Presenting...Jamie!

I haven't written much about my husband. Saturday was his birthday and I thought I should do a special blog for him. I spent most of the day in the kitchen creating a nice dinner and dessert for him and cleaning the house so we could have friends over for dinner. Our guests left late and I decided that I would rather go to bed a then go on the computer.

Dinner turned out great and we had a lot of fun too!

Here are my belated 16 things about my husband.

1. His name is Jamie.
2. He is 5'6".
3. He is handsome.
4. He is Godly.
5. He bikes, swims and runs very regularly.
6. He is training for a tri-atholon.
7. He's got a good sense of humor.
8. He's got a good singing voice.
9. Shortly after we were married, he tried out for a local musical and got one of the lead parts.
10. He's a great piano player.
11. He knows a lot about fixing bikes and sometimes people drop off their bikes here for help because something is wrong and they can't figure it out.
12. He's been an inspiration to me to get regular exercise.
13. He does a Bible devotional every morning.
14. He went back to college a few years ago and completed a degree.
15. He knows a lot about apples because he had an orchard on his parent's farm.
16. He loves hiking and has gotten our family into hiking. These pictures were taken last week on a family hike.

Alicia is a famous artist...

Alicia's art was chosen by our city to be displayed on a banner which hangs from a street lamp. About 60 students were chosen among all 12 grades for this honor. Alicia was one of 4 2nd graders picked. Her artwork depicts the character trait "Caring".

If you click on the picture you can see it closer.

I'm pretty proud of my little artist. All the banners look really cool when you are driving down along the lake where they are displayed. I took several pictures!

Have you hugged a tree today?

Probably not, but this tree appears to be hugging the fence.

There is a tree here in town that fascinates me...actually there are several of them. This tree and wrought iron fence have been here so long that the tree has grown right through and around the fence posts. I'm always amused by it when I walk by. I try to imagine well over 100 years ago when someone put this fence up. I'm sure they never would have imagined that this would happen some day.

No picture of a tree is complete without showing the top. Here it is waaaayyyy up there!

Speaking of Toenails...

I said I wasn't much of a nail polish fan, but occasionally I indulge in doing up the nails of my daughters. Alicia asked me to do her nails the other day. So what do you think?

And the answer is.....

A clipping from a horse's hoof! This is Flirt. She is a horse who regularly pulls a carriage at a local museum called "Granger Homestead." What you saw yesterday was a piece of her "toenail" or hoof.

This is the ferrier who cares for the horse's hooves. In this picture he is cleaning Flirt's hoof out. He has some tools next to him. See the big file? Next to it on the left is the tool he uses to clip the horse's hooves. He placed several clippings from Flirt and her son, Pete (who also pulls the carriage) on top of the fence so the visitors could look at them.

Just 2 weeks ago, I went with Alicia's second grade class to the museum to learm all about life in colonial times. The children were fascinated by the horses.

Great guesses and some of you even got it!

Can you guess what this is?

Summer's here

It's been hot here lately. I haven't posted much either...and I probably will be slowing down a bit for the summer. Once in a while I promise to pop in. I probably will still be reading and commenting regularly. Tomorrow is the last day of school and it is a half day. The kids are excited to be out. I will be pretty "tied down" this summer as I have agreed to babysit a few kids for the summer. It's only for a few days a week...but I will also still be cleaning 2 places a week. I'm wondering what I have gotten myself into. I'm a little selfish with my time and space.

Other than Allen going to camp for a week and a quick jaunt to Long Island this summer, we will be staying around here. On my way to Long Island in late July, I am hoping to stop and visit Dunja.

I also have been procrastinating sending my camera to Kodak to be fixed. I dropped it some time ago and the flash doesn't work. Everything else works fine...but not having a flash has been limiting. There really is no good time to send it in as there is always a photographical event just around the corner. So I may as well just do it and get it over with! It still takes great outdoor pictures...as you can see by this wonderful picture of my feet. Do you like my new sandals?

Father's Day

In honor of my father...I have posted a harmonica. Martha already said it all in regard to Dad on her blog. I was not able to be with my father today because we spent the day with Jamie's father. Incidently he also plays the harmonica. So this one's for him too!

Anyway..."Happy Father's Day" to all the dads out there!

My Girls Again

Here are my girls again. This was taken on Mother's Day, just before leaving for church. They looked so sweet I just had to get the camera. Allen had stayed over night at a friend's house and was to see us at church (his friend attends our church as well). So it was just the girls that morning. Whenever one stays over night somewhere, it just doesn't seem right in the morning. But I am glad that they have good friends...especially ones who are Christians. (Do you like Audra's clothes, Gudl and Mellimouse?)

Animals at the GCM

Thought I'd post a few more pictures from the Genesee Country Museum. We have the Gander family.

Mrs. Henny Penny.

And the twins. One big happy farm family. There were also pigs, but the pictures of them turned out too dark.

Wild Flowers

These are wild flowers that grow everywhere. I see them along side of the road as I drive. I pulled off and had Allen take some pictures for me.

Aren't they beautiful?

Ironically, these particular ones are located along one of the ugliest roads around here. Directly across the road there is a dump, junk yard and town transfer station. That's what's nice about blogging...you can choose to not display the not so beautiful.

Lovers...and a History Lesson

Here are my parents in the early 50's. I'm thinking they were engaged to be married...making it 1953. I was going to crop the picture...but decided not to because of my love of history. In the background is a picture of a grist flour mill located on Irondequoit Creek. It dates back to 1848 when the city of Rochester was quite well know for it's export of flour. My grandparents helped the owner run the mill and they also lived on it's premises.

Now this same mill is a fancy restaurant in the rochester area called The Daisy Flour Mill restaurant. I've never eaten there, but my parents did once and they got a complimentary tour of it (including the kitchen) because my father mentioned to the waiter that he had worked and lived there in his younger years. Nowadays Rochester is called The Flower City...but it once was The Flour City.