Scattered Seed

Friday evening after work we headed off for Buffalo. George’s cousin, Kathy, was up from Houston for a business trip in Michigan, and drove the seven hours to meet us there. We had talked of meeting in Canada, but we had let our passports lapse, and there wasn’t time to get them in order. We made the most of our short time together,  and Garrett came up from Orchard Park to join us and be our chauffeur.

the sunset as we approached Buffalo Friday night…..

checking out the Broadway Market in downtown Buffalo Saturday morning…..

breakfast at the counter….

seeing Niagara Falls from Goat Island…..

and from the main park…..

We took The Maid of the Mist (a first for all of us)….

There was a late lunch,  a trip to the movies,  then ice cream, and visiting back at the hotel.    It was great fun to reconnect with Kathy….we hadn’t seen her since our trip west in 2005.   Our day together ended too soon and she was back off to Michigan in the early hours of Sunday to catch her flight home.

We stayed over till midday Sunday for dinner and a movie with Garrett.   It was a thank you celebration.  He spent fifteen minutes with my laptop Sunday morning and brought it back to life again!

It’s been a few weeks now, and the transition has been difficult at times. My laptop died (or is it just in a deep sleep, needing someone with the right stuff to awaken it?)
I had become accustomed to plopping down on the couch when my day’s work was done, and doing all my computer related tasks – checking my email, the Twitter, the newspaper online, our bank account, uploading my photos, etc, etc, etc. And now I feel lost without it.
I have had to relearn mouse-control, and sharing. George is very gracious about giving me my turn here. But the Google account that greets me when I turn the PC on is his, not mine, so I have to go in search of my Google reader, my blog, my bookmarks, and it all takes extra time.
Garrett said he would take a look at the lifeless thing next weekend, and see if there is any hope. If the right stuff is needed, he’s the one.
In the meantime, I am trying to be efficient with my computer time and still get things done. My blogging and blog-reading will continue on,  but at a snail’s pace for now.

My sisters Kathy and Cheryl, George and I,  my niece, Michelle, along with Dad and Evelyn, met up at Sampson State Park this morning. We had made the special trip to see the Naval Museum and the brick we had engraved and placed in the courtyard to honor my dad’s service in the Navy during WWII.

We all toured the museum and Dad shared interesting facts about his days in boot camp at the Sampson Base some sixty-five years ago. It was my third visit there, but I came away with more information about Dad’s time there and his military service than I had known before, so it was a day well-spent.

It’s one of those places that was practically in my backyard growing up, but I didn’t appreciate its place in my family’s history till I was an adult and had moved away.

and thanks to the internet,  I was able to find a picture of the USS Prosperine…..one of the ships my dad served on during the war.

the Zoella Lykes,  a cargo ship Dad was on,  used to transport troops….

and the first floating dry-dock to be put into service……Dad was on that too.

…and way too early to rise!

School started back up today, so we spent the weekend getting things done around the house for a smooth transition back to the school year. Sunday we headed out into the far reaches of the district with George’s clipboard.   He drove his route and I recorded the times. He left the house at quarter to six this morning, and his first student will be boarding the bus about 6:20. It’s beautiful country where he will be driving, but high in the hills, along one-lane dirt roads, with some long-winding descents.

As we were zipping along in the Miata, I was thinking that it would be a great way to see the sunrise and the change of colors in the fall, and even the first snowfall. But then there’s the bus, the kids, the noise, the responsibility….and it becomes a tough job, and I’m glad to leave that to the professional driver that he is.

After a trip up to the Windmill Farm and Craft Market yesterday, we came through Watkins Glen on the way back. Traffic was slow coming into town, as it often is on a summer weekend. Hundreds of people were out enjoying the shops and the waterfront. We stopped at the little gift shop to pick up some postcards, and then joined the tourists out by the water. The weather was just perfect!

The new hotel overlooks the lake….Another reason there are so many tourists in town!