10/29/16 Afternoon Out with Peggy

Peggy and I wanted to spend the afternoon together, so we looked for available events.  We found two basket raffles to go to.  One at the Rapids Fire Department (a benefit for a young man who was seriously injured) and the other at St. Johns Catholic Church.

Peggy met me at my house and I drove.  We decided to do some geocaching first.  We found the one called ABANDONED at the vacant WalMart, and then tried to find MANY PATTERNS.  This was my third time looking and I had hoped that today would be the day to get a smily, but we did not have any luck.

After that we went to the Rapids Fire Hall for the benefit.  They had MANY, MANY baskets and some other activities going on.  We both bought tickets for the basket raffle.

Then we went to the Kenan Center for the 14th Annual Niagara Frontier Watercolor Society National Exhibit.  It was very good.

Then we went to St. Johns.  I did not see any baskets that I really wanted so I did not participate in the basket raffle.  We both had a beef on weck meal, which was pretty good.

It was a nice afternoon.

10/27/16 Pearce Arrow Museum in Buffalo (and more)

Even though the weather was awful (damp and drizzling) we decided to go to Buffalo to the Pearce Arrow Museum.  We arrived a few minutes before eleven a.m. The Frank Lloyd Wright filling station is particularly interesting.  He designed it but never built it, and his specifications were followed when this one was built.

  Someone at the museum told Mary Ann about THE FILLING STATION, a restaurant down the street from the museum in the  Larkin district.

We found the museum but had a bit of trouble finding where to park.  While looking we drove by a huge army/navy surplus store.

 Mary Ann said that it had been featured on television not too long ago.  We decided to return after lunch.

Our lunch was pretty good, but not outstanding.  I had the chicken salad sandwich, it came with quinoa salad (which was very bland)

We finally found a parking spot at UNCLE SAMS ARMY/NAVY STORE.  It is the largest army surplus store in the USA (and most likely the world).  

You can buy a parachute here!  I thoroughly enjoyed it   

On the way back to Lockport we stopped at Paula's Donuts in Clarence.   It was a great day.

Cobblestone Museum Adventure

My sister, Peggy, has a seniors group at church known as CONNECT.  She put together a CONNECT  event for today which consisted of a "make your own sandwich" lunch and a trip to the Cobblestone Museum in Childs, NY

Here is Peggy in her Senior Citizen Discount Shirt at the beginning of the event.  Lunch consisted of fixings for sandwiches (tuna, egg and ham salad), tossed salad, chips and dip and deserts.  It was very good.  We all headed out in the church van (and here is a group picture, there were fourteen of us including Peggy)

We went into three buildings, the church,

a private home

and District #5 Schoolhouse.

 I kind of snuck off during the schoolhouse presentation and took pictures of the smaller buildings that we did not go into today.   Here are two of them.

It was a great day!

FOUR Festival Day: ( Saturday 10/22/16)

Peggy and I planned to go to a couple of events and do some geocaching today, but she realized that her weekend was very full and cancelled.  Right after she hung up from telling me that, my cousin Becky called and she and I agreed to spent part of Saturday together going to fall festivals.

I met Becky at the United Methodist Church in Lyndonville where they had a silent auction  I bit on a few items, but it was very early in the day and I am sure others overbid me  I bought baked goods

From there we went to Middleport Holiday Craft Show and Sale at RoyHart Central School  They had a Chinese auction but I did not see anything that interested me, so I did not buy any tickets

After that we headed to Lockport for the Fall Festival and Auction at Emmanuel Methodist Church in Lockport  We decided to have  lunch there, I bought  turkey soup and cherry pie with ice cream.  I looked at the baskets but did not see anything that interested me so I did not buy any tickets.  While we were there, someone told Becky that the day care center at the First Presbyterian Church was having their annual turkey dinner and basket raffle, so we went over there.  I bought a turkey dinner to take home.

Just as we were ending our day, the sun came out and it cleared up!

10/19/16 Outing with Pam

After I looked at the weather forccast this morning, I decided going out for a fall color ride would be a good idea since we may not have any more nice days.

I called Pam and she was eager to join me.  She just got a new car and was anxious to drive it out of Lockport.

This picture was taken at a small nature preserve in Lyndonville, where we stopped first.   We walked in a little way, but Pam felt uncomfortable because there were not any other people around, so we decided not to stay.  We headed out and eventually found our way back to 104. We went to Millers Bulk Food and Bakery.  We had lunch there:  

the great sandwiches are only about $3.50 each.  

We decided to continue our "color ride" and return to the store on our way home, since we both wanted to buy refrigerated foods.  We drove east on 104 and saw some great color.   Then we drove back to the store and did our shopping.  I purchased a lot of items, including butternut and acorn squash, ham load, butter and bacon.  

On the way back to Lockport, we dropped David off at his place and I took a picture of the large pumpkin that I won at the Fall Festival at the schoolhouse down the road a few weeks ago.

It was a fun afternoon!

Monday, October 17th, 2016 outing

I picked my friend Lisa up at her house and we went to Bill's Diner for lunch.  One of the lunch specials was goulash and we both ordered that.  The portions were huge and very good.

When I took her back home, she invited me in to meet her pets, two dogs, a rabbit and three birds.

It was so nice out that I decided to spend some time driving around and capturing fall color.  My pictures are here:

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/albums/72157671827225564

Youngstown and Lewiston Adventure

Elaine, Nancy and I set out for Youngstown mid morning.  The First Presbyterian Church

there was having a fall bazaar/festival including antiques, jewelry, crafts, food and a huge basket raffle.

