Life in the Bristolwood

I tried to post these last night, but Blogger just wasn’t cooperating…..

Pretty Birdsfoot Trefoil that is growing all along the road down by the mailbox, and along the driveway.

I bought the little solar light a few years ago, telling the kids it was for the toads so they could see at night. Well, Michelle decided that if the toads were going to hang out at the light for their dinner, they might as well have a house, too. So, we bought this pot at WalMart, and she placed it “just so”. It has since become part of the garden, as it is quite “broken”! This is just one of those little things that evokes good and warm memories when I see it!

Just a pretty little bird’s eye view of the lake from the neighbors’ home. Pretty, isn’t it? And, one of the first times in many days that you can actually see the lake!

Well, as far as weather, anyway! The temperature never rose above 72 on our front porch (where the thermometer is located) this afternoon. The sky was fabulous….a bright clear blue; the kind of blue that sets my heart to singing. The miserable humidity that has literally hung around here the past several weeks was dissipated, almost as though a giant hand reached down from the heavens and swept it away.

The bird nest that was so lovingly built amidst my New Guinea Impatiens has been evacuated and I must admit I was somewhat happy to see the Junco family leave. Heartless, I know, but the poor plant! It is trying hard to make a comeback after being thirsty for a couple of weeks. I gave it a long drink today.

This afternoon, I spotted a gorgeous Swallowtail Butterfly lighted upon a Coneflower. Michelle bolted in and out of the house when I implored her to fetch my camera. Unfortunately, by the time she reappeared, the Swallowtail was gleefully and without a care in the world, dipping and diving off….leaving the premises for the next landing pad elsewhere! Ah well, since I had the camera in hand, I decided to photograph the Coneflowers…at least THEY wouldn’t take flight and leave me empty-handed!

If you look closely, you can see some tall green leaves behind the Coneflowers. This would be the remains of that totally out-of-control Bleeding Heart. After blooming each year, the leaves morph into this ugly yellowish color. That is when my heart grows cold and like Edward Scissorhands, I snip and cut until I am satisfied! You will also notice that those Coneflowers are quite lopsided. They are leaning forward due to the tyrannical Bleeding Heart. Thay had no other place to go, so they bowed down, making way for the giant! I didn’t plant those Coneflowers there, BTW. They seeded themselves! The Hosta and Columbine are also heaving great sighs of relief, as now they can see the light of day!

I have the radio on, and the weatherman said it all so well, promising tomorrow will be yet another day of “sapphire skies and golden sunshine”. It seems as though an area of high pressure is ruling these days over the Bristolwood, making for days of perfection! I do so love this time of the year when the sun slowly begins to descend back down into the southern sky, causing the afternoon to wash the interior of the house in shades of goldenrod, as opposed to the brighter butter tones of high summer. Sometimes I long to curl up, just like a kitty, and take a long satisfying nap in those rich tones of a failing summer sky. How I long for days like today….not just a few of them, but a whole season!

Last night, we decided that we would travel to Bemus Point, NY, to see the Mark Schultz concert. (it was *only* a mere 320 mile round trip, after all!)

I was up at 6 am, packing a cooler and getting ready to make the trip. We were off by a little after 8:30. We had called the sponsoring church office late last week, and the secretary there advised us that they were expecting “several thousand” people traveling from near and far. Yikes! That was enough of an impetus to help us arrive early for the concert! It was scheduled for 2:30 in the afternoon, so arriving at 11:30, as we did, we were able to more or less find a good spot to enjoy.

I snapped a picture of the floating stage before the band began their sound check. It really is cool….the “stage” is over the water and folks can gather around in their boats, as well as those on shore to enjoy a concert. By the time the concert began, there were boats EVERYWHERE! And, we will not even talk about all the people surrounding us! Mark figured there were probably about 5,000 in attendance. The day was a bit warm, but the breeze coming off the lake made it possible to sit through the concert without going into “meltdown”! The town allowed a street (a rather busy one, at that) to be closed off during the concert, making more room for people to set up their lawn chairs. The area magically turned into a sea of folding camp chairs in every color imaginable!

The concert was a real treat and we were so happy we made the decision to attend. With Mark being in a wheelchair, events like this could quickly turn into a disaster, but we truly had a good time this afternoon.

