Friday, August 15, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
YUM
So yesterday was funky day for me - but it's amazing how something as little as ice cream can make it all better. Our building had an ice cream social in the afternoon - and one little scoop of oreo ice cream and some chocolate sauce later and I'm all better. :)
Oh and check this out - a friend is trying to get an artist community started. This party / art show is to raise money for the endeavor. Our friends band "Still Life" will also be playing. So if you're local you may want to check it out!
Oh and check this out - a friend is trying to get an artist community started. This party / art show is to raise money for the endeavor. Our friends band "Still Life" will also be playing. So if you're local you may want to check it out!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Hello
Just a quick hello today - trying to live up to my self imposed goal of writing more often...but today is one of those emotional days we all have. So I'll just post this picture that Jeff took last year when he was in NYC, it's one of my favorites.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Whining & Wine
Okay - I know I said I was going to write more and I didn't write less, I just didn't write AT ALL!
The Whining
So where to begin - I went to Iowa with my sister in June to drop my nephew off with my parents for the summer. Then on to Michigan to pick my daughter up from college and bring her home for the summer. It was an interesting but not eventful trip. In someways it was very disappointing...watching my parents slip into somewhere I never thought I would see. I am a very liberal person - and my parents are a big part of the reason why (especially my dad) but they are more involved in things now that are leading them to a much more conservative bend - VERY conservative. It's like going home and finding out your in some sort of twilight zone. I just can't stand the judgemental things I heard. Oh well maybe that is fodder for another day. I love my parents tremendously - but I don't have to agree with them.
Iowa was in the middle of the flooding disaster when we were there this summer. We literally didn't know if we were going to be able to
1. Get to my parents
and
2. Leave if we did get there.
By the time we arrived in Iowa there was one route open to get to my hometown from the south and it basically closed up after we got there. Finally the night before we were to leave one of the northern interstates opened so we were able to make it out with no problems.
One cool thing - my parents have a hummingbird feeder so I was able to go sit under it and take cool pictures (at least I think they are cool!) of the beautiful little birds.
The Wine
In July we went on a real vacation - rode to NY with our friends Jon & Susan. They had sent their boys to Susan's parents for the summer and were driving up to get them. We went along and were dropped off in Albany at Syd & Heather's (Syeatherville). Jon & Susan's original intentions were to drop us off and head further upstate to Barb & David's (the parents). However, we were having a really great time visiting and showing them around Syeatherville that they decided to stay over an extra day with us and go north the next morning. So a fun night was had with much eating, drinking, and merry making. Sunday we all (the 6 of us) went to a little flea market for the morning and said good byes to J&S. We spent the rest of the day exploring Albany & Troy then on to BBQ Ribs!
On Tuesday, we headed into the Adirondacks to Lake Placid where we met J&S for lunch and exploring. (S&H were much too generous and loaned us their car for the trip so we didn't have to rent one). The mountains and Lake Placid area were truly beautiful it was a great day.
We went up to Barb & David's for the night to see everyone. Susan had told us that her parents house had beautiful antiques - and she wasn't exagerating. They really should be running a B&B, the house is wonderful and filled with exceptional things. Barb is such a glorious host and loves to make people happy.
We headed back to Albany with a quick stop in Lake Placid to pick up a thank you gift for S&H. They were making their own wine so we bought them each an apron from a local winery to use when winemaking. (Syd's said "I'm not getting older I'm getting more complex" and Heather's had 3 bottles of wine and said "Group Therapy") We also picked up a lovely bottle of strawberry wine for dinner that night. On the way back through the mountains we stopped to take pictures - the views were so beautiful. Jeff stopped along the road for me to take pictures of a huge bolder in the middle of a river along the mountain face with birch trees in the background. He decided to step over the barrier and get a better view to get me a really great picture. While climbing over rocks to get a better view he stepped over a very sharp jagged rock and fell - cut the hell out of his leg and gave me a heart attack. After I made sure he was okay - I cried most of the way down the mountains.
We got back and he finished cleaning up - I bandaged his leg which looked nasty. But not as bad as it could have been. We had dinner "make your own pizza" was a lot of fun and very delicious. After dinner was cleaned up we bottled the wine that they had been making. We bottled 29 bottles - they ended the evening with 26! Hee Hee! It was very yummy - will be even better after it ages a little but it was fine wine that night.
We stayed over with S&H an extra day as we were having such a wonderful vacation. The next day they drove us to our hotel in NJ and then into THE CITY! We had lunch together at a little pizza place that claimed the best brick oven pizza in the city. It was very good - not sure it was the best but then I haven't sampled every pizza in NY. We said good-bye to S&H (tear!) and then proceeded to walk around Chelsea to many different art galleries - so much fun - art is weird and wonderful.
Then we walked around the rest of the evening - went to FAO Schwartz, Central Park, Macys, Time Square. At the end of the day 2 very tired travelers went to the train station and headed back to our hotel and straight to bed. Our flight was at 6AM the next morning so we got up at 2AM in order to get ready, catch the shuttle and wait for our plane.
