On this day in history...

On July 31, 1964, the American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted pictures of the moon's surface.

On July 31, 1919, Primo Levi, the Italian writer and chemist whose work was influenced by his captivity at Auschwitz, was born. Following his death on April 11, 1987, his obituary appeared in The Times.

1914 The New York Stock Exchange closed due to the outbreak of World War I. (Trading didn't resume until December.)

On July 31, 1880, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1880.

(The above are from The New York Times) 

...and I was born. If memory serves sometime around 7:30ish pm..I think..maybe not but that's not important.

Festivities started Thursday (I actually took a few days off) with a hike through one of the gorges in the Finger Lakes area of New York  - I'll put up more in another post.  It's amazing what 12,000 years of erosion can do.

I wonder what it looked like 6000 years ago when the native americans were living there?

Friday was a run around/relax/do-next-to-nothing day...that evening we went to the track.  Harness racing's not far away.

Always a good time. It happen to be fan appreciation night - that means $1 hot dogs and draft beer. 

Saturday we kind of slept in, not on purpose but you know - sometimes it happens.  We actually intended to get up a little early, go to our regular Saturday diner for breakfast (don't you love it when they know your name) and get on the road to our entertainment of choice because it was a few hours away.  Well - it just didn't happen and we ended up leaving a few hours later than we wanted.  But it was Saturday and my birthday - so who cares.  We ended up going to Sterling NY to the Renaissance Festival.

It was Highlander weekend.  JLPTG and I rented costumes and had a great time Mrs G decided not to go the costume route - still not sure why.

She was selling some kind of head thing - I don't know ask Mrs G and JLPTG.

The "Pirate Show".  They make young women walk the plank and a few other things that make them get in the water - oh, they did get the big muscle guy wet too.  Equal opportunity!

The highland game - men in kilts throwing big sticks!

This kid just couldn't get control of his big stick.  He was only 14 but he tried very hard.

I know - don't get all over me - it's not a big stick it's a caber.

Puppet show - I never got to see the show but the person that did them was in several of the processionals with the Queen.

Here's the puppet guy - I didn't get a shot of the other side.  There are legs hanging down so he looks like he's riding side saddle.

OK - so see the guy on the left with the red kilt and white shirt - take about 25lbs off him, put him in a long sleeve Jacobean style shirt and you would have me. I also had a fly cloth (the piece of cloth that goes over your shoulder and matches the kilt - like a sash)

The front of my kilt. We were sitting on the grass for the highland games.  It's not my actual tartan - it was a rental.

And for those that wonder "it's a kilt, if I was wearing anything under it, it would be a skirt."

...more later

DAG

What's a girl to do?

So we've hit the "in between years".  It seems that, in our area, 13 is the magic number when a child is no longer a child.  But she's also not an adult, not even close.  JLPTG isn't comfortable staying home by herself.  I can't blame her really and part of that is my (and Mrs Kits) fault. Since she's our one and only, she was always with us.  Not for any particular reason other than we have always enjoyed the company of our own child.  We never really had a reason to get a "baby sitter" because a family member was always at the ready and more than happy to have her as company for the evening.

We live where the homes are not that close and we have NO other children in our neighborhood.  The closest  child is about 1/4 mile down the hill.  If something was to happen, well lets just say we can make as much noise as we like and no one can hear us. She just doesn't like being alone. And she won't even think of being alone at Gramma's (the "ancestral manse" sits on 50Ac).

So back to 13.  Being 13 means she has aged out of all the "organized" summer long programs.  So whats a kid to do for 10 weeks?

Week 1 - Tennis Camp
Week 2 - More Tennis Camp
Week 3 - Archeology Camp (yes she went on an actual dig - she was thrilled)
Week 4 - Art Camp - Local place that does clay (both thrown and molded), tie-dye, splatter painting and fused glass.
Week 5 - well this was suppose to be our week for vacation but I think I'll leave that for another post
Week 6 - Jr Biologist Camp at the local Zoo - 1/2 day of classroom education and the other 1/2 with zookeepers - I think there will be poop scooping involved here (oh it's good for her).

And the other 4 weeks?  Well - we think Gramma will be back from her month long trek around the east coast of Canada and she'll be at the "ancestral manse" ready for some private time with her only granddaughter.

I'm sure there will be some trips to friends houses to break up the time.

I don't remember being this busy.  I stayed mostly with Gramm (when she lived at the "ancestral manse" and yes - we mostly called her gramm) and when I was older I just stayed home.  But it was a different time and I could jump on my bike and ride the three miles to the local market to buy soda and candy.  Kids can't do that today and that's sad.

Well - this post has nothing to do with anything other than life is busy...for everyone...period!

More later
DAG

UP!

Does anyone ever take the time to stop and look up  or just around for that matter.  I decided some time ago that even though I didn't have a camera with me most of the time I did have my phone with me ALL the time.  (I'm getting better at not doing that too.)  The pics that follow are from places I've been taken mostly from my car with my iPhone. Quality isn't great but that's not the point. The point is to capture the moment to remember.

The harbor from vacation last summer (Rockport, MA)

Just the road and some clouds - some road in western NY.

Rainy fall day on the way to the "ancestral" manse where my mother still lives.

Driveway to the "ancestral" manse.  I love this shot!

The rest are all sky shots - some taken from my front yard, some from parking lots, some are recent and some are from last winter.  Enjoy.

The last few are from the front 40 of the manse - my manse.

More later

DAG

Happy Fourth

Happy Fourth of July

I'll be back soon

DAG