After the concert, we stopped for an hour or two to visit my parents, then headed on home. Sometimes it is hard going back to the area where I grew up….so many memories….so many changes! I am always happy to go, but it is also so good to get back home to the Bristolwood!!!

No words necessary….

This morning when I went out to water my gardenonthedeck, I rubbed my eyes in disbelief! What did I see? Can you see it? YES! One of my tomatoes on the laden plant is actually *blushing*! I got so excited, I just had to take a
picture!

This afternoon, we decided to take the Explorer to WalMart for an oil change. With a name like Tire and Lube Express, we figured we would be right in and out. YIKES! Were we in for a BIG surprise! I went in to give our info, then Mark and the kids went inside the store to do some shopping. I stayed in the car with the Scotties, as this has more or less become a “tradition”.

Today was a beautiful day compared to the horribly sweltering heat we have had. It was a nice day, not too warm, but as we sat in the car, the dogs began panting, and I felt too warm. I decided that since we were in for a long wait (about 1 1/2 HOURS!) I would take the Scotties over to McDonalds and grab them a treat. They never get “junk food”, but I decided to spoil them rotten and get them each a plain hamburger. I also got myself an M&M McFlurry. We drove back to WalMart and sat for a bit before eating out treats.

Angus was much more interested in what was happening outside the car than eating a burger!

I finally HAD to eat that (now nearly melted) McFlurry…Murphy lustily watched me guiltily gulp the thing down…I haven’t felt so guilt-ridden since my kids were little! As soon as I finished, he grabbed the spoon and was on it like a fly on honey!!!! YIKES, the wee wonder(blur)caught a whiff of the burgers in the bag…..
To say Murphy was *inquisitive* would have been putting things FAR too mildly. He could hardly contain himself, anxiously awaiting my inserted hand to pull out the delectable morsel!!!

As soon as my hand was out of the bag, Murphy decided he would “help” poor old Mumsy by snapping the burger from my hand! He did finally concede and allow the wrapper to be removed. I nearly lost my digits, though! After the boys finished eating (Angus daintily finished HIS burger without incident. After all, royalty must show a little restraint…it would not do well for King Angus to inhale his kibble like a commoner!)

After the eating fiasco, the car began to heat up again…still awaiting the car to go in to have its transfusion of new lifeblood! The Scotties got a little restless, even to the point where my dignified Angus forgot his manners and began growling and trying to instill fear into little sparrows as they flitted in the parkng lot! So, what to do with Naughty Scotties? Why, you throw….well, no ….PLACE them into a shopping cart! This maneuver was good for several smiles and chuckles from passers-by! Phooey, I tried uploading a picture of the two, but have been unsuccessful after several attempts. Perhaps tomorrow!

Tomorrow, we are off to Bemus Point, NY to see a (FREE!) concert by Mark Schultz! http://www.markschultzmusic.com/newcd.htm I am so excited! The concert is being held on Chautauqua Lake, literally! In Bemus Point, they have what is called the “floating stage”.http://www.bemusbaypops.com/ Mark Schultz weaves the most beautiful stories into his music. One of my very favorite songs ever is called Letters From War. The first time I heard this song, my heart sank, and I thought it was just another very sad song. In the end, there is a “twist”, however, and it is such a great song!

Ah, when I got up this morning, I literally *hopped* out of bed, feeling better! Amid conflicting reports, the weather here is MUCH more bearable thus far. At 74 outside, much of the humidity has “blown away”. Really! The wind blew like crazy here last night. Since a picture says it best, here is a picture of our road once again. As you can *see!*, much of the haziness is gone, compared to the picture I put on yesterday’s post. The sun was coming over the hill, so the brightness is actually the sun on the trees.

I took the camera out this morning and tried taking some closeups of flowers. Thank you, Becky(http://beckyshideout.blogspot.com/) for advising me to reread the manual for my camera! The little manual I got with the camera is about useless…I need to read the manual online. Anyway, I went to Mark and he sat and explained a lot to me about the workings of the camera. It seems it is a complicated little bugger!!! Anyway, I was really pleased with a couple of the pictures!

Yes, I know these flowers were not planted by me, but their beauty is stunning. I always thought God planted wildflowers here and there just for our enjoyment!

Here are my black-eyed susan’s. I took this picture from the front porch, looking down. They were planted the year before last, and this year, they really took off!

