These BEAUTIFUL Girls

My daughter, Aurora was in a wedding this past weekend! It just makes me so happy that she has these wonderful girlfriends to walk through life with! Aren't they all simply beautiful! Aurora, Liz, Caitlyn, Abbey and Alex!
The other shot is with her boyfriend John.

Some Shots That Got Away But Worthy

Cemetery Next To The Old Loomis Land
Reviving On The Front Porch~Jimmy, Steve, Reyna and I (I'm sure Ed was stowing away somewhere there too)
Big Moose Chapel
A Very Nice Collection
Reyna and Pamme Hands At Skyway

Shots From Cranberry Lake, Camp Santanoni and Lafayette Apple Festival

The four C's Crazy about Comet, Cranberry Lake and Camp Santanoni

So here it is the 14th of October and Central New York is finally getting the weather we deserve after this gray rainy summer.
Before I start this blog I just want to finish up the story of the last blog. The Insurance man ended up totaling my subaroobie!
I'm embarrassed to say that I cried when I was given the go to remove all my belongings from the car! That little white car and I went every where together! It was a tough week but I got over it and I'm now driving a fine new/used Mitsubishi!
Its a little bigger than the subie which is good for my music equipment. So! back in the car loan hole I go!

On my quest of being environmentally green around my house I re-discovered Comet! Yes thats right...Comet! I'm crazy about Comet! Bill bought a 6 pack of scratch free 21 ounce cans of Comet at BJ's for $2.36 as its his job to clean the downstairs shower.
When I saw the cans of comet in the broom closet it was a blast from the past as thats what my mother used to clean just about everything around the house while growing up! And the smell...Ahhhh comet!
Not only is it cheap it cleans like a charm! My stainless steal appliances never looked so good. Comet is biodegradable and contains no phosphates.
I also re-discovered a cook book a friend bought me a couple years ago. I put it on the shelf and forgot about it.
I made the best Morning Glory Muffins in the world! The Book is the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking and its a great book filled with yummy healthy recipes for whole grain baking. I'm glad winter is coming to fire up the Kenmore and bake!
Yep look at those Northern Pries! I've got some baking to do later today!
Bill and I had the best weekend! I've been wanting to go to the more remote quiet places of the park. So I unfolded the map and looked a little further west of Stillwater and found Cranberry Lake. So we loaded up an took off!
We took a different route heading through Boonville then up to route 3. It was a beautiful day but as luck would have it Cranberry Lake isn't as remote as I thought as there where party barges buzzing all around the lake. To noisy for me! Not a good kayak!
We rented a pretty nice room as far as affordable Adirondack lodging goes and stayed the night. The next morning after a hearty breakfast in a cozy little Tupper lake diner covered in grape vines we headed for Newcomb and hiked the 5 miles in to Camp Santanoni. Just beautiful! Here's some shots. Little stiff today! I did 10 miles tho!

Sunday's Accident

I had NO intentions of blogging twice today after all I'm learning how to manage my addictions here after all mind you.
So much for that misty Sunday morning hike on the Brookfield Horse trail before heading out to my Grandmother's 95th birthday.
Right now with a creamy nutty Irishman cocktail in hand and two 200 milligram ibuprofens in my stomach I'm rather lucky to only be complaining of a stiff neck and a sore lower back.
After finishing up the last posted blog I grabbed my new salvation army green plaid shirt and tied on my hiking boots, grabbed my camera and fired up the subaroobie to head out to the trails. Living on this intersection out here in Sunny South Hamilton there have been accidents. Pussy Willow, Golden rod and other various saplings grow out of control everywhere out here in God's pocket. I totally don't mind. I know the village road crew does everything they can to keep our roads safe from fallen trees and backed up road trenches. I always hate it when its Excell and William's turn to be cleaned up as they dig all this wildlife up and leave it pretty muddy and raped looking.
Well Excell and Williams haven't had a turn lately and its a jungle out there.
I've lived on this intersection of feast or famine for over 15 years. The heart of this intersection is either dead quiet with only the sounds of insects and birds or busy with summer traffic of hay wagons and horse trailers. Its busy in the morning with a school bus an people heading for work and when I say busy I'm talkin maybe 5 to 10 cars in the morning and maybe 10 to 20 at night. Thats how far out I live. You know what?! I'm gonna count now the traffic if thats what you wanna call it!
So it all happened so fast but I backed out of the yard where I was parked. drove up to the stop sign... 50 feet stopped and made my left hand turn on to Excell and was hit an quicky transported to a movie like adventure through the secondary growth of scrub bushes ,golden rod and purple asters! I was in an accident!
I got hit by a fella hauling his souped up antique lawn mower on his way to Wheel Days at the Brookfield Fair Grounds!
Talk about sudden. I never saw it coming!
I'm ok. Couldn't believe how much I could shake!
Leigh and Bruce my favorite people were on their morning walk and heard the whole thing and were there for support.
Bottom line No one was hurt!
Well my neck aches.
So today will be a lost but glad to be alive day. The cop has issued his tickets an checked out our insurance companies. The tow trucks are gone an all is quiet again here in Sunny South Hamilton.
I've pulled up the crop of onions. Picked the last of the tomatoes. Chopped my garlic and will work on simmering a nice marinara.
Now I'm ready for another Irishman!

Hiking Brookfield

I'm thinking I have a pretty addictive personality.
I guess its ok as long as I keep the addictions healthy!
I was due for a cell phone upgrade in the spring so I picked a
Blackberry from the Verizon phone tree and became well...hooked. OK I know what your all thinking. How can a blackberry be healthy. I wanted to be able to check my emails while I was up in the Adirondacks. I know where all the secrete spots between Old Forge and Inlet back into Stillwater to get email.
I never let my kids have video games when they were little and its a damn good thing. I would of been the one playing. I discovered Brick Breaker on my black berry and well, trips to Utica or wherever go a little quicker! I make Bill drive.
Driving through Hamilton last week listening to the Colgate Radio Station I learned a new word for my beloved Blackbery.
Crack- berry! Why didn't I think of that! Perfect.
Blogging! Well this certainly is entertaining as well! I'm addicted to my camera an the two go very well together especially with my overactive brain.
Another monkey on my back is the Pioneer Woman. Her link is on my website. She's a hoot! Great recipes, stories, photography lessons, you name it!
My other addiction of late is hiking the Brookfield Horse trails.
These trails are maybe 3 miles from my house. For the last 15 summers I've witnessed endless trucks pulling horse cargo clankin by my house on their way to these trails. Seeing glimpses of the horses with their manes blowing inside their wheeled stalls always brought a lump to my throat as I loved riding when I was a kid. My cousins who lived across the road on Swan Hill had palominos. Golden Beauty was my first ride.
So last summer I went to these trails one day and discovered how lucky I was to have hundreds of miles literally in my back yard.
Just when I thought I couldn't live any farther out in the boondocks. I was venturing even further out hiking these trails!
An we don't even get the Post Standard delivered any more except on Sundays thats how far I am from a city.
Today being Sunday we got the paper all folded up like gray ribbon candy in the clear pink plastic bag. Bill is downstairs now with his cup of joe and a fresh ink smelling copy of the post safely tucked into his hands! One happy man I tell ya!
I'm going hiking!