Life in the Bristolwood

Today was Michelle’s birthday and we had a rather busy day of it!  Michelle has lost her voice after the little sick spell…that cannot be much fun, but she still had a good day!

Michelle’s friend, Jacob, came over and we went out this afternoon, stopping first at a Chinese buffet in Geneva.  My, oh my, I ate too much!  I usually don’t overeat at buffets, but I kind of ate a bit too much today!  I sat across the table from Michelle, so I kept annoying her by taking pictures.  I was hoping to get just one good one.  She got tired of me and the camera, though….

Ummm…the photo above was taken before we left, obviously! I got the pretty Argyle sweater she’s wearing for her for her birthday.

After we ate, we headed on over to the outlet mall in Waterloo.  We walked and walked and walked some more!  Michelle had said she wanted a pair of fashion boots to wear under slacks, so we looked for those.  As we passed by the Clarks/Bostonian store, I told her she might try looking there.  She was reluctant, thinking it looked too “upscale”. 

Lo and behold, the store had boots just like she wanted.  The problem was,  they didn’t have her size.  She was a little disappointed, but one of the girls there told her they can order them directly and they will be shipped to the house. How cool is that?  No extra charge for shipping, either. Michelle was pretty happy.  I also found a really cute little purse there for a great price.

We looked around a little more,  then decided to start for home.  Mark wanted to see the Sabres/Ottawa Senators game, so we wanted to get home before too late.  We stopped at Wegman’s along the way and I picked up a Friendly’s Reeses Peanut Butter Cake for Michelle’s birthday.  WOW!  What a cake that is!

We got home a bit late, but watched the game as the kids watched a movie in the basement.  All in all, Michelle had a good day, but we can tell she isn’t 100%, as she looked pretty worn out by the time she went to bed. 

So, on this day, I am so thankful for our Michelle.  She has accomplished a great deal in her nineteen years and we a proud of her!  She is a blessing in so many, many ways. 

I am also thankful for the Sabres win over Ottawa!  This game was a real nail biter. The game ended in a 2:2 tie,  so we went itno overtime.  No one scored in overtime, so it was time for a shootout.  The first two Senators got the puck in, as did the first two Sabres.  Then there were three Senators who failed to drive the puck in….same with the Sabres.  Another Senator. Then, the Sabres’ Derek Roy……INTO the NET!!!  Sabres win 3:2!

I am still trying to recouperate from our little vacation.  We weren’t gone that long, but it was a bit of a touch and go trip home on Sunday. 

We had a wheel bearing go on the front right wheel on Saturday. Mark thought about going to a Chevy garage that was open until 6pm on Saturday, but decided he would like to try to do the job himself.  Ben was willing to help out and Mark thought it would be doable.

We hitched up on Sunday morning and went to the Sabres Development Camp. We really enjoyed watching the young prospects drill and then scrimmage on Saturday and Sunday.  We have been attending these camps for a few years now and have seen several players become Buffalo Sabres. 

After the camp, we began our very slow way home.  We would drive about 30 miles or so, then stop to allow the wheel to cool off.  It took hours to get home, but we were so thankful to arrive safely. 

Yesterday, the temperatures soared into the 90′s, making me totally miserable. Mark’s mother had a doctor’s appointment in Rochester at 9:30am, so Mark and I were off early in the morning, once again praying the wheel wouldn’t let loose. We took my mother-in-law to her appointment, then picked up the parts and tools we needed to fix the wheel bearing.  Thankfully, our faithful truck brought us safely home once again.

At this point, I must add that the Explorer is at the Ford garage, getting nearly $1500. in repairs.  I am of the mindset that we should put it up for sale right away and get something with good gas efficiency.  We will see.  The Explorer is a 2002 model and although it has low milage, it is getting old.  We will be doing some driving when Michelle begins RIT, so it would be good to have a sipping versus guzzling vehicle.

Today was another blazing hot day, although tonight, it is beginning to cool to the point that it is getting comfortable. Mark and Ben began working on the hub today, but parts seem quite fused together.  Mark cannot work for long periods of time, so they worked for just a few hours and quit.  Mark is searching for info on how to remove the hub and I just pray he finds a good answer.  With all this vehicle mess,  it would be quite pricey to have two vehicles getting repaired!

Well, enough of that.  I am not going to stress over things that I cannot control!

So, let me tell you about Lewiston!

As we were leaving our campground on Sunday, we realized we were really early, so Mark took the Lewiston exit.  I was happy to poke around, as the last time we were there, it was raining. A lot! 

