Life in the Bristolwood

We are currently camping amongst a forest of beautiful pine trees! It is so serene….so beautiful…and the scent of the pines is refreshing!

It would be nice if the internet offered “smellavision”, but I think pine trees can be found in nearly every area of the world…

Everyone got up early this morning and we headed out the door, as we had an adventure planned. Mark was in the truck….Michelle got in. I was locking the camper door when something caught my eye!

As you can see, these birds were not the least bit intimidated nor frightened by my presence!  What a radical difference from our wild turkeys in the Bristolwood!

with a minor temporary upset. (Which I shall address later!)

We all got up up and began to prepare for another adventure yesterday morning.  We decided another jaunt toward the Adirondacks would be fun as it has been four years since last we were  there.

Since we were heading east, we would stop at the college so the kids could pick up their textbooks at the bookstore.  After that, well, how could we pass by Geneva without stopping at Belhurst Castle once again?

We were blessed with some blue skies instead of gray, rainy ones!

Mark reserved our seating in the conservatory this time…

It is so hard to imagine a family was so wealthy as to build such an elaborate place as Belhurst! Everything is so beautiful!

The food was once again memorable! The soup above was Creamy Garden Vegetable with Roasted Garlic and Chablis.  It was so tasty….I need to find a similar recipe!

Our view from the table was as wonderful as the food!

You might notice the cloudy window-a testament to our rather wet and dreary weather of late!

As we made our way back to the truck and camper,  I caught sight of this amazing fireplace….

The intricately carved wood and mosaic surely did catch my eye!  This is in the entrance hall where the lunch buffet, served 11am to 2pm is served each day, is located.  I happened to note the fireplace as I was getting my food.

We wandered back to the truck and camper.  I was going to snap a photo of them but Michelle was in the way!  When I asked her to move, she struck a pose and waited!  Ugh…

As we made our way toward our destination, I felt uncomfortable.  Not given to over-eating, I felt as though I had eaten an entire cow!  My stomach grew more and more uncomfortable as we progressed. I never even feel uncomfortable after meals at Thanksgiving or Christmas…..this was so unusual!

We finally reached Lewis County…our destination!  This is the land of a huge windfarm!  From information I received,  I found Lewis County’s windfarm is comprised of 195 generators!  It is called the largest windfarm in the US east of the Mississippi.

This generator was situated just so that it looked like we were going to drive right into it!

We arrived at the state park where we are staying at about 6pm. We set up the camper, then Mark and the kids took off to shop for a little while. I decided to stay behind to clean up the camper a little, but as I moved about, my stomach grew even more painful!  Yes, I was almost to the point that I was nervous I might have to go to the hospital, I was in so much pain.

Realizing cleaning was not totally necessary,  I thought perhaps I should lie down on the bed for awhile.  Trying to find a comfortable position was futile. I finally stretched out and just tried to relax.  After about an hour, I finally felt the pain beginning to subside!  Hurrah!  I was so thirsty, my mouth felt as though it was turning inside out, but I decided I would rather go to bed thirsty than to risk making my stomach ache all over again!

The good news is that when I awakened this morning,  I was fine.  My stomach was still a bit “funny”, but I was okay.

We are camping at a park located not too far from the Adirondacks.  I love this region because it is so wooded and somewhat rustic. 

More adventures to follow!

I definitely need to upload all the photos from my Nikon and be done with them!

In the meantime,  I will offer some photos from our time spent at Darien Lake State Park.  We have been staying at this park for Kingdom Bound for four years.  We were so surprised this year when we arrived.  While New Yorkers have been threatened with park closures due to financial woes,  this park has gotten quite the makeover!  There are nice paved roads leading to the campground and everything just looks so great!  The swimming area at the park was closed last year,but  this year the beach was alive with sun-worshippers!

The first night camping,  Michelle called for me to come have a look at Murphy.  My goodness, the laddie was having a wee nightcap!  As you can see,  poor little pitiful Murphy was not the least bit humored!

My Nikon camera sat idle in the camper most of the time we were at Kingdom Bound, as I just didn’t want to risk breaking anything while traipsing about. With the heat in “broil” mode,  some days I felt it was a great effort just to make myself move,  let alone carry the camera bag!  I did take a few walks with the Nikon and it got used then.

