Baldwinsville Memorial Day parade 2012

Our little village of Baldwinsville holds its Memorial Day parade on the traditional holiday date of May 30 and not the observed holiday, which is the last Monday in May, so our parade was yesterday. Why not a parade in the middle of the week? The weather was perfect, sunny and warm, but not hot. When the parade started at 6 pm, there was a lovely little breeze to make the numerous U.S. flags flutter.

Aidan participated in the parade with his Cub Scout pack and cut quite the dashing figure in his uniform:

He claims that he walked most of the parade route but by the time he reached our house, he was riding on the float - he is in the back, next to the man in red:
 

 

I adore seeing the active duty military personnel and the veterans:

I adore the bagpipers:

I especially adore the classic cars:

And I adore the fire truck from Cody:

Lake George

Way back in January, we started planning a Memorial weekend camping trip with our friends Mike, Kelly and Ryan. We had a couple of state parks in mind but they were already booked. Already booked - in January. We decided to camp in a private campground and after considering different locations, we chose the Lake George area. We had never been to Lake George, and it had been some time since Kelly and Mike were there, so it would new to all of us. I researched campgrounds on the Internet, compiled a short list of suggestions and we all decided on King Phillip's Campground, just 1.5 miles from the village of Lake George. Lake George is located at the southeastern edge of the Adirondacks and I had heard from several sources that the area is very touristy, so my expectations were low. And since we did not plan to spend much time in the village of Lake George, the tourist factor did not matter too much.

We were excited to be trying out our popup camper for the first time. Even when compacted and locked down, it can still hold a lot of gear. And since we did not have to pack a tent or air mattresses, we had less gear to pack. As with any camping trip, getting the food planned and ready was a big portion of the work, and I spent almost all day on Thursday getting food prepped and packed.

It did not take long for James to get the hang of driving with a camper attached to the back. We pulled into the campground around 3:30 on Friday afternoon, and Mike, Kelly and Ryan arrived about an hour later. Our sites were side by side and we were fortunate to have spacious, shaded sites. We were also fortunate to have great weather - no rain - the entire weekend and although it was hot, the shade kept our sites comfortable.

While most of our meals were cooked and consumed at the camp site, we did enjoy two excellent meals out. On Friday evening, we ate at the Barnside Smokehouse BBQ, which is a fun place with pretty good barbecue. No, the barbecue was not as good as Eastern North Carolina barbecue, but you expected me to say that, didn't you? For lunch on Sunday, we enjoyed food and brews at the Adirondack Pub and Brewery, and brought home a growler of their very tasty Black IPA - a most excellent souvenir.

On Saturday, we hiked Shelving Rock Mountain. Depending on the source material, it is either an easy or a moderate-to-difficult hike; either way, it is 3.4 miles round trip with a 650 foot ascent. The trail follows an old carriage road with a series of switchbacks. I am glad that I was walking those switchbacks rather than riding in a carriage! Along the way, Aidan added a rock to a cairn beside the trail:

At the top of the mountain, we were rewarded with a pretty view of Lake George:
 

As we descended, we met one of the locals:

Like many mountain people, he did not have much to say and since he was well over a yard long, we gave him wide berth.

During the weekend, we spent a lot of time relaxing at the camp site, the boys went swimming in the campground pool and we went for a stroll in "downtown" Lake George. Remember what I said about it being rather touristy? Even with my expectations set low, I was still surprised at the number of tacky souvenir shops and tourist attractions. I saw the outside of Fort William Henry, but with the wax museum, parasails, and All Things Plastic stores cluttering my vision and my thoughts, I couldn't conjure up images of Hawkeye, Cora and the British settlers leaving the fort and walking into the Huron ambush.

We came home tired, dirty and covered with bug bites, and while I will never mistake a camping trip for a vacation, it was fun and a good time was had by all.

The one that didn't get away

Tuesday evening's Cub Scout den meeting was a fishing outing at Van Buren Park. Aidan initially said that he did not want to go, but the weather was perfect and after we cleaned up from dinner, he and James decided to "see what was going on" at the outing.

This is what Aidan had going on:

Nice bass!

Extreme hopscotch

Yesterday afternoon, I challenged Aidan to a game of hopscotch. It started out as a simple 1 - 12 square course until Aidan decided to make it just a bit bigger and more difficult.

It started in front of the garage:

Curved around the front of my car and went down the side:

Twirled around behind the car:

Came up between the two cars:

And then finally, FINALLY ended with square 55:

Whew. I never knew hopscotch could be a game of endurance! (Aidan won.)

Mother's Day, my way

So far, I have had a wonderful Mother's Day. I was the first one up this morning and enjoyed sipping a hot cup of coffee on the porch while soaking up the sunshine and listening to the birds. When I went into the house, I surprised (startled?) James and Aidan, who thought I was out for a walk!

I made buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast. I must admit that I am getting pretty good at making the biscuits and the gravy was beyond delicious. Then I went out for a brisk walk, both to enjoy the gorgeous morning and to work off some of the biscuits and gravy.

My Mother's Day gifts came earlier this week. Aidan potted this pretty little flower for me at his Cub Scouts den meeting on Tuesday:

Yesterday, James brought home this bright green Adirondack chair:

I adore it! I have long coveted the pink Adirondack chair at a house down the street, so I asked for a colorful chair of my own for our work-in-progress patio. Yes, I know that brightly colored plastic furniture is tacky but I have a strong and weird love of tacky (see Flamingos). I plan to do a lot of sitting and knitting in that chair, maybe even this afternoon.

James and Aidan went to Vince's Gourmet Imports to get our lunch. We had originally thought about going to a park for our picnic, but decided to sit outside at our house:

Vince's makes delicious sandwiches - mine had soppressata, cheese, roasted red peppers and Balsamic vinegar. Yum! We also had birch beer to drink:

James also got cannoli for dessert:

Yum, yum, and all mine!

The rest of the day is going to be low key. James is working on the patio, Aidan is playing in his fort in the trees, and I am going to knit, read or do nothing. Dinner will be steak and pierogies on the grill with a little salad on the side. Does it get any better than that? Not for me!

Happy Mother's Day!

A loss

I don't know what to say. Even when I can't organize my thoughts quickly enough to speak, I can usually play with words and write out exactly what I feel. But not today.

Yesterday, Amendment One was passed in North Carolina. Amendment One prohibits "any union outside of a marriage between a man and a woman from being recognized in the state." I even copied the wording from WRAL.com because I can't come up with my own words to explain the amendment. Except maybe "an unnecessary, stupid act of bigotry."

Marriage equality is such a non-issue to me. If two people are in love and want to commit their lives to each other, why should it matter that they are a same sex couple? And does allowing a same sex couple to marry diminish or threaten my traditional marriage in any way? Hell, no.

Am I just a little bit mad? You betcha. But more than mad, I am sad. And at a total loss for words.

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