14 years ago
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Father's Day
It is a hot Father's Day here in New York. I hope all the father's I know are having a good time, wherever they are! I just tried calling mine, but the lines must be busy so I will try again. Even if I can't be there to wish him a Happy Day!, I am thinking of him. In more care free days I would have jumped on a plane to go visit, and I have had that thought several times the past few days. I know I don't go visit often enough. I have picked out some of my favorite photos to post though. If I had a scanner I would go through all the boxes of old photos I have and scan in some of my older memories.
Monday, June 14, 2010
A Lazy Day
I started this day thinking I would finish the boat cushions. BUT, not yet. After a busy weekend with Hayden, I guess I needed a "do nothing" day. Anything to avoid the cushions. They are not that difficult. I do not know why I keep avoiding finishing them.
We had a good weekend. I went to pick Hayden up from his after school program on Friday and we headed back up to Poughkeepsie. We have a little routine, I am sorry to say. He ALWAYS wants to stop at the rest stop right before the NY State Thruway, to eat at Burger King. I have never been a big fan of BK, but he loves the chicken nuggets. And, I can never deprive him of food after we have all had to almost force him to eat in the past. So, BK it is. I usually get a salad, or the grilled chicken sandwich and then sometimes we splurge on an ice cream. I was ready to be home though, so we decided to get ice cream at the grocery store on the way. I shop at Stop and Shop and they have handheld scanners so you can scan and bag your own groceries as you shop. It is really cool to do this. I can keep track of exactly how much I have spent as I go along. I take my own bags, for which you get a 5 cent discount per bag. Hayden loves to scan the bar codes. And the scanners give you extra coupons and discounts, so he scrolls through those and tells me what the specials are for the day.
We had high hopes of swimming over the weekend, at the marina, whether or not the boat got launched. But, alas, it turned out to be a partially rainy weekend. We managed to walk the dog between showers, and ride bikes in the park at sunset on Friday. But, Saturday we changed our plans due to weather and spent a couple of hours at the Mid-Hudson Children's Museum. They have a fairly new exhibit with a mastodon found in Hyde Park several years back. It is a small museum, with some exhibits that really do need updating and maintaining, but Hayden always enjoys the interaction with other children.
After the museum we decided to do a geocache. We had done some a previous weekend with his mom and dad and really enjoyed it. I printed out the coordinates of one close to us and we took off on our bikes. The sun came out and we found raspberries on the way there. We filled our tummies and carried on. The geocache was pretty easy to find, just at the coordinates listed and we signed the log and took a really neat marble someone had left. We left an unopened sample of some EcoTools earth friendly hand lotion. For those of you not familiar with it, geocaching involves looking for "hidden" caches, usually an old ammo box, a watertight container, or some other weather proof thing, by using a handheld GPS to go to a set of coordinates and then searching for the exact spot. It gives hikes and walks a new meaning, and a fun goal. There is always a log book and pen to sign your name and leave a little message, and you can take or leave small items in exchange.
It was still a nice day when we got back from that so went to play mini golf. Hayden is getting better at this. He is beginning to remember the rules, and some of the etiquette involved in golf activities, and his aim and focus are improving.
When we weren't out of the house we did some serious game playing. He likes "What's Gnu?", so we played that, and of course Crazy Eights card game. We played a few Scrabble words on Facebook, Chinese Checkers, and then read books before bedtime.
Sunday morning the weather was still a little damp and gray, but not really raining. We met his mom and dad at a U-Pick farm, Lawrence Farms Orchard, which is about halfway between our two homes. We have picked there for 3 years at least now and really enjoy it. It is up on a ridge that looks east over the Hudson River Valley. We usually pick strawberries, but this time decided to pick cherries, sugar snaps, and I picked some turnip greens and red curly leaf lettuce. There is a children's village, with scaled down houses, school, church, jail, etc. for the kids. And there are horses, goats, a ram, a turkey, chickens, and a beautiful peacock. I have a new appreciation for the price of cherries in the store now, after picking them myself. Not an easy job..... I want to go back in mid July and pick apricots and maybe make jam. For apple picking in the fall, we have several other places to pick that are our favorites.
