A scoot down to Skaneateles

We drove down to Skaneateles on Saturday. The village of Skaneateles is about 20 miles from home and sits on the northern shore of Skaneateles Lake, one of the finger lakes. The name Skaneateles, which is great fun to say, means long lake in one of the local Iroquois languages.

Both the village and the lake are gorgeous. Along part of the shore in the village, there is a public park and a public pier. Here is the view of the lake from the end of the public pier:


Aidan enjoyed looking out at the clear water of the lake:


Here is the public park as seen from the end of the pier:


In the park there were several multi-family bird houses, and one little bird was singing happily as we passed:


A pair of ducks was paddling along the shore and did not mind us getting close:


We enjoyed tasty Kobe hamburgers at Johnny Angel's Heavenly Burgers, then walked around the village. The village is quite upscale so most of the shops did not fall within our taste or budget, but we did enjoy browsing in the Skaneateles Artisans gallery.

After getting ice cream, we drove out to Carpenter's Brook Fish Hatchery and then on to Patchwork Plus, where I happily perused the yarn selection. The store is mainly dedicated to fabric and quilting supplies, but also has a small yarn department. I bought a skein of Araucania Ruca, which feels like silk but is 100% sugar cane! I started knitting with it last night and, so far, I like it.

My kind of sale!

I did a double take last week when I first saw this "Rumage Sale" sign in front of the local Methodist church. I was quite sure that rummage is spelled with a double m, but I doubted myself when I saw the sign. A check at dictionary.com shows that, indeed, rummage is not spelled with only one m.

ETA: My friend Jennifer sent to me a link to a recipe for a Rumage, a drink with three different types of rum. Yum! So if that is what they are selling, you know I am there.

The Reader's Digest condensed version

The last ten days or so have been quite busy at our house. On April 16, I celebrated my 39th birthday. Again! The day started with a big gulp Bloody Mary courtesy of James; what a great start. My birthday dinner was delicious fried haddock and clams from our favorite local fish fry, Atlantic Seafood, and the carrot cake came from Geddes Bakery, the source of all yumminess. James and Aidan gave me a present I have coveted for quite some time, a yarn swift (for those of you who are not fiber fanatics, you can see an example here) and I received many cards, well wishes and other gifts. It was a lovely birthday all around.

We had special guests in town to share my birthday cake. A high school friend of James drove down from Ontario with his two sons to visit with us. Our little rental is, well, too little to house three additional people so they had to stay in a motel, but we spent just about every waking moment from Friday evening to Sunday lunch together. Mark and James enjoyed catching up on old memories and everything that has been happening in their lives for the last 20 or so years, and the three boys played well together.

Spring break started on Monday, so Aidan and I have been best buddies all week. On Tuesday afternoon, I took him and our neighbor to the library to see Doug the Bubble Man. What fun! He did all kind of amazing things with bubbles that entertained both the children and the adults.

Yesterday, I drove us to Albany to visit my knitting friend Jennifer and her two children. It was the first time to meet IRL (in real life) but we have spent so much time emailing and posting in the Ravelry Motherhood Later discussion forum that meeting in person was a mere formality. Jennifer is an amazing cook and we dined on lobster bisque, salad, quiche, fresh baked homemade bread and flourless chocolate cake. To say it was delicious is a gross understatement. We passed several happy hours chatting and watching the three children play and get into mischief. It was a long way to go for lunch but well worth it.

The next few days won't be quite as action packed. Thank goodness!

Clark Reservation State Park

We took advantage of spectacularly beautiful weather on Sunday - sunny, clear, mid-50s in temp - to visit Clark Reservation State Park in Jamesville.


The New York state park guide describes Clark Reservation as "a geologic wonder of the last ice age and a botanist's paradise. The park's natural features include rugged cliffs and rocky outcrops, woodland and meadow, a wetland and a glacial plunge basin lake in which the surface waters and bottom waters do not mix."

