Son of a Future Librarian

It has been a busy week. It was the last full week of summer before school starts for the kids. We took them to the New York State Fair on Thursday. Yesterday was the annual Crosswinds 5k...which we all took part in (ouch, I'm sore!), and last night was the ring of fire around Canandaigua Lake. I have been also busy doing school work. One of the courses I am taking is a Children's Literature course. This week I checked out every Caldecott Award winning book that was possible to check out from our library from the years between 1980 and present day. Caldecott Awards are meant to honor the artists who illustrated a particular book. So I have been reading some great picture books with wonderful illustrations like "Kitten's First Full Moon", "The Polar Express", and "Owl Moon." I must have checked out at least 15 books and put several on reserve. And of course no graduate work is made complete without doing some write up of some sort. Luckily, it is not too bad. I must pick 5 of these books and write a short summary and evaluation of each. I have 3 done already.
That is all for now. I'll end with these words-"Go read a book!!!"

College Chick!

I don't have a picture for today's post. This is a picture that Allen took two weeks ago. I like it. It looks so....serene!
I got to UB in plenty of time for my class. In fact, I had time to spare so I bought a bowl of soup and a roll at the student union. It felt so strange to be there all alone. During my last classes I rode to school with two other women. I missed Libby and Kathy! I didn't know a soul and everyone I saw looked like an undergraduate. I felt a little out of place, but the soup tasted good at least! LOL!
Finally it was time to go to my class, 17 Clemens Hall. (named after Samuel Clemens...or Mark Twain). I couldn't find my room number! I still had about 5 minutes to spare, so I wasn't panicking yet. I found 117 and thought maybe I had made a mistake...so I hung out there a while. No people. Just a dark, empty classroom. Then I saw Libby! She is taking the same class. She couldn't find the class either. I said, "Do you think it might be in the basement?" We went to the elevators and pressed "B"...and sure enough, found our class. I didn't know the place had a basement. I would have expected catecombs and maybe a boiler. Who knew?
Dr. Kimble seemed cool. She seems pretty laid back and has a good sense of humor. I don't think she will be too difficult to get along with. We went over the syllabus. There is a lot of reading and a lot of writing. I will be spinning a lot of plates. (incidently, in the syllabus Dr. Kimble mentioned that she hates the term "a lot"...and doesn't want to see it in a paper...uh oh!!!!!!!) I'm taking 2 other classes as well...so who knows how often I will be here blogging. Anyway, 20 minutes into the class a guy named William came in. He couldn't find the class. Go figure!
After class, Libby and I went to Starbucks to tank up on caffiene for the drive home. She lives in Batavia, so has a shorter drive...but then again, she is pregnant so is tired a lot. (there goes "a lot" again!) We saw Tracy who is another LIS major. He recognized us as LIS students and talked a bit with us. I was wide awake for the drive home. In fact, I was bit wired. An hour and a half later, I was home. Too wired up to go to bed...even though it was after 11. What did I do? Check the blog of course! I also read another syllabus from another class that I will be taking on line.
Thanks for all of your encouraging comments!

First Day Jitters

I will be leaving in about 2 hours for my first class at UB for the fall semester. I don't really have jitters...but I liked the sound for the title. These are the pillars by Lake LaSalle that is on my campus. I'll let ya know how it went tomorrow. I'll be getting home late! It's a good hour and a half drive. I'll be loading up on coffee before the drive home.

Photo by Kathy

More Beautiful Baby Feet

This is Kaidin. He is such a beautiful baby....which doesn't surprise me. When Jamie and I got married, Kaidin's mother, Kelly was just a little girl. I remember thinking that she was beautiful. Kaidin's grandma, Nancy adopted Kelly from Korea. Now Kelly is 21, married, and has a baby of her own.

Nancy was babysitting her grandson while Kelly and Kaidin's Daddy went on a tour of the local wineries. I wanted to take pictures of Kaidin's feet because I think baby feet are just so precious. Kaidin thought I was a little weird, but Nancy didn't.

Old Grafiti

This is a picture of some very old grafiti along the Watkin's Glenn Gorge. Some things like this just entertain me.

On Monday night I start classes again...working towards that Master's Degree in Library Science. Kind of looking forward to it, but also nervous about all the work involved. I started reading two of my textbooks already. Since I am taking on-line courses, I was able to see what I needed to do and start with some basic things. For one of the classes, I can't really start anything until after my first meeting and the start of public schools. I will be doing quite a bit of field work at area schools. Sometimes I wonder what I've gotten myself into, and then all I need to do is clean another toilet or scrub another floor at someone else's house and then I remember. I'm more than ready to move up in the world!

Grad School Quickly Approaching

Summer is really going by fast. It doesn't seem possible that it is drawing to a close so soon. In less than a week, I start grad classes again. I'm just as nervous this time as last time. Can I do this? How will I balance being a mom, wife, homemaker with being a student? Can I spin all the plates?
AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

You Never Know Who Might Show Up Around Here

Yesterday, we found out that "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" is demolishing and building a new home in Geneva, NY. Today my husband happened to have the day off, so we hopped in the car and traveled the 17 miles to Geneva to check it out. We joined the crowd of onlookers behind the fences across the street. It was kind of fun and interesting. The white house in the back ground will be demolished tomorrow. The family has been sent to Cancun for the week. Today the crew was demolishing a barn on the premises.

