random reflections

Me on Monday

It was another road trip weekend. We left Thursday and drove to Hyde Park via the Catskills to check out the location of the wedding venue for Saturday. Good thing! It was at the end of a dead end road five miles from the nearest town, which was pretty remote already. I was glad to know exactly where we were going and how long it would take to get there. On our way we found a couple of items on Rinda’s Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt, but I’ll post those later this week when her Linky goes live. We had a lovely lunch at the Apple Barrel Cafe sitting on the beautiful patio.

When we arrived in Hyde Park at my niece’s we got to meet my new grand-nephew, Finn Robert McDonald! He’s the first grandchild on both sides. He’s a cutie and Stephanie has adapted to her new role with ease. He weighed in at 12.5 pounds at his one month check-up this week.

Here’s a photo of the whole family, including Rocky who seems to love the baby just as much as everyone else.

My niece, Julie, arrived and then my brother with his girlfriend (lovely lady; we like her a lot) for a delicious barbeque on Kevin and Stephanie’s deck. Alas, I took no photos!

On Friday we visited the Culinary Institute of America on a search for my favorite spatulas, but they’ve been discontinued. It’s a gorgeous place for photos though.

I love this sign on the crosswalks.

You’ll be seeing more of this lovely spot on the Scavenger Hunt post.

After another visit with Finn, we went to the Walkway Over the Hudson. 

The last time I was there, it was cold and windy and we didn’t walk all the way across. There’ll be more photos from this event later this week, but here’s one from the walkway of one of many trains that were going south as we walked across. 

The Walkway is the longest pedestrian bridge over water, 1.28 miles long, and 212 feet above the Hudson River. It was originally a railroad trestle, and had long been a bit of an eyesore before The Walkway was built.

On Saturday we attended the wedding of our neighbor’s daughter, Lauren, and our son’s soccer buddy, Andy. We’ve known both families for years, so it was wonderful to be part of such a lovely event. Both Andy and Lauren are artists, and their artistry was evident from the Save the Date video, the stunning invitations, and all the beautiful details at the wedding itself. Lauren and her friends did all the flower arrangement and bouquets, and each person had a hand-lettered card on their plate. The venue itself was magical despite a gray and rainy day.

 

Here's the card I created from the Simon Says May Card Kit and a stamp and die cut from "Grand Ampersand" by Papertrey Ink.

I just love this patterned paper and wish I had several sheets of it. You'll see the left-overs again next month on my anniversary card for Tracy. I didn't want to waste a bit of it!

We’re home now for a week before taking off again on our summer vacation which was planned long ago. Little did we know there would be so much travel prior to the vacation! We’re off to Calgary, Alberta; the Calgary Stampede; Glacier National Park; and then four stops in the Canadian Rockies. This trip was planned two years ago, but then we got the opportunity to go to Istanbul, and postponed this trip until this summer. No regrets about that decision. 

Waving to Sian, who hosts this weekend recap each Monday.

Sad Time

It's been a tough week. Betsy's mom passed away last Tuesday after a brief bout with cancer. She was just 65. In April she went for a routine physical, having no symptoms, and within a few days had a diagnosis of stage 4 cancer. Sally was one of the most positive people ever, and always thinking about everyone else, right to the last minute. She will be missed so much.

I've made cards for Betsy, both of her sisters, and her dad. Paul's card is a duplicate of one I've made before so I'm not posting it again. I tried a new watercolor techniques for two of the cards. I've always thought sympathy cards needed to be simple, and watercolor seems to fit the bill. 

Both of these cards were stamped with a light Distress Ink which fades into the background as you watercolor the separate petals. The key is never to watercolor two petals touching one another so you keep the definition of the flower. Although it takes some time and the outline of the stamps is still more visible than I think it should be, I'm happy with the first attempts.

The last card uses my favorite watercolor technique: a white embossed image that is then watercolored. I've learned to do it in a window so I can see the outline of the white embossing.

We made a quick trip to Chicago this week to bring Sarah, Caleb, and Sadie (their dog) back to Rochester. Adam is in Cuba on a mission trip. When he returns this weekend, he'll drive to Rochester, spend a few days with us before they return to Chicago. We're always glad to have lots of time with family, so this makes a sad time easier.