The day we returned, (last Friday) the kids went to a party at Penn Yan.  Mark and I drove around Keuka Lake a bit.  Keuka is one of the Finger Lakes and there are some beautiful views to be seen!  We parked the truck near the lake for awhile and it was so beautiful the way the sun’s rays filtered through the clouds,  creating golden tones of shimmering reflections on the lake below!

A few years ago, I bought some Calendula seeds to plant around the house in my gardens.  The sad fact is, the emerging little plants looked so “weedlike” ,  I yanked them all out!  Well, my parents brought all sorts of seeds last fall for me to plant.   I threw many Calendula seeds on top of the cedar mulch in front of the house, and sure enough, the plants grew!

How could anyone ever feel downhearted with those gorgeoussunny little faces staring up?

I think that does it with the photos I’ve been “hoarding”!

My first thought for the theme was a sailboat!  We live very close to Canandaigua Lake, so in the summer, it’s a given that there will be sailboats aplenty out on the lake.Their pretty sails are definitely the shape of a triangle!   But,  I decided to choose a much more serious subject for the theme.

I live in the woods and have been somewhat alarmed about the number of our Ash Trees that seem to be dying.  When I first noticed “purple boxes” hanging in trees as we drove along the expressway to the home of my parents a couple years ago,  I had no idea they were for the Emerald Ash Borer.  This insidious little insect, native to Russia,  has invaded the United States and is threatening to destroy millions of Ash Trees.

I photographed this particular “box” at Allegany State Park when we were there a few weeks ago.  There was also a little sign attached to the tree:

On Saturday, we decided to take a breather to do something relaxing.  I am always up for such times of respite!

We all gathered together to think of what we might like to do.  Michelle said we definitely needed some groceries, so how about going on a picnic first?  YES!  We all agreed a picnic would be so much fun and as you know,  we don’t lack in New York State for beautiful parks to spend some time in!  Now the next question was, where?

Michelle, being college educated and all, now,  thought perhaps making Mom happy might be a great perk to add to the package.  She suggested stopping in Geneseo at Kentucky Fried Chicken,  then heading on over to Letchworth State Park.  Well, who could argue with such a splendid suggestion?  Not I.  Not Mark.  Not Ben.

We set off at about 10:30 in the morning on our (very) grand adventure!  We drove to Geneseo and stopped at Kentucky Fried Chicken.  The kids decided they didn’t *want* chicken, however, so we all switched gears and wound up with $2 meals from Taco Bell!  (the store we went to is both a Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell)

Mark plotted Letchworth State Park as our destination on the GPS and we were off again for the park.  Upon entering the park, we were a bit surprised that there were many, many picnic tables open.  We had thought since it was the 4th of July weekend, the park would be packed out.  We sat down and enjoyed our little meals and afterward had some grape pie for dessert.  I had baked the pie the night before and we packed it in a cooler…that was a nice cool treat!

After eating, the kids headed on over towards a playground area that was aso strangely vacant.  Yes, our kids are big, but they still love to swing!  Suddenly, acting almost as one,  Ben and Michelle went to the truck to grab the Scottie boys!  The fun then followed!

Okay, so the swings were a lot of fun, but Angus thought he would like a bit more adventure, via the slide!

And Baby Murphy could not be outdone.  He also went down the slide, but asked for a bit of assistance!

Murphy thought that was a piece of cake, so he decided to go down once again. This time, alone!   He did a fantastic job!  Until…

Oops..Murphy! You were supposed to land on your paws, not do a face plant!

Michelle and the Scotties retreated to the truck while Mark, Ben, and I strolled along one of the paths running alongside the deep gorge.  It really is breathtaking and beautiful.  We found a picnic table with a view…..

Oh how nice it would be to sit there and just enjoy looking out over the gorge! Interesting that the sign on the fence so politely asks that visitors remain behind the fence.  With drops of 600  feet,  it would seem more fitting to place warning signs or even run electric fencing to keep folks back.  Instead, that fence stands only about 3 feet tall! Hardly a deterrent!  Sadly, we read on Sunday that a young man fell to his death over a wall near the falls on Saturday night.  This park is certainly spectacular, but one must be careful and cautious at all times.

