Last of summer

It's layering weather.  Cool mornings and then it warms up.  Tuesday evening we went to church and the beautiful, yet old Kursk icon was there.  You can read more about its history HERE.

Lake Otsego!  Three generations. Our oldest daughter, Hannah, took the photos, above.  Well, I took that last one, using her phone.  We went to the Fenimore art museum and really enjoy the Native exhibit.

It was Paul's 7th birthday and he got many great gifts, from Aunt Lucy and his other sister, Olivia.  It made it feel extra special with Hannah, Grammie, Aunt Mary, cousin Nicholas, who turned 8 a few days later, and Mary Lynn visiting.  See the NEW watch he's wearing?  

We went out for ice cream and baked an apple pie instead of a birthday cake.

Grapes grow well here and there are quite a few wineries in upstate New York, especially around the Finger Lakes.  My cousin Mary Lynn picked 54 pounds of concord grapes in Naples!  We made grape juice and grape pie filling.  Canning is something I really haven't done.  I need to overcome my fear and just jump in!  When someone else leads, I will help and follow.  Honestly, my husband and daughter, Hannah, did most of the work with Mary Lynn...even the clean up.  Hannah washed so many dishes while here. She's back in Oregon now.

We hiked on Moss Island beside the Erie Canal. It's a great time for hiking as the tree leaves are just starting to turn from green to brown, reds and yellows!

Kitten life

Hannah is here, visiting for a week.  There's a neat tepee gift shop on historic route 20 that has been open since 1950. I remember going there when I was young, in the 80s, when we came to this area for a family vacation.

Our cows love to eat burdock leaves!

Olivia sent photos to me from a game this past weekend in Cincinnati where she performed with the colorguard!

Rob has been working on the other house.  It's a lot of work, redoing the walls, windows, insulation.

My cousins came to visit a week ago!  We had a nice time together, talking about sewing, our pets, tractors and life.  They gave us gifts, MY favorite is this tin of saffron, from a friend of theirs who visited family in Iran.

See the kitty walking alongside me?

Learning a lot

We went on a field trip to Ft. William Henry.  They demonstrated a musket being loaded and fired, and also a cannon! Quite loud!

Tomorrow will be exactly 1 year since we became owners of this new place in upstate New York.  There are a lot of things we miss about Ohio, mostly family and friends, but the quieter life and cleaner air are good for us. Kittens and flowers growing, looking forward to more good things before the summer is over.  

Everything is growing

This past week, we went to Dormition chapel in the cemetery, where my father's grave is, for Vigil and Liturgy. The clergy blessed water and as we processed around the church, my sons hoped to get wet sprinkles, and then got a good wet blessing from Fr. Theodore (one of our favorite monks) after venerating the cross at the end!

The last summer concert in the park was excellent. Polkas and waltzes, one of our favorite songs, "eidelweiss." It reminded me of my visit to the Hofbrauhaus in Munich over 20 years ago.  There's a man named Dick who bakes cookies every week and passes them out at the concert.  George is holding an oatmeal cookie from him.  He is another one of those kind and generous persons who gave me $50 discreetly, to put towards my Bell's palsy healing.  I have an appt. later today and am able to eat and talk well, just muscles take a lot of concentration in order for me to move them appropriately.

Here are the four of us as the sun began to go down.  There will be 5 of us together soon and I look forward to all 6 of us being together, maybe come winter break.

I started a drawing, as a gift for a friend whose birthday is coming up soon.  

We put some produce we've grown out to sell, as we have too much right now.  

Purple cauliflower, we didn't grow, but our 3 year old was so excited to see it when visiting a nearby farm, so we bought it.  It is lovely!

We had another cement truck here and friends who came to help out.  As a thank you, we gave one raw milk and the others vegetables from our garden.

Paul who is 6, learned how to ride the 2 wheeler bicycle and is enjoying the speed and freedom!