Kyle

I am so proud of my son. Kyle is very dedicated to being a fire figter in our town. He comes home most weekends from school to be around if there is a call, as well as to serve on call for our ambulance corp too. Last week there was a drill at a house around the corner from us. The house was going to beripped down to build a new McMansion and the fire department got the ok to runa practice session there. All the firefighters came, geared up and pacticed fighting a fire. They let me come along to photograph the event. Of course my favorite model was Kyle- Look out NYC Firefighters, a new cover guy is coming along.


 

Some things just don't make you smile....

Such as gettiing the news that your laptop is fried and it is time to get a new one. I love my IBM and they don't make them anymore.... I am just so sad

Some things just make you smile

This morning I received an email from a friend and it held a link to a video that you just have to smile when you see it. I certainly do not have the time nor the focus to figure this all out but admire people who do. Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnQgrKQzseo

Can you hear that?

Can you hear that contented sigh of my heart? Last night I had my whole family under one roof again and all is well in my world. Shelby's plane landed somewhere around 3:45pm. You could feel the joy of all of the parents from the People to People group as that ARRIVED showed up on the board. Then as I was waiting for her to get through customs I got a call from Jay. His plane just landed. It turns out he was at the same terminal that we were at and he was able to make it down to where I was before Shelby cleared customs. It was great. After a quick stop to pick up dinner from Bensi we were home. And my heart is happy.

Celery Farm visit

Kyle and Meg asked me to have dinner with them, trying to distract me as I sat around waiting for Saturday to get Shelby, and then my dad stopped by so they invited him too. We went to IHOP for a breakfast dinner (yum) and since it was so beautiful out we went to the Celery Farm for a walk before heading home. The lighting was perfect so I brought my camera to get some new pictures of Kyle and Meg. They came out really good and now they are trying to figure out which one os facebook worthy. I wonder which one they will choose?



 

The lighting was not only good for people pictures, but everything looked good in the setting sun. I had fun shooting picture after picture.
Blue Heron
dragonfly and its reflection
golden blue heron
Kyle's shot of the setting sun and the lookout tower. 

longest days

These past couple of days have been some of the longest in my life. Shelby is still in Europe when she should be home. Yesterday morning I got a phone call at 4:30am from a teary Shelby. They had arrived at Heathrow to fly home and found that their plane had been cancelled. With the misunderstanding of a 15year old, she thought that there were 8 people with bombs on her plane. I feel sick again just writing this. It was so hard to hear the fear in Shelby's voice and not be able to rush to her, to comfort her. And once she got off the phone I had no way to reach her. Nothing was better than reaching her at the hotel People to People arranged for the kids last night. She was much more calm and not so afraid anymore. We didn't know when she was going to get to come home but she was safe and that was all that mattered at this point. Shelby and I talked for quite awhile- can't wait to see that phone bill. P2P called last night and said that after a day visiting Windsor castle the kids would be flying off to Germany. They would spend the night there and they were trying to get them on a flight home on Saturday. Thankfully I got a call today that there is a flight for them tomorrow morning and Shelby should be back on NJ soil by 3:15 pm. I can't wait.

Chihuly at the Botanical Gardens

This morning I headed to the Botanical Gardens ( www.nybg.org ) to see the Dale Chihuly exhibit. I love things that make me feel like a little kid again and that is what this man's art does for me. When you enter the gardens and start to walk up the path all of a sudden you see "The Sun" at the reflecting pool. The flyer says that there are over 1000 pieces of glass in this installation. It weighs over 4,600 pounds. Looking at it you cannot imagine how it was placed in the pool but however they did it you are glad because it is spectacular. I enjoyed listening to the kids from different camps comment of this piece, they all were excited about it.



 

Chihuly continues

 

Chihuly continues

 

In the Water

Chihuly sculptures are not the only things you will find in the water at the gardens, This little frog was so still watching me from the water.


And it seems like dragonflies are following me everywhere, even to the gardens

 

Early birds may catch the worm.....

....but late sleepers can catch the dragonfly. When I get up at my usual time few things are out and flying around when I do my Bible reading. But sleep until 9:30am and you find a whole different world out by the waterfall and pond. Today I had to duck and swerve to avoid the dragonflies. I never realized how beautiful and different the dragonflies are. It seems that each day I realize how little I know about the world around me. Now I have to find a good book on dragonflies to learn more...my inner nerd seems to be growing in leaps and bounds.
 

Barbara Stalking

Barbara is one of my favorite SDV friends. We have sort of formed a mutual fan club but I think I crossed the line this weekend with my papparazzi stalking of her with my new camera. It was not safe for her to turn around without a flash going off. But true to Barbara style she took it with a smile. Barbara, you know I love you!! can't wait til the next SDV. Until then I will just stalk you on your blog.



 

Lunch Stop

Shortly after leaving our SDV Anat and I realized we were hungry. Anat spotted a sign for Esther's restaurant alongside the road and we decided it was worth a stop. We stepped into a time warp. I really think we were in the 50's, only the waitress with the punk colored hair let us know that we really hadn't walked through a time warp. After being seated in a booth Anat and I zoned in right away on the same items on the menu- Chicken Crouquette and breaded cauliflower. Both of us felt like it was a trip back to our childhood, complete with the canned greenbeans swimming in buttered water. We ordered potato filling (Mashed potatoes with herbs and egg mixed in and then baked- tasted like mashed stove top stuffing to me,) and each some soup too. We finished with pie- I think they had like 500 types to order from (Lemon for me, peach for Anat.) While not the culinary treat we thought it would be I still loved this place and the memories it brought up for me.




 

What's for dinner?

The last stop Anat and I made was to Dietriche's Meat Store. And what a trip it was. My lungs were wheezy from all the laughing, or held back laughter, while in the store. I have to say that I don't think we gave NY tourists a good name while we were there because we just got out of control as we kept finding unusual things for sale in the store. It started with the sign out front that mentioned Rocky Mountain Oysters were on sale (For those who don't know these are made from what is taken out when a bull is castrated,) I knew we were going to be in trouble. Then the stuff in the freezer case was enough to get me going again. A moment of calm as we pass the case with the steaks- the meat looked so good. But then, just as we are checking out the cold cuts I look up and the case is covered with jars of pickled pigs' snouts, pigs' feet and pigs' tails. There is just something about seeing a jar of snouts looking at you that can cause uncontrollable laughter. Then I turn around and find a whole pigs' head smoked and sitting on a table surrounded by all kinds of pigs' parts smoked. And then there was even a bologna football. I really think I could have stepped into a Twilight Zone episode. It was an interesting ending to a great weekend.

What would you do with a lamb's head or a goat's head for dinner? I just don't get it.

Football anyone?