Heading to Africa!!

Tomorrow afternoon I leave for Ghana. No I won't be going on safari but this was my best me going to Africa picture. I am nervous, never having traveled so far on my own before but I do feel that I have been called to do this and I will be faithful. Nerves aside I am so excited. This is a real adventure and a sort of toe into the water, testing out if I am really meant to do this kind of thing. I can deal with the heat, the bugs and all but no running water? I can't wait to see what I am made of. For those of you who pray, please keep me in your prayers. For those of you who don't...START!! God is amazing and He has plans for you...find out what they are. Come back in a couple of weeks to see some of the photographs I was able to capture on my trip. God bless 

Almost time

Just one week to go!!! I am taking my larium, pulling out my bags cause Ghana here I come. In an effort to get ready I added a Ghanaian clock on the bottom of my blog so I can keep track of the time difference..not too bad, only 4 hours. How can that be? I will be a whole world away but just 4 hours apart? Hopefully that will help to combat jetlag.

Final Chihuly Night

This past Thursday I went in to see the Chihuly exhibit for the last time before it is taken down. Shelby asked to go and see it and so I kidnapped her after she got off the school bus and off we went to the Bronx. I won't say that Shelby had the same love for it that I do (As evident in this first picture) but we had a great time together. I was happy to visit with my "friends" one last time. I am going to miss them but look forward to seeing the new exhibits as they come in.


How much longer? Maybe I should take a nap.

Entering the Conservatory

Chihuly Silhouette

Feeling a little green Shelby? 

Columbus Day

Shelby had Columbus Day off of school and I took advantage of the free morning to get to the Celery Farm early to watch the sunrise. It was a quiet morning, not many birds, not a whole lot of color in the sky but it was still wonderful to be there and just enjoy being outside. Still a couple of my favorites came out to give me a thrill.


A King Fisher

An Osprey

A gliding Egret 

Chihuly Nights

Ok, I know I said here is nothing better than the Chihuly exhibit but I was wrong, Chihuly at night was even more magical than seeing all the pieces in the daylight. Yesterday I drove Leah and Carol into the NYBG for Chihuly nights. The gardens are kept open late on Thursday nights and they have live music by the conservatory. All the Chihuly pieces are illuminated and it is amazing. We arrived just at 4 and headed up to see the pieces that would not be part of the night program, the green house and rose gardens. After that we headed back down towards the conservatory and had dinner at one of the cafes. We ended up staying until the gardens closed at 9, wishing we could have stayed longer. The night was beautiful, cool but not cold, some clouds in sky and a full moon. The gardens were packed with people but you didn't seem to notice them after a while. I am so glad I went back for another visit to see the Chihuly but gladder still that I made the visit at night. It wll be sad the next time I go to see the gardens and the chihuly will be gone. For those of you in the area, Make sure you go to see them, they will be leaving October 28th. Thursdays are the only day that the gardens stay open late. Enjoy!!!!




 

Another Milestone

OK, I have crossed another big line this weekend, Jay and I went to our first wedding as friends of the groom's parents! How did our friends get this old? Why just yesterday it was our friends getting married, how did we ever get to a point where we have kids old enough to do this? I would like to say that Chris and Danielle were babies...way too young to be married...but that is not the case. The fact is I truly am old enough to have friends with married children. But that is only because my friends are SOOOOO much older than I am, LOL. I really think it is cool, I kind of like getting older and thankfully as the parent's friends at a wedding we don't get stuck right in front of the band's speakers.

Chris and Danielle are a beautiful couple and so together. I loved the way they really focused on eachother and made sure they enjoyed each moment. I pray that God will bless the two of them and their life together.
Vows being said

How cute were these little guys trying to see past the big headds in front of them

What a special night out for all of us, I love these women 

One more check on the list

I headed into NY city today to pick up my visa from the Ghanan consulate. That is one more thing off my to do list. I am now at less than one month for leaving on my trip. I cannot wait. I arrived a little too early to pick up my visa so I walked aroundthe area. I got into the American Girl Doll Place- what an amazing store. I wish it was built earlier so that Shelby could have really enjoyed it. I am planning on taking K&A there next year for their 5th birthday. Anyway, as I was walking around I found a little bird sitting between the curb and a garbage can. He was such a pretty bird but I have no idea what kind he is... tonight I will be checking out my birding books to get his name, wish me luck.
 

