Mini Masonville Adventure

I found information about a harvest meal being offered at the Masonville Federated Church in Masonville, New York today.  Betty and Terry wanted to go so I picked them up at Terry's place in Otego and we headed out.

The meal was very good, chicken, biscuits, mashed potatoes, squash, beets, coleslaw, rolls and butter and homemade pie.  After we finished eating, we visited the old store across the street.  It first opened in l869, and some of the original shelving, etc.  is still in place.   It is actually a gift shop now, offering some food items.

Birthday Fun

Someone at work had the idea to celebrate everybody's birthday at the same time.......so Kim started planning.  The plan was to go for lunch at THE CHINA BUFFET, draw names and each person get a small gift for another person, and then have an ice cream cake.

Today was the day!  And, it just happened to be Eileen's REAL birthday.  We all met up at The Chinese Restaurant just down the street and enjoyed their buffet, and then went back to FSA for cake and gift exchange.  I had purchased a set of scented candles for Anna.  I really lucked out with Mary having my name.  She got me a small head lamp to wear while urban exploring.  I can't wait to  try it out.  Here is the cake.....it was delicious!!!

We set the cake and presents up here (in the space that just happens to be my office!!!

Here is Geneen opening her present......it was a fall candy dish and some chocolates to go with it. 

It was a gorgeous day and while the others had to work all afternoon, I was free and I went out to find two geocaches.  I found the one at the florist shop on Grove Street, and then I found JUST FOLLOW THE CREEK, one that I had looked for three or four times before without success. 

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Short Outing with Joyce

I picked Joyce up around 12:45.  We went to Arby's where I had lunch and she had a milkshake.  Then we went to the Oneonta History Center to look at the l940's photo mural.  It is magnificent!!!!!  Then we went to the jewelry store just up the street from the history center.  I dropped off my Dad's watch so that some of the links could be taken out, so that it will fit me.  After I dropped Joyce off, I went to the library and picked up a book by Elie Wiesel and also THE CHOSEN and THE PROMISE by Chaim Potok.  On the way home I picked up some apples at the stand across from SODA JERKS.  I made baked apple/peach sauce tonight!!!

Roundhouse Restaurant at the Oneonta Country Club

Connie and I met up for lunch.  She ordered the pulled pork wrap and I ordered the cheesesteak sandwich.
I was disappointed with my sandwich.  Connie gave me a bit of her sandwich and it was nothing like the pulled pork was the other time we went, a couple of weeks ago.  I think I have had enough lunches at the Roundhouse.

Route 23 to Windham ADVENTURE!!!

Windham etc 087, a photo by JuneNY on Flickr.

To celebrate Betty's birthday, Terry and I offered to take her out for the day. She could not come up with any ideas, so I planned out a day trip to Windham, New York.  I met up with the two of them at the convenience store in West Oneonta, they hopped into my car and we took off.  I told them that we were headed to Windham, New York and said that if they saw anything interesting that they wanted to stop at, to just say so and we would stop.

Our first stop was at a garlic farmstand, but we did not make any purchases.  I had stopped at this place a few years ago while on the way to Maplecrest with Judy, and at that time I purchased a bag of onions which turned out to all be rotten.

Our second stop was at a Military Vehicle Museum in Grand Gorge, New York.  The owner (Mike) let us in to look around even though the museum is not open yet.  He is working on setting it up and hopes to be in business in a year or two.

Mike's wife has some collectible items around the shop and Betty and Terry each bought an item.  I looked at ammo cans, but decided they were a bit too expensive ($20 - $25), so I did not get one.

In Prattsville, we stopped to go in the ZADOCK PRATT MUSEUM and at PRATT ROCKS.  The climb to the rocks is pretty difficult so we skipped it, but I walked down to Zadock's burial site.