Weekend Camping Trip

Warning:  It's a long post, but mostly photos; not too wordy. We left Saturday for Selkirk Shores, a state park on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario. We've been camping with our friends, Bob and Cathy, for over 20 years. We used to go to the Adirondacks with our four kids, and climb one of the 40 High Peaks. Then, after the kids left home, we missed a few years. Now we go nearly every summer, but rarely do we hike. This weekend was no exception.

We did wander down to the lake after dinner on Saturday, but spend most of the weekend in Clayton, NY.

Some views of the beach:

One of the main reasons we went to Clayton was to visit the Antique Boat Museum.

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I had no idea how much I would enjoy it. I took LOTS of photos, and think I may make a small soft cover book of them. 

The museum itself is a treasure, and the gardens are gorgeous.

 There are four or five buildings and we were able to take a tour of the Bolt/McNally house boat.

The curating of the displays was excellent, but it was the details of the restored boats that I enjoyed photographing the most.

And a final view of the St. Lawrence River from one of the boat houses.

The town of Clayton is lovely as well. We had fabulous pizza (pulled pork and a BLT) at the Wooden Boat Brewery before heading downtown.

 

My friend, Clara, and her husband have their names engraved on the yellow chair in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary. Clara's sister is the mayor of Clayton.

 

There are a number of wonderful murals painted on the sides of buildings, but this one was my favorite.

I managed to capture three more items for Rinda's Summer Scavenger Hunt, but I'm saving them for the end of the month recap. I'll be back tomorrow with some Zoom In, Zoom Out photos from the weekend as well!

 

 

 

 

Corn Hill Arts Festival

There are several wonderful art festivals during the summer in Rochester. One of our favorites is the Corn Hill Arts Festival. Each year the organizers ask an artist to create a design that is used for posters and tee shirts.

The festival takes place in an historic, residential area about 2-3 miles from our house.

It runs for two days, and luckily we chose Saturday. The weather was perfect, and because we were there early, it wasn't overly crowded. According to the Sunday paper, over 90,000 people visited on Saturday. Sunday morning was overcast and rainy.

You can find just about any kind of art work.

 

 

This booth was a new one. Although the little girl in the center doesn't look particularly happy, I'll bet this was a "must-see" if you had a young girl with you.

The last few years, we've walked the entire festival (several hundred booths) and bought very little. This year we purchased several things. I loved the botantical illustrations in this booth, and bought two packs of note cards.

Our big purchase, however, was a fountain for our shade garden just off our patio. We've been looking at these for several years, and finally "bit the bullet." Hopefully, Tracy will get ours installed this week, and I'll post a photograph of ours. They come in two sizes. We bought the smaller one on the right.

Sometimes we've walked from home, but the last two years we've parked on the far side of the river, and walked across the Ford Street Bridge to the festival.

We had our RunKeeper app on, and by the time we got back to the car, we'd walked three miles. I was glad I didn't have another mile and half to go to get home!

Saturday Road Trip

Saturday dawned clear and sunny, the perfect day for our road trip to Ithaca. We always start our day there at the Famer's Market. This year we bought a few plants, a loaf of sour dough bread, and some Rainbow Swiss Chard.

Then we drove to the Cornell campus to the Johnson Art Museum. Much to our surprise (since it was reunion weekend), we had no trouble finding a place to park, and the museum was not overly crowded. 

The museum has a nice collection of Ansel Adams photographs, but only a handful were on display this weekend. There's also an extensive collection of Asian art, but for me the architecture and the views are as good as any of the art.

By the time we finished at the museum, it was time for lunch. One of our favorite places to eat when it's nice outside is the Boatyard Grill at the end of Cayuga Lake.

We sat outside on the covered patio (none of my photos from there were particularly good), but my fish tacos were definitely good!

While we were waiting for lunch, I glanced through a free Ithaca newspaper I picked up on the way in. We discovered the Cornell Plantation was having a plant sale, so instead of heading out of town, we went back to Cornell. The peonies in the Botanical Garden were stunning.

I'd love one of these, but there weren't any peonies for sale. We did buy four varieties of day lilies in a variety of colors which Tracy planted among our peonies this afternoon.