Lewiston is referred to as “Historic Lewiston”.  It is a beautiful little community with beautiful little shops lining the main street.  Flowers adorn the lamp posts and there is a sense of a very old community. The buildings have a look of antiquity and were it not an early Sunday morning,  I would have gladly slipped inside the shops to have a look….they are quite inviting! Why I didn’t take a photo is beyond me, except for the fact that we were pulling the trailer behind us and together, the truck and trailer are about 50 feet long…makes for some interesting parking!

Mark drove around and stopped in a large parking area….right near one of my favorite statues…the Freedom Crossing Memorial. I blogged about this previously.

Just beyond this memorial was a set of stairs.  Well, curiosity got the better of me, and I hopped off in that direction.  I went down….and down….and down some more!  When I arrived at the bottom,  I was on a driveway/walkway just above the level of the lower Niagara River.  Oh, this was beautiful!

I walked along, meeting up with the Harbor Manager (I know that is the wrong name…I just cannot remember what the title was that was embroidered on his shirt.) What drew me was this…

This is The Black Pearl and cruises are available! I would love to go there and spend the day….the price of a one hour cruise is $35 per person…three hours is $75 per person.  The boat has diesel engines to get it moving up and down the river, but I was told that once it hits the lake,  it becomes full sails, a beautiful replica of a 1600′s ship. Wow, the directions my mind could go with that!!!

I spent considerable time looking around and talking to the Harbor man and another man.  They told me the fishing for Muskies is excellent there.  They said folks who fish there never divulge how big their fish caught were nor where they were fishing.  Hmm….They also said hardly anyone fishes there as they just don’t even know about this.

I suddenly became aware that I had many, many stairs to climb to get back to my family who might just be wondering where I was!  There was no way I was going to race up those stairs and I did notice a little addition off to one side with a bench…I thought perhaps they kindly put it there for folks who felt like they were going to drop from all that stair-climbing!

Since the family didn’t seem to be paying any attention to my winded self, I walked on over to see a restaurant that overlooks the water below.  It is an interesting shape and I just wanted a closer look.

As I snapped a photo of the restaurant menu, (wow! Who ever would have mounted their menu on a story board in front!!! What an awesome idea!) the man who founded the restaurant came over and talked my ear off!

I learned the history of the restaurant as well as how it came into being!  The restaurant was actually a coal silo that held coal for the steamships that used to travel the river.  After steam engines were replaced, the silo sat vacant for years and years.  While relatives from Minnesota were visiting with the man I spoke to,  they observed the silo from the Canadian side of the river.  They commented what a perfect day it was and the man said the only way it could be better was with an ice cream.  The relative pointed to the silo and told the man he should consider turning it into an ice cream parlor. And that is the condensed version.

The silo is leased from the town of Lewiston and the man’s son now operates the business.  He added a patio and outdoor picnic tables along with flowers and pretty landscaping.  ( I was told the view here in the autumn is absolutlely breathtaking…umm….one would NOT have to sway me…I believe it!)

The ice cream parlor (proper) was moved from the silo to an 1860′s Canadian Railway caboose.  The man explained that it took years to convince the town to approve the addition of the caboose.

Oh, by the way…that white house across the river?  It was owned by Tom Selleck at one time.

Wow, I learned so much from listening to this fellow! He was like a walking encyclopedia!  Oh, and by the way…the shape of the restaurant resembles a minaret mosque…the man lived in Istanbul, Turkey, for some 15 years!

I can’t believe I remembered so much of the conversation, but I do want to visit this restaurant.  It was given a high rating by a Buffalo food critic (the fellow chuckled, saying she critiqued the atmosphere, the owner and his wife, the setting…everything, but never once mentioned the FOOD!).  It also was featured on the show Man vs Food.

When Mark looked at the pricing, he was impressed.  He said too bad we were leaving town….this would have been an awesome place to take the kids for lunch!

Okay, so that’s it for Lewiston. (I think I oughta get paid for this! Or, at least get ONE of the vehicles fixed for free!!!)

It is that time of the year once again for the Buffalo Sabres Training Camp.  We have enjoyed visiting every year as we get to see some of the new players working hard to earn a place on the team.

The camp started with some hullaballo on Saturday, but we just had so many things on our plate, we didn’t leave until Saturday afternoon.  We packed the little camper and moved on out much later than we had originally anticipated.  I guess it was okay in the long run, though, as hurrying to leave is just too stressful!

