Friends Old and New

As an only child, my friends have always been more like family to me.This is especially true with the ones that have been around for most of my life. My friend Karen and I have known each other since we were 5 years old, sure there have been times ,as happens in families when we have not been happy with each other, but somehow we always manage to start where we left off, the intervening time seeming to matter less than the present and future. Then there are friends that I made in high school and later who have become part of my family even though we don't see each other as often as we'd like or talk as often as we should. These are the folks my son knows better than any "real" family members and the people he appreciates as part of his childhood and now adulthood. I didn't "inherit" my family we chose each other and I have to say we're a very interesting group.

Recently a friend of mine invited me to join Facebook, I thought why not. Well I have to say I'm very glad I did, since I joined I have reconnected with friends from college and beyond and it's been fun just to pop in and see if they've posted anything new lately and also to post what I'm up to. Who'd have thought 30 plus years ago when we graduated from high school and college that one day we could sign onto a computer and discover a friend half way across the country had just enjoyed a morning walk with her grandchildren or a friend in Jersey had just had soem medical tests. Amazing ! It may not be the same as a visit in person or a phone call but it certaily keeps us connected and I think that's very cool.

In my world my "family" is held together by something much stronger than blood, we're connected by love and respect and humor and because we want to be. How amazing and wonderful is that?

December Already

So here it is December, where does the time go? Days that sometimes seem so long multiply quickly into weeks and months and I look up one day and so much time has passed.

It seems like I never have enough time to do what I want to do because I'm always otherwise occupied with things I have to do.

I really wanted to go visit some friends this fall, that never happened. I wanted to redo a room in my house, nope not done. I know it'll all happen eventually but I've learned that time is valuable and I guess maybe I waste too much thinking about what I want to do instead of just doing it. Maybe I need to be more like these penguins and just do it.

Here we go , snow!

I took this picture from my front porch this AM. It wasn't quite full daylight yet but you can see the snow! So here it is October 29 and we have snow, not just a "dusting" we have some good old "gotta plow that out of the way " snow. I'm not as fond of snow as I am of other types of water. I agree it's beautiful and if I didn't have to do anything but sit inside and look out at it I could almost be happy to see it. But, alas I have to get up early so I can shovel a path to my car and then spend however long it takes to find the car under the snow and then go back inside until the car warms up and then get dressed again and go to work. Then I have to hope the roads are passable and I don't meet some of those "smart" guys who think owning a 4 wheel drive means they can rule the road, go as fast as they did in August and wonder why they end up in the ditch waiting for a tow truck. Yeah, snow is a pain in the rear. Snow also means winter which means darkness..I really hate waking up when it's dark and then leaving work in the dark..if I didn't have a window in my office I'wouldn't see daylight for about 3 months. Tanning beds are still popular up here, I think it's just because people like to feel like they're soaking up the warmth of the sun for a little while. So yes, it snowed today and I'm sure it's the first of many..grrrrrrrrr.

and.. it's October

I took this picture through my office window yesterday during a rain storm. The white and black is the building across the street. I just thought it was interesting the way the water looked like it was runnung in parallel streams down the building when it was actually running down my window.
So it's October, today would have been my 9th anniversary with someone I loved, but he's not with us anymore. It's been almost 2 years since he passed and sometimes that feels about right and other times it seems like just yesterday we were going to chemo and the Drs. were telling him how well he was doing. Time passes and stands still at the same time, hard to explain unless you've felt it.
OK so enough rain and sadness, life goes on and if you let it , it can be pretty OK . It took me 2 years at this job to get an office with a window and now I can take great pictures through it ~!
I just noticed every picture I've posted here has water of some sort...interesting. I guess I really like water. :)
Anyway it's almost time to head home, it's been a long day and tomorrow's Friday and payday what could be better??

September in the Rain

Nice song...September in the Rain, if you haven't heard it find a good version.

Today my friend and I went to the local cider mill. Behind the mill is this waterfall. This year because we've had so much rain it is really beautiful. The mill has built a multi level deck so you can basically walk alongside the waterfall. It was a rainy and gray day today so most folks were just in the shop getting their fresh pressed cider and heading home but I had to check out the falls.

On the way back to the mill shop I happened to spot a metal box sort of sitting in the rocks, unless you were really looking things over you wouldn't see it right away. I asked my friend what he thought that could be for and he immediately recognized it as a Geocache. We opened it and sure enough there was a log book and some trinkets that folks had left and an explanation about what a Geocache is. I won't go into it here but you can check this out by just searching "geocache". It's sort of a world wide treasure hunt thing..anyway it was cool to find one and be able to leave our "mark" in the log book.

We bought beautiful fresh apples and fresh pressed cider and and of course some cider donuts. If you've never had fresh cider it's something you should try. It never tastes exactly the same as the jug before because it all depends on the apples, but it is always good! At this old mill you can actually go and watch them press the cider and taste a sample before you buy it.

We're not at peak color here foliage wise but it's sure looking like autumn. I imagine in the next week or two the explosion of color that means fall will be here.

I'm sure this won't be my last trip to the mill this year but the first one of the season is always a treat !

What's the Rush?

