One project that I do want to comment on is the new ramp that Ben nearly single-handedly built behind the house!  With Mark’s help and instruction, Ben not only built a wooden ramp which is longer than the old temporary one, but he also mixed and poured twenty-two bags of cement to form a beautiful sidewalk at the end of the ramp!

I honestly think a better job could not have been done.  Ben is very shy about me sharing about this project, but to see him mix one eighty pound bag of mix after another, then pour it and begin again was incredible!  I think most men would have been slowing down after ten bags, but Ben just kept right on going!

Our weather has been very strange this winter. While the Old Farmer’s Almanac predicted a colder and snowier winter than usual, we have had precious little snow and the temperatures have been mild.  We are supposed to be getting some snow over the next few days and I will welcome it!  The warmer temperatures we have had, along with the rain, have made me feel so chilly!  Better freezing temperatures with snow than warmer temperatures with rain and drizzle!  The dampness seems to get into one’s bones!

We are missing riding the snowmobiles this year.  Last year, we were able to have had several outings by this time, but with no snow, it has been impossible.  There was some snow up on Tug Hill, but Mark read accounts where the warm temps made nasty riding conditions with puddles. Yuck!

I have been in cleaning mode the past couple of weeks, wanting to thin out stuff we don’t want/need.  It is crazy how stuff piles up on us while we aren’t paying attention!  Michelle has been feeling the need to discard old junk as well.  We need to make a trip to one of the Salvation Army Stores soon!  I think this is the closest I come to making a New Year’s resolution.  I have just become restless looking at all the stuff that has been building up over the years.  We even have things from Mark’s dad who passed away seven years ago this month!

How about you?  Have you made any resolutions?  Do you usually stick with them, or do they fall be the wayside?

I took these photos near the Corn Hill section of the city.  Corn Hill is located parallel to the Genesee River.  That is the water that is to the right in the photos.

After taking a few shots looking downtown,  I walked back to the truck when I became aware of an awful noise….Swirling all around above the river were hundreds, no, thousands of crows.

It was so cold walking along the streets!  We have become such big sissies with all the unusual warm temperatures we have had most of the fall!

I cannot believe it is already December.  Does anyone know where this year went?  Time seems to be zipping right along, paying no heed to our desires for “just a little more time”! 

For years, I have had a desire to have a “Christmas cabin” deep in the woods.  Far enough away to not have to worry about electricity and such.  A place to escape from all the hoopla and just to spend time doing the simple things in life! I have to say that as much as I enjoy computer time,  I really enjoy doing things the old-fashioned way. 

When is the last time you wrote a grocery list?  Played a board game?  Lit candles and left the electric lights turned off?  Sat and read through the newspaper?  Read a magazine?  Opened a book and took a deep whiff of the smell of new book?  We have become so attached to our electronics,  it is hard to step backwards!

I guess one of the reasons I would love to have my little cabin to escape to is to gather my wits.  Sometimes it just seems like there is too much, too fast.  Information spreads like wildfire, and while that can be a good thing, it also puts stress on us. I know for a fact that when there is too much stress, I start having breathing issues.  That probably isn’t the only reason, but it certainly contributes.  What is wrong with doing things a bit more slowly and doing a thorough job? 

Okay, I will get off my soapbox for now.  I realize my dream is just that and perhaps will never be made real.  I guess that is okay, too.  I can always escape in my mind, after all!

Do you have any special dreams for Christmas?

When I was at Lowe’s the day I saw the wonderful  blue orchid, I bought a Christmas Cactus.  I had two of them for years and years and they both died at the same time a couple of years ago.  I figured I just wouldn’t replace them, but when I saw this particular cactus, I was enamoured!  After all, it has that incredible “gold dust” look on the flowers!

Have a great day, and if celebrating, don’t eat too much!!!

I wandered past the Christmas displays….wow!  There sure is a lot to see there!  Even though I don’t care much for all the commercialism at Christmas,  I really do like looking at all the baubles and whatnots!  I love all the bright and cheerful colors. Between the warm and comforting autumn colors at Thanksgiving and the bright, splashy colors of Christmas, this time of the year has it all.  I bumped into a young teenage girl along the way, looking rather spellbound in the aisle. She confided this is her favorite time of the year and I agreed with her.

Off I trotted to the garden center, where all the bird activity was happening.  My, oh my…..those birds are certainly chatty!  If one happened to have a headache, their noise level would be enough to throw one over the edge. I watched as what seemed like tens and tens of Sparrows zipped down from the top rafters of the building, diving into the Christmas displays and garden supplies.  It was incredible!

Then, “it” caught my eye…..

