Sunset on Seneca

I took 307 pictures on my camera this weekend, that doesn't even
include the ones on my phone. I look forward to getting them on picasa
and the blog.

Watkins Glen

Sunset

Today was Marvelous!

Saturday morning

The bike is a little too big for Georgie but he has a place to ride in
the front so he ca see everything. Quick synopsis so far. It rained,
tent leaked, nothing of importance got wet, bacon, coffee and
blueberry poptarts for breakfast. Life is Good!

Feet up in front of fire.

Tent with a view

When I wake up tomorrow, this is what I'll see. Took me awhile to set
up as the wind is blowing and I am rusty. I love it here.

I'm going CAMPING!!!!

Well - first I have to try and sleep tonight, then I have to sit through some work tomorrow. This is like Christmas to me! I'm so excited! (Or as my co-workers say - I am just nuts!)

Georgie is ready to go too! I had a bit of a scare, I couldn't find the little guy. He went with friends to Florida to DisneyWorld and was given back to me, but it was on a scrapping night. I'm never responsible for what I do and where I put things on scrapping nights.

So- the car is packed. The cooler and bike will get loaded on tomorrow after work - then I'll go see Mom at the home and I'll be "On the road again" woo hoooooooooooo!

I'll try and upload some pics and small stories while I'm camping - it depends on the Edge network out there!

Talk to you all soon!

Camping

Introducing Georgie - the Gnomad

Okay - this picture is from two years ago - but it still makes me crack up. Georgie was given to me 3 years ago (is that right Mel??), his cousin Vera is in California - and then there are all other relatives all over the place. They travel with us - we take their pictures and post them on gnomads.net. Well - I used to be good about posting them, but I still take Georgie with me on my trips.

This is my tent - and the place I camped at last time on Seneca Lake. This time - the weekend, I'll be at Seneca Lake again - but in a different campsite - and no trees in this one area - but that's okay - I get to go camping and that is the most exciting part of the whole deal! Woo HooO!!!!

My plans, so far, include a wine trip on Saturday with Brenda and Dave! Woo Hoo! Sunday I am going to head down to Watkins Glen and do the "Behind the Waterfalls Tour". It's a fairly short hike and I'm bringing my bike with me, so I can go for a ride too if they have bike trails (I think that they do). I've got to do more hunting on the web for bike routes and the like. Riding at the campgrounds is nice but I've done it previously.

All of my camping equipment (that I packed up 2 years ago and hasn't been out) was still in great shape! Woo Hoo! I'm so excited I can't stand it. The washing areas are a distance at the site where I'll be staying - so I'm bringing extra water - I can wash my stuff with minimum fuss.

On the Mom front - she is getting stronger. The insurance company is looking at her case - which is much better than last week when they had closed it and that was that. I have complete faith that God has his hand in this and things will work out. Please continue to pray that she does get stronger still and able to walk without the weakness that seems to hit. Her blood pressure is staying very low now, when it hits the 13x/7x it is hard on her - almost like when it was when it hit 200/1xx's. I'll keep you all up to date as I know more!

20 Miles on the Erie Canal

Victory at 10 miles! I love this picture - it was too bright out for us to see how well it turned out!

I don't think that I would have done this on my own. A friend - who I knew way back in 7th and 8th grade, emailed me about the blog and we kept talking about stuff we're going through in life. Somehow it ended up that he and I were going to ride together. LOL - it took us awhile - his bike needed emergency tire surgery and timing was off, but yesterday we did it. And he can ride like the wind! At least compared to me! :)

My average speed is about 9.5 mph when all is said and done - I tend to dawdle when looking for a good picture. Well yesterday our average speed was about 11.5! But we did it! I did tell him that I would be saying mean things about him today - I figured I'd be in pain - but thank goodness I am not. I've got the typical soreness -but nothing special.

He took the bugs for me too on our way out - LOL but he wasn't so kind on the way back! :)~~~
We were both spitting and sputtering. We are going to ride together again - there were three people older than us on the trail that kicked my butt - my friend probably could have gone faster were it not for me.

Summer Mornings

So, here I am, sitting on my front porch with my cup of coffee. I just finished reading the paper, saw a "Happy Birthday" ad in there for a young man that used to be my little brother's best friend. There was a picture of him and his baby girl! Man that makes me feel old. My brother and this boy were inseparable when they were younger...they were a hoot together. Never afraid to try anything!

In fact this reminds me of some stuff that we used to do when I was younger. I think that I mentioned Left Turn Right Turn before in my blog. My mom used to take us on those LTRT trips - but then sometimes we would go to places that we saw as scary and mom and I would make the windows go up and down 'magically' and the engine would die and I would scream - LOL - you probably had to be there, but it was scary / funny. The doors would 'open' on their own. We'd imagine that Freddie was out there. Our favorite place to do this was out by the Marcy Prison - before the Walmart Distribution Center was built. We used to go over by Chaminade - that at that time was not being used - it was so scary. And we also used to go down Barnes Ave - LOL, what a bunch of goofs we were! My mom always told me that she hoped I had a daughter that could shriek like me - well I don't have any children, but my neice can hit my high notes with ease. My brother's friend, that I mention above used to go with us too!

We also used to, and my mom and I still do, go to Cooperstown down Rt. 28 - but before you hit Fly Creek there is a left turn that will eventually take you to Fly Creek, but down there is a little area with some very old houses and a creek - that was where my mom's grandparents lived. It's beautiful down there and at one point, if you make a left turn you get on this dirt road that leads into Cooperstown (eventually) called Bed Bug Hill - we love going on that road, it's an adventure all on it's own.

So - you get all this "walk down memory lane" because I sat on my front porch this morning to enjoy coffee, the paper and the neighborhood waking up noises. It is gorgeous out and I look forward to the rest of the day. I'm washing and waxing my car today - LOL - I honestly looked into buying a new one because I soooo didn't want to do this, but it will be a good thing. Honest hard work never hurt anyone - LOL - those are my mom's words.

Have a wonderful, blessed day!