little green men that alerts drivers that children are playing nearby.

Give me a break, people(?). Where’s your head at?

Sincerely,

Thomas D. Gotowka,
Old Lyme.

Lyme-Old Lyme Schools Seniors Cravinho, Wells Receive Prestigious Superintendent/Student Recognition Awards

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Lyme-Old Lyme Schools Superintendent Ian Neviaser stands with CAPPS Superintendent / Student Recognition Awardees Elizabeth Cravinho and Trevor Wells after the students had received their awards at a ceremony held Dec. 10, in Old Saybrok.

LYME/OLD LYME — (Press Release) Elizabeth Cravinho and Trevor Wells, students at Lyme-Old Lyme High School, have been awarded the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents’ (CAPSS) Superintendent/Student Recognition Award for leadership service to the school, academic prowess relative to ability, and service to others in the community at a ceremony held Dec. 10, 2019 at Saybrook Point Inn.

Ian Neviaser, Superintendent of Lyme-Old Lyme Schools, made the presentation as part of a program designed by school administrators to recognize students who have served their schools and communities while maintaining good scholastic progress.

The Superintendent/Student Recognition Program awards a Certificate of Excellence at the discretion of the local superintendent of schools according to a distribution formula set for all state school districts. Awards are generally given during American Education Week in November in order to provide a meaningful focus for each school district and to enhance the quality of the certificate.

Cravinho’s citation states:

Elizabeth Cravinho is not to be underestimated. She may present as a petite young woman but beware, for she is an energetic and determined dynamo. When you give her a task, consider it done. This energy level comes in handy when you consider all that she juggles: USAG Junior Olympic Gymnast, Concert Band President, Spanish Honor Society Vice President, as well as being a member of the National Honor Society, Student Advisory Council and Student Leaders, all while taking a challenging academic schedule and exploring her career aspiration of Dentistry.

Even when she took a risk and decided to give up gymnastics, which she loved and had participated in her entire life, she was planning how to spend her new-found time by taking advantage of opportunities within Lyme-Old Lyme High School and the Lyme and Old Lyme communities. Her altruistic nature motivates her to volunteer at Christ the King Church, Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library and Special Olympics.
 
This genuine young woman is as good as they come. She has an unprecedented work ethic, strong beliefs and the conviction to stand up for them and a sense of purpose to know it is her responsibility to make things happen in her own life while knowing when others need a helping hand.

Wells’s citation states:

Trevor Wells is a leader and role model at Lyme-Old Lyme High School known for his determined work ethic, leadership and his undying energy and involvement in so many worthy causes. A National Honor Society member and President of the Class of 2020, Trevor takes on the most rigorous courses and thrives in an academic environment. He is motivated by his strong curiosity and thirst for knowledge but he is just as committed to goodwill and kindness. Trevor has taken every opportunity here at Lyme-Old Lyme High School; for example, he loves to explore other points of view and takes three languages, Latin, Spanish and Mandarin – and performs excellently in all three. 

Trevor is an athlete and an outstanding member of this community who has been recognized repeatedly with leadership roles in many areas. He dedicates numerous hours to his role as Class President, captain of the cross-country team and the outdoor track team, co-founder of the Recycling Committee, and assistant coach for the youth lacrosse team. Trevor takes initiative and is dedicated in all his endeavors, Trevor is a natural leader, garnering immediate respect from his peers, as he steps into these positions with passion and grace. 

Trevor has been instrumental in the success of so many clubs and activities and has truly made a mark here within the Lyme-Old Lyme High School community. His impact has been broad and extensive, and his leadership and unstoppable energy have benefited so many. 

CAPSS, the statewide school superintendents’ professional organization, is based in West Hartford and provides professional development, personal support, statewide conferences, legislative information and educational services to its membership.