CareNet Banquet 2016: October 6, 2016

This years banquet was tonight at Salvatore's Italian Gardens in Depew, NY.  I invited my cousin Becky and my friends Elaine and Bonnie.  Elaine picked Becky and I up at my house and then we swung by and picked Bonnie up.

They had a great silent auction.

I bid on the picnic basket, but I did not win it.   Dorrie Ainsworth reported that numbers were way up in  the past year.  

The speaker 

was Gordon Douglas and he was just hilarious!!!

The meal  (Chicken Francais and Twice Baked Potatoes) was delicious.  And they offered a nice selection of small deserts.  

It was a great evening.  

Afternoon with Jane

My friend Jane is in town visiting her sister and nieces and nephews.  She and I were friends all through Jr. and Sr. High,  I think we knew each other before that, but I cannot remember how.

We met up at COUSINS CAFE and had lunch.  After that I brought her over to my house so that she could see the changes made since she was last here (in the late l960's).  The we went to Glenwood Cemetery to see my parents graves.  Then I took her to Upson Park and showed her the mysterious ruins.  Then we went to Widewaters so she could see how it has been updated.  And then we went to Cold Springs to see her parents and paternal grandparent graves.  Then I took her to her sisters place where she is staying.

ALL OVER THE COUNTY ADVENTURE: Saturday October 2, 2016

Elaine and I went to the Kenan Center for the annual Niagara Apple Fest.  It had been announced on the radio and I found the information online earlier today.  HOWEVER, when we arrived, it was apparent that it was NOT taking place.  A very nice young man in the front office checked into it and found that while it was still advertised, that it had been cancelled.  On our way out, we ran into other potential patrons of the event.  We told them about other events that they  could choose to go to today.

We decided to head out to the church on Beebe Road for their fall festival, but we saw a sign for an event at TRINITY LUTHERAN Church. We decided to check it out.  It was small but very nice.  I bought a HULL OVENPROOF dish for Megan (after calling her and describing it and asking her if she wanted it) and a pink lava lamp.  Elaine bought  a piece of pie and some chowder to take out.

Then we headed to Concordia Lutheran Church on Beebe Road (probably in Newfane) for their autumn event.  Some of the men were out in back preparing the chowder

and it smelled wonderful.  We met up with my cousin, Becky there.   I had a delicious bowl of chowder.

 Becky won two items but Elaine and I did not win anything in the basket raffle.

After that, we decided to head to the Sanborn Farm Museum for their AUTUMN FESTIVAL.   By this time it had warmed up and stopped drizzling.  We each had a delicious Peach Shortcake: 

served up by Mrs Sanborn: 

We checked out the vendors and the basket raffle and the vegetables as well as this band organ.

Then we headed back towards Lockport.  

We decided to stop by Emmanuel Methodist Church to see what time they would be serving their turkey dinner.  We were early, so we went to LOCKTOBERFEST to kill some time.  I bought a loaf of bread and two gourds.  

 As we were leaving, we saw this!

Then we headed back to the church.  By the time we got there, a LOT of other people were way ahead of us.  But we finally made it to the front of the line and got our meals to take out.  As we were leaving I saw my friend Jane standing in line waiting for her dinner.  She is in town for a few days.  We set a time to get together for lunch on Monday.  

Day 1 of Rome/Old Forge Trip (September 13 2016)

Mike agreed to let me use his cabin at DELTA LAKE BIBLE CONFERENCE for three nights: The nights of September 13, 14 and 15th.  Leslie agreed to join me there.

I left Lockport around 12:30 and headed east.  I took the thruway most of the way.  I stopped at a few plazas along the thruway to use the bathroom and walk around a bit and look at the map. I stopped to take one picture: This park is new and I hope to spend some time there someday.  It can be accessed from the thruway.  It was not open today

I and arrived at the cabin around four thirty p.m.   I settled in, and removed one of the shutters from the porch window in order to let in some daylight.  Just as I was getting ready to call Leslie to find out where she was, my phone rang and it was her.  She said she had taken a detour and was lost, but she thought she was about twenty minutes away.  We agreed to meet at the NICE and EASY (a large convenience store) a couple miles south of the cabin on 26.  I think she arrived around six p.m.  I suggested she buy something for her supper since I was on the BRAT diet for obvious reasons.  She got herself a steak and cheese sandwich.

She followed me to the cabin and got settled in.  We were both tired from our drives, so we stayed in and relaxed and read that evening.  We talked about what we might do the next day.