The next photo shows how the fencing must be moved forward over  time due to erosion.  You can see the posts that held the fence at an earlier time. In some areas, the fencing has been moved several feet.  I would imagine the pathways must be inspected regularly to keep them safe for visitors.

From Letchworth Park, we decided to head on down to the small Christian college town of  Houghton. Neither Mark nor I have ever been to Houghton, so this was a new adventure and we would pass through some new places.

One of the tiny communtities we passed was Castile.  I mentioned earlier about the fact that Saturday was part of the July 4th weekend,  so many towns proudly displayed American flags.  Castile was one of these.

Right next to the area I stood at to photograph the flags was a beautful monument remembering soldiers who fought in World War I.

The monument stood right near a church.  I really liked the little message posted on the sign out front…

We continued our travels and arrived at the college late in the afternoon.  We were shocked to find that basically, the town of  Houghton *is* the college!  There is very little else located in this town.  The college,  a Wesleyan school, was absolutely beautiful!  It is small, nestled on a hill.  All of the residences look like they are very nice!  The college looks like it would have a nice feel to it for anyone wanting to attend a not-too-large college.  I think the word “cozy” comes to my mind! Because it was getting late in the day,  I didn’t take any photos.

We left and began driving once again,  stopping at another state park called Stony Brook.  This park is small and very beautiful.  It has a rugged feel to it and once again, we were surprised to see few people enjoying the grounds.  The gate keeper told us that the governor’s cuts caused the beautiful natural swimming area to be closed.  What a shame.  A dam formed a perfect little basin where people could swim. Not anymore.

We decided to stop at WalMart to pick up groceries and things we needed.  We looped around again to Geneseo and along the way, we encounterd a young woman pulled off a small road, signalling that she needed a cell phone.  The vehicle ahead of us pulled over and Mark stopped in front of it.  Mark hollered out the window, asking if everything was okay. 

We discovered the young woman had hit a fawn on the road.  She said both rear legs appeared to be broken and it needed to be put down.  She called 911 for assistance and had to await someone to come.  As we were about to pull away,  Michelle pointed to a tiny fawn running about in the woods next to the road.  I wondered if there were twins and the one got hit.  This whole thing put a damper on our fun and it was some time before we began to talk and laugh again.

We shopped first at Aldi, then at WalMart.  I sat waiting in the truck with the Scotties as it was pretty warm and I didn’t think it would be wise to leave them alone.  As  I was sitting there,  I was so surprised to see our friends Jon and Cindy from Naples!  Naples is quite a haul from Geneseo and Mark and I always giggle that we must be the only people crazy enough to travel 40 miles to go shopping.  Hmmm….I guess not!

It was getting late as we pulled out of the parking lot and began our travels homeward.  Not too far up the road from WalMart’s  we encountered tons of traffic!  There were endless Sheriff cars parked alongside the road.  As we slowly made our way eastward,  a display of fireworks began in Lakeville, a tiny community located on Conesus Lake.  Well, Mark and Ben could never pass up a good display, so we pulled over into a big parking lot and watched a display unlike any I have seen before.

Conesus Lake is a small lake and we watched in amazement as fireworks were displayed not only at the park at the north end of the lake, but around the entire lake! Awesome isn’t even close enough a word to describe what we saw!

We sat and watched for about 45 minutes, then decided we needed to head on home.   We didn’t get back until about 11pm!  What fun we had on this adventure and the kids even said they had a great day!

is what calls us to further examine places and people we have met along life’s many paths we have traveled.  We often feel the need to dig a bit deeper,  try a bit harder, or just study further that element that has drawn us back to take a second look.  Such was the case when we revisited Letchworth State Park this past Friday.

As far as state parks are concerned,  sizewise Letchworth isn’t all that big.  Compared to the expansive acreage of Allegany State Park,  Letchworth seems a drop in the bucket!  Like all of New York’s parks, Letchworth is somewhat “rustic”, but perhaps a bit more refined than others. It certainly is one of New York’s most beautiful parks, hands down.

As we entered the park,  Mark and the kids spotted a train beginning to cross the deep gorge.  Mark hurried to the parking lot and dropped me off so I could capture a photo of the train.  By the time I got there, however, the train had already begun crossing.  Not sure of the length of the train,  I took photos as I walked the path to the bridge and falls.

Yes, although the bridge is short across, it *is* deep!

