Six months until Christmas Day (in honor of Bud!)

When I got up this morning I plugged in the fridge but it did not get cold. The freezer seems to be working but not making ice. I have to call the service technician tomorrow to add that to the issues so they come prepared.

SO – back to vacation. Wednesday morning I came downstairs and Gen had put three mini-brownies with candles on the breakfast table, with M&M’s! So it was a festive start to my birthday day.

We headed to Fort Ticonderoga and enjoyed the trip up. There was so much to see! And we took a few tours as well to learn about the history of the fort, how to clean guns and shoot cannons. The lake – Lake Champlain – was just beautiful, and it borders Vermont so we could look out across the lake and see another state!

Fog on the mountains

Crossing the river

First view of the lake

Flag and the cannon

Vermont

A little history. The fort changed hands between the French, British and Americans several times.

Row of cannons

Lake Champlain

The flag is really up there.

Supply room

Gen pointing out the table.

View from the top.

Oh say, can you see?

Top floor – barracks

Believe it or not – an oven!

Museum displays and demonstrations

Flag was just so impressive, and the wind kept it flying.

Views for miles

Cleaning the guns and Kath watching.

Fife and Drum

CEO of Mars Corporation (who make M&M’s), who funded part of the museum displays.

Incredible amount of stone!

Once we left the fort we drove up to Mount Defiance. What a drive up! The road was narrow and steep and curved. But the views were even more amazing.

View of the fort from Mount Defiance

Lake Champlain and Vermont (in the distance)

Once we left there, we headed home a different way, past Lake George. It was a beautiful ride, and for me it brought back lovely memories of Chris and Lauren’s wedding, which was on the lake. We drove through the town and alongside the lake on the way down.

We had grilled sausages and salads for supper, and cupcakes for dessert. Gen bought me a book – 1776. I just started it last night, and as it’s 300 HUGE pages it will take me a while to finish. It feels strange to learn the British side of the beginning of the revolutionary war. I’m not sure if later in the book we will get the American details or just stay with the British. Either way I know I will learn a lot. It was a wonderful day!

Gen taking pictures:

Nighttime in Gen’s back yard.

I forgot to mention yesterday that Cameron loved his giant ‘coin’. He likes coins but they are too small for him to have, so I got him a big one. And he found a little JESUS in the tablet drawer where his toys are kept. He -as I said – was a busy little guy!

It’s about 3 inches in diameter.

SCRIPTURE of the DAY:

PEANUTS?

TOMORROW June 26th is:

National Beauticians Day; Forgiveness Day; National Barcode Day; National Bomb Pop Day; National Canoe Day; National Chocolate Pudding Day; National Cocoanut Day; National Handshake Day.

I had chocolate pudding after my test on Monday. Forgiveness is very hard, but very necessary. Never been in a canoe! God bless…

We had a good day – Cameron was very good. Josie (Jojo) – Autmn’s youngest sister – came down to help, and she really was a big help. He played hard and took a short nap and ate a nice lunch. We laughed at him a lot.

Cameron with my lighted crown – he wouldn’t look up!

Baking with Jojo

Baby Bob in his baby carrier

He knew how to play with finger puppets

He likes little things.

…And dumping Dominos

Those curls!

Showing Jojo what’s in the box.

Since my fridge is on the blink, I have to clean things out – especially the freezer section – as I have to pull the plug and leave it sit for 4 hours or so to reset things. So I’m going to recap Wednesday’s day of vacation tomorrow.

Scripture of the day:

PEANUTS?

TOMORROW June 25th is:

Please take my children to work day; Backyard Safety Check Day; Global Beatles Day; National Camp Counts Day; National Catfish Day; National Day of Joy;

I’ll stick with the joy! God bless….

I had to be at Norwin Square at 7:50am for my medical test. I was nervous about it but then I’m generally nervous about everything! Turned out it was much easier than I expected, but then I haven’t got the results yet….

