Bits and Pieces

Saturday night, watching football and knitting~sounds like a good night! Plus I just finished watching the Yankees beat the Red Sox, which is always good.

Last night we went to GEVA theater and saw Amadeus which we both really enjoyed. I was a bit concerned going into the show because I heard that it ran for 3 hours! I gave up going to the local high school musicals because they went for 3 hours and I don't like to sit for that long, even if there is an intermission. Well, Amadeus keep my attention the whole time, and I only looked at my watch twice! There was lots of yawning in the Beetle on the way home at 11:15 PM!

Today we were out and about on a beautiful fall day. This morning we went to Genesee Valley Park for the McQuaid Invitational. We cheered on the Odyssey runners and got to see some people we knew. It was a great day for a cross-country race and we enjoyed walking around the park.

From the races, we drove south to Naples where we picked a couple of pecks of grapes. The aroma as we walked through the vineyard was overpowering~so grapey!!!

On the way home we stopped at the Dome Arena to check out the Ski Show. I have needed new XC ski boots for several years, but if I get new boots I have to get new skis because the bindings have changed since I bought my skis and boots many years ago. Unfortunately, the only skis that were at this show were non-wax, and I prefer waxable skis so we will look at some ski shops at another time.

When we got home, I did some work around the yard and Jim went for a run.

Corey was in Madison, Wisconsin today for a XC race and he had a good day. He ran a PR and finished 6th for his SU team. Congratulations, Corey! Well Done!

In September the stump in our front yard was removed and last week the town workers returned to fill in the hole with top soil and spread some grass seed. Hopefully the grass will come in before the snow flies.

Jim has harvested most of our apples and to date I have made about 15 pints of applesauce from 2 pecks of apples. So many apples fall from the trees and the squirrels and bugs get into them, but I will end up with more applesauce than we can eat!
Tucker continues to look at property in Colorado. We have enjoyed looking on the internet at the properties he is considering. Google Earth is an amazing tool!

Tomorrow I am going to make grape pie fillings with Grandma's help. I also may try dehydrating some apple slices.

We have signed a contract to have our windows replaced. It will take 3-4 weeks for the windows to be manufactured and delivered and then it will take a couple of days for the installation. It will be good to have new windows before the really cold weather arrives.

Speaking of cold weather, we have made it to October without having to turn on the heat, which makes Jim sooo happy!

I will close this entry with a photo of the sunset over the mall from earlier this week.

Hope all is well.

Dress a Girl Around the World

Tonight I had the pleasure of participating in an international effort to provide dresses for girls in impoverished countries who would be vulnerable to kidnapping or unmentionable acts. A local non-profit organization, Angels of Mercy, has adopted the cause of Dress a Girl Around the World. In some countries around the world, when bad people see girls who are wearing raggy, unkept clothes, they think these girls have no one who cares about them and will try to take advantage of these girls. Very sad. Providing these girls with a simple dress can make a big difference in their lives. My friend, Sue, saw an article in the newspaper about the women who were sewing these dresses and asked us women of Women's Weekend if we were interested in helping at the next sewing session, which was tonight. Sue, Sally and I joined up with about 30-40 other women at a local church and we sewed 5 complete dresses and got a good start on a bunch of other dresses. Hundreds of dresses were completed in the 6 hours of this work session.Here are some photos from our evening.

Sue and some of the other workers.

Sally cutting out a dress.

More of the action.

Sue and I at the sewing table.

One of the completed dresses.

Our first completed dress!!

A beautiful, original, handmade doll is put in the pocket of each dress.

If you are curious about the Dress a Girl Around the World, please click

here. It was a very gratifying evening and I hope to be able to go back next month and do some more sewing for this good cause. The dresses are really cute and it is heart wrenching and heartwarming to know that a simple dress could save a girl's life.

Hope all is well.

Sunday Summary

Here it is Sunday night and before I start to think about my upcoming school week, let me write about our weekend.

We decided to go to Syracuse for the day on Saturday after consulting with Corey to determine that our arrival in town would not negatively impact his weekend plans! He said, "Come on over!" We arrived shortly after 1 PM and picked up 3 of his friends for our trip to a local farm market to pick apples and pumpkins. We went to Abbott's in Baldwinsville and had fun walking up and down the rows of apple trees, picking only perfect apples to fill our bag. Then it was on to the Pumpkin patch where we all got pumpkins. On our way out we stopped to give our best to the sheep and goats and then stopped for a funny farm photo op! Here are some photos from our fun:

After returning to campus, we dropped Corey's friends off at their house and returned to Corey's apartment where we watched some college football and drank some "Beer of the Month" beer! Later we headed to the Little Italy section of Syracuse and decided to try Francesca's Cucina for dinner. We were lucky to get the last table in the bar area, since we were in Syracuse on Parent's Weekend, and arrived at the restaurant without a reservation! We had a wonderful dinner and would recommend this restaurant. Here is a photo of Corey's chicken dinner, edible orchid and all!

After dinner and dropping off Corey, we headed west and arrived home shortly after 9 PM. It was a great day!

Today was a race day for Jim. He was running in the first of five cross-country races, with the series being dedicated to memory of Rochester running legend, Pete Glavin. Many runners from around western New York came to the race to pay tribute to Pete and it was a great day for a race. I went along to help with registration and enjoyed my morning there. Jim had a good race and his GVH Veterans team took first place among all the "old guy' teams!

Tonight we had a birthday dinner here for GrandDad. I tried a new recipe and it was a delicious beef minestrone soup/stew. For dessert I made an apple crisp with apples from our trees! Yummy!

Tucker called us on Friday night to tell us that he had been looking at property to buy and was excited about one offering. It is an exciting time for him !

I've finished my Sunday night ironing and can now turn my attention back to my knitting, where I need to find a mistake. Oh well!

Hope all is well.