I finally got a fairly scenic shot.

I talked with a couple watching the train as it crossed. They said the beginning of the train had three engines, so it was probably quite a long one.  I didn’t think to count cars until much of the train had passed, and I counted about 35, and that wasn’t to the end.  My guess is that it had over 100 cars.  It sure was neat seeing a train on the bridge.  To my amazement, as soon as the train was across, people began walking out over the bridge.  I think my heart nearly stopped, but the couple I had spoken to said it is okay. In fact…the wife wanted to walk across.  The husband, well, he wasn’t so sure!  Me?  My knees nearly gave out thinking about it!

I took another path that leads to another falls. This one is a bit deeper than the first, and very impressive!

Letchworth State Park was named after William Pryor Letchworth, a wealthy businessman from Buffalo. Letchworth was born into a Quaker family that emphasized a good work ethic; by his mid-thirties, he was quite well to do.  When he first saw the area the park is located at,  he knew he needed to buy some land there for a get away from the busyness of life.  Over time, Letchworth acquired more land, and in his latter years, bequeathed the land to the State of New York.

Mr. Letchworth bought the land with a structure already built and he had contractors use the house that was already there.  It is located between the two sets of falls, in a wondrous setting!

The house is now an inn and restaurant, called the Glen Iris.  A small pond with a fountain is furnished with koi in its waters.  Its simplicity speaks volumes of the simple elegance found throughout the entire park.

Okay, I rarely take photos of the kids, but I made them sit by the “big” tree.

Did I say “big”?  That tree was huge!

Just a stone’s throw from the Glen Iris Inn is the William Pryor Letchworth Museum.  We walked into the museum at precisely 4:53,  being reminded by the attendant that the building closes at 5pm.  That meant we had all of seven minutes to look around.  Needless to say, we need to go back when we have some time!  The museum has all sorts of artifacts not only from Mr. Letchworth and his family,  but from the general area.

One of the reasons I wanted to return to the park was because of a story I heard about when we first went to Letchworth.  The story involves a young woman by the name of Mary Jemison.

Mary was born on the Atlantic Ocean as her parents were heading to America from Northern Ireland.  The family arrived in Pennsylvania and spent time there.  During the French and Indian War,(when Mary was about 12)  the family was killed, save Mary.  She was taken into captivity by Seneca Indians and was eventually adopted into the tribe.  She ended up marrying a chief.  When word came that captives would be released from the Indians,  Mary fled to the area where the park is now located.

When Mary Jemison was ofered freedom from her captors, she chose not to leave.  Over time, she became known as “The White Lady of the Genessee”.  (The river running through the gorge is called the Genessee River.)  Mary passed away at the age of almost 91, in 1833.

Mr. Letchworth, being very concerned about the welfare of the Native Americans,  was fascinated by the story of the white lady.  She had left the area just a few years before her death, and was buried in a reservation located near the Buffalo region.  When members of her family grew upset that her grave was being desecrated, Mr. Letchworth had her casket and marker removed from the area and brought to a ridge above his Glen Iris estate.  It was here Mary Jemison found her final burial place. 

Mary Jemison’s original grave marker is now placed in the Letchworth Museum as Mr. Letchworth had a marble monument made to replace it.  He had the original inscription written upon the marble marker.  A few years later, an artist made a stunning bronze statue of Mary carrying  Thomas, her firstborn, (named after her father) on her back.

The statue is so very beautiful! (It was made in 1910)

It was so interesting reading about Mary Jemison’s life.  What a strange turn of events in her life….

We had to leave the park as the kids were beginning to grumble about being hungry. But there were still beautiful sights to see!

And not too far away was a lovely monument built to honor soldiers of the Civil War.

I just love the sunlight illuminating the flag in this last shot.

As we were leaving the park, Mark asked if I saw the fox?  Fox?  I said….

Not entirely sure he looks so healthy.

We left the park and everyone was fed. We stopped in Geneseo and Mark and the kids shopped at WalMart while I waited in the truck.  On the way home, we passed Conesus Lake and it had the most awesome yellow moon over it!

And, over the telephone lines a little bit later. (I was too tired to get out of the truck and we were on a highway and Mark feared someone might run over the crazed lady with the camera!)

Wow, so many beautiful things to see and not very far from home at all!