From there I went to work and spent a few hours at Pinnacle before stopping at Mike P.’s. Turns out I actually had to go there twice. That was tiring. I stopped at the bank and the post office on the way home.

You inspired me, Gen! Very appropriate!

Not sure if I mentioned yesterday that when I got home I discovered that my fridge wasn’t working. The freezer part was ok – so far. I tried calling my repair man but he doesn’t service the ‘electronic’ Whirlpools. I called around but didn’t find any help. I’ll try again tomorrow. For now I stuffed everything I could in the downstairs fridge and put the rest in a cooler with ice. Hope I don’t have to do that for long.

Sort of like this.

When I pulled in the driveway after work Fred was sitting there by the walk, nibbling. Is it my imagination or did he get chubbier while I was away?

So back to New York. We got up early Tuesday and grabbed breakfast at Wendy’s down the street, then filled the VW with gas. We hit Schenectady about 11am but Kath wanted to stop in Walmart. We browsed around the store like we didn’t have anything else to do! We made it to Gen’s about 1pm. Walked in the door of her beautiful house and she had the Beach Boys playing on Alexa! What a welcome!

Arrival – Me and Kathy on the back deck.

Kathy checking out the deck.

My Beach Boys!

She gave us a tour of her house, helped unload the car, and we had cold drinks and chilled out for a bit.

Front of the house from the street with the beautiful red tree.

Front of the house.

Back of Gen’s house.

This is a giant gourd but it looks like a Hershey Kiss!

Fireplace in the living room

Her gardens are lovely (Master gardener – of course they are!) and the yard and location of her house are perfect.

Side garden

These are her old gardening shoes.

Back yard.

Looking up through the branches of the red tree.

The favorite thing about her house is the slate roof. It’s very unique and beautiful – goes perfect with the landscape and the setting.

Her friend Jessica and two children – James and Maisie – came for supper and we had a nice evening getting to know each other. We had ‘build your own taco/salad’ and ice cream for dessert. Once we got the kitchen cleaned up we were about ready for bed. Let’s see what tomorrow brings. (Spoiler alert – that would be my birthday!)

Kathy talking to Jessica while James and Maisie are eating.

More pictures of the house another day.

SCRIPTURE of the DAY:

PEANUTS?

TOMORROW June 24th is:

Farmer Day; Fix your Windows and Doors Day; International Fairy Day; Midsummer; National Pralines Day; Swim a Lap Day; National Patch Day; National Take Back the Lunch Break Day.

My friend Linda writes and publishes books about fairies and knights! It’s plenty warm to swim but I doubt if I will. Yea for farmers. God bless…

We are in for some stupidly hot temps over the next week – stay cool as possible, stay hydrated, stay inside when you can.

Todd’s message this morning was about being where God wants you to be. He redirects our steps. We too often focus on the faults of our circumstances rather than what we have. We are so concerned about what is happening or will happen that we can’t see exactly what IS and where we are right now. Whatever is going on in your life can be fixed by Jesus – See the moment. What do you want Him to do with you? Be alert to His plans and that’s where you should be, easy or not!

So, here we go on vacation. I picked Kathy up at 4pm on Monday. We loaded the car and then she gave me Susie Squirrel – she went with us on vacation! I think she was very happy to go along.

Susie ready to have tea.

We headed up Route 22, and made it to Blairsville when the oil light came on. But not a traditional oil light. We had too much oil! We pulled over and called Rege – he did some research and assured us that we were safe to keep going. So we did. It was a little disconcerting but you have to exercise trust somewhere! We drove for a few hours and sort of ate our supper on the drive. I was surprised how comfortable the trip was – I’m not a fan of big city driving and there was none of that. Mountains and vistas and rural views.

We got as far as the New York line and found a motel in Sayre. It was Candlewood and it was a very nice room. We were ready to crash as it was almost 10pm by then. Glad for a good night’s sleep!