When we pulled into the campground, the office was already closed, so we just picked a site and set up.  The most wonderful thing about camping this time of the year is that there are few other campers.  I love it, because during the summer months,  camping can get pretty overwhelming….while I love campfires and such, sometimes the smoke from too many fires is a bit too much! 

We pulled into our site and there were a total of three other campers parked in the same area!  They were far away from us, so you can only imagine how awesome this was…..we felt as though we owned the entire campground! It was so nice.

The kids decided they wanted to study and work on their homework, so on Sunday morning,  Mark and I set out alone to the Sabres camp.  It was nice, as the Scotties were left with the kids.  I think the four of them had some fun together!  And Mark and I felt at ease to enjoy watching the players!

I smiled when the Zamboni came out to resurface the ice.  One of the commentators for the game always calls out when a player gets the puck up over the goalie’s shoulder….he calls such a play “on the top shelf where Mama hides the cookies”!

Well, one of the large supermarket chains located in Buffalo is “Tops” and they had the slogan paineted on the side of the Zamboni, slightly modified!

I won’t bore you with countless photos of hockey, but after the session, Mark wanted to go to a Sam’s Club to find a new GPS, as our previous one (faithful for about four years)  was fritzing out!

Mark used a GPS ap he found on his cell phone and it actually worked nicely, although lagging a bit.  Thankfully, this was on a Sunday afternoon and there wasn’t a great deal of traffic on the roads!

The GPS led us along a section of Buffalo I was unaware of….namely, the Buffalo Irish Heritage District!  What a pleasant surprise!  As we passed the Buffalo Irish Center, we heard Irish dance being done inside.

Here are some photos along the way….not that much to photograph, really, as the Irish district looks pretty similar to other neighborhoods, save for some wee differences….

Oh my….there are times when a photo alone will not suffice. As we drove along the road,  poor Mark began to freak out!  “Katya!  I can’t read these street signs!!!! The font is so weird and I can’t make them out!”

Well, that in and of itself was worth “the price of admission” (so to speak) but I assured Mark everything was oaky…the English translation was located underneath on the “regular” blue street signs!

Buffalo is a city of rich ethnicity.  One of the largest groups has to be Polish, as well as Italian. I’m not sure that either of these groups has a specific neighborhood,  but I certainly enjoyed seeing the Irish influence as we passed along Bothar Abboid. (sorry about the proper “marks” being left out…not that savvy with such devices!)

This morning, we got up and began packing the truck and camper to leave our little “home” for the past few days.  The kids and I scurried about, as the skies grew more and more threatening as time passed.

Everything secured, we pulled out just as the monsoons rain arrived.  This wasn’t a gentle little spritz, either, but a downpour!  I had a feeling the rain we would get would come in torrents, as the heat we experienced came with intense humidity.  How long could the atmosphere hold all that moisture without spilling over?

The rain continued as we arrived at the arena to watch the Sabres Development Camp.  I sat in the rather chilly rink in my rain-doused skirt and sweatshirt, shivering!  The event for the day was a game and it was fabulous to observe. Mark noted several players he is thinking we will be seeing on the team and for the third year in a row, we were totally awed by Nathan Gerbe.  What he lacks in height, he makes up for in skill and speed!  We are sure he must have turbo-chargers in his skates!

We left the rink and began to head for home, stopping to get food and gas.  The kids were so happy to be going home and I really didn’t mind so much, either, as the temperature was at least 25 or 30 degrees cooler than the previous three days! 

We are home and I am so exhausted. Mark (finally) admitted once we were home that the hot weather really seemed to take a toll on all of us!  Hmmmm……

We aren’t in Kansas but it feels like we are in the desert! Mark said on the news last night,  they told us we are experiencing a “heat wave”.  Gee, do you suppose we could have surmised that on our own?  The thermometer in the truck has been reading anywhere in the 90′s to 108 degrees.  That is *hot*.  Too hot. Even my summer-loving friends have been crying uncle in this little “spell”.

I won’t even begin to tell what has happened to my usual demeanor.  Okay, so if you truly must know, think “dragon lady”……fire-breathing and all! Yes. I.am.miserable.

Well, the great news (that goes above and beyond just plain old “good”) is that we have been living in our little camper the past few days.  The reason that is good is because the little camper is air conditioned! 

It is that time of the year when we make the annual journey toward Buffalo for Sabres Development Camp.  We get to see all the young Sabres prospects working on the ice.  Even more, this year, we get to enjoy the fantastic cool temperature inside the ice rink!  Believe me, it is fantastic!