Our first stop on the way home is a favorite in the spring, summer, and fall---the Cayuga Creamery. All their ice cream is homemade, and it is delicious! I had No Doze--coffee ice cream with espresso beans. Yum!

Matt and Betsy gave us a gift certificate to the Hosmer Winery for Christmas so that was the next stop. We shared a tasting (too full to consider anything else!) and quickly decided on a wonderful 2011 Lemberger. We both like this red wine, but it's not easy to find a good one.

We made one last stop at the Amish Market in Seneca Falls, and called it a day. And it was quite a good one! (I've got a few photos for Rinda's Summer Scavenger Hunt to share as well. Later.)

Zoom In, Zoom Out: Week 22

I'm popping in to post my Zoom In, Zoom Out, but it's probably my last post for a week, and it will be awhile before I catch up with all of you as well.  Sarah and Caleb arrive tomorrow for five days. When Matt and Betsy got married in December it was a very small, immediate family, event. They knew then they'd want to have a party for the extended family and friends and it's this Saturday. My brother and niece are arriving on Saturday morning, so we'll have a full house for the weekend. I'm excited to have family here and to see some friends we haven't seen in quite some time.

Last weekend was busy too. We spent all day Saturday and Sunday (and evening) helping Matt and Betsy move into their new house. It's a great house, with lots of room for a growing family, but the best part of all is the fabulous new yard. The house needs some updating (mostly painting), but the yard is perfect just the way it is.

Skylar is already enjoying it!

Then on Monday we got our vegetables planted at the community garden. I'm hoping this is a more successful year. Last year the torrential rains caused root rot, and we got less than half the yield we usually get.

When we bought our house nearly 29 years ago, we discovered a peony tree in our back yard. It's in the lower yard, and hard to see from the house or the patio. A few years ago when Matt was living with us, he picked one and put it in a bowl. Ever since we've brought them in to enjoy for a week or so while they bloom. The blossoms are huge and so beautiful.

You can check out Helena's kelpies and other links for the Zoom In, Zoom Out meme right here.

Here's hoping all is well with you. See you next week!

Ornaments and Decorations

Our house has been decorated for some time, but I didn't want to post any photos until my ornaments from Missus Wookie arrived. I actually received them over a week ago, but haven't had a chance to take good photos. Miriam's lovely ornament swap was such fun. Then, as luck would have it, another package from across the pond arrived this week from Miriam herself with another delightful ornament for the tree. But, nonethess, the linky to the ornament swap is now expired! With the wedding and travel being behind is to be expected.

Better late than never, here are the gorgeous beeswax ornaments made by Missus Wookie.

And because the gorgeous detail doesn't show well in the tree photos, here's a closer look.

They are stunning, and we've never had anything like them. I am equally fond of this darling button tree sent by Miriam.

They'll be treasured each year as they will remind me, once again, how blessed I am to be a part of such a lovely blogging community.

While I'm here I thought I'd share a few of the new Christmas decorations around here. The biggest one is our tree. For the first time ever, we purchased an artificial tree. This was not an easy decision, but since we'll be leaving the day after Christmas to visit Sarah, and then driving Tracy's mother's van to Florida having a real tree just seems silly. This way I don't have to put everything away before I leave, which seems like an overwhelming task. I'm actually quite fond of the tree, though Sarah was quite disappointed in us!

When we visited the Biltmore Estate in October I picked up another new ornament for our tree. Our tree is filled with ornaments we've picked up on vacations over the years. It's always fun to unpack them each year, and remember all the great places we've visitied.

I also bought this gorgeous snow globe at the Biltmore. It's also a music box that plays "Jingle Bells." Both Skylar and Caleb are entranced by it.

Thanks to a photo on Pinterest, I decided to put out my old typewriter in our front hall. Of all our decorations this year, this one generates the most comments and stories.

 

My to-do list is winding down. I still have some packages to wrap, and one more cookie recipe to try, but we're in good shape for Christmas Day when we're expecting 25 for dinner. How's it going at your house?

 

 

Whirlwind

It’s been twelve days since I’ve had time to write a blog post, but I think you’ll understand why when you see what’s been going on around here. I flew off to Chicago on December 5th to spend a weekend with Sarah, Adam, and Caleb. 