SCRIPTURE of the DAY:

PEANUTS?

Sorry – couldn’t help myself!

TOMORROW June 23rd is:

International Olympic Day; International Widows’ Day; Let it Go Day; National Hydration Day; National Pecan Sandies Day; National Pink Day; National Typewriter Day.

Tomorrow I have another medical test. Ugh. I guess I have to ‘let it go’! Stay hydrated in this heat. I love my typewriter! God bless…

Here we are, back in Pennsylvania, settled in after a lovely vacation in New York with Gen. Couldn’t have asked for a nicer hostess! Thanks Gen! Kathy and I had a great time.

Gen, our hostess; Kath and me on her back deck.

I’ll recap our week starting tomorrow – but I spent so much time getting organized after being gone that it’s 7:30pm and I’m running out of steam! We got home last night about 5:30pm – and I emptied the car, took everything out of all the bags and suitcases and coolers, put away maps and brochures and leftover food. Did laundry, hung up clothes, got the car back together, and answered emails and txts. Tomorrow I’ll wash the car – it’s a vacation dead-bug mess!

Dead bugs on the window.

The fun part was when I finally finished all that I sat down and opened all the sweet birthday cards that came while I was away. Thanks to everyone who sent one!

I got up early and had toast. Gen had this wonderful, delicious French bread. Kathy and I each brought a loaf home with us. Yummy!

Then while it was still somewhat cool I did my yard work – cut grass, pulled a few weeds, cut back dead stalks. Now I’m set for storms or high heat indexes though next week. I have not, however, seen Fred or Ed since I’ve been back.

Before I close out, I want to share two bits of sad news. I talked to Kelly today and she said that her friend with the 3 year old that died in the WV floods had just gotten married a year ago. She left behind a new husband and a 6 month old son. That made my stomach queasy and my heart hurt. It is just horrible. I can’t even imagine.

WV Floods

And Autmn txt me that Noah’s grandfather passed away this week. He’s the one who was Santa where Cameron had his first ‘photo with Santa’. Please pray for these people who have lost someone they loved.

SCRIPTURE of the DAY is PEANUTS?

TOMORROW June 22nd is:

B Kinder; National Chocolate Éclair Day; National HVAC Tech Day; National Kissing Day; National Onion Ring Day; Windrush Day; World Rainforest Day.

TODAY would have been Mom and John’s wedding anniversary. No kissing, no chocolate, we had onion rings for supper beside the Mohawk River on Thursday night. We should always B kinder! God bless…

On this day in 1967 I walked into Bud Smail Lincoln Mercury for my first day of a summer job. 52 years later that ‘summer’ was over. What a ride!

I still miss Bud…..

Happy Father’s Day to the special fathers in my life!

Nate with Cameron

Matt with Logan

Noah with Cameron

My Dad with Kathy

John

Thankfully we did not get the nasty weather today that was expected. I spent the day until 2:30pm interpreting the upstairs rooms of the tavern. We had some very interested people and they seemed excited about the information. An old friend from Smail’s, Kathy Barnard, stopped by and it was so great to see her and catch up! So that was a nice day. Pictures from the day:

A house (1800’s) that they took down and are rebuilding on site.

Proctor’s encampment by the stockade

Demonstrations in the LeFevre House

Springhouse

Fenced in Kitchen Garden

So interesting!

Native American demonstrations

Table at the tavern

Private bedroom

Louise cooking….

Kelly called me about 4pm, to catch me up about all the flooding in her area. Their yard and roads were flooded, and Peyton’s good friend’s family lost everything. Several bridges are gone, roads were washed away, people lost houses. The worst was that a friend of Kelly’s from 4-H and her young daughter were swept away, and were just found this afternoon. The mom was 27 and the little girl was 3. That has to be the most dreadful thing to think about and to happen. Please pray for the people in and around Elm Grove and vicinity. It’s devastating.

