JULY FAVES

 

I'm back to the weekly FFF hosted by Susanne from Living to Tell the Story.  Dave and I were away on a rather spontaneous 4 days away trip to the southern tier/Finger Lakes region of our glorious state( NY). It's like a different world down there.  So, I missed partaking in FFF last week as we didn't bring our laptops.  It was a totally relaxing time away. I'm also including a couple extra faves from this past week. 

Here are FIVE of my FAVES from the past week and our mini-vacation.

Downtown Montour Falls
population is about 1800!

Sha Qua Ga (aka Cha Qua Ga) Falls
just a trickle this summer due to NY's lack of rain

painted mural on side of downtown building

• EVENING STROLL AND DINNER OUT:  Our first day/evening in the Finger Lakes was fairly casual.  It's a 4 hour drive to this place from our home in the Capital Region of NY so we checked into our motel in the late afternoon and rested for about a half hour/freshened up and decided what to do for the first evening. There's a plethora of things to do in the Finger Lakes region of NY.  We mainly were choosing to stay in the Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake areas. (there are 11 finger lakes all together...Seneca is the deepest and longest). Our motel was just one block away from the historic waterfalls, Sha Qua Ga Falls (the Native American meaning is "tumbling waters".)  We joked that we should have come in April to see those tumbling waters!  It was just a trickle last week as we haven't had much rain this past spring here in NY.  The falls is also on a walking tour of historic places/buildings.  I took many photos and several are on Facebook but I'm  choosing these 3 to display here. I love the quaint village of Montour Falls.  After we walked and chatted in the art gallery for a bit with the owner, we walked back to the motel to change for dinner in Watkins Glen. It's only about 3 miles from the motel and the population year round in that village is about 2600 people according to a local. We had a wonderful Italian dinner at this place and shared a bottle of excellent wine. Then we walked off the dinner and wine by going down to the pier on Seneca Lake (it begins in Watkins Glen and no we didn't re-hike the Gorge at the WG State Park because "been there done that!")  I'm thankful for safe travels to the Finger Lakes and for a relaxing first night away. 

Dave on the pier walking towards the look-out

• ANNIVERSARY ADVENTURES! Last Thursday, 30 June, our first full day in the Finger Lakes, was our 32nd anniversary. We exchanged cards to one another and ate breakfast at Dunks of all places because we wanted to get going to the vineyards before the heat of the day kicked in.  We were at our first vineyard, which ended up being our absolute favorite one, by the time they opened at 10 am.  We did wine tasting there and due to Covid-19, none of the vineyards we visited were giving out tours of the grounds.  But the tastings were so much fun!  Our first stop was this place.  HIGHLY recommend. We were the only customers for the first 15 min. We were even given a free wine glass since it was our anniversary! Kimmie is the daughter of the owner and she helps her dad make all of the wines.  Oh my.  SO good. She's an excellent sommelier and really explained the differences between the 6 different wines we tasted.  We fell in love with the very first ever red Riesling in New York State.....made right there at Silver Springs.  We just were so impressed with this young woman's knowledge. After Silver Springs, we traveled down the road to Wagner Vineyard where Dave took just a couple of sips from the Wine Flight I tried.  We walked the grounds a bit and then traveled on down the road to pop into the Finger Lakes National Forest for a quick walk/hike down a steep gravel path to the shores of Seneca and a site listed on the National Historic Register. Here are the pics from the first vineyard:

our first...and fave...and last....vineyard
(we went back after visiting 2 more and decided to purchase more wine and a tee shirt)

Our fave of the day

the Winery has a "peace" theme
and the tee shirt is tie dyed with a peace sign
and the name of the Vineyard

Pics from the 2nd Vineyard:

Faith's Wine Flight:  my fave was #3 a Cayuga White

The Wagner (pronounced the German way) Winery

Dave is hoping for a tour.........

beautifully delicate wisteria which smells like grapes!