Jeffrey and Nessa picked us up at the airport and off to a quick lunch at 5 Guys Burgers and then home to sleep most of the afternoon away. What a wonderful vacation!
BTW - Yes Jeff's dad did have quadruple by-pass surgery in July - he's doing okay, not as well as we would like but okay. I'll write more about that soon.
Love to anyone who actually reads this.
Tawny
The Whining
So where to begin - I went to Iowa with my sister in June to drop my nephew off with my parents for the summer. Then on to Michigan to pick my daughter up from college and bring her home for the summer. It was an interesting but not eventful trip. In someways it was very disappointing...watching my parents slip into somewhere I never thought I would see. I am a very liberal person - and my parents are a big part of the reason why (especially my dad) but they are more involved in things now that are leading them to a much more conservative bend - VERY conservative. It's like going home and finding out your in some sort of twilight zone. I just can't stand the judgemental things I heard. Oh well maybe that is fodder for another day. I love my parents tremendously - but I don't have to agree with them.
Iowa was in the middle of the flooding disaster when we were there this summer. We literally didn't know if we were going to be able to
1. Get to my parents
and
2. Leave if we did get there.
By the time we arrived in Iowa there was one route open to get to my hometown from the south and it basically closed up after we got there. Finally the night before we were to leave one of the northern interstates opened so we were able to make it out with no problems.
One cool thing - my parents have a hummingbird feeder so I was able to go sit under it and take cool pictures (at least I think they are cool!) of the beautiful little birds.
The Wine
In July we went on a real vacation - rode to NY with our friends Jon & Susan. They had sent their boys to Susan's parents for the summer and were driving up to get them. We went along and were dropped off in Albany at Syd & Heather's (Syeatherville). Jon & Susan's original intentions were to drop us off and head further upstate to Barb & David's (the parents). However, we were having a really great time visiting and showing them around Syeatherville that they decided to stay over an extra day with us and go north the next morning. So a fun night was had with much eating, drinking, and merry making. Sunday we all (the 6 of us) went to a little flea market for the morning and said good byes to J&S. We spent the rest of the day exploring Albany & Troy then on to BBQ Ribs!
On Tuesday, we headed into the Adirondacks to Lake Placid where we met J&S for lunch and exploring. (S&H were much too generous and loaned us their car for the trip so we didn't have to rent one). The mountains and Lake Placid area were truly beautiful it was a great day.
We went up to Barb & David's for the night to see everyone. Susan had told us that her parents house had beautiful antiques - and she wasn't exagerating. They really should be running a B&B, the house is wonderful and filled with exceptional things. Barb is such a glorious host and loves to make people happy.
We headed back to Albany with a quick stop in Lake Placid to pick up a thank you gift for S&H. They were making their own wine so we bought them each an apron from a local winery to use when winemaking. (Syd's said "I'm not getting older I'm getting more complex" and Heather's had 3 bottles of wine and said "Group Therapy") We also picked up a lovely bottle of strawberry wine for dinner that night. On the way back through the mountains we stopped to take pictures - the views were so beautiful. Jeff stopped along the road for me to take pictures of a huge bolder in the middle of a river along the mountain face with birch trees in the background. He decided to step over the barrier and get a better view to get me a really great picture. While climbing over rocks to get a better view he stepped over a very sharp jagged rock and fell - cut the hell out of his leg and gave me a heart attack. After I made sure he was okay - I cried most of the way down the mountains.
We got back and he finished cleaning up - I bandaged his leg which looked nasty. But not as bad as it could have been. We had dinner "make your own pizza" was a lot of fun and very delicious. After dinner was cleaned up we bottled the wine that they had been making. We bottled 29 bottles - they ended the evening with 26! Hee Hee! It was very yummy - will be even better after it ages a little but it was fine wine that night.
We stayed over with S&H an extra day as we were having such a wonderful vacation. The next day they drove us to our hotel in NJ and then into THE CITY! We had lunch together at a little pizza place that claimed the best brick oven pizza in the city. It was very good - not sure it was the best but then I haven't sampled every pizza in NY. We said good-bye to S&H (tear!) and then proceeded to walk around Chelsea to many different art galleries - so much fun - art is weird and wonderful.
Then we walked around the rest of the evening - went to FAO Schwartz, Central Park, Macys, Time Square. At the end of the day 2 very tired travelers went to the train station and headed back to our hotel and straight to bed. Our flight was at 6AM the next morning so we got up at 2AM in order to get ready, catch the shuttle and wait for our plane.
Jeffrey and Nessa picked us up at the airport and off to a quick lunch at 5 Guys Burgers and then home to sleep most of the afternoon away. What a wonderful vacation!
BTW - Yes Jeff's dad did have quadruple by-pass surgery in July - he's doing okay, not as well as we would like but okay. I'll write more about that soon.
Love to anyone who actually reads this.
Tawny
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