Laugh Out Loud

It's early morning.  I'm checking my email and blogs before leaving for work.  I put the TV on just for a minute or two and I found I Love Lucy.  Within a couple of minutes I was laughing out loud. 

What a timeless program, and how much joy Lucy & Desi brought to millions of viewers

during the time the show was originally aired. 

Who can watch even one episode of re-runs without laughing. 

And in this day and age, with all the nonsense going around,

isn't it good to laugh?  What a great way to start the day.

The Art Show

Lauren has been taking art lessons throughout the school year.  Tonight was the culmination of the winter session with an art show to showcase the work of all the students.  We spent a little time there this evening. 

It's so wonderful to see the work of these young people. 

Lauren's sculpture of a snake

The next three sculptures are just random pieces that I thought were fun.

After the art show, we made a trip to Wemple & Edicks for ice cream. 

The kids became totally engrossed in tic-tac-toe.

The word has just come down in tonight's news--the Senate voted in favor of same-sex marriage for NY.

We are so headed down the tubes!

Blasts from the Past

This afternoon I went up to the attic to find some particular item.  I found it right away, but decided on the spot that I just HAD to do something about the mess that still lived in that attic.  You might remember that last year I had a very similar experience--that time I managed to clear out about 1/3 of the clutter.

Today I made amazing progress and I am psyched !!!

But let me back up a little first.  About 4 years ago, my baby boy, who was studying Construction Engineering in college, decided to remodel the back staircase.  I had to take down all the photos that lined that staircase.  Well, baby boy has graduated and moved to Alaska, is working in the construction field, and my staircase is still not finished.  What's up with that??

Anyway, in my cleaning frenzy, I decided to take the pictures out of the frames, put them in albums and get rid of the frames.  The first photo I took out of the frame is the following of Jessica and her Tri-County Twirlettes group.  I didn't take this photo, but it's one of my favorites.  She's on the bottom left.

I had to wipe away a little tear.

I found the next picture behind another.  I had no idea it was there, but how cute.  Of course, there's no date or age on the back, but I'm guessing I was about 18 months old here. 

Below is the picture that was on top of my baby picture--me, just a few years later, at least  I bet that's what it seemed like to my parents.  This one also doesn't have a date or age on the back of it and believe it or not, I can't remember if this was my high school or college graduation picture.  I'm leaning toward it being my college picture because I never had my hair this short when I was in high school. 

Being the sap that I am, I had to wipe away a little tear with this one too.  The feelings and thoughts that went swirling through my mind would be fodder for many more posts, so rather than bore you all with any of those thoughts, I'll leave you to ponder your own. 

Suffice it to say, if I had it to do again, I would!!

Rally at the Senate

Today there was a rally at the Senate entrance in Albany.  NY is considering a bill to make same-sex marriage legal.  There is one vote to go to determine whether it will pass or not.  Four of us from my church attended the rally.

People for & against the bill were in attendance. 

Madaline is a bold witness and didn't hesitate to engage this young man in a dialogue about his stand on the issue.  I even managed to dredge up the courage to get involved in their discussion for a few minutes.

Elise, one of the most active "voices" in our church, posed for this photo. 

We finally found our car in the parking garage after walking around for a few minutes.  The place is like a big-black-hole and it was only by God's grace that we found the car when we did.  For a minute or two I was thinking, "search party", for us, not the car.

Elise wanted a pic of the 4 of us, so I propped my camera on the back of the car

and was able to get us all in the frame--and for once I didn't get obsessed with getting it straight.   

While walking through the concourse to find the elevator to get to the parking garage, we passed pieces of artwork that NYS purchased to decorate the halls with.  Now, dear reader, this is just a sampling of the "art" that we, the taxpayers, wind up paying for with our tax dollars. 

Remember a few posts back when I mentioned that I was scratching my head over the winners in the Photo Regional?  Well, here I go again, only this time I want to kick and scream--"art"???  Really???

And how much did these cost????

  

On the news tonight it was announced that the Senate is stalled on the legislation for rent-control, so the issue of same-sex marriage is on a back burner right now. 