Floods

Floods

Kelly’s friend and her daughter.

I just finished packing – but I’m not at all confident of my choices. Thankfully as long as I have one complete outfit extra, we can do laundry when we are at Gen’s.

My suitcase looks sort of like this….

This is my last post until next Saturday. Have a lovely week and I’ll catch up then!

Keep this in mind for your Independence Day Celebrations!

QUOTE for TODAY: (I think it’s a good one)

SCRIPTURE of the DAY:

PEANUTS?

TOMORROW June 16th is:

Bloomsday; Fresh Veggies Day; International Waterfall Day; National Fudge Day; Take your Cat to Work Day; World Sea Turtle Day; Youth Day.

I love waterfalls!!! And fudge! I don’t have a cat but I’d definitely take it to work if I did! And today would have been my friend Ron Buschek’s birthday had he lived. God Bless….

Happy Flag Day! We’ve had SO MANY versions of our U.S. Flag and they have all stood for freedom and unity. God Bless America!

My rainy day started at Hanna’s Town – I was docent in the upstairs of the tavern. The day started sort of slow with visitors but did pick up by the time I finished my morning shift. The fun thing was that descendants of Robert Hanna from Kentucky came up for the event and were excited to tour the site and learn so much of their family’s history.

Order in the Court!

The weather cleared by the time I left. I zipped home to change out of my colonial garb and then headed to Mammoth Park for Isaac’s graduation party. By the time I got there it was sunny! He was relaxed and having fun, playing games, eating, and visiting with his friends and family. The most fun for me was that Tonia ordered M&M’s with Isaac’s picture on!

How cool is THAT?

Tonia had Isaac’s award framed, and also had a huge banner with his drum line picture. By the time I got around to taking a picture of the cake it was almost gone. I spent time talking with friends I hadn’t seen in a while, and sat with Beth and Harold to eat. Hannah and Rosie came up from Tennessee and I haven’t seen them in a while.

What was left of the cake.

I got home at 4:30 and took a quick break and read the end of my book. Then I went out and finished weed whacking the rest of the yard, sweeping up the clippings, and weeding out a few dead flower stalks. And I didn’t see Ed or Fred once. I did see my neighbor outside and he’s going to sprinkle Cyanine Pepper and Onion Salt around the shed and fences as that’s what I read was effective. We’ll see! Here are current flower pictures.

First Day Lily to bloom

I just finished taking these when the thunder started rumbling and the sky turned dark. It’s raining now.

QUOTE for the DAY: Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.

SCRIPTURE of the DAY:

PEANUTS?

TOMORROW June 15th is:

Clean your Vents Day; Global Wind Day; Magna Carta Day; National Bug Busting Day; National Prune Day; National Turkey Lovers Day; National Smile Power Day; Sneak a Kiss Day; Trinity Sunday; National Big Boy Day; National Foam Party Day; Father’s Day; Nature Photography Day.

No one to sneak kisses from these days! Probably safer that way… Make sure to honor your father or his memory tomorrow. Tomorrow is packing day for me. SMILE! God bless…

I didn’t realize until midway through the morning that it was Friday the 13th! I guess that’s a good thing! Kathy, Corliss and I headed to Pittsburgh at 8:30am to visit the Bayernhof Museum in Sharpsburg, with Corliss driving (Thanks Corliss!). What a lot of twists and turns and hills to get up there, but it sure was worth the drive. A huge thank you to Kathy for her research in finding a fun place to explore.

The Bayernhof Music Museum

The fountain, complete with dragon and a drawbridge.

Closeup of dragon.

View from the driveway – you could drive right off the cliff!

At almost an hour on the dot we pulled up to the gates and pushed the button. The gates swung open and we drove in to park right in front of the house. I can’t begin to explain everything we saw, inside and out. Let’s just say that this huge museum of a house contained DOZENS of musical instruments and music boxes. You have to visit to really understand! And an added fun bonus was that the owner’s best friend/advisor/lawyer is in town and we got to meet him and hear his actual stories!

