Circus Camp - week 2

You will all be relieved to know, I'm sure, that John & I have survived week 1 of Circus Camp... and it's been FUN, even for us! We must admit, however, that several things have been in our favor...
- Corn is in season!!! and who doesn't like corn? (of course, I could also fill up this page with ALL the things at least one of the kids doesn't like but your imagination is probably as good as theirs). If you need a terrific corn shucker, Maverick is your man!
- In spite of an occasional "trying" moment, the boys get along well together. Please notice, if you will, how Win (his own idea I might add) decided to make lemonade drinks complete with a wedge of lime for Dillon, Maverick & Peyton and serve them on a platter. (Of course, the grown-ups WERE enjoying a bottle of wine at the time and hadn't offered to share.)
- The moms, Oletta (who's here for the full two weeks - John & I keep thanking our lucky stars for that stroke of luck!) and Kathleen (who came with 3 year old Peyton for a long weekend) are wonderful to have around and keep the boys towing the line as needed.
- Rambo (remember our old rusty RV?) was "discovered" over the weekend and christened the "house car" by Peyton. The boys have spent several hours in there already (can't you just see the ad when we get ready to get rid of it? "For Sale - Mobile clubhouse for the kids in your life")
- The boys did help load the rotten wood from the tree we took down into the back of the pickup (was that just a chore or had they pushed "mom's" buttons one too many times?- can't remember now...) Anyway, it made the best bonfire with a lot of whooping and hollering and even a little marshmallow toasting for s'mores. (I myself waited for the DElicious apricot-cherry tart Grandma Joey brought up - a MUCH better choice!)
- In case you missed it (fat chance) the new Harry Potter is out. Oletta has been reading it chapter by chapter to all of us (although John does seem to nod off on a regular basis - of course he didn't read the first six books so I guess he does have some excuse...)
- Circus camp must be fun too as the boys had all eaten breakfast, made their lunches, and were out the door this morning before the adults were ready to drive them there. The performance is a "secret" so we'll have to wait until Friday to see what they're up to. Stay tuned...

Lebanon...

Where do you travel when you're expecting 3 boys (9, 10 & 12) to stay with you for the next two weeks while they go to Circus Camp? The answer is... you don't! So I snapped some photos around our yard, sans kids, to just remind myself and you (if you didn't already know) how beautiful central New York is in the summer even if you go no further than your own back yard. Lilies are blooming; the grapes are doing their thing over the grape arbor (the chairs are really just for show as we never seem to have time to try them out); the asparagus is over my head; the flower gardens have filled out; John (second cello from the left) and a small quintet provided an enjoyable free concert on the shores of Craine Lake at the bottom of "our hill" as part of our bicentennial activities; the veggie garden is producing like crazy; flowers, veggies and now kids everywhere! Life is good.

Smyrna & more Finger Lakes...

Just down the road from us is the little village of Smyrna - home to the Smyrna Citizens Band. Every Monday night during the summer they perform on the porch above the library. This is their 89th year (I think they're the oldest continuous village band in the state) so of course they're really good. It's sort of like going to the drive-in movies. You can back in across the street and listen to the music from the comfort of your car (then honk your horn after each number). Or you can bring your lawn chair, or you can stand or sit on one of the steps or porches. The fire department serves hot dogs and hamburgs before "the show" and the Methodist Church has a GREAT selection of homemade pies. This Monday was also my birthday. It's not every girl who has a town band dedicate "Teddy Trombone" to her on her birthday!

Later in the week it was back to Finger Lakes. First stop - Auburn. (For those of you interested in real trivia, Auburn was the birthplace of talking movies. In 1924 Case Research Lab partnered with Fox Studios - result... Movietone News.) Anyway, the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn currently has a special "Made in New York" exhibit - well worth a stop.

Then it was on to find a campsite for Tillie (her first overnight this summer). Notice in the photo her "younger sister" is at a campsite below (can you expect anything less from a campground named "Cheerful Valley"?!) Not to hurt Rambo's feelings, but Tillie's bed IS a bit more comfortable and roomy...

Our destination that night was to see "La Cage aux Folles" (local production) at the restored 1898 Smith Opera House in Geneva. It's a beautiful theater saved, thank heavens, from the wrecking ball in the 1970's.

