Beyond Chataqua

At the end of Karen's adventures in Chautauqua, I picked her up on the way to see Keith and Sarah in Ithaca.  We stayed for nearly a week this time, without much of an agenda.  We just went to spend time and visit.  That is exactly what we did. 

 

Indy found the perfect spot to survey her domain.  It's one of two teepee structures Keith made for his beans and snap peas which Indy also took a liking to.

 

 
We spent a morning at the Cornell Plantation.  There doesn't appear to be a shortage of honeybees in this area.
 

 
You've heard the term snake in the grass, well how about snake In the shrub!
 

 

Karen by the shrub...not the one with the snake...

 

 

A garden orb weaver that has taken up residence outside Keith and Sarah's front door.

 

 
One evening we went down to a stream near Brookton Market and Keith went for a swim while the rest of us waded in and out.  Keith found a scoured out area beneath a waterfall to have some fun.
 

 

 

 
Smoochin!
 

 

Bathing beauties.

 

 

 
Saturday morning we all, including Jenn, Bob and Zhora went to the Cayuga Nature Center which among other things has a large tree house built (with supervision I assume) by the graduating class of 2000 at Ithaca High School.
 

 

 

 

This is the main building at the nature center which was built in the 1930's by the WPA as a preventorium for children with signs of tuberculosis.  It closed sometime after WW II and the nature center was opened on the site about 30 years ago. 

CHAUTAUQUA

 

It really is quite crazy to realize that it is the middle of August!

No matter your age...how busy you are or are not....

how much fun you are or are not having...

time flies by!

 

I am blogging from Ithaca, having arrived at Sarah and Keith's

two days ago, but the photos herein are from the

several days before~

 

 

 

I am quite pleased with the end result of my first independent sidewalk project :-)

Having been Pat's assistant over the years, it was fun to know

essentially what to do and to do the work myself.

Although, Pat was close by for advice,

assistance, and the hauling of limestone

Hopefully those of you who travel into our house from the

back will find this path to be safer and more pleasant

than before!

 

 

I am not finished with the little gardens along the walk, but this one was

actually there before the new sidewalk. I love my

little angel/fairy gardens.

 

 

 

On Saturday Barb Rosen (in blue) and I drove to Chautauqua with our

hostess June Trenty (in pink) for a 3 day introduction to June's

 "favorite place on earth". 

 

 

 

And, I have to admit, it really is quite extrodinary!  You are looking at

the stage of the Chautauqua Amphitheater and the Sunday morning

Chautauqua Choir which numbers about 100 voices.  The organ

and the organ master and the choir are wonderful!

The Chautauqua Orchestra also calls this open air amphitheater home

for the 9 weeks of the Chautauqua Institute.

 

 

 

June and her husband, Richard, stay at the Lutheran House when they come.

The two of them had been there during week 7 when Ken Burns was

the guest speaker for the week.

Richard was not feeling up to going a second week, so Barb and I were

lucky enough to be invited in his place.  Here we are sitting on the front

steps of the Lutheran House.  It functions sort of like a

Bed and Breakfast and was quite wonderful.

  We both had other

commitments for the rest of the week and as we were

leaving on Tuesday, Marge, another friend, arrived

to take her turn.

Thank you so much, June :-)

 

 

 

This beautiful little Episcopal Church was just a few houses down from us.

Sometime shortly after this church was constructed, it was decided that

during the institute weeks the denominational services would take

place in the denomination homes and that the main

service on Sunday would be an interfaith service

held in the Amphitheater.  Each week

there is a different Pastor invited

to conduct worship.  There

is a service every

morning.

It was so cool to find that the pastor for week 9 was a

woman minister from a large Disciples

congregation in Georgia. 

She was incredible!

 

 

Although there are homes of varying sizes and styles in the community,

you will see that the 3 pictures I have included are large Victorians.

They are just so beautiful!  And, by luck only, these are where I

was when I had my camera and enough time and light to

take pictures.  Enjoy :-)

 

 

 

Love those colors!

 

This is a new one!!

 

Lake Chautauqua is considered one of the Finger Lakes - who knew!

And...like all of our lakes, it is suffering from algae pollution.

With that in mind, there are rain gardens being incorporated

into both the public and private areas of town.

After noticing the Cardinal Flowers in all the rain gardens I have

figured out why they have not thrived in my garden...duh~

 

 

The beach was closed while we were there :-(

You could smell the algae in some areas, but

the water was still clear.

Also, CHQ has always been known to be "mosquito free"

until recently due to a large brown bat population.  Unfortunately,

they have all succumbed to a white fungus - very sad.

 

 

Good bye Chautauqua.

Again, Thank you so much, June for a lovely three days.

Day Trippin #2

 

 

At the end of our week of local travels, we

decided to check out our closest big city, Cleveland.

Neither of us have had reason or opportunity to be

in Cleveland in recent years but have been aware the there

is a great deal going on.

 

 

 

Lolley the Trolley leaves from the Power Station where the

Aquarium is located, also Windows on the Lake where

Cory and Laura's wedding reception will

be held, is there.   It was a beautiful day.

Cool wall art.

 

 

 

There were 3 trollies leaving for the 9:00 tour.  Picture taking

was not easy from the trollies so I don't have much, but

the tour was very good.  There really is a lot going

on.  In my life Cleveland has always been in

decline so seeing signs of life is exciting.

 

 

 

Actual nice looking cityscape.

 

 

When I was a kid, the air pollution was so bad that

you could not see the top of "the Term"

when you drove into the city.

 

 

We had a quick stop to stretch our legs at the

City Greenhouse.

It was beautiful and we are hoping to get back to look around.

 

 

 

I forget how many different kinds of bridges are down in the

flats - lots.  We took a Goodtime 2 boat tour of the

lake/river years ago - time to do it again.  This

particular bridge is no longer used, but

I think the rest are.

 

 

 

I love all the churches.  I have always wanted to

take a church tour, but I am not aware of one.

There are, however, walking tours of 5 different areas of the

city.  We are hoping to check those out also.

 

 

We wrapped up the outing with lunch in Little Italy. 

 

 

Next day we returned to check out Edgewater Park, an old and

rundown city park that has recently been taken over by the

MetroParks.  Boy, were we impressed!  It was sparkling clean

and lovely.  This is the newly rehabbed beach...

 

...and at the far side of it was the newly created dog beach.

Arlo and Maggie quickly made friends and had a ball!

 

 

After some beachtime, we walked around the hiking/biking paved path

 

 

to a really nice observation pier that jutted way out into the lake.

I'm pretty sure your Dad has some better photos.



 

Adjoining Edgewater is a Wendy Park, a small, but very nice

park with a walking path along the outlet of the river.  On the

other side of this bridge to the right is Shooters.  We watched

trains roll across that bridge from the deck at the restaurant.

Do you remember?

 

 

We finished up at the Market, vowing to make at least

one trip per month.  We have eaten well this week!

 

So, this week, we are back to our regular retired routine...sort of.

Hope you are all well.  LeAnna, good luck as you begin

your new job.  Adam, hope your next hitch is a good one.

Oscar, good luck, buddy.

Ian and Eleftheria and Artemis, sorry I missed your Skype call:-(  Enjoy the

rest of your stay in the village.  Ian, good luck as you begin preparing for

the new school year.  Eleftheria and Artemis - stay cool and enjoy your days.

Keith and Sarah - see you soon!  Can't wait :-)

Love you all so very much, Mom