If there is any downside to the camp, it is that the workout on ice is only an hour and a half or two.  Now, if we could sit and watch these fellows play for maybe four or five hours….

Yesterday, we took Ben and Michelle to the Fort Niagara State Park where they went swimming in an awesome pool.  There is also a pool dedicated to waterslides, so they could have even more fun in the sun and  it is a short distance from the campground where we are staying. While the kids enjoyed their time splashing in the pool,  Mark and I went for a ride. 

We wound up in Youngstown, which is just “down the street” from the fort.  I took a few photos there, but they look a bit junky as it is so hazy, everything looks blurry and out of focus!

The yachts above are located at the Youngstown Yacht Club, which is located right next to one of the sweetest public launches I’ve seen.

This is a beautiful little park. Amazing and beautiful!

That land on the other side of the water (only a few hundred yards) is Canada! Mark has come to the conclusion that perhaps we need to get the enhance drivers’ licenses so we can travel across the bridges.  We kind of miss going on over to Canada!

Here are just three shots from the Sabres camp. 

And in closing, here is a shot of Sabretooth, the Buffalo Sabres Mascot.  Sabretooth was kind enough to pose just for me!

I hope the weather isn’t so incredibly hot where you are!  And, if it is, please stay cool! I will!

Oh, and as far as Dorothy is concerned, home is NOT where I want to be right now.  The air conditioned trailer is so pleasant.  we get the added bonus of lake breezes, too, as the campground is on the shores of Lake Ontario.

Note:  I wrote this last night and oops….forgot to hit the “publish” button.  I think I am running on low in the energy department and it is beginning to show!!!

Life has been so crazed here in the Bristolwood lately.  With Mark’s diagnosis and the two of us left wondering what, exactly, he is supposed to be eating,  life has certainly been interesting.  Mark has been faithfully monitoring glucose levels and they have never once been as dreadfully high as when the bloodwork was done.  Hmmm….makes one wonder…..did someone accidentally mix up labwork, giving Mark someone else’s results?  Chances might be slim, but we do know things sometimes get switched!

Tonight, Mark and  I watched a Buffalo Sabres hockey game against the Boston Bruins. It was a good game, but as we watched,  I got terribly annoyed by the woman interviewing players.  She always had one-liner questions and she asked her (brief) question, the player answered, then she immediately switched over to one of the male anchors.  The thing that annoyed me most is the questions she asked.  She asked with no emotion and it just seemed like the questions were much deeper than her understanding of the game.

The icing on the cake was when she began talking about one of our star players….a young rookie named Tyler Myers who stands a mere six feet, eight inches tall!  She made comments about the fact that he was from Texas and it was interesting how he came to play hockey instead of basketball or even football.  She went on to say he had gone to a hockey game and after seeing the game “him and his dad” went to buy equipment so he could play hockey.

Heaven help me…I am certainly not picky when it comes to people speaking correctly, but “him and his dad”?  For Pete’s sake…..someone help this poor damsel….she is in distress and I wonder if she is even aware?  Ah well, perhaps she thinks all hockey fans are  beer-guzzling (well, that seems to be what the commercials aired imply!) mindless fellows who have been conked on the heads one too many times by a stray puck. My advice is that the network send the poor woman to school for a remedial course regarding proper speech (or, stick with the fellows that seem to be good at ad-libbing!

Oh, and while we are at it,  one of the male announcers kept calling our Tim Kennedy “Tyler” Kennedy.  Well, Mark and I decided to just join in, so we renamed everyone on the team “Tyler”.  Somehow, the name doesn’t fit too well with surnames like Hecht or Lydman.

The Sabres won with a score of 3:2.  I am happy!

Sorry, but no photos tonight.  Today was not very “picturesque”.  Clouds and rain aren’t so much fun, after all! And a bit of good news is that Mark receieved a call from the hospital regarding getting together with a nutritionist who will help guide us through what he should be eating!

Sooo…..conversation this morning.

Me: Wow! There’s a lotta snow out there!

Mark:  Nah, the snow is drifted, but it doesn’t *look* like there is much.  Just drifts here and there.

Ah, famous last words….

What Mark did *not* see was the snow the Scottie boys and I encountered early this morning before the sun came up. We three hopped down the steps only to witness snow that far exceeded the height of a wee-legged Scottie Dog!  I tried to push the snow aside with my boots, but it was so deep and heavy,  I could barely move it!  Seeing the frustration in my companions, I more or less “forced” them under the front porch where there was little snow on the ground!