However, the real purpose of the trip was to go to the Peppermint Festival in Lyons. (John was pooh-poohing the idea but ended up having a GREAT time - thank heavens!) Lyons was the home of the Hotchkiss Oil Co. until it was sold in 1990 (peppermint oil is now made in Indiana). H.G. Hotchkiss, as I'm sure you know, was the world's Peppermint King. The company was established in 1839 and at one time there were over 100 stills on peppermint farms in the area distilling the oil. (Wonder if they distilled other things as well....) Wild peppermint found in the area proved to be the highest quality in the world. The Hotchkiss company bought the oil from the farmers, further refined it (how did they do that?), and sold it worldwide. The company's back door opened onto the Erie canal. Apparently you could smell the factory for miles around. (I, of course, had to buy a peppermint plant. Now to find a place to plant it where I don't mind it spreading all over! - should I begin looking for a still on ebay?)

The Barge Canal (it replaced the Erie Canal) goes through Lyons and, as it happened, the Schooner Lois McClure was docked there for the day. This boat is a reproduction sailing barge canal built by the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Vermont and is spending the summer on the Barge Canal stopping at various towns so folks can take tours. John LOVED it. My boat of choice on the other hand was the little tug boat that's pulling it through the canal (the schooner only sails across the lakes).

Even without the boat and the festival, Lyons is a pretty little village to explore. If you're ever out that way, be sure and plan a stop. It's a great place to stretch your legs.

Hector

Tillie is back on the road again! and running like a top I might add even though we heard the comment more than once as we passed through parking lots - "Look, there goes Little Miss Sunshine".

Cherries are ripe here in NY and Hector is where it's at if you want to pick your own. The orchards had only been open three days when we got there. Even so, we stopped at three before we found one that still had sour cherries - guess we're not the only folks in NY who like them. These were semi-dwarf trees so no climbing was needed (John was relieved) and we ended up with 20 pounds off a couple of trees in not too much time. Since we were literally right across the road from the Red Newt Bistro and Winery we discovered when we went to Watkins Glen, we of course had to "reward" ourselves with another GREAT lunch - that woman sure knows how to cook!!! - even the fruity wine seems to taste better on a hot summer day.

When we left home we left with intentions of going to the Cortland Repertory Theater and camping overnight. But even being packed in Happy Ice (it's made in Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester & Buffalo & John now thinks it's the best ice on earth because it's clear unlike the ice our ice maker makes that John now thinks looks too frosty - fussy, fussy) the cherries seemed too ripe to spend the night in Tillie (plus there were thunder storms all around and the closest campground to the theater is the Empire Haven Nudist Park - sometimes there is such a thing as too much entertainment...)

Mystic to Cuddebackville...

Even though NY does have coast line, for some reason the Wooden Boat Show was held at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut instead. So, because John loves wooden boats so much, off we went. There were LOTS of beautiful wooden boats including the one in the photo. Plus John took a class in caulking (perhaps because he took so much grief when Terry's wooden sailboat he worked on a couple of years ago immediately sank - it did eventually swell up enough to float so all was not lost. Watch the blog in August - Terry's boat and John's should both be out of the workshop and a sailing regatta is being planned.)

Turns out "everyone" is "doing" wine these days. Stopping with John's cousins John & Judy we sampled Connecticut's wares - really GOOD wine and we're all kicking ourselves now that we were too cheap to only buy a couple of bottles.

The handsome fellow to the left is our friend Jack with his pretty wife Joann. Jack's 70th birthday was over the weekend - looks GREAT doesn't he? (John & I discussed that perhaps walking 4 miles starting at 5 each morning as Jack & Joann do is the key to the fountain of youth but at 5 this morning it seemed VERY unlikely...)

Back in NY we took backroads home and passed through the little blink of Cuddebackville. There's not much there except for a school and the D&H Canal Park with a little museum (not open today). However you could see the stone base which carried the canal aqueduct across the Neversink River (LOVE these names). It (the base not the river) was designed by J.A. Roebling who was also the architect for the Brooklyn Bridge. That man did know how to work with stone! We had hoped to visit the Neversink Gorge State Unique Area (whatever that means?!) but the only way to it seemed to be by foot (a loooooong way by foot) and this was not the day for us to do that. So we settled instead for going to Monticello and discovered the absolutely BEST Jewish bakery we've been to outside NYC. (My hips are VERY grateful it is a long way from home!!!) We also stopped in Hancock where they're redoing one of the old hotels in town. In fact the whole town looks on the verge of being discovered so if you're of a mind to start a small business Hancock might bear looking into. After all if a man can make a living there catching eels from the river and smoking them (he was even written up in Gourmet magazine), then anything is possible... You heard it here first!