November....

Do hope you voted on Tuesday. If your election workers were like us, they worked polls from 5:30 AM!!! until 9:30 PM!!! (and that doesn't count the 20 minutes our group waited in the cold for the custodian with the keys who overslept). We appreciated every single one of you who exercised your right to vote.

This year our local voting place was moved from the old schoolhouse (NOT handicapped accessible) to the church next door (IS accessible). I guess "separation of church and state" does not apply when it comes to voting. Dick, who has been our precinct chairperson for years, felt very comfortable with being "king for the day".



November usually brings snow to upstate NY (actually we had much more than shown but I neglected to take a photo).

Now... about that "notch" in the roof and that pile of stone rubble. Over 20 years ago when we were younger and less wise, we built a beautiful stone chimney (the younger part) without much - okay any - footing (the less wise part). And it all came tumbling down this fall when we had the building pulled into into a more upright position. "Our" plan is to have John clear away all the stone, then we'll figure out how to rebuild it - something to think this winter as we look out the kitchen window.

Plans are in the works to put leaky old Rambo back on the road the middle of December. It's a toss up whether or not John will repair the leak/s before we leave. While you & I are waiting anxiously to find out (perhaps me more than you), I'll be taking a "blog vacation". Have a good Thanksgiving and, if you're not too busy, join us December 17th for the beginning of another adventure.

Art...

Colgate University this past week featured the outdoor art installation of NY artist Willoughby Sharp. This one, called "Ice" is being contemplated by Seattle artist Wynn & NY attorney Bridge. If they look like blocks of ice (the installation not W & B), they are. If they look like tombstones, you're right (could Halloween have anything to do with the likeness choice?) And, yes, they're melting. Things begin, things end................
The other installation, "Air", I was too late to photograph. It was a 6 foot weather balloon anchored in the small lake on campus. It, too, was supposed to dissipate although I think that happened rather more quickly than the artist might have intended. It was VERY windy the day it was installed so was whipped every which way on the lake. The next morning it was gone. No one seems to know what happened to it - perhaps Mother Nature took it away (or sank it) or perhaps some party loving individuals might have decided it "acquire" it. Unfortunately few locals recognized it as "art". The word being circulated around Hamilton is it was Colgate's latest effort to keep the geese out of the lake. It did work for that.
Lest you think "art" was strictly confined to campus, penguins were emerging on the home front. Wynn & Bridge helped paint the black part of their little walnut bodies (that's the part which you, of course, do NOT see in this photo). These and other items will be for sale at our local Hospital Auxiliary sale on Dec. 1. If you can't come to ours, plan to attend one in your area in support of your hospital. These little guys are cute but they are very time consuming to make. If their price were based on a decent hourly wage, rather than NO wage, you could expect to pay at least $15 each for them. If you're interested in a bargain, come to our sale!!!

Westward Ho!