As Mark and the kids did some things they needed to do,  I took a few photos of visitors to the suet feeder out back. The birds have been visiting with greater frequency the past few days.

This little Titmouse patiently awaited his turn atop the railing…..

And look at the lovely pose he struck just for the camera!

When Mark was nearly done with his chores, I went outside and shoveled off the back deck and part of the ramp.  I convinced Ben to finish the job and we had it cleared just as Mark was ready to wheel out the door.

I teased Mark the other day that the wheelchair ramp looks like a luge course.  Now that we have shoveled, it looks even more so!

Michelle took Murphy out to the front of the garage where she was about to shovel. She set him down and he more or less paddled his way through the snow to me.  He wasn’t the least bit impressed by this massive-to-him snowfall!

Both the truck and the Explorer are relatively high vehicles with a generous ground clearance. You can see that the snow in front of the garage was pretty deep!

Michelle and I worked at shoveling out the front of the garage as well as around the perimeter of the vehicles.  We always hand shovel these areas as Mark cannot get in tight enough with the plow.

The snowstorm last night involved snow that fell very finely.  Were it not for the fierce wind, we probably would have had a much deeper snowfall.  What did fall was not like the light, fluffy snow we had previously experienced this year, but heavy, wet snow.  As Michelle and I worked,  huge snowflakes began to fall.

Before Mark could plow with the ATV, he needed a bit of help to remount the two rear tires on the ATV.  He had removed them because when we had the inspection of the truck done yesterday,  he also had those two tires reseated on the rims as they were having some trouble losing air.

When Mark pulled forward to begin pushing the snow,  I couldn’t believe the snow was almost the same height as the ATV!

That ATV is worth its weight in gold.  It did indeed push through that enormous blockade and handily removed the snow from the driveway!

I tried to take the Scotties in the house, but Angus the Brave would not budge.  He wanted to linger outside, watching Mark plow the driveway.  Poor little fellow….he looked like a frozen Teddy Bear as he observed from the porch!

Murphy, on the other hand, bounded into the house with gleeful abandon as soon as the door was opened.  And still, Angus watched over Mark….

Michelle and I continued to work our way through that nasty pile of snow in front of the garage.

Mark worked on the driveway for a good two hours.  There was so much snow; this was a snowfall more like the “old-fashioned” ones we remember.

We were all thrilled with the mechanical advantage offered by the ATV! The only assistance Mark requires is a hand changing the blade direction on the plow from time to time.

As  soon as we finished clearing out the front of the garage, Michelle went inside the house to warm up.  I stayed outside a while longer, then as Mark was finishing  up, I shoveled the close to two inches of fluffy stuff that fell as we were working outside.

Ben helped Mark get things put away and then they came into the house.  Or, so I thought.

Mark kept hollering for me to grab a camera.

I raced to see what it was causing such a ruckus, only to find the boy like this…

Yup, that is how deep the snow is behind the house.  The disgusted look is because Ben claims he hates the snow.

We got everything secured and settled in to an afternoon of watching Team USA beat Team Finland in hockey.  One more game to go and we are assured at least a silver medal! Of course, we are so excited because our favorite team (the Buffalo Sabres) is represented in the form of TeamUSA’s winning goalie, Ryan Miller! What excitement!

The snow stopped falling, for the time being, and we were treated to another beautiful Bristolwood sunset.

We are told that the system that blessed us with this round of snowfall has stalled out and will now remain with us the next few days, causing flurries on and off.

Yes, I am afraid Angus just does not want to cooperate with me!!!  Well, not really. It is just that there is so much going on around here,  I have not had the time (or energy) to photograph the little fellow.

The kids had a friend over yesterday and they went sledding for awhile, ate, then went down to Naples for a concert.  I was so pooped after running around!  I was also trying to watch a Sabres game between taking two runs to Naples, so it was really crazy! Thankfully, the Sabres won. Yay!

Here are a few photos for your perusal, taken throughout last week.  I am seriously loving the Nikon D-90 and would recommend it to anyone looking into buying a great D-SLR. 

The weather today was quite frightful….it wasn’t cold or blustery, but rather warm and springlike, complete with rain! Somehow, cold rain feels much more chilling than snow this time of the year.  Mark needed to do a little repair on the ATV before finally plowing the driveway.  By the time he got out there,  he was plowing the wettest slush!  Hopefully, it will remain warm enough tomorrow to finish melting all the slush from the driveway so it is clear before we get another Arctic blast midweek.