Yesterday afternoon, we (fortunately, for me!) needed a few items from the store.  Life was getting a little overwhelming for me, so it was a good escape.  I went to Naples and got the things we needed and on my way home, I stopped in Woodville.  The water, nature, and surroundings just seem like a healing balm for me.

I sat a good while, thinking there was nothing to see.  Ah well, I just enjoyed seeing the water glistening with the sun’s rays hitting it!  We have been rather missing the sunshine lately!  Clouds, gray skies,  showers, and downpours seem much more prevalent in the forecasts, as well as reality! The flowers and weeds growing lakeside were so pretty. The abundant rainfall has not only raised the lake level,  but has provided lust, thick greenery.  Every now and then, a gust of wind would blow and the bowing reeds would look so lovely.

Suddenly, something caught my eye….I watched as several tiny ducklings scooted over the top of the water!  Their mother, looking as though she was moving in slow motion,  pulled into the shore behind them.  This set of photos might be best enjoyed by clicking on them to see the tiny baby ducklings. Also, the colors and reflections in these photos are so nice.

Okay, the next photo is disgusting, I admit it!  But, this is why people so dislike the Canada Geese!  I realllllly had to be careful where I was walking!

Mrs. Mallard enjoyed preening herself as her children played in the shallow water.  Then, as quickly as they came ashore,  the duck family was heading back off to deeper water again…

Okay, so if you aren’t familiar with the Gaelic language, you are wondering….is this someone’s name?  What does it mean?  Well,  this past Saturday afternoon, we attended a fun dance party, or Ceili Mor! (pronounced kay-lee more)

Carly’s daughter, Sarah,  has been doing Irish dance for seven years now! (she will be fifteen this September)  Carly said that every year, she thinks she might like to take up a different interest, but when signup time comes round, she is all set to do Irish Dance once again!  She is very good at the dance and it is obvious she enjoys it….we often see her doing little dance steps randomly!

It was interesting to watch the dancers.  As I went through my photos (there were over 100 taken),  I noticed a couple of things.  I hate to admit it, but I did miss some of the dance because when Sarah was out on the stage, the camera was up to my face! 

The first observation I noted was that when I looked at the photos in their full size, before shrinking them,  in looking at the faces of the dancers…that is, their upper bodies,  one would never come to the conclusion that they were dancing!  Most of the dance is vigorous and the dancers appear very sober…or, maybe “somber”!

The second observation was that this dance attracts a wide range of dancers, varying not only in age, but also size!  It was incredible watching everyone dancing at the very end of the “recital”.  There were little people as well as women who were probably in their forties!

I loved Sarah’s beautiful wine-colored dress, with the sprinkling of glitter and gold trim.  I felt it was by far the prettiest of the dresses the girls wore.  So, without further ado, I will show some photos.  Oh, and one more comment!  I have never photographed this type of event before.  It was a real challenge!  The lighting in the room was very dark, with the stage lit up.  Since Sarah’s class was the first presentation, I had no opportunity to figure out lighting, speed, or any other settings.  I was just happy to get some relatively “okay” photos!

After the presentations by all the dance classes, the instructor asked her students to grab some family members so they could participate in some dance.  Sarah grabbed her brother, Kyle, sister Erin, and Ben and Michelle. The dance that ensured was quite humorous as it looked as though there were now hundreds of dancers on the floor!  They did rather well considering it was their first class, however!

This gave me an opportunity to capture Sarah unaware…

After all the fun, Sarah was presented a beautiful bouquet of flowers by her Grandfather Edmunds, along with a kiss on the top of her head!

She and a classmate posed with their flowers….

What a treat it was to see Sarah dance. 

Afterwards, we went to the home of Carly’s in-laws, Cy and Madeline Edmunds.  Carly and Jeff and their kids were there and it was such a pleasant visit for everyone!  Madeline provided the most awesome spread of food and after we ate, we sat and talked for hours!  The kids had a great time together as well and we left far later than we had anticipated!

We arrived home after eleven and spent yesterday just lounging around basking in all the good fun we had enjoyed the day before!

Yes, that was the theme around here today!