Wow! Is that the Grand Canyon? Sure is, the Grand Canyon of the East that is - located in Letchworth State Park in the western part of NYS. Also in the park is this falls, beautiful but slightly smaller than Niagara Falls a few miles to its north.
While we did enjoy an afternoon in the park, our real goal was to visit our friend Pat and her family in Buffalo. Other than "just passing through" on the highway, we had never been to Buffalo. Buffalo has GREAT food including Buffalo chicken wings (have they made it to your area yet?). The other local food is "beef on weck" which is thin slices of roast beef served on a kummelweck roll with pan drippings and LOTS of horseradish. Schwabl's has been serving them since time began or almost anyway. Schwabl's also has great German food so it's a really good thing for John's waistband that we live so far away. If it hadn't been for Pat's daughter Fai cooking us a fantastic dinner for later in the day, I'm sure John would have ordered one of everything for take-out.
But there are other things to do in the Buffalo area besides eat... If you saw the blog this spring, we visited Millard Fillmore's birthplace. (Our 13th President & the only one born in NYS.) In East Aurora is the house he & his wife lived in when he first became a lawyer (a starter home). At the end of his life (let's hope anyway) he was buried in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo. The cemetery also has other notables including Carrier who invented air conditioning and Southwick the dentist who is given credit for the electric chair (yuk!). On the subject of dying... if you're in Buffalo and feel you've expired but aren't sure, perhaps they'll take you to the Amigone Funeral Home or if you're sure you've expired you can be taken to the Bury Funeral Home.
Back with the living, the Basilica in Lackawanna (a suburb) is incredibly beautiful and well worth a visit. According to the brochure there are between 1500 and 2500 angels in the cathedral (can't believe someone hasn't come up with a closer number). Father Baker, whose idea it was to build it in the 20's, wanted you to be able to see an angel no matter where you were in the building.
In downtown Buffalo there are lots of interesting buildings (unfortunately the driving tour given on the city web site sounds good but is absolutely impossible to follow). However, we did manage to find the old post office (the eagle was both quarried & carved on Vinalhaven Island, ME). The last photo is the 1906 Calumet Building. Those smudges on the photo are hail stones (Buffalo is never far from winter!).
So the next time you're in western NY, take time to visit Buffalo. While it's lost half its population with the closing of industry, things now appear to be on the upswing and there are lots of interesting things to see and do plus the food is terrific!

It's apple pickin' time in NYS

Rather than going anywhere this past week (the weather here was just too beautiful to leave!!!), friends came to us. An apple fairy must have visited our trees this spring because, even though the trees had very few blossoms, they are loaded with apples.
Sydney (the first gal on the ladder) and Bailey (the second gal on the ladder) had never made apple cider before. So, just in case you never have either, they're going to show you how it's done.
First you pick the apples (dah!), then put them in a garbage can filled with water to wash them (did dunking for apples get started this way?). Throw the apples in the hopper while John (his arm was about ready to fall off when we finished) turns the wheel to chop them into little pieces. Smooth the apples pieces out (almost as good as making mud pies), put the top over the apple mush, and turn the crank to squeeze out the juice. Then, of course, you have to taste it to make sure it's just right. And, if you're really lucky, your grandma (Melody) takes you for a ride in the little red apple wagon.
Later in the day when the grownups come to make cider, a wee bit of wine somehow makes the cranking a whole lot easier (that's Pamme hiding behind the crank). Beware though, this close to Halloween, it just might turn you into a very scary beast! (Actually, that's ugly dog Ed who doesn't like either cider or wine - go figure!)

Earlville State Forest

See the sign but where's the forest? It's actually behind the camera but this view is not to be missed either.
So why a trip to a forest? Well, it's been a bit rainy and a bit chilly which are actually pretty good conditions for collecting edible fall mushrooms. So I called Sally, my friend who's an expert (although she would deny it) on the subject, and we went on a foray to the state forest. Actually the forest is just one hill over from where I live but there's this little problem of some VERY curious beef cows who live in the pasture in between so, rather than walking, we drove.
The road through the forest is beautiful anytime of year but it's particularly beautiful in the winter with snow and makes a great cross country ski trail. The cows have gone to the barn by then (or perhaps to the market or your dinner plate) so if you are game for a fairly exciting downhill run (and a fairly strenuous uphill climb on the way back), you can ski from our house over there.
But... back to mushrooming. We found LOTS and LOTS of different kinds. It is amazing how one can walk along and not see any. But if you stop and really take the time to look hard you can usually spot some.
By now you're probably imagining all the wonderful mushrooms we're having for supper. Well, the sad news was that none of those we found in the forest were edible. However, all was not not lost as we stopped by Craine Lake where we knew there should be shaggy manes growing. The picture is our total harvest which Sally was generous enough to let me have. The little white thing next to my reading glasses is the mushroom in case you didn't spot it. Now to figure out how to share with John....

St. Lawrence Seaway...

