getting out in the mountains . . .

DH and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary this weekend. So we just used that as a nice excuse to get out for one our treks around the Adirondacks. We started out by driving up to Newcomb and visited here. I wish I had taken a picture of their butterfly and hummingbird gardens, just beautiful! I hope to plant something similar at the lakehouse, ah someday! Anyway we walked a trail and it was beautiful, could hear the bullfrogs, saw a chipmunk, heard lots of birds but just enjoyed the quiet.

Unfortunately it started to pour, and there was lots of thunder and lightning so we finished our hike and headed back to the visitor center. Next we headed off to Long Lake and Hoss's. There are so many great books there, keeps us both busy for quite awhile. I got an awesome pair of Minnetonka sandals, half price. I am always the bargain shopper. They have a tree growing right through the store.

After an ice cream cone we headed down to the lake and walked around and planted ourselves in rocking chairs on the porch of the Adirondack Hotel , a turn of the century hotel (or is it Hotel Adirondack) where we sipped a cool beverage. We poked our heads inside and a young woman said feel free to wander around and so we did. All the doors were open to the rooms upstairs that were not occupied. Many were decorated with victorian furniture with handmade quilts on the beds, very pretty. This picture is from 1930.

We sat there and watched one of those little sightseeing planes take off on the lake, pretty cool. I was too chicken to go up (what with the storms in the area and all), actually I was just too chicken.

It was very idyllic so it was a little hard to get up and leave but we did.

We met up with this guy first however. Walt said it is a snapping turtle and he didn't look any friendlier than the alligators that we saw in Florida so we steered clear of it.

We drove on to Inlet, NY which is beyond Blue Mountain Lake and Raquette Lake, both beautiful lakes. We stopped in at the Kirsty's Red Dog Tavern and had dinner. We have been there before and it measured up to be just as good this time around. It's off the beaten track a little so if you every in the area ask for directions.

We then headed on to home arriving there around 10 p.m. after many miles on back roads. We almost ran out of gas because almost all gas stations in the rural parts of NY are closed by 9 p.m. but we drove until we found one, phew. It was a great day! In fact we have decided to head back to the area in July and spend a couple nights so we can explore some more. We even made reservations here which is so unlike us, but we decided to go for it!

Trinity Rose is here . . .

Our 5th grandchild is here and we are so happy. Had to add a picture, all went very well for Megan, not saying it was easy because after all labor is just that, labor but it was not too long for her. She was born at six p.m. and home by 10 p.m. God is so good.

getting very excited . . .

Our daughter Megan Joy is having her third baby next Tuesday, June 17th. Megan goes to midwives and has her babies at a birthing center. You ask how is that different? She doesn't have any drugs administered and the baby is delivered on a regular bed in a room that is furnished as a bedroom. The only problem is that Tessa Hope her second came very quickly, in a matter of minutes, and her first Joy Courtney came quicker than expected. There is some concern that she will not make it to the center to have the assistance of the midwife. So on Tuesday they will naturally induce labor and Trinity Rose will be here. So we are all very excited and praying for Megan, and Trinity's safe entrance into this world. Please pray for Megan and Jeff, her husband, thank you.

phew, home again, home again . . .

My husband and I spent friday and saturday driving all over the place to 10 quilt shops! It was a shop hop and it was fun for a lot of reasons. I know you are probably thinking, how could this man go to all those shops? He must be a saint, (he is). He was my driver and at each shop he was able to take some time to grab a cup of coffee or a bottle of water, and sit and read while I browsed.

We played a game as we went, each shop choosing a movie and giving us trivia questions to go along with that theme. In Woodstock the employees were all dressed as Nuns, and it was a bit startling as you turned a corner and there was a woman or a man dressed as a nun. Can you guess the movie?

At the Quiltbug in Esperance the Movie was It's a Wonderful Life, one of my dear husband's favorites. As we had a cup of coffee and chatted it was playing in the background, much to our surprise in Chinese!

The shop in Lee, MA chose the movie Mash. They had an medical tent set up outside their shop. We probably clocked over 300 miles on our car and I know you must think we are crazy with the price of gas but we got to see some beautiful areas of NY and Massachusetts as our GPS took us down back roads. Chatham, NY is gorgeous with rolling hills and the Berkshire Mountains and the town of Red Hook has not one but two coffee shops. While in Massachusetts we stopped to have lunch here and even sat in a rocking chair on their massive porch for a few moments until we continued on.

The last shop Adirondack Quilts is housed in Glens Falls, NY in a building that once housed a shirt making factory. There are 3 floors in that old building with lots of art galleries for so many different mediums. Each shop was different, had a character of its' own and it was amazing to see a variety of fabrics as we went with very little repetition. Some I may never get back to but many of them I know I will keep in mind if I am ever in their neck of the woods, if just to see some of the lovely employees and shop owners that we chatted with along the way!

So now I will have lots of projects ahead, I may need to pick up some things but I think I should put a freeze on my spending for awhile.