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....

Maple Syrup

I'm doing as requested!! Paris is running a contest on her blog, the prize being maple syrup!! That is the only type of syrup we use around here so getting some free would be great. Anyway, part of the stipulation is mentioning the contest on your own blog....soooo....I hear and obey ;)

Here you go RRW :)

Well.....I've had one complaint about the fact that I haven't posted in ages......(she shall remain nameless) ;) I really haven't been doing anything post worthy....I decided to get out a couple of quilt projects that I started many many years ago and get them finished. One of which I believe was the second quilt I attempted...which would make it about 10 years old. It's the closest thing to a *wow* quilt I have ever made. There are quilts, then there are *wow* quilts. I have made numerous quilts but seldom are they works that I am completely and totally pleased with. I quite often have issues with color choice and/or placement and quilt style/pattern and it is seldom that I get them both just right...at least in my opinion. Even when I go to quilt shows I seldom see more than 2 or 3 of what I would call *wow* quilts...quilts that come so close to taking my breath away that I find myself going back to them many many times during my walk around the show.

Anyway, thats basically what I've been working on these days along with cleaning out my sewing room, making room to bring in the cabinet shown in the previous post to store my fabric stash in.

Once my so called *wow* quilt is done I'll post a picture. :)

Recent Projects

These are the most recent projects I've been working on. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures before they were started. :(
My picture placement is still iffy so hopefully my captions will make a little bit of sense.


This is a table that had layers of green and white paint mixed with many grease/oil/gas/diesel fuel stains. Lynne and I worked on this most of last summer and fall. We decided not to sand it till all the stains were gone since that adds character. :)


These are a couple of cabinets that were in the backroom of the shop. They were that ugly gray that you see lots of utility shelving/cabinets painted. Since it was way too cold to try and strip them we decided to attempt one of those fancy paint methods you see in Lowe's or Home Depot. They actually didn't turn out half bad considering it was a first try at anything of that nature.



Ted has been doing some logging in the woods and after seeing some of the items at a recent craft show I got the brainy idea to make a hat rack out of a slice of cherry log for Lynne's Christmas present.

When we were kids we spent a good amount of time at our next door neighbor Ruth's house. When her estate went up for auction I bought this cabinet, which she used in her cellar for storing canned goods. It was painted that ugly utility gray and had double paned glass in the doors. Much of the glass was cracked or broken so instead of replacing it I decided to do punched tin. The refinishing is done but I have not yet started the tin.

Firefox vs. Internet Explorer

Curious as to which you people use....firefox or internet explorer. I use firefox but for some reason signed into by blog the other day with internet explorer and saw that the layout changes. My picture captions are all messed up with IE whereas with firefox they look ok. I also still cannot align or readjust picture placement....all it will let me do is stretch them out of shape....any help??

Vermont

We traveled to Vermont to take Trevor to Marlboro College this past weekend. It's a small private liberal arts college (enrollment of 330) pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. The closest decent size town is about 20 miles away. Their philosophy is quite different from your average college and they are included in "Colleges that Change Lives: 40 Schools that Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges". The trip there was nice, with decent weather everywhere except, of course, right here in our own backyard where we were driving on hard packed snow and ice roads in blizzard conditions with 30+ mph winds and good ole whiteouts. Once you travel out of this area you can actually see sun and blue sky, both rarities during the winter months here.

I've included a picture of Trevor in his dorm room and a shot of a couple of buildings at Marlboro, the admissions building in the foreground and the dining hall in the rear. I have yet to get a grip on adding pictures properly or putting them where I want them placed in the blog. I can't see a way to adjust their position once they are there.......is there such a thing?

Winter Fun

Hooray! I finished Trevor's quilt!!! This was my first time ever to machine quilt one of my creations. Up to this point I have hand quilted them all, but given the time factor.....
It would win no prize at a quilt show, but all and all it turned out ok and was definitely faster than hand quilting. I used mostly straight line, in the ditch quilting but the six middle blocks also include free motion stipple quilting.

The other "Winter Fun" was attempting to run Lynne's snow blower....ha. It seems we are approaching or possibly have by now passed the average snow fall amount for a season. I know I have a few relatives that think we've hardly had a winter but all they need do is take a trip up my road and/or driveway. :) Anyway, Lynne's snow blower was here for a short time and we decided to try it out in the back yard, which seems to me to have about 10 feet of snow. :)

Winter Fun

Trevor's quilt....with Missy
























Look carefully....you might be able to see the quilting on the back.



Such fun!! How I love winter. :P

Fishes Continued

Well that was interesting....figured I'd take a break from pinning the quilt layers together and see if I could upload some pictures. That went fine but I have yet to figure out how to type along with the pictures sooooo.....now we have "Fishes Continued".....

Anyway.....I am typically not a fan of owning animals that must be caged, so whats with the aquarium? I inherited it, so to speak, from Lynne. When she decided to move back east and had no place to move her little fishies, I, being the gallant rescuer (ha) said she could move it to my place. I must say it has turned out to be quite enjoyable. I spend more time than any sane person should, watching the aquarium. Just in case anyone out there is just on pins and needles wondering what fish are pictured and if they in fact are named I shall now enlighten you. The two angel fish are named Jet and Freida (guess which ones which). The bright yellow guy at the bottom of the tank (golden chinese algae eater) is of course called China Boy. The other named guys that apparently were too shy for the photo shoot are Al and Ernie. An albino and non-albino pleco. The others remain nameless, poor things.....and include two clown loaches, giant and zebra danios, 2 hatchet fish, and a couple of siamese algae eaters.

Well, wasn't that fun and informative boys and girls? :)

Fishes

Ta Da

Well, here I am at the urging of a few people. My posts won't be as eloquent or interesting as other family members, but it's my life. :)

I'm currently working on a quilt for Trevor to take with him to Marlboro. Since he leaves on the 17th it's a time crunch project, but it seems I am more likely to get things done under those conditions. I had a moment of attention deficit and came to create this blog but now must get back to the project. Hopefully I can handle posting pictures in the very near future.