In case you've not been following the weather in the North American mid-west, rainfall is way below normal affecting the water levels in the Great Lakes and, thus, the St. Lawrence. This past weekend was the traditional "end of the season" closeup for the camps in the Thousand Islands, not to mention it was Canadian Thanksgiving - always a reason to get together with friends for good food and conversation! And it was WARM!!! (as opposed to the times we've helped close up camp when snow was in the air). John & Terry hoped to get in one last (also the second but last sounds better) sail of the season. The photo is of their dock (the original point of this paragraph). The water level is so low there you can walk across to the other side. Need I say more about sailing?
Warm weather, however, still encouraged porch sitting with the neighbors. Other contributing factors may have been WAYYYYYYYY too fun at Canadian T-Day the day before, Connie & John on the swing already had coffee made, and there was a LOT of stuff to store and clean out in preparation for closing up camp. Staying at camp any longer is NOT advised as everyone who's leaving feels free to bring you everything that's left in their refrigerators.
Luckily the camps are small and there were six of us so battening down the hatches for winter didn't take long. In fact, our friend Terry, his aunt Doris (can you believe she's 93?!!) and his cousins Carol and Susan were still smiling when we were finished.
And the last photo? If my mushroom identifier is right, it's called Witches Butter and was growing in Terry's yard. It was probably about 8 inches in diameter and got oranger (and bigger!) every day we were there.

Excuses & Sackets Harbor...

Fall, beautiful weather, too many days away from home, too many fall chores to get done, laziness... never enough time to do everything so this blog ended up at the bottom of the heap. My apologies for not posting an "out of time, be back later" notice.

Frost has not yet come to this part of NY so this flower bed is happily awaiting "leveling" to later in the month although I did "reposition" those rocks on the left in preparation for downsizing next spring. Too much travel + too many flower beds + too little time = chaos!

Down at Craine Lake in Earlville our friends, Judi & Scott, are wondering where their summer cottage went. Gone forever... but soon to be replaced by a new (except for the part wall on the right that allows them to build again on the site - don't you love code regulations?!) year-round home. Geese are flying everywhere right now, especially at the lake, so it's amazing there aren't any in this photo.

But enough local stuff and on to... Italy? Nope! If you can believe it, it's an outdoor restaurant in Sackets Harbor, a beautiful little village on the east coast of Lake Ontario.

It has a wonderful protected harbor that the US Navy used as a major shipyard and its headquarters for the Great Lakes in the War of 1812. Today the barracks have been "redone" into very nice private housing. And of course the harbor is filled with sailboats instead of military vessels. As the courtyard and harbor suggest this area is definitely "protected". For some reason the winds from the lake sweep up over the village carrying the "snow that's measured in feet" to the Tug Hill area to the east and Oswego to the south. Locals told us that in the winter they always call ahead to Watertown for weather conditions, only 8 miles to the east, before venturing out.

Continuing north and east along the Seaway Trail you can find the Chaumont Barrens Preserve (if you're REALLY dedicated). And even then, you definitely need to read up on what exactly alvar is (we didn't have a clue and the sign was NO help). The internet tells all though, so if you're interested... http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/newyork/preserves/art11823.html

Tillie's Back!

Tillie the VW has been on the road again adding Massachusetts and Maine to her state map and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Bridge said she ran like a top most of the way refusing to start only one time. Even then she was only half a block from the best VW mechanic in Nova Scotia and the repair was minor. (Tillie must be Irish with the luck she has had in choices of places to break down.)

At any rate we met up with Bridge in Tillie on Vinalhaven, Maine unloading from the ferry. I love the new sign that's appeared in the ferry loading area - am not sure if it refers to people or cars...

Photo 3 is Bridge in the ocean in front of the cabin where we were staying(cold as in brrrrrrrrrrrr is the only way to describe the water in that part of Maine!) Bridge was feeling a pit drowsy before he went in but was awake for hours after that little dip so I guess it did what it was supposed to.

Photo 4 is at the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. You are seeing the backsides of 4 of the 8 mule hitch (take my word - it is NOT easy to take a photo of 8 mules all at once let alone hitch them up and get them to go anywhere).

