Matt's Birthday

Last Saturday was my grandson's 11th birthday. He's been racing in motorcycle hare scrambles since he was five years old. He has taken first place for the season in his class twice so far. I think he does really well, but he never thinks he's good unless he comes in first. Anyway, I have no idea why he wanted a pocket rocket for his birthday since it seems pretty tame to me to what he's used to. His riding spaces are very limited on the pocket rocket since it is only supposed to be ridden on asphalt and that does not include the public roads. Oh well, what do I know. I'm getting close to sixity years old, after all!
My grandchildren's cousins have a new dog named Otis. I guess since those children also call me grandma, Otis must be another "granddoggie" of mine!

Memories -- and Making Memories

I have been lax in posting; but I don't need to tell you that! I've been busy going to birthday parties and my family reunion; babysitting the granddaughter (Kelly) of a friend of mine and also my great niece (Hayleigh). In fact, I had both of them this afternoon. It was their first meeting and it went well for the most part. (I hope I can look back someday and say that was the beginning of a lifelong friendship for them.) Kelly was like a little mother to Hayleigh (she's a month older than Hayleigh; they'll both be turning two years in two and three months, respectively), but Hayleigh is too independent and didn't always take that kindly to being mothered! They were fun, but I sure am glad its not a full-time gig!






Tonight I have been looking through my digital files and thought I'd share some with you. These are two of my granddoggies: Clifford and Chester.











This is a picture I created with a sunflower picture taken about six or seven years ago and one of my grandchildren that I took last summer at Stewart Park.



This was a couple years ago in my back yard (my lawn kind of turned into a meadow) then (as it is now--again). My granddaughter, Jaden.

I believe this was the cake from Elaine's "Maunnnnnument Party".

This was one of my late husband's (wow, it still feels weird to write of him using that term) sunflower plants.

These pictures were taken in October of 2001. My friends, Bonnie, Elaine, Cindi, and I had a lot of fun checking out the botanical gardens in Buffalo, NY.

Stewart Park Circle of Drums

I didn't go to Auburn this past weekend. It was nice I didn't have to make the hour's drive. John came to my house instead for the weekend.

Gimme some food!
I SAID gimme some food!
Mama stood by keeping other adults away so her babies got fed

Here is an interesting link on confusing domestic geese (and hybrids): confusing domestic geese...

So anyway, on Saturday afternoon we went to Stewart Park (Cayuga Lake) and walked around a bit and enjoyed the scenery and all the Canada geese and seagulls begging for food. A fellow John had corresponded with online had said he and a group of others would be at the park around 5:00ish for a drum circle. We didn't know exactly where they would be, but didn't actually hear any drumming until around 5:30. So we wandered over where they were and actually joined right in and beat some time. It may seem weird to some people, but it was kind of fun, social, family-friendly and FREE (and free of alcohol).







We are both planning to head to Woodstock on Thursday to spend a couple of days there relaxing at a summer party/BBQ with old friends of John's. John will be taking his PA and guitar with him because his friends from that area that are coming to the party are all musicians. (John used to live and work in that area for about 20 years.)

93rd Birthday Celebration Weekend

This past weekend was a terrific weekend! We started out with a nice evening picnic at the sailboat launch in Emerson Park on Owasco Lake. John picked up take-out from Connie's (a Mexican restaurant in Auburn) for the two of us. I took some photos while we were there.

Owasco Lake - Auburn, NY

John's dad turned 93 on Wednesday, July 4th. On Saturday, we had a wonderful picnic celebration at John's sister's home (which is the home John and his brothers and sisters grew up in).

John's dad cutting birthday cake


John's dad and oldest son, Christopher


John played and sang


"Now I've got a few words to say."

On Sunday, we took a drive out route 318 and dug up some "butterfly weed" that we had seen growing there on our way out to Rochester the weekend before. We also dug up a "black-eyed Susan-looking plant". (I transplanted them all to my house yesterday.) When we got back from rt. 318 we stopped in briefly at Emerson Park again and I got some pics of young ducks. Then we went to Niles, heading toward our friends' Jack and Heather's house. We stopped and visited an old silo down a seasonal road on the way there. John would like to play his sax and guitar in the silo because of the fantastic sound qualities. He is going to try to get permission from the owner.


We call these young ducks "teens"



Old barn and silo in Niles


I thought the different shading of the bark on this tree looked interesting.


This was a storm coming in.

While we were at Jack and Heather's, we noticed all the moths "parked" on a shed door. They were quite interesting and didn't seem to care that we were observing them. I am finding that if I take time to observe them closely, they turn into "cute little critters" that Pixar could use as a base for movie characters.

My Latest Accomplishment

I took a video with my SONY DSC-H5 camera at one of John's gigs (John Reilly Band from Auburn, NY) on June 22, 2007. I created an edited down-sized movie from it. Check it out:

More of Recent Photos

This is a picture of the sky from the back corner of my deck as a rain/hail storm was coming in on June 22, 2007. As my usual, I see a face in the cloud formation. I edited a copy of this picture to help point out the face I see.



Most of the rest of the sky was solid dark clouds, but I found this image in the sky with the sun casting light and shadow very intriguing.


This is another cloud formation from about the same time as the others. I think the white clouds are so pretty against the blue background.


Here is a photo from the week before that I think I forgot to post. This is the flower garden that my grandson, Matthew, became my personal gardener for. He says it's his garden now!