Signs of Change

At first glance one might not spot the tell tail signs that things are changing... But if you take a closer look..... One can see that the leaves on our trees are starting to change color..... As beautiful as the bright colors can be..... it's sad to think another summer is nearly behind us..... especially here in the north country when we know all to well what's soon to follow....

I've heard it said, all good things must come to an end.... For me it's hard to let go though.... Not that I'm given any choice..... So will reluctantly accept what I must.....

One Last Visit With Mother And Ray

August 28, 2007.... Mother and Ray came by in the evening for that hair cut I promised them at the family cook-out... I cut Mother's first than Rays.... While they were there, we browsed through the pictures I took of the cook-out as well as a few others... Then it was time for them to head out.... The sun was starting to set and they wanted to get back before it got too dark.... You never know when a deer might decide to cross the road right in front of you....

Here's the young couple looking all pretty after their hair cuts....


Ray helping Mother to the car.... always a gentleman.... That's our Ray...


Mother's hair a bit short, but she says it grows pretty fast too, so hoping this cut will last her awhile before she has to get it done again....

Cutting Ray's hair was real easy... didn't take me any longer then 5 minutes....

A few more days and they'll be flying back to Florida (September 2nd).... Love you guys... I'm glad we finally hooked up before you had to leave... Hope you have a safe flight...... WE EXPECT TO SEE YOU AGAIN NEXT YEAR..... YOU HEAR!!!

Family Get-Together at Aunt Bett's

August 25, 2007..... With everyone having such busy lives and Mother and Ray soon to heading back to Florida, we were rapidly running out of time to get together ..... Aunt Bett and I finally put our heads together and started planning and inviting...... and we were able to get a few of us together at her place for a little cook out....

Here's Mother and me..... (Can you believe she's 83 years old)....


Aunt Bett and Mother... (they are the only living siblings left in their family).... And believe me when I say.... Sibling rivalry lives on no matter the age.... As does the love....



My cousin Jeanette with Mother and Aunt Bett's dog.... (Jeanette is the daughter of Mother's oldest (deceased) sister Aunt Cora).....

Mother and her "Sweetie", Ray.... (He's 86 years old)....

They're like this all the time......

My youngest brother, Harold, with Mother......

Aunt Bett and me..... (I'm still the favorite).....

Aunt Bett, me, and Mother.....

My cousin, Jeanette and her husband, Jimmy.....

Harold grabbing a bite to eat before I had to drive him back into the city for work.... Thankfully he was able to spend a little time with the family before he had to leave.....

Here I am with my other brother, Cameron..... (He's the older of my two brothers, and I'm the oldest of all my siblings)......

Cameron and his sweetie, Susie.... What a wonderful difference she's made in my brother's life... He's never looked more happy or more healthy than he does since she's come into it.....

And of course have to have a picture of me and my sweetie......

Unfortunately Harold had to leave before we could get a group picture of Mother and 3 of her kids, so had to settle for one with just me and Cameron...... (she has 5 children all together.... and very hard to get us all together at one time)......

Me and Jeanette.... In case you're wondering what the rest of the sign behind us says, you can look it up in Romans 10:13)......

Jimmy manning the grill...... Hamburgers, hotdogs, and some chicken legs....

We had all kinds of food to choose from.....

Dessert anyone??? .....

Hanging out and catching up.......

Bruce and Ray getting into serious conversation.....

Ray helping out with clean-up detail..... (Note the unfinished paint job on the building behind Ray.... Aunt Bett had her kids over to help her spruce up things around the property.... They started the paint job before she got there ..... When she arrived, she realized the paint didn't match the color of her home so they had to stop.... job to be continued later).......

Aunt Bett and Bruce found a little time to get together and chat.....

Bruce listening intently to Aunt Bett.......

All too soon our day was over and it was time to head home.... Bruce arrived after me, so we had to drive home in separate cars..... I was in the lead for the most part until I noticed him flashing his lights at me from my rear view mirror.... I pulled over and he took the lead... I had a sneaking suspicion what he was up to and I was right.... He lead us right to Kooler's Ice Cream Stand.... He got a sundae and I got a vanilla custard cone (small).... Very nice ending to a very nice day.....