We continued on our way to Windham.  We stopped at the first restaurant we saw THE CHICKEN RUN (I had read raving reviews on tripadvisor.com).   The three of us had fried chicken, which was pretty good. Right next door to the restaurant there is a small antiques/collectibles shop so we went there next.  Betty found a small antique table which she purchased.   I set Misty's gnome between two buddha's in front of the store and took a picture.  Then we headed into the town of Windham.  I drove through it and we looked around.  Betty and Terry wanted to go in a couple of antique shops, so I parked in front of one and we agreed to meet back at the car in 45 minutes.  I walked up and down Main Street taking pictures of interesting buildings.  At a realtors office, I was able to pick up a map of Greene County.

All over Windham, there are statues of Rip Van Winkle like this one 
So, I located several and took pictures of them.

After that, Terry wanted to go to a corn maze.  We stopped to pick up bottled water and started following signs.  After twenty minutes we arrived at the farm that offers it, only to find out that the corn maze is closed today.  (in the middle of the afternoon on a Saturday..........?)   So we headed back to Windham to go to the Catskill Mountain Country Store where we had pie and ice cream and walked through their HAY MAZE.

We stopped at a cemetery just outside of Windham, where I found a geocache.

Then we headed home, stopping in Ashland to see St. Josephs Chapel (the oldest catholic church in the Catskills) and the gravesite of the irish girls who perished in a fire.  This time, I peeked in the windows, where the Catholic statues are clearly visible.

When we got back to Oneonta, I took Betty to her apartment and we helped her carry her purchases inside.  I dropped Terry off at her car in West Oneonta and arrived home around 6:45 p.m.

Weekend Trip: September 14-17, 2012

WeekendTRIPSept14_17 177, a photo by JuneNY on Flickr.

Friday September 14th I headed to Lockport for the weekend. The purpose of the weekend was to help my sister with clearing out our Dad's old apartment, but I knew we would end up doing a few fun things!

I headed towards the Village of Cincinattus,since I had seen a picture of an old hotel on flickr that I wanted to check out.   I found Cincinattus pretty easily even though my GPS failed to recognize that village.  I found the old hotel, and took a picture........I even went inside thinking maybe I would have lunch there, but it was so generic that I decided not to eat there.  I went into an antique shop and also found a very nice cafe where I bought a couple pieces of pie and a loaf of wheat/berry bread.  I found the neatest fifties cafe in the Village of McGraw, and also a cool old cemetery behind a church.  

Unfortunately, I had already eaten my lunch (that I brought from home), but I went inside and looked around and talked with the owner, who is interested in my old kitchen table with the chrome around the edge. Another neat thing I saw was this:  

I arrived in Lockport around five p.m. or so and got myself settled into Dads old apartment, and Peggy arrived shortly.  We decided to go to DeFlippo's for supper.  I had never been there.  We had a very good meal: I had the eggplant parmesan and Peggy had baked fish.  We went to LAKE EFFECT ICE CREAM for desert later on.  I had two scoops, one of FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE AND ONE OF SALTY CARAMEL.

The next morning we tackled the kitchen cupboards.  We did a lot of sorting and basically emptied most of the cupboards.  We went to a flea market where Gail and Bob were selling some stuff, and had lunch there, and after that  we headed out for some serious geocaching!    After finding one (Mr.Z) we were lost in a wooded area next to a golf course and finally we emerged from the woods quite a distance from where we parked the car.  In spite of the long walk back to the car, it was a great afternoon!  When we finished up geocaching (I think we each found six), we went to NIAGARA PRODUCE and picked up a couple of items for supper and then to THE MARKETPLACE, which is a neat shop in what was originally a school.   Supper that night was salad, tuna sandwiches and corn on the cob.  We worked a bit more in the kitchen that evening and once again went to LAKE EFFECT ICE CREAM.  I had the same thing as the night before, but this time I had them put each scoop in a separate dish!

