Gifts

Last week I received two unexpected gifts of yarn - lucky me!

On Tuesday, my darling friend Kelli sent me three skeins of Cascade Yarns Mochi Plus. She sent it along with a t-shirt for Aidan from her daughter’s school, autographed by the women’s JV lacrosse team, on which her daughter plays. I will get around to photographing Aidan in the t-shirt sometime soon.

The Mochi Plus is 80% Merino wool and 20% nylon, and is oh so soft. The colorway is Lake Trail, a peaceful blend of bright green, turquoise, a sort of mocha color and a sort of caramel color:


I think I will knit a neckerchief or shawlette with the Mochi Plus yarn.

When Geri arrived on Friday, she was bearing gifts - a lovely cross-stich "Queen Bee" sampler, Queen Bee notepad and a skein of Hand Maiden Sea Silk. Geri not stitched the sampler but framed it herself:


The Sea Silk yarn is 70% Silk, 30% Seacel, and feels so incredibly decadent. It is a lovely green called Moss and has a delightful sheen:


What riches! And the gifts are pretty wonderful, too.

Watkins Glen

Yesterday we drove down to the tip of Seneca Lake, which is one of the Finger Lakes, to go hiking at Watkins Glen State Park. The park is in a 400-foot deep narrow gorge cut through rock by a stream that was left hanging when glaciers came through the area. Hundreds of stone steps climb over, under, and along the waterfalls.

It is spectacularly beautiful:




Here we are, prior to our hike through the park:


Our little goofball:

Tall ships

Yesterday was a lovely day, and the weather was nice, too! It was a lovely day because we got to see some good friends from Canada, Geri and Fred. Geri and I met about a zillion years ago on a Windjammer Barefoot Cruise, and have been friends ever since. They live in Toronto and came down with Fred's son, James, to Rochester to attend an LPGA tournament. After attending the tournament on Thursday, they drove to B'ville yesterday morning. Fred and James went golfing, while Geri, my James, Aidan and I drove up to Oswego for the Festival of Sail.

Since Geri and I first met on a tall sailing ship, it seemed fitting that we went to see tall ships! We saw the Lynx, the Unicorn and the Pride of Baltimore. The Lynx left the harbor to sail the lake:


Geri took this photo when the Lynx was under full sail:


Aidan and Geri went on a treasure hunt and the prize was a "real" pirate coin. One of the pirates in attendance posed with Aidan and Geri:


It was a beautiful day to be on the waterfront. When we returned to B'ville, Geri checked into the hotel and waited for the golfers to return. We got back together for dinner in B'ville, then strolled along the river and watched the lock in action. Geri, Fred and James return to Canada today, but our brief visit was a lot of fun.

Following are a few other photos of our fun day.

Teacher gifts

Aidan's last day of school is Tuesday. Well, it is his last HALF day of school since they are dismissed at 11:30 am. Just what is the purpose of attending less than three hours of school?

I wanted to knit his classroom teacher, Mrs. Madigan, a gift; she has been so patient and kind to Aidan since he transferred to the school midyear. I chose to knit a scarflet, which is a nice little project and a practical one in central New York. Aidan informed me that pink is Mrs. Madigan's favorite color, so I chose a pretty pink variegated yarn, Crystal Palace Panda Silk Print. It is 52% bamboo, 43% Merino wool and 5% silk, but it feels to me like 100% silk.


Aidan also formed a close friendship with his music teacher, Mrs. Schmid. They got off to a very rocky start but Mrs. Schmid took the time to get to know Aidan, devise a way to work with him, laid out the law to him, and they got along smashingly thereafter. Aidan is very sad that Mrs. Schmid is retiring this year, and asked me to knit "something special" for her. I chose to also knit her a scarflet but in a different pattern than the one I knit for Mrs. Madigan, and Mrs. Madigan helped find out Mrs. Schmid's favorite color, peach.


The photograph does not do the color justice at all; it is a lovely light peach color. The yarn is Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca & Silk, which is an even blend of silk and alpaca. It is luscious to touch and has a lovely light sheen to it.

I hope these two very special teachers like their end of year gifts, and understand just how important they are to Aidan.

