Pat, I'd like to buy a vowel...

The clever folks over at the Hartford Business Journal have taken a page from the art of ransom note-writing and devised a little quiz to see how many letters you can recognize from downtown signs.

What does it say about my eating and drinking habits (and powers of observation, or lack thereof) that the first  — and so far only — letter I recognize at first glance is from Trumbull Kitchen? Take the quiz yourself here.

Who doesn’t love a free outdoor concert? And after all the rain we’ve been getting, any time there is an opportunity to sit outside and enjoy it not raining is a good excuse to do just that.

The folks at the Mark Twain House host outdoor concerts on select Tuesdays in the summer.  Bring your own chairs or blankets to their expansive lawn in the shadow of the crazy-brick home of one of America’s greatest writers. (If it rains, the event moves into the museum’s Great Hall.) Picnicking is encouraged, and there’s lots of room for the kids to run around. Performances, which run from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., are as follows:

–Tuesday, July 14: Girl Howdy, a high-energy, retro-twang, honky-tonk group of four musicians add tight vocal harmonies for a genuine jukebox sound. Their influences include Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, George Jones and other country-western legends.

–Tuesday, July 28: Carolyn Adams Band, a Caribbean-Gospel style group, is fronted by a mellow vocalist born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago who now resides in Hartford. Adams cites influences Patsy Kline, Kenny Rogers and Shirley Caesar to produce a smooth, tropical groove for easy summer listening.

The concerts are funded by the Evelyn W. Preston Memorial Trust Fund, Bank of America, Trustee, and the Knox Foundation; and supported in part by the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s United Arts campaign.

The Peaches Are Ready for You to Pick!, originally uploaded by moonjazz.

There is nothing like fresh produce, herbs, cheese or flowers, especially when you can buy them mere hours from when they were harvested, clipped, made or cut. There are three Farmer’s Markets in Hartford:

Old State House
800 Main St.
Monday, Wednesday & Friday. from 10:30am to 3 pm

Billings Forge (near Firebox Restaurant)
563 Broad St.
Thursdays, 11am to 2:30 pm

West End Market
Corner of South Whitney & Farmington
Tuesday and Friday from 4-7 pm

If you feel you must get out of the city, one of the best area markets is the Coventry Regional Farmers Market, Sundays at the Nathan Hale Homestead. They have weekly themes that include featured food items and entertainment, and some of the nicest vendors around. Be warned: the kettle corn they sell at the Coventry market is addictive! While you are there, make some time to check out the Hale Homestead, it is beautifully maintained by the Connecticut Landmarks Society and worth the visit.

For those of you heading even further afield, the CT Dept of Agriculture has a full listing of statewide markets here.

Now, don’t forget to invite us over for some peach pie!

sausage, peperoni, and bacon, originally uploaded by winyang.

bus stop on Pearl St.

Noticed on Saturday night, 6:30 pm, May 23:  one  standard city bus stop, Pearl Street at Haynes, festooned with enormous heart-shaped candy-type box, mini-picket fence, assorted silk flowers.  Too late in the year for Valentines Day. Does anybody know what this is about? Inquiring minds want to know….

It seems Our Fair City has been ranked #2 by Men’s Health Magazine for Lowest Risk of  Erectile Dysfunction. Sounds like we Uptight Pilgrims have a hot time in the old town more often than people think we do. 

Another reason to live in Hartford. More here.

Architect’s Rendering of Connecticut Science Center.

The Connecticut Science Center looms large on the Hartford skyline these days, both in terms of its edifice and its delayed (again) opening (it was March, then May, now June). It seems that despite belt-tightening (including an 8% salary cut for current staff) and a reduced ops budget, the Center is still way underfunded, and the State cannot give any more money. One option is to increase the ticket prices from $16 adults/$13 children to $24 per person. That means $100 for a family of four.  How many local families can afford that right now? Especially in the already-underserved Hartford market?

More here.

Senator Dodd is pushing for some of the federal stimulus money to head out this way — in the form of the long-discussed extension of commuter rail service between New Haven and Springfield.

We truly hope this no momentum has wings — or should we say, rails.

Real Hartford has posted a thoughtful piece about Hartford’s new and, hopefully improved, noise ordinance. Obviously, one expects a noisier environment in the city than in the suburbs our country, but it seems that in some city neighborhoods noise has become a real problem for residents.

The Courant story is here.

Butterfly Bowl by Susan Schmidt

Robin over at A Bird In The Hand is giving away tickets to the Sugarloaf Craft Festival, coming to Hartford March 27-29. Leave a comment on this post and you could win.