Life in the Bristolwood

Taken over the course of the past week.

The first photo threw me. I thought I was looking at “wild snapdragons”, but as I looked at images of these,  I got totally confused.  In reading at Wikipedia, these pretty little flowers have a host of names a mile long! Some are altogether ugly,  so I settled on plain old yellow toadflax!

My tiny miniature rose bush has been blooming a lot lately.  It must enjoy the cooler temperatures and not quite so much rain as we experienced this summer….

One day when we were riding the ATV’s through the woods,  Mark commented I should stop and photograph this fascinating stand of fungi.

I cannot help but think of the Walt Disney movie Fantasia when I see these toadstools. (mushrooms?)  I imagine the little Chinese people with their straw hats suddenly “coming to life”!

The holly bush seems to have an abundance of bright red berries this year!

Come to think of it, all of the plants in the front garden grew much larger than normal this year.  I think the rain we had earlier gave all the plants a headstart!  I have two mum plants that grew as large as bushel baskets this year,  with so many flowers, they are real showstoppers!

The last photo is a hawk feather I found in the woods.  Yes,  I had to park the ATV, hop off, and pick the feather up!

That’s it.  Just some random photos from our home!

Yesterday and today, in the midst of ground-rumbling work taking place,  the most beautiful Monarch butterfly came and visited the butterfly bush in the front garden….

This butterfly was just stunning!  Our Swallowtail Butterfly that was visiting here earlier in the summer had so many tatters and tears in its wings….I had read that Swallowtails are very territorial….but this Monarch was just perfect! Every bit of its wings looked “brand new”!  Ben even noticed it and hollered for me to come look!

Just awesome!

No, not the congenial sweater-wearing host of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, but Mr. Rogers, the excavator!  He leveled the pad for our camper,  created a new drainage swale to replace the (defunct) “stream” bed in the front yard,  touched up some trails for the ATV in the woods, and gave us a fantastic new driveway!  He came yesterday around two and left at about five.  He was back this morning around seven-thirty and finished up around noon.  Amazing the difference a man and a bulldozer can make in less than a day’s labor!

As Mr. Rogers worked on making the new swale for rainwater,  he *found* our cable for our “3-in-1″ service….cable television, internet, and digital phone!  Needless to say, we were without for a day….thankfully, Time Warner was quick to come and lay a new line this afternoon.

The place is looking very “new”!  Mark and Guy (Mr. Rogers) talked about all the tasks we wanted done, and Guy would give us his ideas.   Since he has been doing this work for many years,  we basically followed his advice and boy, what a difference!  Everything is looking terrific!  I especially like the cobbles lining the stream bed….they add a real “parklike”  feel!

Saturday night, I went to bed late. Too late to get up yesterday at 5 am!  But, I did indeed get up and awakened the rest of the family as well.  After all,  we had planned a busy day!

We were off and out the door by eight, but our journey was drawing us about ninety miles from home.  We headed north, then due west.  The kids chattered in the backseat and we made good time,  reaching the parking lot in Buffalo at almost exactly ten-thirty.  We hustled inside and found our seats.

So….what was it we were attending?

Sabres training camp!

Don’t worry….I will only show a few of the many photos I took!

The next photo is of player Drew Stafford.  I really like Drew, although he needs more consistency in his play.  Shortly after taking this photo,  I looked at my Twitter account and found out he had just signed a new two year contract with the Sabres!

Terri,  if you are reading, the next photo is for you!  It is hometown boy, Tim Connolly!  Kind of a crummy photo, but, hey, it’s Timmy!

And my one action shot I will show is teammates trying to score on goaltender Ryan Miller.

We had a great time watching the team scrimmage.

When we left early in the morning,  we had to decide what to do with the little Scottie boys.  Mark wanted to take our two kennels (cages) with us,  but one is so cavernous, it takes up tons of space.   We decided to take the Scotties and one cage.  We parked in the parking lot specifically for HSBC Arena.  The truck has a cool feature in which the bottoms of the rear seats pull up to the back of the front seats, then the back of the seats drop down, forming a large flat surface in the rear seat.  This was perfect for the Scotties.  We kennelled Angus, as he is the more “vocal” of the two.  He tends to jump up on the seat and look out the window, while Murphy just curls into a ball and sleeps.

When I went out about midway of the practice,  sure enough…..Murphy was rolled in a ball, sleeping on a blanket.  Angus didn’t seem to mind the cage much and the two were quiet and calm.  They were such good boys!  The temperature in the parking garage never exceeded 65 degrees, so the Scotties were cool and it worked out perfectly!