Okay.  There's still a chance it will be defeated.

The Second Hike

Today was the second hike of our season.  One of the ladies is going away at the end of this week, so we decided to hike today even though we usually wait a week in between our trips.  We went north to the Indian Lake area to hike to Peaked Pond/Peaked Mt.

On the way, we passed this great scene and just had to stop and get a few pictures.

We arrived at the trail head around 9:30, got our gear and headed onto the trail.

This bridge veered off in another direction. 
Another trail for another day.

Such a bad shot.  Photographing up at a person is NOT flattering,
but you've got to work with what's available. 

Available:  a too low rock. 

Available: a backpack on which to place the camera. 

Available:  the end of the bridge was the only dry place to sit. 

Ergo:  a not so fine portrait of three very, very tired and hungry hikers

 

One of the things that kept us motivated on the day's 5-mile hike was the thought of dinner at the Indian Lake Restaurant.  We've been there before, and we were really looking forward to stopping there on our way home.

We weren't disappointed.

The First Hike

Today my hiking buddies and I went on our first hike of the season.  It was a short one, only around 2 miles. (the sign says .5 mile, but the guide book listed it at .9 miles, and the hike felt more like a mile each way than just a half mile).  It was one of the nicest hikes we've done, in spite of being so short.  We always start the season with easier hikes, just to begin the conditioning.  There is this great fire tower at the end and it's a good thing.  The view from the top of the tower is beautiful, but from the base of the tower you can't see much because all the trees and foliage are grown up so high.   

 

Looking down from the top of the tower.



Jane (on left) and Bev

The Photo Regional & Albany

This afternoon two friends and I took a trip to Albany to visit the Photo Regional Show.  There were 500 entries to this juried show, but only 35 of those entries survived the elimination process to make it into the show.  We spent our time there scratching our heads in wonderment. 

Not knowing who the judges are or what their backgrounds are, we obviously couldn't know the criteria by which the images were chosen.  Okay...I'll be the first to admit that I just don't get it.

But it was well worth it to see the work on display.  It was worth it to know that my friends and I do work equally as good.  The curious thing is, if I took some of those images, I not only would not have considered entering them into a juried show, but I probably would have deleted them because they weren't worth keeping. 

Well, art is subjective.  I'm still scratching my head...

When we left the gallery, I took a few shots of the area, never having been there before.  I'll say one thing for Albany--it has some really beautiful architecture.  And while taking these photos, I remembered just how much I love street photography.

My shy friend, who would never have volunteered for a pic like this a few years ago, called me from the other side of the square to take her photo while she posed.  Too funny!

We went to Pinhead Susan's for dinner.  One of our favorite places, but one we don't get to too often since it's not in our back yard.  So yummy.

Queen of the Erie

I had the chance to go biking again today.  I went in the other direction. It was a little more interesting than the route I took the other day. Not in an overwhelming way, but enough to provide a few photo ops.

I don't have an odometer on the bike and there are no mile markers along the bike path (what's up with that I wonder?)  so I didn't know how far I was going.  I did, however, sense that I was going a little farther than the other day.  And the way I felt during the last 3 or so miles was an absolute sign that I had gone farther.  Total=16 miles.  Wow.

There are signs along the route giving information about the Erie Canal.  The Canal was an engineering marvel in its day.  I sometimes wish I could transport myself back in time to see it in action. 

If you click on the next image, you can read a little about it.  

5 on the 5th

The day started with church.  The flowers on display were donated by the brother of our dear friend and sister-in-the-Lord who went to be with Him a year ago Jan.  Her birthday was a few days ago. 

Then I took my grandson and his friend kayaking.  Woot, woot.  LL Bean sponsors Kayaking Adventures on the weekend and this weekend was a freebie.  It was great fun and even though it's a very mellow, low intensity activity, the boys really liked it, which totally surprised me.  If I hadn't already purchased a new bike, I would have given serious consideration to purchasing a kayak.  Another year maybe.