We had a couple of issues with the camper that needed attention.  The first was that there is a fan called a Fantastic Fan in the bathroom that works in much the same way as a whole-house fan.  It has a great deal of power and can draw in air very rapidly.  The fan quit working last summer and I tried to fix it but just didn’t have the know how.

Enter Michelle.  That kid is awesome in that even though I cannot for the life of me understand Mark’s engineering “jibberish”,  Michelle is right there with him!  She quickly disassembled the entire mechanism and had a schematic drawing of the wiring drawn up for Mark.  She took a few photos and presented all the information to Mark.  A few minutes later, she was back in the camper with a multimeter, measuring voltages.

After Michelle and Mark had been working for awhile,  they were unable to figure why no electricity was reaching the fan.  They pondered the possibilities of perhaps a mouse chewing the wiring and various other scenarios.  Well, it was then that my little pea brain thought to ask if Michelle had actually thought to flick the switch in the bathroom to the on position.  Michelle and Mark looked at one another and Michelle quickly rushed inside the camper.  Oops! It took my comment to make them realize no electricity was going to flow without turning it on!  Yay, one for the mama!

Michelle worked for a couple of hours on the fan and when she was done, the fan was humming away like a contented bee!  She had removed two wire nuts from the fan wiring and we are thinking that perhaps they were loose because after she tested the wires, she placed the wire nuts on and the fan began to work!  I was so happy because that fan is great if we leave the Scotties alone for an hour or two.  It pulls in so much air and cools the camper so nicely!

Michelle also placed new heat “runs” in the camper, as well as making an impenetrable wall so no mice can crawl in.  We think mice managed to crawl in through the little electrical compartment in the camper, so Mark and Michelle built a  box to make it impossible for the critters to enter.  Michelle also replaced the miserable ductwork that was in the camper. 

For one reason or another,  when the camper was made,  one heat run was made from what looks like duck tape! It has a coil of spring so it stretches,  but looks like a gray fabric just like duck tape.   Well, upon further research, we found out the “fabric” is actually fiberglass.  The three other heat runs were made from what look like aluminum foil wrapped around a spring.  The foil had gaping holes all over it.  We found a local heating supply house that carried 25 foot sections of the fiberglass runs.  Thankfully, the entire vent system is now made from the fiberglass runs. 

After spending the better part of the afternoon working on the camper,  Mark and I decided to run on over to Honeoye for some Subway subs for dinner.  We left and as we approached the store,( about 12 miles northwest of us), the sky looked so threatening as the thunder rumbled above us.  We got the subs and then went down to the park to sit and have a bite to eat.

As we were heading home, we saw spots here and there where the skies had opened, making puddles and the pavement very wet.  As we drove down one of the main roads that ties our town to Honeoye,  several domestic geese appeared, just wandering about together looking like a gaggle of tourists!

I guess all that parental training while geese are yet goslings pays off….even when geese are full grown!  It was cute watching how they seemed to move almost fluidly along!

Mark also found a cool sign we had not seen before.  I see it was placed in 2007….we haven’t traveled this road in much longer than that,  I would venture to say.  Funny how a road so close is one we never travel.

Mark commented this road is very isolated and he is right.  Many of the homes built along this road are not visible from the road.  It seemed so curious that this particular sight must have been booming in the 1800′s and is now mostly deserted!

Well, we are happy to say that the little camper is now all in working order.  I will need to wash down the rubber roof and the outer walls sometime soon.  The inside of the camper was thoroughly washed with a bleach solution, as the thought of mice invading our “home” disgusted me!

Now, on to the next “thing”!

and I will never tire of looking at these babies!

We passed these little ones this morning taking Michelle to school.  As soon as we dropped her off, I made a beeline to the water!

On our way home, Mark and I stopped for our daily “walk and roll”.  That is, I walk and he rolls two miles.  As I made my way around the track, I kept seeing  an awesome “still life”.  The componants, individually, are not necessarily of great photographic interest, but together, (along with that most amazing blue sky with white clouds) they were stunning!

Last night, we had some fantastic thunderstorm activity that produced the most intense colors I’ve seen! The grass was screaming green!

When we came home, I just had to photograph my Lilacs.  They are more full and beautiful than they have ever been!

After enjoying the sunshine, blue skies, and fluffy white clouds, it began to cloud up again.  Wish I could have gone out and taken more photos today….the colors were so awesome and the lighting, great!