Forest Hill Cemetery Gate

I know it's a cemetery - but these gates are so beautiful!

I believe a lot of people walk up in through the cemetery for exercise, plus it is peaceful up there. This cemetery gate it to the right of the Master Garden Road that leads to the top of the Roscoe Conkling Park there is also a cemetery to the left. That one is New Forest Hill Cemetery, that is where that picture of the silhouetted statue came from. And the more that I think about it, that may be a statue of Roscoe Conkling. I'll have to check it out now that I have mentioned it twice and I'm still not sure.

Schroon Lake in May

This is one of my all time favorite photographs.

I took this at Schroon Lake in early May - it was a wet, dreary weekend. We were at a Women's Church Retreat at Word of Life. Every time I stepped out my door I was greeted with this view. It was different every time too, the fog earlier in the day made my pictures seem spooky and otherworldly. This one was taken at about 7:30 in the morning - I'm an early riser - I'd already been up for about 1.5 hours. And it's so much my favorite that I have it on my laptop desktop, my iMac desktop and my iPhone screen. It's very serene and peaceful...

Views from Roscoe Conkling Park

I am always amazed when nature helps out with beautiful pictures - this is a little dark, but I still love the colors. I was working on getting my recyclables together tonight and realized it would be perfect night to go to Roscoe Conkling Park and get some pictures. The sky is clear and the sun was setting. This statue is in the cemetary - but I cannot for the life of me remember who it's there for. If anyone knows - please tell me!
This next shot is from Master Garden Road and the large building in the background used to be the psych center - I believe it's empty now. I know it's spooky over there - Old Main and the other buildings just seem to have a lot of stories to tell and there are times when I've ridden my bike through that property and gotten thoroughly spooked - but at the same time - it's a beautiful place.
The stone with plaque at the top of the hill at Roscoe Conkling Park. The sun was hitting it just right to get the rosy cast to it.

Picture

Driftwood on Seneca Lake

Hector Falls (during a dry spell)

The picture used in my header was taken about 3 years ago on Seneca Lake. We were wine tripping - I'm usually the DD. They were tasting wines and I was chasing butterflies. I think I got the better end of the deal with this picture. 

I love photography and take a lot of pictures. I'm going to try and go on a photo hunt this weekend and get more of Utica and the Mohawk Valley. Then I will post to my hearts content!

Bike Ride

It's been a stressful day today. Mom is in hospital - they decided to admit her because her blood pressure has been all over the map today. At one point 214/138 and then at the lowest 60/22 - insane - but she also said she had pressure in her chest - which is a new thing, so the doctor gave her Nitro - makes sense. But that and the pain meds dropped her pressure like a stone. Then of course they had to give her IV fluids fast to bring her pressure back up - and it went a little high - but right now she seems to be fine.

So, you are probably asking yourself where does the bike ride fit into this. Well after being at the hospital for 6 hours I decided that while she napped I would ride. I bought some of those Clif Shot Bloks - they are electrolyte chews. Boy did they make all the difference in the world. The flavor is ok - but when you eat them and then drink a lot - your body stays much more hydrated and boy did it work for me. I left my house (by Faxton) and traveled south on Sunset to Woodlawn - up to Genesee and then went down to Rt. 12. Went South on Rt. !2 towards Waterville. I have to tell you that Rt. 12 is my personal challenge - it's a hill - just flat out a big Hill. I've ridden 1.3 miles up to Paris Road a few times and then gone down Paris Road into New Hartford and back home. But today- with the stress and the Shot Bloks pushing me I made it up to Tibbits Road. Wow! it's about 1.8 up to that point (I think). Then of course you have to go up Tibbits and then it goes down a little and then back up and then the awesome part is a very steep down. It felt so good to just feel the air hitting me. I feel better than I did and now it's time to go back to the hospital and see how Mom is doing.

I just pray that someone, somewhere is going to look at all of my mom's symptoms and say "I know what the problem is...." At this point no answers stinks.

Rainbows

This was a double rainbow - that I just couldn't believe I was seeing
much less that I caught it with my iPhone.

Someone commented on my iPhone pictures. I want to share two of them here that I took about 6 weeks ago. I had been at Dick Sonne's buying my new Trek - and was on my way home (oh and in the middle of all that broke up with my boyfriend of 18 months) - well I saw these rainbows and knew that all was going to be okay. I was on Sunset, heading north, just past Carlyle.

The view from 4th floor Faxton Hospital

What a gorgeous day. It's these kind of days that makes Utica the best
place in the world to live!

Blue skies and a tiny sliver of moon!

The sliver is so small it's almost not viewable! Darn! I took this with my iPhone and could see it when I zoomed in. Ah well - still a beautiful deep blue sky. More than makes up for the rain in the last few days. I love it here!

Chicken Riggies

I have had Chicken Riggies in a lot of different restaurants in Utica and the Mohawk Valley. I don't have a favorite yet - but that's probably because I tend to go to different restaurants and not the same ones over and over. But I digress....

I looked up Chicken Riggies on Google - LOL - What a treasure trove of thoughts and ideas and emotions about Chicken Riggies...too funny but very informative.

RoadFood.com - great forum conversation about Chicken Riggies and the festival that now takes place yearly to see who makes the best Chicken Riggies in the area.

The Wiki Definition - The Wikipedia definition and description of Chicken Riggies.

WKTV link - A recipe and small article about Chicken Riggies by our local TV news station.

Cookbook - WikiBooks - This has (yet another) recipe for Chicken Riggies.

Is it ok that at 6:30 in the morning that I really want some Chicken Riggies??? LOL

And I think that Mel in California will be happy with this post as there are about 4 recipes in these links! :)

Happy eating!

Tomato Pie

At our Toastmasters meeting last night, one of our members gave a great speech on the Boilermaker and the sense of Community that all of the stuff leading up to and including the Boilermaker give to this area. But - she made a comment in the beginning of her speech about Tomato Pie, Halfmoons and Chicken Riggies - I had just eaten dinner but that was all I could think of after she mentioned it.

So - here is a small article in Wikipedia about Tomato Pie and they mention Utica! I've tried to explain Tomato pie to people in California - they don't get it. They envision an apple pie made with Tomatoes instead - pretty funny looking I am sure. There are a lot of great places to get Tomato Pie locally too. Roma's on Bleeker Street in East Utica is one of my favorites right now. But I know that there are a lot of great places to get it. I'd love for you all to leave comments as to where else you can get Tomato Pie in the area!

My next few posts will be about Halfmoons, Chicken Riggies and Greens - which you just can't find anywhere else. Plus - Trios Pizza - it's made different and it's soooooooo GOOD!