Photo 5 is the "Philadelphia" at dock at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum - a wonderful little museum on the Vermont side of Lake Champlain especially if you're interested in history and sunken ships.

Taking the ferry across the Lake Champlain we headed to Tupper Lake, NY for a stop at the new Natural History Museum (also called the Wild Center). We can't say enough good things about it. A beautiful facility and it's only going to get better. It's a MUST SEE the next time you're anywhere close. The bridge goes across the "pond" - don't you love the stick railing? It looks so easy but I'm sure it's not.

Further down the road at the end of Long Lake you can enjoy the air both on the ground and in the air or do as we did and have lunch while you watch the planes take off and land on the lake. The trees are not quite in full color yet, but pretty nonetheless.

And lest you think this trip was all fun and no work, that's John on the tractor & our friend Karol moving BIG rocks around to rebuild a terrace in front of the house in Vinalhaven. Thank heavens for big machinery/toys. Years ago when the terraces were built they probably used men, rollers and perhaps a horse. (Of course those men were probably also younger and knew what they were doing!) Even so, our modern day guys did a pretty decent job.

Poolville

Poolville is one of those "destination" communities... you just don't pass through it on the way to anywhere. One needs to know it's there and hope the GPS can find it.

Admittedly there's not much in Poolville except for some beautiful old homes and a great little restaurant. It's so small in fact that I couldn't even find a population for it. Getting there from our direction is always fun as you get to pass the neighborhood goat commune - lots of little kids around. I'm not sure who's watching who in this photo...

Just on the outskirts of Poolville is the "Poolville Rural Cementary" (I always wonder where the city cementary is when I read that sign.) It's very old with headstones dating back to the early 1800's. And to leave no doubt in your mind that it is rural, that's corn being grown in the field along side.

Poolville is also home to a little known but very popular art gallery. In fact the number of folks it attracts would make many galleries very envious. If you're in the area please note it has "unusual" hours - Wed. & Sat. only from 7:10 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Some galleries serve refreshments to attract visitors. This gallery works the other way - it takes your garbage... We try to visit at least a couple of days a month. Care to join us?

Family Fun Day...

Well we didn't stray far this week (a turn of the season cold pretty much wiped me out for any travel.) However...
This afternoon was another of our town's planned bicentennial events - Family Fun Day. After many days of hot dry weather, it of course rained most of the day. Our residents should work for the postal service - rain, snow - some of us still manage to turn out.
Most of the kids had never played any of the old-fashioned games. The sack race (can you believe we actually had to make our own burlap sacks?! - the feed companies use plastic or paper these days) was as much fun as always even if we did have to limit it to three at a time (we ran out of burlap for bags!)
Then there was the "hollerin'" contest but we could only get six kids to give it a try and two of them wouldn't do it unless no one looked at them (am sure that doesn't stop them at home!) Surprise, surprise! The shyest one had the loudest scream going (somehow the kids didn't quite understand the difference between hollerin' & screaming but no one was going to argue. Not to mention the adults were all too shy to compete themselves...)
The pie eating contest - (personally I find eating contests disgusting but I was outvoted.) For a bit of history it was called the "William Bulkley Pie Eating Contest". Now you may think I'm trying to associate "BULKley" with eating but in fact he was the person who developed the Chenango Strawberry Apple in our township. And the pies were, of course, apple.
For a little more exercise in the rain there was the spoon race where you had to race balancing a raw egg in a spoon (the wimpy adults including myself are all under the eaves of the roof watching.)
But the most popular game of the afternoon proved to be the good old fashioned egg toss. On wet grass it was pretty unbelievable how far a raw egg could bounce without breaking. Eventually we had a winner. Then the kids wanted to play again & again until all the eggs were broken. The rain did come in handy after all....

The GREAT New York State Fair!

The end of August in upstate wouldn't be complete without a trip to the New York State Fair (at least once every 4 or 5 years). As always there was lots to see and do...