As soon as the practice was over,  we hopped into the truck and headed off for lunch.  Everyone ate at Mighty Taco, excet me, as I was holding out for a Greek salad from John and Mary’s!  After Mighty Taco, we headed to Anderson’s Frozen Custard.  We bought a quart of Vanilla custard and split it.  Mmmmmmmmmm!

We made our way towards Darien Center so the kids could go to the amusement park for a couple of hours.  We stopped only to pick up my salad,  then went to the park.  The kids rode for a two hours, then we headed towards home.

We stopped in Geneseo for some grilled Kentucky Fried Chicken.  The kids were hungry after their rides, after all!  When finished (Ididn’t eat as I was still rather stuffed  from my salad!)  Mark and the kids shopped in Wal Mart for awhile. 

We got home again shortly after nine o’clock and as I began to enter this into my blog, I realized I was too exhausted to even hold my head up!

Ben best summed up yesterday, commenting,  “This was just an awesome day!”

Late this afternoon, Mark and the kids went down to Bath to return a bike rack that we bought for the camper.  It mounted to the back bumper,  but we discovered we could easily carry our bikes inside the camper itself.   This was a better solution as the rear bumper isn’t sturdy enough to hold too much weight.  Plus, it is a cinch to just place the bikes inside…..two can lie down on the queen size bed with an old blanket under them.  Once placed, they remain “planted” very well!  The third bike can be placed at the end of the bed and doesn’t require too much securing down.

On their way home,  the kids were going to be dropped off down in Naples for a concert.  Many of their friends were going,  so Mark dropped them off and picked up Murphy and me at home.  I wanted to take a little ride to Canandaigua so off we went.  I hadn’t eaten any supper, so we stopped by Arby’s,  then Mark headed down to the lake. 

As I ate, we watched a wedding party out on the dock for the Canandaigua Lady.  A photographer was working away and I watched with great interest.   After several minutes,  I turned to the west and looked to see what the bridal “backdrop” might be.   And so, without further ado,  here is a look.  (the first photo of the Canandaigua Lady is facing east, but the rest are all taken toward the west)

Did I mention this sunset was awesome?

Mark and I have agreed that we will drive Michelle to her classes each day.  Canandaigua isn’t that far away and both of us have work and things we can do while waiting for her.  Mark decided he would stay home yesterday, so I got the opportunity to take Michelle.

I dropped her off at school, then went and parked the Explorer.  Michelle brought little Murphy along, thinking I might get lonely or bored,  so we sat in the car for awhile,  he sleeping and I, knitting!  We remained for quite some time, then I decided I needed to stretch my legs….I went over to WalMart and bought some bulbs (crocuses and daffodils) to plant this fall.  Then I hopped on over to TJ Maxx to have a look at what they had.  Finding nothing exciting,  I decided I was very hungry, so I went to Wegman’s and picked up some Chinese for Michelle and me.  I also bought some little treats for my companion!

While I was driving through the plaza where TJ Maxx is located,  I saw a huge flock of Canada Geese meandering about on the grass.  A car passed by near them and they began to lift off.  I stopped the Explorer and took a couple of photos through the windshield…it happened so rapidly,  I didn’t get great shots.

At lunchtime, Michelle called me and I told her I had some lunch for her.  She came out with her friends, Jacob and Jeffrey.  We all walked over to a pavilion near the parking lot and I sat with them as they ate.  It was a tremendous day to be outside….warm but not hot,  and sunny.  We had an enjoyable time, then the kids went back to their classes.

Mark called and we talked…I had shipped a box via UPS that had a problem.  Our driver returned the damaged box and we decided I had better return home to repack it.  I was a little discouraged,  as Murphy and I were rather comfortable in our little “auto lounge”!

I did get quite a bit of the right front of my sweater done!

I have the back, left front, and this much done on my sweater.  I am hoping to finish it within the next couple of weeks.  It would be sooner if I got to take Michelle to school more often!

I vacuumned the living room and cleaned a bit before heading back to Canandaigua to pick Michelle up from school.  Even though I didn’t accomplish a great deal,  it surely was a very nice day out!

 On Monday, we went for a “pleasure ride” just to get away from the house for awhile.  We ended up quite far from home, but the day was not totally futile as Michelle did buy some necessities for college.

I have featured the little Town/ Village of Waterloo here before.  One of its most famous claims-to-fame is that it is recognized as the “home of Memorial Day”.  (I found on the web that is a controversial subject!) Anyway, as we passed down 5 &20, something grabbed my attention!  Even though we had been this way countless times,  a church steeple called out to me for a closer look…

That steeple is just awesome!  All done up in stone,  it looks like this must have been quite the engineering feat!  (Mark was totally impressed when he saw the photo) Anyway,  Mark pulled down a side street so I could get close to the church.  He parked on the street and I hopped out as it would have been nearly impossible to get a decent photo otherwise…..there were strands and strands of wire on the electric poles!