While I was there Tracy sent a Polar Express G-gauge model railroad train to Caleb to go around his Christmas tree. Matt was never much interested in trains, but Caleb loves them. Here’s a photo of Caleb “talking” to Grandpa on Face Time after he’s seen the train first thing in the morning.

He was smitten from the first go-around.

Caleb got a new haircut, we made cookies, read books, went to church and an Advent luncheon, and most important, went to visit Santa Claus.

My flight on Monday was cancelled, so I won an extra day in Chicago, but had to fly into Buffalo on Tuesday. Tracy didn’t mind driving to pick me up, and we got home just as another snow storm hit the area. I had just two days to get ready for the next big event:  Matt and Betsy’s wedding! 

Friday afternoon, Sarah, Adam, and Caleb arrived here so Adam could officiate at the wedding. I hosted the non-rehearsal dinner for both families on Friday night. I was too busy to take photos, but here’s a shot of the cheesecake on the table before I put it in the fridge. 

Matt and Betsy decided to get married about six weeks ago, and didn’t want to wait until after the holidays. They planned the perfect immediate family-only wedding at the lovely Strathallan Hotel. The wedding took place on the ninth floor overlooking the city of Rochester. I’m sure the photographer will have better photos, but I couldn’t resist taking my camera along.

It was Adam’s first wedding ceremony, and his words on love and marriage were thoughtful and so appropriate.

Because it was just family, Caleb and Skylar were able to sit quietly and color during the ceremony.

Here are some of my faves:

Matt with his grandmother

Sarah and Caleb

Matt and his dad

Following the ceremony, we all sat down to a lovely and delicious brunch. I don’t have any photos of the meal, but the centerpieces were beautiful.

Sarah, Adam, and Caleb’s flight home was cancelled, rescheduled, and cancelled again. Ah, the joys of winter travel. They finally got off around noon yesterday, but it gave us another morning together, and Caleb time to play with some new toys.

 

It’s just a little over a week until Christmas Day! Still on the list to do: wrap gifts, bake cookies, and get ready for the family dinner on Christmas Day. My calendar is filled with social events this week:  bridge, lunch and breakfast out with friends, a committee meeting followed by dinner, and dinner here with good friends on both Tuesday and Saturday nights. But that's the stuff that's most important---being with friends and family. The Christmas Journal (I'm keeping up with the journaling) and the blog can wait until there are a few free moments. 

Congratulations, Juan and Rachel!

Today is the day! The wedding is this afternoon, and if the weather holds, the reception will be on the beach! We're so delighted to be able to be present at such a special event. Here's the card I made for them.

Simple and elegant; the way I expect Rachel will look this afternoon. Although I don't anticipate taking a lot of photos, I hope I'll have a few to share with you when we get home.

The flourish (Inkadinkadoo) was stamped with Delicata ink. It has a beautiful sheen which is hard to see in a photograph. The narrow strip of gold paper is from the last of many sheets that I purchased nearly 15 years ago. I admit to hoarding it now. The sentiment is from Mat Stack 2 Collection (Papertrey Ink).

Happy Birthday, Cathy!

Today is one of my good friends' 60th birthday. She's celebrating in Florida with her family as they enjoy a week together before Rachel (her oldest daughter) and Juan's wedding on Saturday in Boca Raton. We're leaving bright and early tomorrow morning to drive to Florida for the wedding. Then we're spending a couple of days exploring southern Florida (Miami's Art Deco architecture, the Keys, and the Everglades) which we've never seen. On our way home, we're stopping to see our good friends in Charlotte, NC and visiting the Biltmore Estate in Ashville with them. I've been to Ashville several times, but never to the Biltmore which is supposed to be amazing. I'm excited about the whole trip! 

Here's the card I made for Cathy. It's one of my favorite birthday cards. 

A little Washi tape, a tag cut with a Tremendous Tag die from Papertrey Ink and edged with a gold leaf pen, some gold sequins and a bow with some gold twine I bought years ago. The numbers were cut with the Typewriter Numbers by Memory Box. They were the perfect size for the tag. I gave the card to her husband before I remembered to take a photo of the inside which says in gold letters "and fabulous!"

It's going to be a very busy 12 days so I'm not sure how much time I'll have to read and comment on blogs, but I'll be sure to catch up with you when we return.