The sand sculpture is a good place to start (if only because you can look at it while you enjoy your baked potato with all the fixin's - still only $1). Then there was angora rabbit shearing in the poultry barn (it also houses the rabbits). It's also where they have the "Crowing contest". I fully expected to see/hear folks imitating roosters but, I guess when you've got the real thing on site, that's not necessary. Instead they put the "contestants" in cages where they have 15 minutes to crow. The most crows wins (we didn't stay...). For some chickens it was a "bad hair day". Tom looked like he was dreading November. The goose was huge - probably mean too. Back at the rabbit shearing - all that fur came off that rabbit! If your cholesterol is low, a trip to the fair is a good way to raise it a notch or two. You can get anything fried...

There was a woodworking demo going on outside the ag museum by the guy with the beard which John said was great. I went inside and talked to "Bob". Lunchtime for the piglets. (We did try to find Norm, our neighbor and the world's largest pig, but am not sure where they put him that day...) Lunchtime for the triplets (goats) and shearing time for the sheep (it was a HOT day!). Are those seals so did someone just do a bad job of shearing? Meanwhile in the dairy barn cleanup chores are going on while the butter sculpture stayed cool in the dairy products building (it's still possible to get a glass of milk there for a quarter). Back at the museum the demo is going on once again.

A lot of walking but a fun day!

Tillie did NOT take us to the fair (but we did go on a yellow school bus). Tillie has instead gone off on another adventure. From right to left we have John, Bridge, James, Emily (the dog is Roscoe). Bridge (who is the true owner of Tillie) came to take her on a three week adventure to Maine and Nova Scotia. John is pointing to the states of Massachusetts and Maine that Bridge will add to Tillie's window collection. Last word was they had made it to Bar Harbor with no problems (much to John's relief - he felt like he was sending his kid off to school!)

Canastota

So what do you think of when you hear the name Canastota? If your spelling and pronunciation is as bad as mine, wagons might come to mind. Now, lest you might think me too off base, Canastota did manufacture wagons, it's just that they were of the "dumping wagon" variety and not the conestoga wagons that went west.

These days Canastota is probably best known for the Boxing Hall of Fame. Is that where we went? No way - not even for the sake of this blog. Instead we went to our friend Don's 70th birthday party. (In spite of the fact that I couldn't get him to smile for the camera, he really is a happy fellow). His mother on the right said 70 years ago was "the worst day of her life" (she'd been in labor for 3 days). She, too, is a happy person who doesn't smile much for the camera. (She must be a bit older than 39...).

So what else is there to do in the area? Well, a couple miles south is Oxbow Falls County Park. Supposedly there are 3 waterfalls but exactly where they are is a little questionable - we didn't find them - perhaps spring is a better time to go. According to the sign, "the park is the northern (we thought they must have meant western) edge of the Helderberg Escarpment" formed 400 - 350 million years ago. Although the cliffs are overgrown in most places there are a couple of places you can look over Oneida Lake and the "plain" around it. (But.... can you believe everything you read? I did a search on Helderberg Escarpment and the only reference I could find had the entirety of it located in Albany County. Oxbow Falls seems instead to be part of the Appalachian Plateaus which extend from south of Rochester TO the Helderberg Escarpment south of Albany. These plateaus continue to rise to the south eventually forming the Catskill Mountains. But can you believe everything you read on the internet either?)

Continuing on a bit further south toward Fenner you come to the site of the 1615 Champlain Battle. It was here that Samuel de Champlain attacked the Oneidas, one of the six Iroquois Nations. He was unsuccessful. According to the sign... the attack turned the Iroquois Nation against the French. Over the next 100 years the Iroquois always sided with the English in battles against the French. Thus, it was "the most decisive battle in American history for it was here that the question of whether America north of the Rio Grande was to become an English or French territory was thus decided". (If you want to read other opinions, go searching.) All I know for sure is, this blog is written in English, not French, s'il vous plait...