We describe it as wow. It is quite a drop from the parking area down to the lake, which is unbelievably clear and quite cold. There were a few moments on the cliff trail where my stomach sunk and my feet temporarily refused to move! We kept a close hold on Aidan and a careful watch on our feet.


Aidan did a great job of keeping up and learning to safely hike over rocky ground.


From the lake's edge, we could see ducks, geese and hawks, and could hear other critters scampering around.


Part of the Table Rock trail was like nothing we have ever seen: flat rocks split into what almost look like deliberate pieces. The glaciers and runoff from the glaciers carved and formed the rocks over a gazillion years. Well, something like that.


We ate our picnic lunch, explored a little more of the park and then made the short drive home. Another fun day outdoors in CNY!

Hat trick

Just in time for warmer weather, I finished a hat for Aidan. I wanted to make him a fun yet functional hat, and chose a simple ribbed pattern called the Rib-A-Roni. My first thought was to use a self-striping yarn, so I bought two skeins of Plymouth Yarn Boku, but that yarn and I did not get along well at all. I wasn’t wild about the colors and, more importantly, it irritated my hands something awful - the skin on my fingers got red and puffy, and it looked in some places like I had burn blisters.

I then bought Cascade Yarns Dolce yarn in three bright colors: Pumpkin, Boysenberry and Pea Soup. I used Pumpkin as the main color, then added a stripe of Pea Soup flanked on either side by Boysenberry:


I like the three colors together, as does Aidan:


There are two more hats in my knitting queue, but after knitting three hats in the last two months or so, I need a break.

Rock puppy

Our continued exploration of our home state took us to Herkimer, NY yesterday. We went to the Ace of Diamonds Mine to prospect for Herkimer diamonds, which are clear double-terminated quartz crystals. Herkimer is in the lovely Mohawk River valley, and the subtle signs of spring emerging along with a sunny, warm day made for a beautiful day to be outside.

It was the first mining weekend of the year and the rock hounds were in abundance. Let's just say it was mainly an earthy crowd (no pun intended, really) and I felt downright Republican in comparison, a rather frightening thought for me.

Aidan quickly took to the concept of smashing rocks to look for crystals:


Both Aidan and James spent a good part of the day climbing around the piles of rock:


I did a little digging and hammering, but mainly just enjoyed the gorgeous day:


Aidan liked that he could get as dirty as he wanted and "whack something and not get in trouble". We were all dirty and sweaty when we got home, but we had a great time. And we came home with a bagful of pretty quartz crystals - a very nice little haul.

Interview with Aidan 2010

Last year I interviewed Aidan and decided to do so each year with the same questions. This morning we sat down for the 2010 version and here is the complete and unedited interview.

1. What is something mommy always says to you? I love you

2. What makes mommy happy? Me being good

3. What makes mommy sad? When I am not good

4. How does your mommy make you laugh? By telling jokes

5. What was your mommy like as a little girl? Pouty

6. How old is your mommy? 46

7. How tall is your mommy? 5 feet tall

8. What is her favorite thing to do? Knit

9. What does your mommy do when you're not around? Work, knit and run errands

10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for? Because of me helping you!

11. What is your mommy really good at? Knitting

12. What is your mommy not very good at? Getting the cat to be quiet

13. What does your mommy do for a job? Work at home

14. What is your mommy's favorite food? Spaghetti and meatballs

15. What makes you proud of your mommy? Because you are so nice to me

16. If your mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be? Supergirl

17. What do you and your mommy do together? Have fun

18. How are you and your mommy the same? Our noses look the same

19. How are you and your mommy different? Because you are a woman and I am a man!

20. How do you know your mommy loves you? Because you love me and you tell me.

21. What does your mommy like most about you? That I am happy

22. Where is your mommy's favorite place to go? I don’t know

In the last year, I have shrunk a few feet, but at least I am not being compared to the squirrel in Sponge Bob Square Pants!