This and that

From the lack of recent posts, you might think that nothing much has been going on at our house lately, but you would be incorrect. Plenty has been going on and we have been making our usual weekend excursions, and there is probably a really good reason for why I have not wanted to take the time to write about these goings ons, but I certainly can't think of one right now. I think I have just been just plain lazy. I said it, not you, so no worries.

Following is a very brief accounting of some of our latest activities.

Syracuse Chiefs baseball game on 5 June - we went as part of Boy Scouts of America night, and the scouts paraded around the field prior to the game. The tickets were free but the seats were for general admission, which meant we sat in steerage. The ballpark is lovely and it was so wonderful to be at a minor league baseball game, but I will not do general admission again; I am a reserved seat in a covered section kind of queen.

Parade of scouts:


Wind, wine and a waste of time - the day after the baseball game, we drove up to Chimney Bluffs State Park on Lake Ontario with the intent of doing some hiking. That was the intent but in reality it was a lousy day to hike: raining, temps in the low 50s and ferocious winds. We drove to the park, but I refused to get out of the car because it was so nasty outside! We will go back on a calmer day and see the amazing views.

We followed signs for a winery and found that just down the road from the park is Thorpe Vineyard. We tasted both white and red wines, enjoyed a chat with Fumie Thorpe, the owner, and bought a bottle of her Vidal wine.

From the winery we drove in a round about way to Oswego to have a late lunch at Rudy's Lakeside, which was described by several of James' employees as a great seafood and hamburger place. Let's just say that we will not be taking restaurant recommendations from those people in the future.

Best in bass - last Saturday the B'ville Chamber of Commerce held a children's fishing derby. It did not look good when we got up, because the rain was coming down hard. By the time registration started, it had let up considerably and was only drizzling a bit, so the derby went on as planned. Each child received a free fishing pole and soon Aidan and our friend Kennedy were putting their new poles to good use. James was kept busy baiting hooks and untangling lines! Aidan was so excited to reel in his first catch, a six and a half inch sunfish. He ended up catching three sunfish, one bass and even won a prize, a soft-sided tackle box. After a trip to the sporting goods store, the tackle box is now outfitted and Aidan is eager to do more fishing.

In New York, it's a verb

Barbeque. If you look it up at dictionary.com, you will find that it can be a noun or a verb. Having lived in North Carolina - the Mecca of All Excellent Barbeque - for sixteen years, it is only a noun to me. It is pig, slow cooked and seasoned and melt in your mouth good. Get me good and started and I will expound on the virtues of Eastern North Carolina barbeque vs. Western North Carolina barbeque.

For the record: I adore both but if forced to make a choice, will choose Eastern North Carolina barbeque every time.

I have heard that other parts of the country make barbeque - Kansas City, Memphis, Texas, South Carolina and Georgia, to name a few - and have even tried a few of them, but none of them even come close to measuring to the goodness that is North Carolina barbeque. 'Nuff said.

So we were intrigued by signs that appeared several weeks ago advertising a "chicken barbeque" at a local Episcopal church. Hmmm. Would the chicken be cooked with vinegar? Or a mustard-based sauce? Or maybe even a tomato-based sauce? We were eager to find out so on Saturday around noon, we headed over to find out.

Much to our surprise, we learned that a chicken barbeque is simply chicken cooked on a grill. As in the verb barbeque, meaning "to broil or roast whole or in large pieces over an open fire." Served with baked beans and salt potatoes, it was tasty, but nothing to get all misty-eyes about...which is exactly the reaction I get remembering good Eastern North Carolina barbeque.

Memorial Day parade

The B'ville Memorial Day parade was held on Sunday and Aidan was very excitement to be marching with his Cub Scout pack in the parade:


James took Aidan down to the staging area and stayed to help the driver of the float keep an eye out for children and other hazards. Neighbor Cindy and I hauled our chairs and refreshing beverages - water for her and "flavored" lemonade for me - and we had a great view of our village's display of patriotism, gratitude and Americana. There were veterans, active service military, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, dancers, bands, politicians, old cars...all that was missing was a beauty queen or two!