Well I think my rock sitting is pretty much over for this year. September is here and they'll be closing the cottage soon , so no more afternoons at the lake. It was a lovely fun time and I hope next year the weather cooperates and we can do it again !

So now it's time for cider and apples and baking and then the holidays will be here before we know it. I have already seen Halloween decorations in the stores. Why do we need to rush everything these days? Maybe I'm just getting old but it seems like everyone is in a hurry for the next exciting thing, why can't we just enjoy the days as they go by in their own time?

I know only too well that life can end suddenly but why rush through it and miss the details that make things special just to be getting to the next big event?

I think life should be like wine tasting, you observe it and smell it and then sip it slowly so you can enjoy all it has to offer.

Another cloudy day

They say we only have 2 seasons up here, winter and the 4th of July, sadly it's kind of true. Here we are not quite mid-August and the leaves are slightly turning, the evenings are cooler and it seems to rain every day.

I never really gave much thought to the weather until I moved up here, now I seem to want to grasp every sunbeam and save it for what I know will be a long dark winter. So, when there aren't many sunbeams to grasp it can get frustrating. I don't mind the cooler weather, I prefer it actually; it's the gloom that makes me want to live someplace where the sun shines alot more than it does here.

We went to the lake again this past weekend, but it was too cold to swim and the water was too rough to just casually wade without getting drenched. My rock was all wet and the trip to get to it would have meant wading through many inches of washed up algae and vegetation....ick. I hope we can claim at least another day or two of sunshine and calm waters before the weather changes all together.

September can sometimes fool us up here and be quite warm...one can only hope.

Speaking of rocks...

This weekend my friend and I went to the Herkimer Diamond Mines in Herkimer, NY. As you might have guessed there are not real diamonds but beautiful pieces of crystal. The process is you go, pay them 10.00 , they give you a hammer and point you towards the mines. There are 2 of them , which resemble large quarys. There's no underground involved here.

The idea is to break off pieces of the wall of rock ( or split rocks already on the ground) in hopes of finding some of these "diamonds". The day we were day it rained pretty steadily but on we pushed, hammers and chisels ( from home ) in hand. We weren't alone, there were probably 40-50 people at each mine.

Finally after thinking we'd broken enough rock my friend gave me a rock to crack and low and behold there were "diamonds"inside. It's actually amazing to me that these stones form within stones and when you break open the right rock they just tumble out. The ones we got weren't very large and we kept looking for awhile more but the rain got the best of us and we ended our search.

All in all it was a fun day and a great way to get rid of your agression if you have any :). I would recomend it to anyone who likes to do something different and also it's a fun place to take the kids.

This Family Rocks!

This is "my rock" this is where I like to sit and soak up some sun and just feel the peace of the water. This day the water was very rough, usually the rock is dry and a fine place to rest on a summer afternoon.

Last night my friend and I went to the lake after dinner. There must have been 20 or more people there. Six ( including him) of ten of his brothers and sisters were there plus their children, grandchildren and of course his Mom. This is so different from my semi-solitary only child existance! The giggles and pure energy of the little ones in different stages of swimming, marshmallow eating and just plain excitement gives me faith that life is good which is something I haven't really felt alot in the past couple of years. So, thank you family #2 you rock and make me believe life really is good.

Ahhhh Summer

I grew up in the NYC area of New York, down there the seasons are all well defined. Winter melts into spring somewhere around the actual date, flowers bloom in April and summer slides in after spring has had a chance to prepare you for warm weather. Autum is crisp and cool and it never snows in autumn, winter is dark and cold and the chance of a white Christmas is minimal but has been known to happen.
Here in NNY most seasons seem to just run over each other, it can snow in autumn, things really don't bloom alot until the end of spring ,almost summer and then, like a huge natural fireworks display, summer EXPLODES in the north country. Green is the greenest green anywhere, the sky is the bluest blue, flowers are amazing in the purity of their color! It seems like one goes to sleep one night to a semi-gray world and wakes up to COLOR! Bright color, amazing color like a gift to make up for all the months of fading color and just plain gray.
I was back on my favorite rock the other day looking at the lake and the surrounding shoreline and it was so colorful and so peaceful. I can actually feel the tension just drain out of me and all my worries just float away on the puffy clouds. Ahhhhh summer, maybe I appreciate it so much because every year it's a new fireworks display.

Just a Nice Day

Some days are the perfect definition of a season. Today was a perfect summer day. Warm but not too hot, not very humid, bright sunshine, the kind of day that makes even someone like me who rarely communes with nature want to be outside.
So outside I was, at my friend's family "camp" on the lake. They have a nice cabin just about 10 feet from the shoreline of the lake. I waded out to a big rock about 6 feet from shore and just sat there looking at the amazing rocks on the bottom and enjoying the warm sun on my skin. My friend loves rocks , he says he should have been a geologist. So, I was picking out unusual rocks and he was telling me about them, nice place for a casual science lesson.
My friend has a large family unlike my only child of an only child with an only child situation so there were nieces, nephews, sisters, brothers and even his Mom in evidence. It was nice to be with a big family and just observe and sometimes participate in the family groove. All in all it was a lovely day that I hope I can repeat before the end of the all too brief north country summer.