On Sunday we went to church and then to a soup/sandwich lunch at the church.  We went to see the play
NUNSET BOULEVARD at the PALACE THEATRE that afternoon . Peggy had won tickets for it.  The play was not all that good, but we stuck it out.  I enjoyed being in the theatre where I spent countless Saturday afternoons when I was a child, and I took several pictures.  

Gail came over for supper and to pick out some items from Dads kitchen to keep.  We had burgers and macaroni and cheese.  AND, Peggy went to LAKE EFFECT ICE CREAM and brought me home TWO scoops of Frozen Hot Chocolate Ice Cream.  YUMMY!

I headed for home Monday morning.  I spent some time in Caledonia when I noticed the BIG SPRINGS MUSEUM was open.  A woman working there gave me a brochure of a walking tour and I drove to some of the old buildings listed on it.  This was one of my favorites:  
Now a private home, it was once a tannery.  I also had lunch in Caledonia at a nice little cafe. I took several pictures in Caledonia, including this one which was in front of an antique shop.   And then I headed towards Route 20. I stopped at Tom Wahl's for an ice cream cone.
     I don't think I stopped to take any more pictures after Caledonia, but I did stop in Geneva, at a rest area on the lake, and took a short nap.
     I drove through McGraw and went to Cincinnatus on the way home, and then headed to Norwich and then to Morris and then home, with a stop at ARBY's in Norwich where I bought a snack and a drink.  I arrived home about 5:40 p.m.

WALTON, New York Adventure

It was a gorgeous early fall day and Leslie picked me up at ValueMotors where I was having the transmission in the Pacifica checked out.  We headed out towards Walton to do some geocaching, exploring, picture taking, have a picnic lunch and hopefully find a place to get a piece of pie.

The first geocache we looked for and found was a very good one in the woods at a large park.  Then we went to look for one that we knew was in poor shape or missing, but is at the site of the remnants of a horse drawn two man cable car. We didn't find that one, but it was neat to see the remnants of the the two man cable car that used to go across the river.  Someone should turn this into a zipline ride!!!   Then we found MORE STAGNATE, which is hidden in a gorgeous woods with lots of rock formations. (MORE WOODS PARK)  Our next geocache took us to a very nice rest area where we had lunch and found a geocache.  Then we found a geocache hidden behind a natural spring.  Unfortunately, the dry summer has caused the spring to dry up.   Leslie insisted that we look for a place to have pie so we went to downtown Walton and looked around.  .

We found a nice diner and they offered several kinds of pie.  I had strawberry crumb which was delicious and so big that I could not finish it.  Leslie was not as happy with her apple pie, which was a bit on the wet side and too sweet.

Then we headed back to Oneonta.  We stopped in a small hamlet to take pictures of a  cute little country church.  Leslie noticed a small cemtery in the woods behind the church, so we checked that out.  In front of a large garage like building on the other side of the parsonage, there are two old gas pumps that have been restored.  After passing through Franklin we stopped to take picture of a turnpike marker.

And then we headed back to Oneonta where Leslie dropped me off at Value Motors and I picked up my Pacifica, which got a clean bill of health! 

Wilber Park with Joyce

After work, I picked Joyce up and we went to Wilber Park.  I parked near the upper pavilion and we walked a complete circle that went over the the school, across the creek, by the pool and tennis courts and back up the hill to the pavilion.  It was a gorgeous day for a walk.  After that, we went to Arby's for a milkshake.

Thai lunch with Connie 9/11/12

I met up with Connie at SIMPLY THAI for lunch.  I think she wants to get some good eating in before
she starts a new nutrition plan.  It was a good lunch:  I had PAD THAI.

Endicott ADVENTURE

Carol K. and I both have birthdays in June.  We wanted to take a day trip including a nice lunch out in June, but circumstances kept intervening and we did not go in June.  Then I spent July with my daughter and grandkids (who live in the Caribbean and came to New York for the summer)  so I didn't have time.  August was pretty busy even though my daughter and grandkids were travelling much of the time, so we did not get to go in August, either.