Gilbertsville

What does one do when it's August but it's overcast and the temp is in the 50's? Well, I took the weatherman at his (a woman would NOT have made this forecast) word, did a load of laundry, hung it on the line, then headed off to the beautiful village of Gilbertsville for lunch with friends. Nick (photo center) & his wife Abbey (almost off the photo at the left) are the proud parents of twins who were off sleeping in some corner of this house that their great great grandparents owned and that is still in the family. It is lovely as are so many of the homes in Gilbertsville. It's been years since John and I had driven around the village but the old homes are still as beautiful as we remembered - a beautiful village to go walking.
Next "door" is another house and farm that's also been in Nick's family for several generations. The stone building Nick is standing next to is the oldest surviving "milk house" in Otsego County. It's been a LOT of years since it was used for that purpose.
Both properties look down the Butternut Valley and Butternut Creek. If you're a fan of "The Leatherstocking Tales" by James Fenimore Cooper, this is where Natty Bumppo shot arrows across the creek (or something like that...)
Can you guess what you're looking at in this last photo? It is right on the edge of Gilbertsville and was in the 1970's & 80's the world's best polo field. It's the Pete Boshwick Field (the sign is still up) and the owner still keeps it mowed and ready to go (and I thought I was an optimist!). Those little dots in the distance are horses - polo ponies I'm sure. So if you can put together a polo team this might just be the place to have a match.
Back home, the clothes are now "dripping" and we're considering building a fire in the stove. It IS August in upstate NY after all!

Sink? Swim? Sail? Regatta?

But first a bit of history...
A few years ago John saw an ad for a "free" Comet sailboat in Maryland. (Beware those ads that say "free"!) Then a harrowing (to my way of thinking) trip back to NY (rotten parts kept flying off - John took a friend. I stayed home and did fun things). Since then, John's spent many many hours (and $$) repairing it. If you think you can see the floor through the top of the boat in the photo, you're right (not to mention that's the bottom, not the top). It needed just "a little bit" of work.

In the meantime our friend Terry bought another old Comet - both boats were built in the 1930's (it actually HAD a bottom AND a top) for John to work on (guess he thought John would never get his back together). After a bunch of work and a quick sink to the bottom at the dock upon launching, it actually has been sailable the past couple of years.

This year both boats, (John's is named "Have", Terry's "Have Not"), were sailable - hence the regatta. One small problem, there is only ONE set of sails. However, since "Have" had never been in the water, it was questionable whether or not a second set of sails would, in fact, be needed...

This past weekend was the BIG launch on the St. Lawrence...
Photo 1 - John making sure the sails actually fit and work before he launches it.
2 - "Have" is backed into the water for the official launching.
3 - What is that bubbling stuff coming into the bottom of the boat? Surely not water?! (Turns out "somehow" a little round hole was letting water in.) Rather than letting it sink, they pulled the boat out, plugged the hole with a twig, and filled the boat with water overnight just to make sure the wood swelled enough to take care of any other small leaks.
4 -Male river muses...
5 - Day 2 - The mast and sails go up before Have is launched (a bit unusual but, hey, I'm only the photographer...)
6 - Have floats!!! And sails!!!
7 - And tows nicely!!! (Due to a "small" lack of knowledge regarding water depth on the other side of the bay, the centerboard started plowing bottom and more or less got stuck.)
8 - However, John & co-captain Leigh soon have their bearings and sea legs.
9 - They even get a bit adventurous (Are you thinking I must have a super telephoto lens on my camera? Let's just say it helps to be in the motor boat that stayed close just in case...)

Today? Perhaps a final sail before leaving Thousand Island Park... Then I'm sure the search will be on for that second set of sails!!!

The Mighty Hudson...

Surprise! The blog is early for a change. Instead of Tillie Tours, we joined the Waterville Travelers Club for a trip in Tillie's BIG "Uncle George" and headed for a luncheon cruise on the Hudson River around Albany.

The building with all the red turrets is the New York State capital. "No dome?" you say. The story goes that a dome was in the original plans. However, the rise (they call it a hill but I think that's stretching it a bit) it was being built on proved to be "unstable"... in other words the more they built the more they thought it might "slip" off the hill. So instead of adding the planned heavy dome, they opted instead for a skylight. (I might also add they were waaaaaaaay over budget, not that that ever has anything to do with spending public dollars.)