Mother's and Ray's Summer Home-Away From Home

Although Florida is now their full time home, for a couple months during the summer they still come home to visit good ole Northern New York ..... They just purchased this new (to them) little 25 ft trailer, which they put on Aunt Bett's property..... So now Mother has her sister right next door for company and they each still have the freedom to come and go as they wish... and believe me.... they may be old folk, but they're still on the go 24/7.....

They even have there very own door mat at the outside entrance to their "Summer Home"... Neat huh!!...



Mother posing for me at the entrance of her little "Summer Home".....


Mother has it all cozied up inside and everything neatly in place.... Couldn't imagine it any other way with Mother.... I think I get my neatness and having to have everything organized just right from her....
Hopefully this won't be the last day we get to see them before they head back to Florida on September 2nd..... Both she and Ray need hair cuts and have asked me if I'd do them the favor.... (Sure.... why not!!)....

Booneville Woodsmans' Day

August 19th, 2007.... Bruce and I hooked up with our good friends, Vaughn and Debbie Shoen and after loading up the car with all kinds of snack food and drinks, we hit the road towards Booneville, NY for the National Woodsmans' Competition.... On our way we passed by the much talked about windmills.... They gave you the feeling, as we passed by, that you just stepped into a sci-fi movie....

Once we hit Boonville, we parked our car and headed out to the All You Can Eat Breakfast held at the Masonic Temple.....

My plate.....

Then we had to find yet another place to park the car for the Woodsmans' Competition... People were charging as much as $5.00 for parking spots... We found this really neat little parking space for only a $1.00... Debbie grabbing her camera and we were on our way....

If you like tools (all sizes and shapes), large machinery, and lots and lots of wood.... this is the place for you....

A small glimpse of beauty amongst all the man stuff....

The view as we entered the field.....

Vaughn checking out some kind of tool or man like accessory.....

Wood of all kinds and sizes and shapes to be found lying about everywhere...

One of several chainsaw carvers to be found throughout the grounds.....

Some of their work......

How bout these for tire chains??.....

Doing some "Window" shopping......

Bruce and Vaughn discussing glove lengths....

Wrench anyone??.....

Couple of the signs found throughout the grounds... There were all kinds of food temptations along the way.....

Bruce enjoying the sights around him.......

This signs says with this piece of equipment you can just let your imagination go.... Thought of you, Klaus.....

This area is where they were pre-cutting logs for the competition events to follow.....

Thought this license plate fitting for the day.....

The stands before they started filling up.....

The playing field.....

The MC's..... They stood there for nearly 4 hours, constantly talking and cracking jokes throughout the competition..... Bet they were tired by the day's end.....

The coveted Trophy......

The log rolling competition..... (Unfortunately..... I coudn't get any real clear shots due to the chain fence between me and the competitor.... boy did I covet the professional photographers who were allowed right down there in the midst of it all)

Jack & Jill Competition....

Here is one of the competitors being interviewed by a Japenese reporter and his camera man... That's right.... The event made National news .... May even hit ESPN....

Not sure the name of this event, but the gentleman in these next two photos is Mike Sullivan.... Seems he was one of the local favorites.... He did come out ahead in many of the competitions...

Chain Saw competition...... Boy was that loud!!!....

One of the other competitions.... didn't catch the name of this one either.... sorry.....

I think this one was called the "under hand" ...... Looked a tad dangerous to me... These guys had to stand ON THE LOG and chop it in half.... Hope they were wearing steel toes in those sneakers....

After sitting on those hard benches for such a long time, it felt real good to finally get up and move about a bit... Once the competition was over, we walked around a the grounds a little more to see what we could find to eat... I decided on some fried dough... Of course had to have sugar on it.... Debbie couldn't resist snapping this picture of how neat I was as I devoured it....

Day's events behind us.... A little weary, but still able to look back on our day and say we had a GREAT TIME.....

Vaughn and Debbie heading off towards the car...... How romantic.... Never too old or married too long to still hold hands with the one you love.....

Another great day spent with special friends.... Good idea Vaughn.... Look forward to the next adventure..... Who's turn to pick the next fun day??