Day Two of Rome/Old Forge Trip (September 14, 2016)

Leslie and I headed towards Old Forge early this morning.  Our first stop was to find BLUE LINE geocache, at the entrance to the Adirondack Park.

   This was number 999 for me!  

The next one we parked at would have been ONE THOUSAND, but I refused to climb up that steep hill (full of bushes, shrubs, weeds and small trees) so we moved on.  After a couple of DNFs we got to  THEN/FORGE at the entrance to an interesting looking trail in Old Forge.  So, this one was my ONE THOUSANDTH!!!!!  This is the entrance to the Tobie Trail where it is hidden.  

Luckless made this event really special for me.  She made a sign 

and took this picture.  She wrapped up

a miniature golden ammo can that she painted herself

in a series of boxes from small to large. 

In the Village of Old Forge, we went to the Town of Webb Museum (could not find the cache there) and then drove to Eagle Bay 

At a Visitors Center, a woman told me how to find Uncas Road so that we could find the trail to Ferd's Bog.  This is a beautiful trail, but its very rugged and I had to give up after a short walk in.  Leslie continued to the boardwalk where the geocache was hidden, but unfortunately her GPS had lost the coordinates so she could not find it.  She was very disappointed.   I took a few pictures.  

After Ferd's Bog, we continued on Route 28 to the colorful village of Inlet.  We really did not do anything there but I took a few pictures.  

the museum was not open

this is MARY'S PLACE where Mary O'Connor and I stayed eight years ago.  Mary's bakery was, unfortunatey, closed as was her gift shop.

Then we turned around and headed back west on 28.  We drove back through Eagle Bay and then back to Old Forge.  We stopped at the Old Forge Hardware Store, which is not as interesting as it used to be.  I remember it as being a huge, old fashioned hardware store, but now it is more like a gift shop. 

Once we were out of the Adirondack Park, while crossing a river (Moose?) I noticed some huge old remains on the west side of the river.  I decided to try to get to them by turning left on the next road.  That did not work, but we did see this great old building, which looks like a former railroad depot

We continued on the way back towards Rome, going through Boonville.

As we approached the cabin, I suggested we find one or two more geocaches before calling it a day. (We had been disappointed to only find three in the Adirondacks).  We stopped at Lee Town Park and found one. 

and then we found one in a very old cemetery.   

I suggested looking for one more, but Leslie said no to that since it was starting to get dark.  Total finds for the day only FIVE.    We went back to the cabin and relaxed for the rest of the evening.  I think I downloaded my days pictures to my computer.  

DAY 3 of Rome/Old Forge Trip (Sept. 15, 2016)

After an extremely long and exhausting day yesterday, I suggested to Leslie that we try to make today shorter.  We got ready and headed out.  We found a few geocaches in the Rome area, including one at a really neat cemetery, the LINK CEMETERY on Link Road.

and one hidden at Griffis Air Force Base on a huge bomber:  

We headed up the west end of Delta Lake towards Delta Lake State Park, but along the way we decided to stop at the Rome Fish Hatchery. 

It was very interesting.  Leslie took this opportunity to eat her lunch at one of their picnic tables (I had been eating crackers and pretzels off and on in the car all morning).   

We got into the state park free since it was off season.  Leslie asked for a map.  She is doing challenge geocaches in the New York State Park.  The first few were easy, and then we came to two more difficult ones.  I sat those out while she looked.  I took a brief nap which revived me.

We drove back to the other end of the lake but did a bit of exploring on the way.  We went up to the NICE AND EASY so Leslie could get something for supper and I used their wifi to program in a few of the geocaches we found.  

After getting back to the camp, we decided to take a walk down to the beach.  We sat on the beach for a while and talked

This day indeed was shorter and easier than the day before but I was still worn out and read for a while before turning my light out at about eight thirty p.m.

Day Four of Rome/Old Forge Trip

Leslie and I packed up and cleaned the cottage and headed out on our separate ways.

I stopped in Verona to go to a church garage sale and took this picture of the old hotel across the street from the church:

I continued on and got on the thruway for a short period and then I got off and drove on 5 and 20.  In West Bloomfield, I noticed an interesting small cobblestone building that has been made into a shop

so I stopped and went in.  They have been open two months, it is a very nice place.  I asked the owner (Todd Campbell) about old cemeteries in the area and he pointed me in the direction of the PIONEER CEMETERY right there in West Bloomfield.   I took several pictures.

This cemetery is no longer active.

I continued on 20 for a while and decided to head north at LeRoy and get back on the thruway.  

I arrived home around four p.m.