I sometimes forget Albany is a port city (it always seems too far inland for that) but the channel in the Hudson is 32 feet deep from NYC to Albany and over 200 BIG ocean-going ships load and unload there every year. What you're looking at on the docks in the photo are the parts to wind generators that are going up all over NY State. Just this summer we're able to see 19 more down the valley from us. Clean, renewable energy - we love it!

Further down the river we spotted a bald eagle, saw lots of beautiful cottages including two new Habitat for Humanities built homes, etc. The "cruise" was a relaxing thing to do on a hot summer day. Then it was on to the State Museum. GREAT exhibit, very moving, on the World Trade Center; another on the city of NY. There were LOTS of other exhibits but ninety minutes is just not long enough to see it all. By the way and wonder of wonders, NYS charges no admission...

On the way home we stopped at Johnson Hall (it's in Johnstown). When you think of plantations and slaves, upstate NY probably does NOT come to mind. However, NY did have a few including this one. Sir William Johnson was an interesting fellow (I'll leave it up to you to read in detail about him). However, he had a great interest in Native Americans (his second and third wives were both Native American - and in case you're wondering he only had one wife at a time) and was Supt. of Indian Affairs for the British in the 1760's.

Stay tuned - the next blog will be on sink or sail weekend... It's a 50/50 chance which way it will turn out.

We survived!!!

Circus camp is over!! The kids seemed to have a great time and so did we (although John & I were wondering if we'd survive it - reality TV has nothing on us!)

Remember the bonfire from last week? Well, boys being boys, they discovered the charcoal/ash that's left makes great body paint. That was followed by hosing each other down (our well water is 55 degrees) so that required a lot of hollering as well. Then there was "streaking" from bush to bush (it's a good thing we don't have neighbors in sight!) followed by trying to sneak in the back door with laundry baskets over their privates. And that was only Monday!

The building of the tepee -saws, dead branches, old tarps (who needs electronic games?!) kept them busy for hours. The two extra kids are Corey & Kelsey (our friend Leigh's great nephew & niece who were at Circus Camp as well).

I did manage to pick a couple of gallons of blueberries on Tuesday, not all of which went in the freeezer.

Finally, finally the big performance on Friday night. In the three middle photos, the kid on the tightrope is Maverick; on stilts there's Corey, Dillon, ??, & Win (blue tee shirt); and then Win on the left in one of their clown routines. All the kids did multiple things - diablo yoyo-ing, unicycle, tumbling; clowning; juggling etc. but my little camera is not much good with action shots - trust me, the kids were much better than my photos.

And I almost forgot to mention - we finished the latest Harry Potter!!! The kids had Friday morning off - on performance day they go in at 1 and stay for the duration (good thing too as I'm not sure we would have finished HP otherwise). Oletta read fast, the boys were up a half hour earlier than usual (on their own accord) as they were determined to hear the outcome before they had to go to camp. The boys even skipped breakfast (NOT something I would normally support but it was Harry Potter after all!) I finally sent John (who had napped through the chapters he had joined us for) after homemade donuts from our Amish neighbors to tide them (who am I kidding?)/ME over until the story was finished. Oletta finished the last chapter while they ate lunch. "The show must go on" but I'm not sure that would have included having to wait to hear the end of Harry Potter...

So is that a circus dog? No, that's Uncle Bridge's dog, Roscoe who just looks like he should be in the circus. Bridge came up to go to the performance and stayed an extra night with us. August is upon us. See the white on the horizon just beyond Bridge's head? That's typical August weather for this part of the world. The fog sits in the valleys until mid-morning making it look like we're surrounded by lakes. It also means fall is not too far behind. Where does the time go?

Listen! Can you hear the quiet? Everyone's gone with only the sound of washing machine purring in the background. Bliss!...

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.