FINALLY, today, September 7th worked out to be the day we both had a free day.  Carol picked me up
a little after 10:30 a.m. and we headed out towards Endicott (near Binghamton) where we knew we wanted to have lunch at PHIL'S CHICKEN HOUSE.  Carol knows the owner and had been given a coupon for a free meal.

Our first stop in Endicott was at the VISITORS CENTER, which is in a very nice old mansion, that later on was used as a college.

which is really a mueum highlighting IBM and ENDICOTT AND JOHNSONS.  We enjoyed that and then we went to look for West Endicott Park so we could see the old carousel.  When we arrived, we saw that the carousel was closed up.  But, Carol saw two workmen and asked about it, and they offered to open it up so we could see it.  We accepted their offer, and went inside the carousel house.  They turned the lights on so we could see better.  The carousel is

amazing!   I took this picture of Carol  We asked the guys how to get to THE CIDER MILL, which we had passed and they said to follow them so we did, and they escorted us right to it, and then they gave us directions to PHIL'S CHICKEN HOUSE.

Carol bought some apples at THE CIDER MILL and we both bought a donut.  Then we headed to PHIL'S CHICKEN HOUSE, where we had a nice lunch.  The chicken there is very much like BROOKS, but not quite as good, mostly because it did not come with barbecue sauce.  I had the salad and soup bar along with my quarter chicken and mashed potatoes.

After that, we decided to do some geocaching.  We found two out of three.  One was at a really nice
monument/memorial to soldiers and sailors, etc.  After that we headed to Binghamton to go to an art show featuring Carol's former daughter in law's work.  After that, we headed towards home, stopping at a nearby McDonalds for a cold drink.  We ate our donuts in the car after leaving McDonalds and both of us exclaimed about how delicious they were.  Mine was chocolate peanut.  Carol had maple peanut.

Then we headed back towards Oneonta, taking 88 most of the way, and then Route 7.  We went to FAMILY DOLLAR to pick up a couple items and then returned to my house.

It was a really fun day, but a bit on the tiring side (esp. since I did not have a good nights sleep last night).

Last Day Adventure!

It came all too soon, my daughters and grandkids very last day in New York.  They have been here a little over two full months and now it is time for them to get back to the Island of Dominica in the Caribbean.

I took the kids out to breakfast.......which was really out for ice cream......at the VALLEY CAFE in Morris, which opened up about two weeks ago.  We had ice cream and pastries.  Then we headed out to do some geocaching.  I took them to find my cache DIMMOCK HOLLOW first.  Cassandra found it.  Then we went to THE MORRIS CREMATORIUM.......and Tyler found that cache.  The kids loved that area, they kept spotting interesting things: spider webs, mushrooms, a frog, etc.  The third cache we looked for was COUNTRY BRIDGE 3, but we did not find it.  It is a micro and none of us were really in the mood to look for a micro.  We headed back home and stopped at THE VALLEY CAFE and picked up some pastries for Megan and Chris.

Once we got home, I suggested that we paint some rocks.  We did that the last time the kids were here, and the first day they were here in July, Tyler asked if we could do it again.  But we were so busy doing other things and going places that we did not  get to it until today.  We spend the rest of the morning doing that until it was time to meet up with Mike and Tina at BROOKS for lunch.  Chris treated all of us to a great lunch.  I had the sampler platter.  I took this "family picture"  

Chris's brothers Ed and Randy came over for supper.  I prepared chicken nuggets and scalloped potatoes and sliced up a couple of fresh tomatoes.  I was not hungry and had a bit of a stomach ache, so I did not have supper.  A while later, I put out ice cream, brownies and the rest of Cassandra's birthday cake and we had that for desert.

After Randy and Ed left, Megan and Chris and the kids went over to Mike and Tina's house to drop off a bin of items that they will be storing for them, and to say goodbye.

They returned to my house, and we hung out for about 45 minutes until it was time for them to leave for the airport.  Cassy was very sad about leaving.