I have never been attracted to Orchids, really.  But these beauties, called Blue Mystique nearly took my breath away!  I just stood there, staring, for a very long time.  At forty dollars a piece, there is no way one of these would come home to live with me, but they are the most beautiful plant I have ever seen! 

Did you know that BLUE is my very most favorite color? I am so thankful for eyes that are able to see all the beautiful elements in this world!

Why do I love Pennsylvania so? Perhaps it is purely because of memories of time spent there.  My maternal and paternal grandparents spent much of my life there, along with great aunts, great uncles, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Truth be told, when my parents moved from Pennsylvania, they moved to a city in New York that is only minutes from the Pennsylvania state line. New York is an awesome state, but the hills here cannot compare with the hills of PA…or the memories!

Here are a few photos I took…we wandered around a bit until the GPS lost its mind, causing us to be lost for a short time as well!

Okay, so how lost could we have been….yes, we were looking for ATV trails that run through the National Forest.  How cool is that?

SOLD! Well, I am, anyway. We discovered the trails that run through the national forest a few years ago, but when I walked a little way on them, I was very impressed!  They are awesome. 

Hey, even nature is more friendly in Pennsylvania!  What?  You don’t believe me? 

While we were lost  As we were looking around the forest, I spotted this beautiful Swallowtail Butterfly.  Now, we have Swallowtails at our house, too, but trying to photograph one is a challenge and then some!  This lovely specimen was so happy to have me and my camera observing it! Okay, well, perhaps it has seen so few people, it doesn’t realize it is supposed to be afraid!

After our adventure to Pennsylvania, we were off to visit my parents and brother, Randy, to celebrate the Fourth.  My mother fixed the most awesome spead of picnic foods….it was so tasty! 

As I was taking some photos around the yard (oops! forgot to take people photos!) I spotted two Amishmen!

Yes, the Amish don’t necessarily celebrate the birthday of our nation, so these fellows were building a garage fro a neighbor. Now, my parents live in the city….this isn’t even really considered “suburbia”!  I was shocked when I spotted not only the Amishmen, but their horse and buggy in the yard!  They have to travel a good distance to get to this neighborhood…I would have thought they might have hired a driver!  In my next post, I will show pictures of the buggy and horse in the yard.

The photos above aren’t that great, but I didn’t want to feel like I was “spying”.  Particularly with a camera. These folks are very Old Order Amish and I am positive a camera has no  place in their lives!

We left to go home and it was hard to go….I love visiting my hometown. I miss my parents so much and although we are only four hours apart, sometimes it seems much much farther!

I took along my telephoto lens for the Nikon and was happy to use it. The only problem was that my photos were limited to a small angle.  I was glad to have the Canon along for more wide angle shots.

As we drove along the street, we saw people all setting up chairs along the roadside, as though a parade was coming!  We asked a man directing traffic (that in and of itself indicated “something” was up, as Hammondsport is such a small town, they would never need anyone to direct traffic, normally!) and he said the parade was set to start in about 15 minutes.

I hopped out of the truck, hoping to be able to find a suitable spot to take photos.  Mark parked in a parking lot.  Once I found the route of the parade, I called Mark and told him there were tons of places to park right along the parade’s route! He came over and parked in the street so he would be able to see the entire parade right next to him!

I went behind the truck and lowered the tailgate so I could sit and wait for the start of the parade. Once it began, I had the most awesome spot to take photos!  I was almost at the start of the parade and there were no people to block my (or my camera’s vision!)  This was so much fun and I hope you enjoy my photos!  I almost never take photos of people…give me wildlife!  However, I was so pleased that I got some pretty neat people pics!

I don’t think I was ever close enough to a parade before to notice that the firefighters who marched carried an axe! Each company did have their ax present, though!

Can you imagine this little guy’s excitement to be riding not only in a parade, but in a firetruck?

From time to time, the parade would get a bit ahead of itself and the units would stop for a moment. It was so hot this July 2 evening…I cannot even imagine how these fellows could march in their suits with the hats!  As you can see, a couple of them “lifted their lids” to let off some steam!

I loved it when the parade would come to a halt right in front of me!

Ummmm….I am pretty sure he was talking “official business” on that cell phone while driving in a parade….

*My* ideal firetruck!

Aren’t these shirts cool?

This is when I lost it! The bagpipes playing Scotland the Brave somehow just threw me right over the edge!

With so many firetrucks present, it was awesome…but this one really stood out as far as “decorations”!

“This” was being pulled behind a pontoon boat, being pulled by a truck! and….

this pretty young girl told me she painted the face on the dummy! As I was taking her photo, her little friends wanted to be in a photo, too! (It was cool that the parade had once again stopped right in front of me so I could talk to these young ladies!)