The gates opening.

Me with Corliss with the view behind us.

Front entrance.

Me with Kathy at the front door.

Corliss with Kathy

Kathy laughing….

Panoramic view

Beautiful view even on a foggy day.

The views were amazing – and Charlie Brown (no kidding! But not Snoopy’s Charlie!) was very rich, eccentric, and eclectic! He had rooms full of interesting items, heirlooms, collections, secrets, and wet bars in almost every room. You have to see it to believe it.

Charles B Brown III (He owned over 200 blue, button-down oxford shirts!)

Beautiful plush green carpets – steps inside front door.

Chairs around the kitchen table all had different woodland creatures carved on them.

This is a reverse painting skylight in the gambling room.

Tapestry in the gambling room.

Did you ever see a purple pool table? (That’s Lisa our tour guide)

Me with Charlie’s grandfather (Carved wooden image)

Chandelier in the public restroom!!!

Jetted remote control tub, with a built in bookcase and a phone!

Our group was small – 11 of us – and we thoroughly enjoyed the 2 1/2 hour tour, full of laughter and stories and relics. My favorite story was about Nippers the dog, who was a favorite of Charlie. He was the RCA dog that always sat beside the Victrola speaker in their ads. Nippers would ALWAYS sit at the dining room table, on a chair, with a plate, napkin, flatware and glass. The table held 14 people, and if there were 15 guests one would have to eat in the kitchen – because Nippers ALWAYS ate at that table. And no, he was not real. But he was huge.

Nippers with Lisa – He’s really big (He is sitting on the table here.)

Authentic Civil War cannonball. There’s a crazy story about this, too!

Charlie’s office – A picture of Charlie (right) with President Ronald Reagan.

They called him ‘King Chuck’ – he liked the Andy Griffith Show – see the bobbleheads?

Picture of Richard Nixon – and an ornate Grandfather Clock.

The board room with Yellow note tablets. Reminded me of Bud – he wrote everything on a yellow tablet!!

These are taxidermy birds and they move and sing!

When you sit on this chair it activates a music box!

A phonograph in the bedside light.

The third floor housed an observatory with a high power telescope and two spiral staircases to reach it. We went down a floor and into a hidden door, and there we found a wine cellar – which had an authentic West Virginia still. Corliss was eyeing it up pretty intensely!

The observatory (which totally opened and closed) and the telescope.

Corliss eyeing up the still!

When we went out of the wine cellar, we entered a totally manufactured cave, with stalactites and stalagmites and water dripping. Once we wove our way through the cave, we came out at an indoor pool, with a rainbow bridge and a water fall and floor to ceiling windows. Too much to believe!

Indoor pool with waterfall.

Corliss, Kathy and I at the pool.

If you look closely at the scene in the background – that is Maria from the Sound of Music!!!

Rainbow bridge from the caves to the pool. See the table and seats in a little separate pool area?

I feel like I don’t really want to tell any stories or share too much – except the pictures. It’s worth the trip to visit – but you MUST make reservations and it’s not recommended for children (collectibles). Check it out!

Nippers says ‘ Come see me! ‘

That was my day, but I came home and did a load of laundry, answered emails, and cut the grass. It’s 9pm and I’m finally done except for this. The ironing can wait!

My grass compared to my neighbor’s!

I found a rose growing up through my azalea bush!

SCRIPTURE of the DAY:

PEANUTS?

TOMORROW June 14th is:

World Juggling Day; Donald Trump’s Birthday; National Cucumber Day; National Dragonfly Day; National Outlet Shopping Day; ARMY birthday; Doll Day; Flag Day; International Bath Day; International Knit in Public day; Monkey Around Day; National Dog Dad Day; National Pop Goes the Weasel Day; National Strawberry Shortcake Day; World Blood Donor Day.