It has been awhile since I posted, so there is really toooo much to catch up on. I have all my recent photos up on flickr.com though, so they can all be seen there. I had a great time in Chicago with Celeste and Sue, and have LOTS of photos from that trip. It is a great city......think New York without the noise, grit, graffiti, litter, and about one fifth the number of people. The open spaces were beautiful and the proximity to the clear fresh lake water was a plus. We visited Navy Pier (pretty touristy), did two different boat tours, one at sunset out into Lake Michigan, and the other up the river with a very knowledgeable Architecture Foundation guide. We had drinks and dinner with some of Sue's family at a hopping Irish Pub downtown one evening, sampled good Cajun fare one night, and a boisterous sea food cafe on the river another night. I wandered around Grant and Millennium Parks, took the buses, subways and els around town, and spent the only rainy morning in the Field Museum. I really think it is somewhat better than the Natural History Museum in NY. The public transit around Chicago was very efficient, clean, and quiet. It links both the airports with downtown, making ground transportation very easy. Sunday night Celeste and I went to see "Blue Man Group", a live production that is really hard to describe if you have never heard of it. Suffice it to say it involves Blue Men, lots of drumming, not much speaking, but lots of audience interaction.
For Memorial Day weekend, I did manage to get some family time, despite the fact that I had to work one of the nights. On that Saturday we all went to do our first couple of Geocache's, with great success, in an area of Harriman State Park called The Silver Mine. And on Monday I drove to Rob and Rachel's for lunch and a swim in Hayden's new pool. You really must look at the photos on flickr to see the amazing pool. It was nice to get some holiday time with family.
Fourth of July I am able to go visit Mike for a long weekend. Air fares have sky rocketed, but I had some US Airway frequent flyer miles to use. USAir doesn't go very many places that I fly, and they make it difficult to use their FF miles. I have tried several times in the past to use them to various places, Lincoln and Omaha included, but without success. I was totally amazed that I was able to use them for part of a trip to see Mike, especially over the holiday weekend. It has been since April that we were together, so it will be good. Then he will come up here some time in August, after he hauls the boat out for the season.
My boat is coming along, but slowly, with all the cool wet weather we have had. The barrier coats of bottom paint need a pretty narrow temperature and humidity range to cure. It will be a short boating season for me, but this is a once in a lifetime maintenance thing. So, that brings me back to the cushions. Guess I will go cut out the rest of the fabric for now.
We had a good weekend. I went to pick Hayden up from his after school program on Friday and we headed back up to Poughkeepsie. We have a little routine, I am sorry to say. He ALWAYS wants to stop at the rest stop right before the NY State Thruway, to eat at Burger King. I have never been a big fan of BK, but he loves the chicken nuggets. And, I can never deprive him of food after we have all had to almost force him to eat in the past. So, BK it is. I usually get a salad, or the grilled chicken sandwich and then sometimes we splurge on an ice cream. I was ready to be home though, so we decided to get ice cream at the grocery store on the way. I shop at Stop and Shop and they have handheld scanners so you can scan and bag your own groceries as you shop. It is really cool to do this. I can keep track of exactly how much I have spent as I go along. I take my own bags, for which you get a 5 cent discount per bag. Hayden loves to scan the bar codes. And the scanners give you extra coupons and discounts, so he scrolls through those and tells me what the specials are for the day.
We had high hopes of swimming over the weekend, at the marina, whether or not the boat got launched. But, alas, it turned out to be a partially rainy weekend. We managed to walk the dog between showers, and ride bikes in the park at sunset on Friday. But, Saturday we changed our plans due to weather and spent a couple of hours at the Mid-Hudson Children's Museum. They have a fairly new exhibit with a mastodon found in Hyde Park several years back. It is a small museum, with some exhibits that really do need updating and maintaining, but Hayden always enjoys the interaction with other children.