And there you have it, Dear Reader!  Now, this was far from the entire parade, but some of my favorite shots.

AND, this was just Saturday.  There were still two more days left to this holiday weekend.  More to come…..

I was feeling a tad better yesterday, so when the kids went to a party down in Naples,  I went along for the ride. Mark needed to pick up some parts to fix the Explorer and since the Advance Auto in Canandaigua didn’t have some of the needed items, he decided to ride on down to Dansville where they were available.  I felt up to the ride, so we dropped the kids off and were on our way.

As an aside, the party they were attending was for a friend they met years ago. He was also homeschooled and began taking college classes at age eleven!  He began attending college full time while still young, and now at the ripe old age of eighteen, (he is a month younger than Michelle) he holds a  Bachelor’s Degree in communications!  Wow. At the age when many kids are just graduating from high school, he is now done with four years of college!

Well, then, Mark and I made it to Dansville and I asked if I could grab something to eat at Arby’s.  I haven’t been very hungry while being sick,  so my poor stomach has shrunken a good deal.   I got some chicken tenders, fries, and a Pepsi.  I ate two pieces of chicken and maybe half of the fries.  The Pepsi  tasted so good….while out, I felt like I was burning up and I wondered if I had a fever.  When we passed a business with one of those big signs with the temperature displayed, it said 91.  I guess that would account for my (great!) discomfort.

These flags were flying outside Arby’s.

There was a lot of little airplane activity in the sky above us, but the new compact camera only has four times zoom, so any shots might be useless!

After eating, we drove over and parked under a great shade tree and Mark got online and ordered the parts he needed.  He discovered that if he ordered online, a generous 40% could be taken off the price of parts!  Because the coupon offers required that you spend  $50,  $75,  $85, or $100,  Mark had to submit four different orders, as well as an online one that will deliver the parts to our house.  He basically got $700 worth of parts for less than $400!  Being very mechanically inclined, Mark doesn’t feel the least bit nervous about doing auto repairs!  Of course, he won’t do the work himself, but Ben will probably learn a lot!  I still shudder just thinking about taking a vehicle apart!

We picked the kids up after getting all our parts and then came home.  I was exhausted even not really doing anything strenuous!

Today, we weren’t sure about what we were going to do since I am still unsure about feeling 100%. We wound up just spending the day lying low.  We went out late this afternoon and I picked up a few groceries…mainly lemonade and tea…I have been so much more thirsty than hungry throughout this “bug”.  Afterwards, Mark and Ben went into WalMart for quite a long time!

When they finally came back out, Ben was so excited. Mark bought him a new baseball bat, glove, and ball. He has been enjoying hitting a ball with friends, and his old bat is far too small!  After Ben and Michelle ate, Ben asked if we would drove on over to one of the FlCC fields so he and Michelle could hit the ball together.

Mark, the Scotties, and I sat in the truck, watching the kids.  Both of the kids are pretty good at giving the ball a good whack! We were impressed.  When Mark whistled out the window,  Angus got so excited, he held his nose straight up to the sky and began to join in with “arooooooo”!

That was quite the experience! Of course, Murphy was not the least bit impressed!

The sky above us was so pretty!

The roof of the building in the lower right hand corner (rounded roof) is the CMAC center where many artists (even well-known!) perform.  As we sat and watched, the sky got prettier….

and prettier…

and on the way home, I had to holler “Stop” to Mark!….so I could get this….

Quite the lovely ending to Father’s Day, 2011!

Here are a couple of photos I took a few days ago in Woodville.

I love that RED boat! Since the lake flooded the parking lot at the boat launch for a couple of weeks in April, Iwas surprised to see the wild Irises growing!  I thought they might have been messed up or that they might bloom much later!

For Memorial Day, we had placed a new bouquet of flowers on my father-in-law’s grave.  I also snapped a couple photos of an eagle memorial that wasat the cemeteryto honor those who served in the US armed forces. My father-in-law loved eagles!

Here is what is gracing our dinner table.

I love Carnations.  I love their spicy scent and their appearance.  I think the pink ones are especially pretty with the white Baby’s Breath. These were the combination I chose for flowers for our wedding!

Okay,then.  Are you sitting down?  This next photo is of “someone” who lives not too far away. I only had the little Canon camera with meon the dayItook this photo and I was bummed I had left the Nikon with its telephoto at home….

I aim to get a BETTER photo, but in the meantime….If you travel down Route 64,  just south of the Town of Bristol (maybe 2 or 3 miles?) look at the small blue house on the west side of the road.  You will see the recliner sitting there and perhaps….well…