FLAG – fly your flag. Tomorrow and Sunday are also Frontier Family Days at Hanna’s Town – I’ll be out there in the morning from 10-1 so if you can, stop out! Give Donald a call and sing happy birthday to him. I will wish miss Dottie Doll a happy birthday and that’s it for me! God bless…

It’s Thursday afternoon – I will try to get caught up without being boring! First thing is a picture of the moon late Tuesday night, after I posted on Tuesday. I know the June full moon is a strawberry moon but it looked more orange to me. It looked white last night and I didn’t even take a picture.

Tuesday night.

Wednesday was a whirlwind – nothing bad or hard. Just one thing to the next! First Renee from Mike P’s office called just when I stepped out of the shower. They had an issue with credentials for a car buyer, and it took us about three phone calls back and forth until it got solved — but it finally did. I looked outside and saw a baby bunny in the yard.

Then I started cleaning upstairs, and got the bathrooms and kitchen done when Barry from Pinnacle called me. They couldn’t deliver a car because the CVR system would not process. So I jumped in the car and drove down there. Turns out it was a CVR system error, and the Help desk was able to get it fixed and stay on the phone until we got the documents printed.

When I was cleaning upstairs I found Jesus in a chicken.

I was only home a few minutes when Autmn, Noah and Cameron stopped buy. They just wanted a visit! So we all chased Cameron around all day – or at least for a little over two hours! He had a great time, and played with dishes and dominos and foam blocks. I made them a quick lunch before they had to get to their next stop. By then it was time to get ready to go to Mary’s work for the book presentation.

They forgot BLUEY !!!!

Cameron in his apron heading for mischief!

Look what turned up! They found the butterfly stone!!!

That turned out really well. I love talking about the book, and the history and the research and sharing all the interesting items that I have. Everyone really enjoyed it all, and looked at everything and asked great questions. I even sold several books, which is unusual for that type of event. A friend that used to work at Smail’s lives in the apartments there, and she saw that I was the speaker and made it a point to come down. She bought a book too. Really nice group of people – thanks, Mary, for having me down!

Sitting around waiting for the program!

The only crazy thing was that the road was closed and I didn’t know an alternate way. I plugged the address into my GPS and it took me there, but I’m sure it was the most remote, twisty-est way there was! Thankfully I left plenty early so all was well.

When I got home I finished cleaning the house so it was close to midnight when I got to bed. I was very glad to have it done so I could be in good shape for the weekend activities. Today was the bank, grabbing food, and getting gas in the car – which, by the way, Rege switched out. I’m driving a 2022 VW Taos. Nice car!

This is my first Volkswagen.

After lunch I caught up on the emails, phone calls, and paying some bills. Now I’m posting this and it will be time to think about supper soon. For some reason I’m hungry for pancakes.

Mine won’t look like that!

Autmn stopped for the Bluey cup. Cameron was so excited to be here, and smiled for my picture. But when they were leaving he threw his hands up on his face and was wailing for ‘Mimi!’ I love that little guy.

Pictures Autmn sent me.

In the sandbox near his house

“If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair….”

Just takin’ a break.

Hitching a ride with Daddy

Cameron with Papap Jim – Autmn’s mom Jaime’s dad.

SCRIPTURE of the DAY:

PEANUTS?

TOMORROW June 13th is:

International Axe Throwing Day; National Blame Someone Else Day; National Sewing Machine Day; National Weed Your Garden Day; Random Acts of Light Day; World Softball Day; National Golf Cart Day; National Movie Night; Wear Blue Day.

Chase loves Axe Throwing! I love blaming someone else — it’s NEVER my fault! I can probably weed a bit if it doesn’t rain. God bless!

Well, today went sideways and every which way! Nothing wrong, and certainly nothing bad! It was a good day all around. But it’s after 9pm and I still have a mountain to tackle before bed and a full weekend ahead of me. So I’ll post tomorrow. Have a lovely Thursday and God bless…