Audra is home from camp now. She and Abby had an absolute blast! There are some pictures online of her at camp. This one picture in particular is my favorite of her doing the ropes course (click on link to see it)! Aren't summer camps the best?
When I dropped Abby's mother off at her house, I drove down West Lake Rd and saw the full moon. I just had to stop and get a picture.
On Sunday, I drove my daughter and her friend Abby to a camp in the Adirondacks. Abby's mother came along for the ride too. The girls are there for the week and I'm sure they are having a great time. Audra has been looking forward to going since she left camp last summer. This is her third year going. I'm glad she has the opportunity to do this...but I must say that I miss her and that the house seems very different without her here!
On the way down the gorge, we took the higher trail. What you see in the photo is the gorge trail that we hiked up. It is way way down there! I have a pretty good zoom lens on my camera so you really can't tell by the photo how far down it is.
Here are Allen and Alicia reading....
this sign.
I thought I saw a little orange plastic dinosaur on trail that a kid dropped...but discovered that it was a living creature. A newt. We saw 6 newts in all, a couple of snakes and a few chipmunks.
Allen holding a newt just to show you the size of it.
Looking down on the swimming hole. I remember coming to this swimming hole when I was a little girl. I was very impressed that my big brother, Dan could dive in. Somewhere, I know my mom has a picture of him diving in. I wish I had it. But I do have this one!
This was taken at the swimming hole at Robert Treman State Park in the summer of 1970. I am the little girl in the blue. Martha is next to me and Mom is holding Rachel. That's Dan behind us.
And here I am just 40 years later! Still wearing blue!
On Wednesday of this past week, Jamie took the day off from work. I suggested that we go to Letchworth State Park, but Jamie decided that we should take the kids to a park that they had never been to before. We decided on Robert Treman State Park. I hadn't been there since I was about 12 or 13.
We hiked the beautiful gorge and enjoyed the outdoors.
About half way up the gorge, we could hear the rumbling of thunder and it seemed to be drawing closer along with darkening skies.
When we got to the top of the gorge, we went in the old mill just in time to be sheltered from a torrential downpour. It rained for quite a while. I amused myself by taking pictures of the old gears, signs and other relics.
It was a wonderful day! I'll post more about our hike down another day.
Thank you to all who have helped support the Mina Project I have been involved with.
Each game board is double sided. On one side of the game board is the game "Aggravation" and on the other is "Chinese Checkers."
They are each hand-painted by me. Here are a few pictures of the detail that I put into it.
Each game board also comes with a draw string bag that I sewed that holds all of the pieces needed for the game and also instructions on how to play.
Towards the end of June we went to a wedding at this little Chapel located on Keuka Lake. It was built in the 1930's by a family named Garrett. They built it in memory of their son who died of tuberculosis in his early 20's.
The details of the chapel are amazing. The family wanted it built reminiscent of the old styles of Europe.
The view of Keuka Lake from the porch is beautiful.
The Chapel is surrounded by beautiful stone paths, stairways and a waterfall.
Congratulations David and Karen!
It was a good day for a 4th of July picnic at my sister's house in Webster. A little different from our usual custom of heading down to my uncle's in Penn Yan. He is not feeling well since recovering from pneumonia. He's in the hospital again from what I hear.
Later on during the calm...my daughter Alicia ventured in. Here are my girls with my terrific husband.
Lucas wanted to climb all over Alicia.
Josh loves the water. Several people took turns taking him in the pool. He has no fear of the water and I think he'll be a good swimmer some day. He even asked his uncle to throw him in. His uncle Dave obliged and his daddy caught him. He's only 2.
Here's Lucas. He's a cutie...but has quite a little temper and a strong will. He actually reminds me of his father when he was his age! Dave turned out to be a fine adult in the long run and I'm sure Lucas will be too. He has good parents!
Here is Martha and the other uncle Dave on the picnic blanket. Later on we returned home. None of our kids wanted to go see the fireworks. The girls had seen fireworks the night before in Geneva. Jamie and I walked down with the dog and saw them from the pier. It was a beautiful night. I didn't get pictures but my blog friend Katya did. She and I have never met face to face but sometimes I see from our posts that we come close to it at times.
The good news that I never shared with you is that I have the opportunity to do some library work this summer. The children's librarian at our local library has asked me to run a few of the summer reading programs for two weeks while she is in France! I am pretty excited about this. On Wednesday & Thursday mornings, I will be running storytime for preschoolers. On Wednesday night, I will be doing pajama storytime...and yes, I will be dressing in my pj's! On the following Monday morning, I will be running a craft/story time for primary school children. You need to be preregistered for preschool storytime, but for the other programs, registration is not necessary.
Hope everyone had a Happy Father's Day. Today was the first Father's Day that I don't have my father anymore. Luckily, I had a full day to spend with my husband's family at Taughannock State Park. That kept me distracted enough. The day was gorgeous!!!!!
Many members of Jamie's family came to the picnic. My father and mother-in-law, however, elected to stay at home. Dad's knee was really bothering him and he did not want to go sit in a park. We did stop by and visit with them on the way down.
We hiked up the falls. Most of us elected to walk in the water. I love walking in the water, but elected to walk on the dry trail because I was afraid I would slip, fall and ruin the camera.
I like this picture of Audra.
This was taken just before Scott jumped. I didn't know he was going to do it, otherwise I would have attempted to catch him in the middle of the act.
After the jump.
Jamie and his girls.
I think Scott and Audra were trying to pretend it was a hot tub.
Taughannock Falls. This is a 215 foot drop.
My husband grew up nearby. He has told me about when he was in high school, he used to go up on the rim with his friends. I find this to be frightening. Now it is all fenced off to keep idiots (I mean people) from doing that.
Th picnic also included kickball....
and a bocci game.
The day ended with another beautiful sunset over Seneca Lake...visible from my in-law's driveway. (Sorry about the telephone pole!)
