Audra at age 8

Here's one of my favorite photos of Audra in May 2005. We went to Star Lake up in the mountains. It's funny how little she looks. Two years has made quite a difference. My husband has a framed copy of this on his desk at his workplace.

Bad Boys!

Here are Jeff and Jamie ignoring the warning signs. I'm just glad they got home in one piece!

Flying Flower

My ten year old daughter took this picture at chimney bluffs on Saturday. I thought it was pretty good.

Chimney Bluffs

On Saturday our family hiked Chimney Bluffs up on Lake Ontario. There are these giant sandstone formations carved by years of wind and water.

Jamie's cousin Jeff was up visiting from Georgia. They were very close as kids. It was good to see him. Here Jamie is in white and Jeff snaps a picture of the bluffs.

You can get an idea of how big the bluffs are by clicking on this picture to enlarge it. You will see people on the beach.

God is quite a sandcastle builder, don't you think?

Old Family Photo

This is a picture of my grandparents, my Mother and 2 older brothers. Hanging out on the swingset in the back yard of the house I grew up in. I'm guessing it was taken in about 1959. Now a days, you can't even see the fence anymore. There are evergreens planted along it now and they have grown quite tall. Three of the people in this picture are in Heaven now. Grandma and Grandpa...and Dan(on the teeter-totter). My mother is almost 73 now and must be on oxygen 24 hours a day. She carries a tank of oxygen everywhere she goes. Wow. Time really changes things. It keeps marching on. Which is why I am glad I have hope in the Lord.

Off to Camp!

Yep. It's Allen's first week at a real summer camp. He went with his friend Sam to a Christian summer camp up in the Adirondack Mountains. Neither boys were at all cooperative in letting me take a good picture of them.
I think at this point the boys were anxious for their mothers to just leave. Anyway...I think it will be a great week for them.

Here's to them!

Camp Granada (Alan Sherman)

Hello muddah, hello faddah
Here I am at Camp Granada
Camp is very entertaining
And they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining.

I went hiking with Joe Spivy
He developed poison ivy
You remember Leonard Skinner
He got ptomaine poisoning last night after dinner.

Take me home, oh muddah, faddah
Take me home, I hate Granada
Don't leave me out in the forest where
I might get eaten by a bear.

All the counselors hate the waiters
And the lake has alligators
And the head coach wants no sissies
So he reads to us from something called Ulysses.

How I don't want this should scare ya
But my bunkmate has malaria
You remember Jeffrey Hardy
They're about to organize a searching party.

Take me home...I promise I will not make noise
Or mess the house with other boys.
Oh please don't make me stay
I've been here one whole day.

Dearest faddah, darling muddah,
How's my precious little bruddah
Let me come home, if you miss me
I would even let Aunt Bertha hug and kiss me.

Wait a minute, it's stopped hailing.
Guys are swimming, guys are sailing
Playing baseball, gee that's better
Muddah, faddah kindly disregard this letter.

Been Hot

It has been hot here lately. Too hot to do much of anything. I've managed to survive in various ways. Sealing up the house in the morning and hybernateing in front of a fan, going to a friend's pool, and of course there is the lake here in town. It has been crowded there and I am not much of a beach person. What I like to do lately is take the dog down to swim. He will chase a stick into the water, swim out and get it...bring it back to shore and shake off near me. I usually stand mid-calf in the water. Ok...it sounds lame...but it works.
Yesterday the kids spent a day at a friend's pool. Today they all seemed tired and mopey. Audra had a mild sunburn and said she didn't feel well. I was quite convinced that they all were suffering from dehydration so I kept encouraging them to drink water. We pretty much stayed inside all day and then in the evening we all went to the lake to swim and throw sticks for the dog. I didn't take any pictures. The one here has nothing to do with it...but I liked it. My kids look healthy and happy in this picture.
Besides that, I needed something different to look at on my blog.

Soccer boy

I took my camera to Allen's soccer game the other night. I got some pretty good shots. I have such a handsome son.

I never played any sports growing up...so it is interesting to be a soccer mom now. I really enjoy it.

Go number 5!

Timeless Friends

I got a surprise phone call from my friends Amy on Monday. She is a dear friend of mine who moved away from the area 2 years ago. She said, "We're coming into town this weekend and I want to have tea with you." So she came on Friday morning. Her husband was the worship pastor of our church for 11 years...then they moved to Jamestown to work in another church. We were sorry to see them go. I wasn't as sorry as I was a few years earlier when they moved to Cairns, Australia for a year and a half to do ministry there. Atleast Jamestown was reachable (3 hours by car).