I did not see any baskets that I really liked so I did not buy tickets. I did buy one piece of jewelry, a few painted rocks and some dishclothes that Elaine said will last forever!  We all had the seven dollar lunch...........a sandwich, bowl of soup, drink and desert (apple crisp).  It was very good.

While Nancy and Elaine were browsing, I went outside to explore the cemetery.  (UNIVERSAL CEMETERY)

many of the graves hold residents who were born in the 1700's.  

After we left the church, we drove down to a public spot along the river and sat for a while.  It was beautiful there.  

We decided to go to Lewiston to go to Hibbards Frozen Custard.  Along the way, we stopped at an estate sale.  Nancy bought a lamp and Elaine bought a basket.  

Hibbards was offering pumpkin pie frozen custard.   I had chocolate on the bottom, vanilla in the middle and pumpkin pie on top.  

The pumpkin pie was delicious! So were the other flavors.    It was a great day, with wonderful fall weather.  

DAY ONE of Fall Color Trip: October 10, 2016 (Columbus Day)

I picked Mary Ann up at her house around 8:40 a.m. and we headed to the southern tier, specifically to Allegany State Park to view some fall colors!

In the Delevan area, we found two geocaches.  We continued driving south.  We saw a sign for PUMKINVILLE, and decided to check it out.  I thought it was a village, but apparently, it is an attraction.  The parking lot was full and there were people all over the place.  The trees just down the road were magnificent, so we stopped to take some pictures.

It was getting to be lunch time, so we decided to watch out for a park with picnic tables.  However we did not see any.  So, we continued on to Allegany State Park.  We went directly to a picnic area and had lunch.  Then we went to the Administration Building to use the restrooms.

We drove all around the park.  All the way to Quaker Lake, which I had never seen before.

We walked down close to the lake from the parking area in order to take pictures.  We stopped at a fishing access area for more pictures.

We pretty much decided that the color in the park has not peaked yet.  The color north of the park that we drove through was more brilliant. 

We finally felt we had seen enough of the park and decided to head towards our lodging in Allegany. We checked in around 5:30 and rested for about a half hour before heading to Portville  (a little southeast of Olean) for Spragues Maple Farm.  

Sprague's is a great place.  There are other things to do besides eat there, they have nature trails and probably more.  I had the roast turkey dinner and it was great!

Day Two of FALL COLOR TRIP: October 11, 2016

Mary Ann was awake early (watching Mr. Ed) so I got up and suggested that we get ready and hit the road early and head to Portville for breakfast at Sprague's Maple Farm.  She agreed and we headed out at about 7:30 a.m.  We each had a very small breakfast at Sprague's and then we headed out to do some geocaching.

The first cache was behind the library and pretty easy to find.  The second one we looked for was in the woods behind a small old cemetery (Colonial Cache) and I was shivering while I looked and gave up after a few minutes

Then I found one near the WELCOME TO PORTVILLE sign.  Shortly after that, we noticed a sign saying ELDRED PA. SIX MILES.  I remembered that there is a World War II museum there and mentioned it and Mary Ann said she would like to go.  We called the museum and they were scheduled to open in fifteen minutes (at ten a.m.) so we headed south to Eldred.  We thorougly enjoyed this museum!

 especially this part!

Then we headed back to Portville.  I wanted to find a cache at an old schoolhouse.  We found it easily, here is the schoolhouse 

and here is the nearby building that once was a cheese factory  

We decided to continue driving east on 305.  I saw this building around Obi and had to stop to take a picture: 

We drove through Cuba (next time I want to stop at the cheese factory, which we passed) and found ourselves in an Amish area.  I saw a schoolhouse.  We followed a sign down a side road to an Amish Quilt and Gift Shop.  I took several pictures.   This is the shop.

We continued on our way.  We stopped at this place: 

and we

both bought some items.  Very inexpensive!

Our next stop was at BEAVER MEADOW AUDUBON CENTER. Unfortunately, the visitors center was closed, but we spent some time walking the grounds.  It is a beautiful spot.  

 and I hope to return someday soon.

We decided to check out Darien Lake State Park since neither one of us has been there before.  

We decided to head to Bill Grays for supper, but along the way we almost passed THE GREAT PUMPKIN FARM.  I could not resist stopping.  

I bought a small pimpled pumpkin.  

Supper at Bill Grays consisted of steakburgers and custard!  Both were good.  

I arrived home around 6:15 p.m., very tired!  

October 8, 2016 OUTDOOR PHOTOGRAPHY at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge

Elaine and I had tentatively planned to go to the Cambria Corn Maze, but she was concerned that it might be muddy (due to morning rain) so we cancelled.  I remembered that there was an Outdoor Photography workshop at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge and decided to go.

On my way there, I stopped at PULP 716 and bought myself a Paula's Donut (sour cream).

There were two other woman there (Carol and her daughter Jennifer) besides myself and Bob Hazen presented a workshop about digital photography.  It was very good.  Mainly, I learned that I need to spend some time learning about the various settings on my new camera.

We all headed out to the trailhead for the Kanyoo Trail and met there.

 It was a beautiful fall day, with a nice breeze.  We all took pictures along the trail.  The other three seem to be bird watches, and they saw a lot of birds.  Jennifer is a Wildlife Rehabilitator.  Carol and Jennifer told me about a place they love:  Glenwood Lake north of Medina.  I hope to go there someday.

Here are a few of my pictures:

 I think the red vines are known as Virginia Creepers.

  Jennifer Cummings took this great picture of some Sandhill Cranes:  

My complete set of pictures can be seen here:  

https://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/albums/72157674848990056    

I stopped at Reids on the way home.