After the museum we decided to do a geocache. We had done some a previous weekend with his mom and dad and really enjoyed it. I printed out the coordinates of one close to us and we took off on our bikes. The sun came out and we found raspberries on the way there. We filled our tummies and carried on. The geocache was pretty easy to find, just at the coordinates listed and we signed the log and took a really neat marble someone had left. We left an unopened sample of some EcoTools earth friendly hand lotion. For those of you not familiar with it, geocaching involves looking for "hidden" caches, usually an old ammo box, a watertight container, or some other weather proof thing, by using a handheld GPS to go to a set of coordinates and then searching for the exact spot. It gives hikes and walks a new meaning, and a fun goal. There is always a log book and pen to sign your name and leave a little message, and you can take or leave small items in exchange.
It was still a nice day when we got back from that so went to play mini golf. Hayden is getting better at this. He is beginning to remember the rules, and some of the etiquette involved in golf activities, and his aim and focus are improving.
When we weren't out of the house we did some serious game playing. He likes "What's Gnu?", so we played that, and of course Crazy Eights card game. We played a few Scrabble words on Facebook, Chinese Checkers, and then read books before bedtime.
Sunday morning the weather was still a little damp and gray, but not really raining. We met his mom and dad at a U-Pick farm, Lawrence Farms Orchard, which is about halfway between our two homes. We have picked there for 3 years at least now and really enjoy it. It is up on a ridge that looks east over the Hudson River Valley. We usually pick strawberries, but this time decided to pick cherries, sugar snaps, and I picked some turnip greens and red curly leaf lettuce. There is a children's village, with scaled down houses, school, church, jail, etc. for the kids. And there are horses, goats, a ram, a turkey, chickens, and a beautiful peacock. I have a new appreciation for the price of cherries in the store now, after picking them myself. Not an easy job..... I want to go back in mid July and pick apricots and maybe make jam. For apple picking in the fall, we have several other places to pick that are our favorites.
It has been awhile since I posted, so there is really toooo much to catch up on. I have all my recent photos up on flickr.com though, so they can all be seen there. I had a great time in Chicago with Celeste and Sue, and have LOTS of photos from that trip. It is a great city......think New York without the noise, grit, graffiti, litter, and about one fifth the number of people. The open spaces were beautiful and the proximity to the clear fresh lake water was a plus. We visited Navy Pier (pretty touristy), did two different boat tours, one at sunset out into Lake Michigan, and the other up the river with a very knowledgeable Architecture Foundation guide. We had drinks and dinner with some of Sue's family at a hopping Irish Pub downtown one evening, sampled good Cajun fare one night, and a boisterous sea food cafe on the river another night. I wandered around Grant and Millennium Parks, took the buses, subways and els around town, and spent the only rainy morning in the Field Museum. I really think it is somewhat better than the Natural History Museum in NY. The public transit around Chicago was very efficient, clean, and quiet. It links both the airports with downtown, making ground transportation very easy. Sunday night Celeste and I went to see "Blue Man Group", a live production that is really hard to describe if you have never heard of it. Suffice it to say it involves Blue Men, lots of drumming, not much speaking, but lots of audience interaction.
For Memorial Day weekend, I did manage to get some family time, despite the fact that I had to work one of the nights. On that Saturday we all went to do our first couple of Geocache's, with great success, in an area of Harriman State Park called The Silver Mine. And on Monday I drove to Rob and Rachel's for lunch and a swim in Hayden's new pool. You really must look at the photos on flickr to see the amazing pool. It was nice to get some holiday time with family.
Fourth of July I am able to go visit Mike for a long weekend. Air fares have sky rocketed, but I had some US Airway frequent flyer miles to use. USAir doesn't go very many places that I fly, and they make it difficult to use their FF miles. I have tried several times in the past to use them to various places, Lincoln and Omaha included, but without success. I was totally amazed that I was able to use them for part of a trip to see Mike, especially over the holiday weekend. It has been since April that we were together, so it will be good. Then he will come up here some time in August, after he hauls the boat out for the season.
My boat is coming along, but slowly, with all the cool wet weather we have had. The barrier coats of bottom paint need a pretty narrow temperature and humidity range to cure. It will be a short boating season for me, but this is a once in a lifetime maintenance thing. So, that brings me back to the cushions. Guess I will go cut out the rest of the fabric for now.
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