This morning at the Celery Farm

You know, I believe if you show up for something you usually get rewarded for it, this morning was definitely one such case. Shelby is not feeling well and stayed home from school. The temptation was to climb back into bed and go back to sleep. What I did instead was head out to the Celery Farm. Great choice. This morning in one of those beautiful fall mornings where it is cool but not cold. The air is so clear and fall colors are starting to come into the trees. I was so happy being out there on the path enjoying the day. Then at the first point I met up with some of those guys that know what they are doing out there, making the calls and identifying the birds they see. Me I just put my binoculars up to my eyes and pretend I have the slightest clue about what they are talking about. I have actually learned a bit but am still pretty much brain dead compared to the rest of them. Anyway, the trees were filled with warblers of many kinds. I can now say I know what a yellow rumped warbler looks like. The others will be a crap shoot if I can identify them ever again. But I can call out some names to try and impress you on a trail one day. An Osprey came a caught a fish close to where we were standing and then later a blue heron caught and ate 3 fish that I saw...there may have been more. Now for those of you who have no idea...this is not normal. At least that is what the experts told me LOL (once again I pretended that I had a clue and said, "yes, yes.") I am just so grateful for this amazing place that is so close to my home.

 

Women of Faith Weekend

Every year, around this time, a group of women meet up at the church and head off for a weekend of fun and Christian fellowship as well as learning. This year 8 of us set off for Philadelphia (meeting up with another 2 later on,) for the Contageous Joy women of Faith conference. The program starts on Friday but we leave on Thursday, picking an interesting stop along the road. This year the choice was the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ. What a beautiful place. Even the rain could not keep us from wandering around and enjoying the art- both in the sculptures as well as in the grounds themselves. The cafe there offered us excellent food and we just really enjoyed eachother's company, there was a whole lot of laughing going on.I am just sad that it is a whole year away for the next conference

We took the opportunity this piece offered to get a group shot
King Lear


Inside one of the buildings, by the cafe, there were a group of mobile pieces. These color discs would move along with the breeze

The Secret Garden door 

There are peacocks wandering all around the sculpture grounds

They had some of the most beautiful waterlillies

You have to love art that lets you join in
 

We found some spiders' webs that were really cool


They pipe in this mist over a pond to create an interesting atmosphere. I loved the waterlily floating in the fog

I loved these ducks standing on the edge of the pond 

The Women of Faith Conference

Our seats at the conference were up in the angel section. Tickets for the show program sold out so early that we could not get anything closer. The large screens make it easier to see what is going on but it does take a moment or two to get acclimated to the steepness of thsoe high seats.
By the Saturday program I had noticed two rows of seats, first and second row on the floor, that were empty. I decided to head down there and get some photographs and then just sat ina seat, figuring that I would get up when the ticket holder came. No one ever came and so I had one of the best seats in the house and was able to get some wonderful photographs. By midday, Barbara, Betty and Maryanne joined me on the floor.

The view for the better set of our ticketed seats, my seat was 12 rows higher up! I was at the third to the last row in the arena.

During the breaks the cameramen film the people around the arena. They add some graphics to get a laugh.

when you get tickets you can order box lunches for wach day. Here is the escalator, heading up empty handed and then coming back down with the boxes.

There are so many people at the conference....It could make me crazy. I hate crowds. But the crowd here is full of women and the spirit of kindness is prevalent. Lines for the ladies rooms are fun, everyone talks and pregnant women absolutely get to go to the front of the line. This is one crowd I do not mind being a part of 

The Music

A wonderful part of the WOF conferences is the music. They have some off the most amazing contemporary Christian music artists around. The Integrity Music Team start everything off leading the arena in praise music. This year they also had Sandy Patty, Avalon, Nicole C Mullen there and Sheila Walsh and Luci Swindoll also sang. There is something about being with 16,000 women singing and praising the Lord, I love it

Integrity Worship Team

Patsy Clairmont helped out Sandy Patty and Lisa Pierre

Sandy Patty lets you get a little feel for what it will be like in heaven with the angels singing-
When she sang How Great Thou Art I just cried, it was so beautiful

Nicole C Mullen has the most amazing energy. I wanted to be 15 again so that I could jump on the stage and dance with her. Her music was wonderful, the song, Black White and Tan holds a beautiful message for us all. And her pants! Do you think an overweight, 45 year old woman could still wear those jeans with the zip off and interchangable bottoms? You just look at them and you feel like it is a party.