ROSS TAYLOR

daily life: features

Jim Kennedy reads to his son, Elijah, before his baseball game. At left is Kennedy's father, William, who is dying of cancer. Kennedy is a single father who is taking care of both son and father at the same time.
   
It's an emotional sight for Beth Irwin, 13, as she stands by a deer that had been recently shot on opening day of hunting season. Irwin was out hunting with her father, Tim, who was passing on the tradition of hunting to Irwin.
   
Lisa Murzin-Pelcz sews up a hole in the screen window at her East Hartford house in which she has lived for 12 years. She is struggling to find a way to hold onto her house, but increasingly it looks like her house mayget foreclosed upon.
     
  
Robert Williams, of Hartford, right, waits for the bus in downtown Hartford along Main Street. Williams works downtown but was allowed to leave early due to the heavy snowstorm.
   
Richard Days, 78, kisses the hand of Ken Carter, 74, after Martin played saxophone for him at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center. Martin, a former professional musician, suffered a stroke 18 years ago and learned to play the saxaphone with one hand after his stroke. The Bloomfield resident volunteers at St. Francis and plays his saxaphone for people who are in the hospital, as well as at Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital. "That was a blessing - him walking in my door," said Days, who is also a resident of Bloomfield and knows Martin who said with admiration, "How many one-armed saxaphone players do you know?"
   
Megan Intfen learns how to swallow fire at the Coney Island Sideshow class. Intfen and other students learned to swallow fire as well as numerous other side show acts. Intfen is from Brooklyn.
     
  
Chris Hutchins peers skeptically at his father, David, after he kisses his step-mother after their wedding.
   
A child rises out of Broad Creek at Hilton Head Island as church elders baptize her. River baptisms are still a common tradition in the African-American church in the lowcountry region along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia.
   
Luz Hernandez holds her son, Elian Hernandez, while he waits for medical assitance by visiting American doctors in the Dominican Republic.
     
  
Kate Nellis, 19, whispers to her sorority sister Monica Kohli, 19, before riding the mechanical bull at Shooters Bar in Durham, N.C. At left is Jason Ellis, who works at Shooters. Both women attend Duke University.
   
Matthew Crusha, 2, cries while posing with the Easter Bunny for a photograph during part of the annual Imperial Oil and Plumbing Egg Hunt. The hunt was held at South Windsor High School and is conducted by South Windsor Recreation.
   
Bessie Nelson and her husband, Henry, are both in the hospital at the same time for various reasons. Twice a day he comes to visit his wife.
     
  
Brielle Rocco shows her displeasure with officer Brandon Brown in the Young Marines program. The program is held to help youth gain better discipline and respect towards others.
   
Charles Davis, 19, moves to give his date, Jennifer Lee Griffin, 18, a kiss at the Debutante Cotillion and Christmas Ball in Durham, N.C.
   
Childcare worker Linda Simmons consoles Ronald Folley after a daycare fight with Chip Smith (center) and Mike Minton.