Tomorrow looks like another active day.  The kids have an early morning dental cleaning and in the afternoon, we are expected at Mark’s mom’s house.  Didn’t I mention that wintry weather was a time for *hibernation*?  Well, perhaps after Christmas?

I got up with the Scotties a little later than usual because I had to knit a few rows on the sleeve for my new sweater.  The boys are pretty patient in the morning,  and today they waited without making any fuss as the needles moved along….

When we made it downstairs,  there was a strange “look” in the house.  I looked outside the French doors on the back deck and noticed that everything looked as though it had been “bathed” in orange!  Even the air itself seemed like there was a funny color to it!

As the Scotties ate their breakfast, I went out the door with my camera.  I looked up in the sky

As the “cloud” made its way east, it became less and less “colorful”.

Since we had no major plans to do anything special,  I spent a good deal of the day reading and knitting.  I finished one sleeve for my sweater yesterday, then sewed the fronts to the back at the shoulders.  I thought the sleeves would be so easy to complete,  but all the cabling was driving me nuts!  I don’t need to read the pattern as the instructions are now imbedded in my brain,  but there is so much fiddling around with cables!!!!

This shows the detail on the front….

and the sleeve…..

I am determined to finish this bugger up by the weekend!  After finishing the sleeve yesterday,  I finished the neck edge as I was reluctant to begin the second sleeve!

Mark and I watched another Sabres preseason game last night,  which was another win for Buffalo! Yeah, go Sabres!  They played Washington last night, which is another team they have a hard time beating.  Now, if only they could continue on during the regular season!

Michelle and Mark made a fantastic barbeque sauce they found the recipe for on the internet.   I cooked boneless skinless chicken thighs on the grill for dinner and then swirled them around in the sauce.  I also made green bean casserole and once dinner was served, there was a lot of lip-smacking going on!

Now, if only I could figure out how to make the house self-cleaning…..

Last evening, the kids went to a concert down in Naples with the proceeds benefitting the family of their friend who was in a serious automobile accident a few weeks ago.  The young man involved in the accident showed up last night.  He is wearing a neck brace and his arm in in a cast as it was injured quite severely.  We are all just thankful he is okay!

As the kids were at their concert,  Mark, the Scotties, and I sat in the truck, watching a hockey game on the laptop. The game was very exciting,  as it was a preseason game against the Detroit Redwings.  Buffalo has been so hard pressed to defeat this team, but they did last night, taking the game 3:1!

Of course, Angus got bored after a bit since the laptop didn’t offer food or anything inviting for a Scottie! So, he decided to stand guard duty in case anyone might try to slip too close to the truck!

We parked in a space in front of the Naples Pharmacy and I decided to take a few photos.  I must digress just a bit and explain that I didn’t get out of the truck to take any photos, as I was suffering the results of a ridiculous headache I had awakened to yesterday morning.  I have never had a migraine, but every now and again,  I get a massive tension headache (in the back of the neck and spreading to the shoulders) that just refuses to leave.  Thus, I spent a good portion of yesterday lying on the bed.   The temperature was a tad chilly last night and I just didn’t have any ambition.  So, photos from the truck….

I noticed that St. Januarius Catholic Church already has a sign up for their annual yard sale during the Grape Festival.  The festival is next weekend.

This brought to my mind a news story I had read a couple of weeks ago. 

Naples is “on the  map”, if you will,  for two *famous* things.  Those two entities are the annual Naples Grape Festival and Widmer’s Winery.   Well, we have been informed that within the next eighteen months,  Widmer’s Wines will be moved away from Naples and relocated to Canandaigua. 

I cannot help but wonder what kind of impact this move will have on the tiny village of Naples.  I’m not certain of the statistics, but I would venture to guess that many of the 55 Windmer employees are from the area.  In reading through a history of Widmer’s, this winery has been in the Naples location for over a century, when Swiss born John Widmer established the venture in 1883.  The winery has survived some tough times, including America’s spell of prohibition.

 The town is assured that the move might be a positive one, as the Rochester Institute of Technology has shown an interest in the property.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.  The Widmer property is a fairly large portion of Naples and has presented itself nicely over the years.   The distinct building sitting on a side road running parallel to Main Street has been an important part of the town for many, many years. 

Time alone will tell how this move will impact the lives of the people of such a small community…..