Directly across the street is the most wonderful library and historical society.  (I need to really check this out!)

I took several photos and as I made my way back to the truck,  I walked past such an interesting house!  There were little American flags flying everywhere and there were little plaques along the side of the house commemorating the four branches of armed services.  As I took my photos,  I surmised this is definitely a  conservative Republican home.

Yes, there were elephants….all over the place!

I was amused that I had started with one interesting steeple that led to a library and a house!

As we left the village, Mark humored me by pulling over so I could capture our highly recognizable friend, Kermit the Frog.  I had seen this so many times and always wanted to photograph it!

We only spent a tiny amount of time passing through Waterloo,  but this little treasure holds a wealth of history!

to Mr. Anderson’s comment on yesterday’s post….

Yessiree, as we were coming home from a distant shopping excursion, (Michelle suddenly realized she had a great need for a backpack to carry her 23.6 pounds of textbooks!) I read my blog entry and Bill’s reply.  Mark giggled and said,  “The real rub is the name on the side of my Honda!” (ATV)

This, of course, caused me to rush outside this morning to share!

Oh, and in case you cannot quite *see* the name on the machine…..

Yup.

Well, sort of, anyway!

The kids and I worked under Mark’s direction this weekend,  leveling the frame for the hot tub,  shoveling what seems like tons and tons of gravel into the frame and, well….just a lot of heavy work!  Last night, when I lighted onto the bed,  my legs felt as though they had split open….oh, the ache!  Funny thing is, I didn’t work half as hard as the kids did!

So, this evening when they asked if they could visit their friends for a couple of hours,  how could we say no? No way! When we dropped them off,  Mark and I headed up to Canandaigua to shop for a bit.  As we drove back south to pick them up, the sun did one of its spectacular exits once again. 

I have a couple of posts I want to do, but right now, I am exhausted from my toes to my eyeballs!  I will put them up soon. 

So, after only three days of work I feel like crying like a baby…..how on earth did the Hebrews endure?

Yes, it seems like we were everywhere today, although we really weren’t!

The kids had an early afternoon appoinment with the doctor for a routine checkup.  Mark wanted to have them actually see the doctor,  instead of a physician’s assistant, so we were there for about an hour and forty-five minutes. I came out of the office with a hand full of literature informing us about various immunizations.  Gads, how did we live so long without all of these shots, after all?  I told the doctor we will study the sheets and get back to him….

After the doctor visit, the kids wanted to meet up with a couple of their friends to take in the movie GI Joe. We dropped them off with their friends at the theater and I grabbed a bite to eat. (Mark and the kids ate before) Mark and I had a couple of hours to kill, so we went to a Chevy dealer and took a look at the 2010 Chevy Equinox.  Our friend, Pastor Bert, recently purchased one of these cars and Mark was impressed by it.  Sporting a small four cylinder engine, it has six gears and achieves some good gas mileage. 

We visited a dealership and a saleswoman came out to talk with us.  She said the dealership sells this model like hotcakes.  I went on a test drive and was impressed by the vehicle.  Even wih the small engine, the Equinox moved along the highway with no balking or hesitation.  A very nice car!

After the movie ended, we picked the kids up and rushed to the college Michelle will be attending.  She wanted to get some information regarding her books for classes.  We arrived only a few minutes before the store closed, but Michelle got the info she needed.

As the skies began to get that beautiful “Canandaigua glow”,  I figured I should try to get a photo or two for my blog!  The first shot was good except for one thing….I took it through the bug-smeared windshield!

As we left Canandaigua, Mark took a route that rises up some from the city.  This allowed me to get a couple more cool sunset shots….

These photos were all taken looking to the west.

I then looked to the east and was so happy by what I saw!

Mark pulled over onto a side road so I could hop out of the truck  and take some photos without shooting rapidfire through the windows!

The weather the past three days has been so amazingly beautiful!  The evenings and nights cool off and then the days are full of glorious sunshine!  The temperatures have been comfortable as well.

Last night,  I called Michelle outside so she could hear the awesome sound of tree frogs….it sounded as though they were surrounding us!  They are repeating last night’s performance, and listening to them through the open bedroom window is so cool.

I am working on the sweater little by little.  I have discovered that with all the cables and crossing over of stitches,  I cannot work with people around.  Thus, I am now becoming the introverted knitter!!!