Ty and the rest of the Design Team were not on sight. (Just all the people who actually do most of the work.) Today they were emptying the house. I'm sure that Ty will be here on sight tomorow with his bull horn and video camera.

Jamie got a chance to talk with one of the sight managers for the show who told him that quite often the show is working on 2 houses at the same time. Ty is actually on sight down in Arkansas today for another house and will fly in to upstate NY tonight. We also learned that Extreme Makeover does free cosmetic work on surrounding houses just so they all look nice on camera...and also to make it up to them for the inconvenience of crowds of people trampling their lawns, closing down their street, construction workers all night, etc. They will even put a new roof on the neighbor's house if they think it necessary.

From what I understand, this show will focus on a family that helps kids stay off the streets. (Geneva can be a rough town) The man is a guidance counselor at the high school, but also runs a school for boxing. The show is supposed to air some time in November.

Discoveries On My Camera

Here are more fun photos the girls took. Stopping to smell the flowers. Something we all should do.

I don't think I would have thought to take a picture like this.

Reminds me of a clothing catalog.

Young and Carefree

I found some fun photos on my camera that I did not take. Alicia and Audra had a little fun with the camera.
I just love these pictures of Audra. She looks so carefree.

They are growing up so fast!

A Project

Today I decided it was time to do a little project. I decided to paint this lovely bed black. It looked good white...as long as it was going to end up in a girl's room. You know that shabby chic look that's in? But the truth is, this bed wasn't going to work in my 13 year old son's room. Way too girly. So Allen and I went to Lowe's and bought primer and black spray paint.

It's still drying, but here it is so far. We also bought new drawer handles for a little desk that I am also going to paint black for his room. More on that another time!

Hard at Work

There are lots of things I should be doing right now. But I'm not. I'm just sitting here on my butt in front of a computer. Wasting valuable time, accomplishing little. I could be folding laundry, doing dishes, vaccuuming, dusting...picking up clutter. I could be reading my Bible. I could be sorting yard sale items and pricing things. I could be baking cookies or painting. I could be hanging up that picture I've been meaning to hang. Yup. I'm being pretty useless.

This, by the way, is a picture of Mukles (pronounced Moo-klees). He's relaxing with a beer. He deserves to relax because he has been hard at work in his garden, and serving chicken that he grilled himself to a myriad of guests. (Mukles is from the country of Jordan...in case you are wondering about the foreign name)

My washing maching has just indicated that it is done. That is my cue that I should get moving.

S'mores and Sparklers

After we hiked the gorge on Friday, we went over to Jamie's sister's house, had dinner with them and then did a bon fire in their fire pit.

Kevin had some sparklers for the kids. Audra and Allen had fun with them. Alicia thought they were too risky...and refused to take part.

Of course where there is a fire going, there is an abundance of marshmellows, chocolate and graham crackers. Yum!

Amish Tourists

So you think the life of the Amish is all work and no play, huh? Nope. Sometimes they tour waterfalls.

Just before this pic was taken, a group of Amish teens came down with all the typical energy of kids that age...way ahead of the old folks! LOL!

Pretty Girls at Watkins Glen

This sure beats those photo studios where you sit in front of a screen with a picture of a water fall. They were sitting in front of the real thing! My husband took the picture. I think I will get a print and frame it.

Watkins Glen

We went to Watkins Glen State Park on Friday. Just an incredibly beautiful place! Our Lord is the most amazing sculptor. I would highly suggest that anyone visiting NY state go to see this incredible natural wonder!

The hike up the gorge trail is not for the weary as there are many steps to climb. It is well worth it. There were quite a few tourists on the trail. I think I heard about four different languages being spoken.

This is Rainbow Falls. At just the right time of day, when you are hiking down the trail, you can see a perfect rainbow. I saw it on the way down. I had handed the camera to my husband (who was hiking slower a ways up). I trusted that he would certainly get a photo as he passed it. He didn't. (I really have forgiven him of the oversight)

There is just no way to capture the beauty of this place on film. You just have to go there. I hope to go again this fall when the colors of the foliage are amazing. You may join me if you promise not to mind stopping at antique stores on the way down.

Here is a photo taken while standing undernieth Rainbow Falls while looking up.

Are you ready for a trip to NY state yet? It is much more than that big city everyone hears about.

Shiela and Mukles' Garden

We went down and visited Jamie's cousin and her family. She and her husband are hobby gardners. The place is beautiful.

They live close to Taughannock Falls State Park and are blessed to have their own little rocky stream running through their yard.
The picture here is NOT a cement slab. This is natural bedrock that is found here in the Finger Lakes Region. There are many waterfalls in this area. Tomorrow, I will post some.



I think it would be wonderful to have a beautiful garden in my yard. Unfortunately I seem to kill plants. Is there hope for me?

Here is one of my own beautfiul flowers walking on the foot bridge that Mukles built.