Regarding the conflicting reports….on the radio, they are calling for a high temp of about 90, with more humidity. Weatherbug, on the contrary, calls for highs in the mid-80′s, with less humidity. Now, all things considered, which report would you believe?

Yes, “Heat” and “Humidity” have arrived here and are making life nearly unbearable! I took this picture of our pretty and scenic road…..
You can see that the humidity is rising up from the valley floor below. I have bellyached and complained about the evil twins for as long as I can remember, but they just don’t seem to “get it”! I know one thing for certain….I am NOT a “summer” person. I do enjoy seeing all the beauty that abounds in the summer, but summer also means hot and sticky and icky, and that is just too much to swallow!!!!

As I meandered down to take the above picture, I did see some “pretties”!

I am sure someone can identify these pretty yellow flowers. They are growing everywhere this year, along with lots of Queen Anne’s Lace. I love the contrast between the bright yellow flowers and the dark green leaves. I also have an abundance of jewelweed growing in the streambed. The delicate little flowers are really pretty!

Yesterday at about 5pm, Mark asked what was for dinner. I nearly blew a gasket, so decided perhaps we should take a run to the fast food industry! Before that, however, there was one “thing” we needed to check out. Because Mark suffers from a spinal cord injury, he receives info from our local spinal cord injury association. In the last issue (and I think the first one Mark ever even “perused”) there was a blurb about how folks with spinal injuries are allowed on roads/trails on state lands with special permits. So, Mark dug in further, and found out there were lands locally that he could go on. Why, he could even take his ATV there! Wow!

The longest trail happened to be an old railroad bed that had been “derailed”. Cool! We hopped into the Explorer, and off to a new adventure….or NOT!

We came to a locked gate. No problem, Mark was given a key. I hopped out and unlocked the gate, but neither love nor money could push that rusted gate OPEN! Ben came out, and with both of us giving all we could, the thing finally budged open. Mark advanced through, and Ben and I spent another five minutes trying to SLAM the gate closed again so I could replace the lock. By this time, I was getting a BIT overheated….I know the literature said that the disabled person needed an able-bodied companion, but there was no mention of that person being the Incredible Hulk!

We began this “explore” down what seemed quite a bumpy road! As we progressed, we realized we were surrounded on either side of the Explorer by green oozy-looking SWAMP water…..ewwwwww!!! As the cattails increased at our sides, so did the gross liquid beside us seem to “thicken”. The path we were on seemed about maybe 6 feet wide and suddenly, Mark stopped the vehicle. As Michelle and I looked at the unseemly swampland to left and right, we demanded to know WHY the abrupt STOP! Mark told us to look ahead….there was this ridiculous little narrow bridge with no guardrails…no sides….just this little PATH about wide enough for the vehicle to pass! After our encouragemant to “press on”, Mark skillfully drove over the seemingly death-defying hurdle. Little did we know we would encounter TWO more, just like it, as well as swamp ON the path. This little exercise made poor Michelle sit in the back seat, hands over her eyes, wishing for solid road under the tires! Oh, I forgot to mention…As we made our way through “Death’s Door”, we were being dive-bombed by the most hideously LARGE horseflies (identifiable) and other UFO’s. (totally UNidentifiable)

Well, obviously, we DID survive and we DID make a sucessful run of this horrible outing! As we drove through what seemed more of a training ground for GI’s than an outing for handicapped people, Mark wondered WHY this road would be reserved for folks with dissbilities. My mind raced back to Charles Dickens….A Christmas Carol…..remember the part where Scrooge makes a crass comment about “decreasing the excess impoverished population”? Well, perhaps this was a cruel joke by the DEC to decrease handicapped people with weak constitutions, or HEARTS! There was absolutely no wisdom to allowing ANYONE on this land….were one to be stranded there, they would surely be consumed by the insect population and left as carrion for the meat-eating bird population!!! We will NOT be taking this route again! (As an aside, this land is actually set aside so handicapped folks can “hunt” and “fish”. Yeah, right…..)

Thank heaven for Arby’s. After that hair-raising experience, I took great comfort eating my onion petals and roast turkey and swiss market fresh sandwich!!! It is good to know that at the end of life’s great trials, there is always one more fast food joint where you can pull up and fill up!