Well, I have a job!! lol...I know, me working...a hard concept to fathom. :) I shudder to say where I will be employed, for I know there are at least two of you that might just disown me.
Have you guessed it yet??
Hint....your favorite retail chain..........Yep...Good ole Walmart. Are you screaming Paris? Rachel?? I'm working part-time, which thus far on the schedule means about 28 hours a week. I bounce between mild excitement and the brink of panic. :) Lots to learn and my memory isn't what it used to be. Oh well....we shall see.

Happenings

I've been putting a few miles on the good ole Prius lately. :) Lynne and I made a trip to Paris and Gill's last week. It seems the Graham Clan enjoys Lynne's company ... ;) I must admit she has many more tales to tell and her interests definitely track with theirs. It was a nice visit and despite the weather we got a few miles of biking in on the bike path just down the road from their farm.




















Friday night Gordon Lightfoot was playing at Chautauqua Institution. I've always enjoyed his music so Ted, Lynne and I went. (Trevor had planned to but decided otherwise last minute) He is 71 years old now (Gordon....not Trevor, Lynne or Ted) :) and other than a bit weaker really sounds quite the same as always.

And wrapping up the weeks activities was a trip to Rachel and Rob's for biking. Rachel had mentioned the bike trails running alongside the Erie Canal. I finally decided to head there and put in a day of biking. We road a record (for me) 21 miles. We treated ourselves to gelato at the end of the ride. Very yummy cross between sherbet, hard ice cream, and soft ice cream...or at least that's my own description. It was a very pretty ride and the weather was decent, with the rain holding off till we finished.


You would think with all this riding I'd be losing a few pounds!!! Sheesh....none so far...shall keep trying. :)

Well, ok...so I didn't save my pennies too long. I bought a recumbent trike last week and most definitely am enjoying it! I actually was able to pedal up the driveway with only one stop! lol....quite an accomplishment for me, one I've never been able to do on a traditional bike. Just one of the great benefits of a recumbent trike is the ability to stop and rest on a hill then just take right off again. Something very difficult to do on a bike. Ok, so besides that exciting feat I've also ridden it on the side streets of Westfield and discovered a paved track there that is fun to ride on also. Dad rode it once but insisted on riding through the cemetery, which would have been a good spot to ride if he was more used to the bike. It was a bit of a rough ride, which I personally thought was fine but he didn't care for the jarring and bumping. Trevor rode it around the house but claims it's stupid (although he had a slight smile while riding) Robyn and Bob even gave it a try. It most definitely is an attention getter.....people give a double take and a few stopped and asked if they could take it for a spin. Unfortunately today is a rainy day :( I think the next riding spot I'll check out is the so called "rails to trails" in Mayville.

Trevor turned 20 last week. We had the traditional brownies and he opted for La Casa's chicken wings for supper. Very low key, but that's our style :) (What's with the underlining?!)

I've been wanting to try out recumbent bikes for awhile now, but unfortunately local bike shops don't deal in them. Last Saturday I decided to finally take a trip to the closest dealership around, Alfred, NY to try em out. It's about a 2 hour drive but according to Pete, the owner aka "The Bicycle Man" that is a very short trip compared to most of his clientèle. There was a couple from New Jersey there that same day and Pete said he has gotten folks from as far away as Australia visiting him. I don't understand why there aren't more shops stocking recumbents. Lynne and I spent all day there trying out a few different models. They are an absolute blast to ride! There was a side road nearby where they encourage you to take the bikes to get a real sense of how they ride. We raced up and down that road numerous times and also took them in a vacant lot to test out the tight turning abilities and "S" maneuvers. I am either a better racer than Lynne or had better bikes cuz I was able to beat her every time! :) As I said, they are a blast to ride and in my opinion have lots of advantages over traditional bikes such as pedaling and sightseeing simultaneously, not having to watch every stone or bump in the road to avoid crashes, no balance needed, stopping on a hill and starting back up again without difficulty, and my favorite; low riding (since I am one of those that wants their feet grounded at all times)........I think I shall save my pennies and hopefully get one in the near future!!
And finally......a trip to Niagara Falls, Canada. Since June 1st marked the day of major documentation needed to get back in the States I wanted to get to the Falls one more time before that date. Unfortunately it turned out rainy but was still a nice visit. Coming back through customs took forever! I can't even imagine how it is now, with the stricter rules in play.

Awwww.....isn't that sweet

I bought a bike recently and of course wanted to include the pups in my ventures . The baby cart works great and as long as I am in view they are fine....lol....Lynne and I took them to Presque Isle for a 4 1/2 mile ride. Can't wait to go back.

I celebrated Mother's Day with a trip to Rachel's for a very yummy lunch but unfortunately neglected to take any pictures. Since I was there on Sunday, Mom's Mother's Day was celebrated on Saturday. I have a barrel that was bought at the Hamilton Mansion auction many, many years ago and mom had mentioned it recently so I dug it out of the backyard and had a new bottom put in. Lynne and Dad had a great time planting geraniums, ivy and the other plants I bought (of course I can't recall the names) Mom and I had a great time watching and taking pictures. :)

And last, but certainly not least, the most recent "event" that I'll blog about was Lauren's birthday. It was a party fit for a princess and her entourage, complete with balloons, party hats, and a beautiful new birthday dress for her. Bob did the honors of grilling hot dogs and hamburgers and Bill, Aileen and Robyn provided all the extras to go with them.

Finally!

Well, it's been about 2 months since all I had left was the binding and hanging sleeves on the semi-wow quilt. So, here it is, finally. I should have had a deadline :) It would have gotten done in no time. Next project is a kaleidoscope quilt. I went to the Westfield quilt show last fall and loved a quilt there, bought some fabric for it some time ago and now plan on starting it. No telling how long that will take. :) The North East quilt show is this weekend so maybe I'll get even more ideas.

Home again....home again...jiggity jig

Well, it seems I've been on the road more than off lately. :) I hadn't been south to the party state and the crazies there for over a year, so it was high time I headed that direction. Their spring weather is what we would call summer here....high 70's to mid 80's and sun, sun, sun.....beautiful weather every day till the morning I headed home when it turned cold and rainy. We played golf...well actually they did, I rode around in the golf cart....visited a casino and mostly just hung out and enjoyed the company and weather. It was quite a houseful, what with Angel's 3 dogs and my 3....all in all they got along alright though. I recently got a Wii game system and we played that almost every night....it's quite addictive. I also made my annual trip to a Lafayette quilt shop to add to my stash of fabrics. I ran across a pattern I just love and figured I'd get the batiks it calls for while there. I took pictures of the pattern and fabric but I'm not so sure they are going to do justice.























I left Louisiana Thursday morning, got home Friday evening and left Saturday morning at 4am to head to Vermont to bring Trevor home for Spring break. It's nice having him home and Rachel and Rob will be here this coming weekend. It should be a great weekend of Wii even though Trevor says it's a game for 50 year olds...lol....