So she and her kids came for a visit Friday. Her husband Jeff was somewhere else that morning, but we were able to catch up with him Friday night for dinner. We had a great time laughing and talking. Our friendship is timeless. No matter how much time goes by...we always seem to pick it up right where we left off.

They have just accepted a new position at a church in western Canada. That's a little far away for us...but not as far as Australia! This will be Amy's 5th country to live in (Zaire and Kenya as a child). She's lived on 3 different continents. How interesting how the Lord directs people so differently. I've never lived anywhere but NY state.

A Change of Plans

We were planning on going on a short trip to Long Island to see some family. On the way I was going to visit with Dunja in CT. But all our plans fell through because of several complications. Anyway, my husband had scheduled a few days off from work...so we have been doing family things close by. On Wednesday we took a trip out to Beaver Lake Nature Center near Syracuse.

We did a 3 mile hike around the Lake, had a picnic lunch and also went canoeing for an hour. I didn't take any pictures of us canoeing because I was paranoid that the camera would end up in the Lake...so I locked it in the car during that. Now I kind of regret it...but atleast my camera is safe and sound.

It was a pretty cool place to go. They have a nature building that has a bunch of stuffed and mounted animals in glass cases for people to look at. They also have a bird observing room. It was all very informative and educational.

I think it was worth the trip. They have guided canoe trips to see beaver habitats and other programs that we didn't sign up for. I think it would be particularly interesting and beautiful to go there in the autumn when all the leaves are at their peak.

Fun at a friend's Pond

Every other week I go clean a house out in the country. My friends have a large and beautiful piece of property. I always bring the kids and the dog to hang out and swim in one of the ponds there.

My friend has 3 dogs of her own, so she doesn't mind me bringing Sherman. He stays outside with the other dogs. They have a great time running and swimming. Here is Sherman retrieving an empty water bottle one of the kids threw for him.

We are scheduled to go there again tomorrow. It's been overcast and gloomy...rainy today. If it is like this tomorrow I will probably end up leaving Sherman home and it will be an inside day.

Who knows? Maybe it will clear up and be sunny.

Jamie's Triatholon

He did it! I'm proud of him. He spent over 6 months training hard for this. He successfully completed his first triahtolon. I doubt it will be his last.

My Little Swan

I went to a friend's house the other day and there on her pond...I saw the most beautiful swan!

More Conklin Gully Pictures

The kids skipping stones. I tried to catch a stone in the motion of skipping....but failed to do so. Think back to when you were a kid. What was better than skipping stones in a creek or a pond? Some things are timeless in their entertainment.

Jamie and Audra catch a few minutes of rest at the top. They are sitting just a few yards from a sheer drop off. Hiking at the top of Conklin Gully is a really good work out. Steep climbs on the way up. There are actually two ways of hiking this. Along the top where we went...and through the gully along the creek. There are some impressive waterfalls that can be seen along the creek. I hope to hike that next. I'm not sure what the falls are like being that it has been so dry lately. You can look here to see someone else's pictures of the hike through the gully along the creek.

Another impressive view of the cliffs at the top.

Conklin Gully

We went hiking in the Conklin Gully with some friends last week. Conklin Gully is quite a beautiful place to hike and a workout! Sherman loved the water in the creek.

You can't tell from this photo...but that is a very impressive view of the BIG cliffs at the top. It is kind of scary at the top because there are no guard rails. Just a sheer drop off. Sherman made me nervous because he went right up to the edge! It freaks me out looking at something like that thinking...."Yow! If I fell down there, I would be killed." Not a pleasant thought.

We had a snack and some drinks at the top. It was quite a hot day. Toward the end of the hike, we went down in the gully and it was so pleasantly cool. I'll post more pictures tomorrow. Pictures here from left to right. Allen, Alicia, Elise, Audra, Sherman, and Luc.

Rainy 4th

We had our traditional 4th of July picnic but it was very wet. Taking pictures proved challenging for me without a flash, so I gave up. I know...I need to send in my camera to get fixed, but I'm waiting until after Jamie's Triatholon. I did get a few nice pictures. I just love this one of my niece, Bethany.

I also like the way this one turned out of my nephew, Nathan. That is Beth and Adam's puppy with him. She's so cute. She seemed very timid about all the people at the picnic.

Here's Allen trying out the stilts.

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?)