Seneca Lake in Background and then the vineyards 

at Wagner Brewery and Winery

PICS FROM THE FINGER LAKES NATIONAL FOREST WALK: 

my feet were happy to get cooled off in Seneca Lake

"the Queen's Castle".....built by 7 men in 7 days
and designed by Arthur Nash for the daughter of an advocate for women's rights and anti-slavery along with an advocate for temperance.  This was a famous camping site at one time and was built in the late 1800s.

this butterfly basically followed us along the trail

the beginning of the trail down to the shoreline of Seneca Lake

• ANNIVERSARY LUNCH and SUNSET CRUISE: After the hike, we were ready for lunch so we ate a late one at the 3rd winery we visited.  Again, no tours were being offered but the restaurant on the premises was excellent!  We had both had enough wine, so ordered iced lattes and lemonade.  After lunch, we went back to the motel to change and rest a bit then headed to the harbor in Watkins Glen for the sunset cruise.  Dinner was a sub back in the motel and the evening was spent watching a movie together.  I'm so thankful we had these adventures on our anniversary.  I'm also thankful that some of my headache/sinus pain was easing up that day, although it was back by the time we were back in Montour Falls.

Lunch time was at Ryan William Winery 
on the porch to the right of the building overlooking
Seneca Lake. We both had the veggie Tacos.  
Very filling and delicious with farm fresh local produce.

.

from the boat: Native American (Iroquois) art work
originally from the 1700s is to the left of that tee pee
and underneath the USA flag.  Modern Artists did the flag and tee pee but there's a problem.
Dave and I were the only people on the boat that knew the lodging was wrong.
Do you know what the Iroquois lived in??  i can tell you it was NOT a tee pee!

and the sun went down on Seneca Lake.......

• HIKING/TIME ON CAYUGA LAKE:  Friday morning we went to an excellent little cafe in Ithaca on the grounds of Cornell University.  (we were NOT impressed with the university or the city..dirty, run-down....).  However, our destination was the Taughannock Falls State Park to hike to the highest waterfalls east of the Mississippi River and the Highest in NYS (Niagara Falls is #2 and Hector Falls is #3 outside Watkins Glen which sadly, I couldn't get a photo of) The hike was flat along the gorge and for a bit we actually walked on the riverbed as it is so dry right now.  NYS hasn't received much rain this spring or summer so even the falls were just a trickle. I'm thankful we had a fun, easy hike.  My head was pounding so we stopped on the beach across the road in the main part of the park and I dipped my hot feet into the cold waters of Cayuga Lake which is the 2nd largest finger lake and begins in Ithaca. I'm thankful for beautiful places. 

a bit of history along the trail

Dave walks on the river bed which is actually limestone

another bit of history

Taughannock Falls

• AFTERNOON AND EVENING OUTINGS:  We were done with the hike and time on the beach around noon so we drove an hour towards Elmira and Corning (west) to eat lunch at Panera and then spend the hot afternoon in central air at the Corning Glass Museum.  I hadn't been there since I was about 10 years old (1970!) and Dave had never been.  What a treat.  We saw 3 demonstrations of glass blowing (some methods have changed due to Covid and it was just fascinating to learn about).  We toured all the galleries and ended our day back in Watkins Glen after freshening up in the motel with a late dinner at this fantastic place. And for the first time ever, we had fried ice cream. Oh my goodness. AMAZING.  I'm thankful we had a fun day seeing new sights and just being together. We have many more photos but these were the highlights: 

my fave glass sculpture....a plate of fruit

Another fave.....a chandelier of glass popcorn buckets

My 2nd fave glass piece......the birch trees...so hard to believe this is all glass!

flaming fried ice cream!

THIS WEEK's FAVES

Saturday morning we slept in a bit, did some reading and the Scriptures, and then went out to breakfast at a cute little diner between Montaur Falls and Watkins Glen.  Then back to the motel to pack up and head home.  It took less time to get back home as there was hardly any traffic.  Saturday was spent unpacking, doing laundry, etc Sunday was a perfectly gorgeous summer day and although my sinus pain was back in full swing and I was super discouraged, I decided to take Claire to Caroga Lake State Park, about an hour northwest of us and spend the afternoon reading on the beach.  It was lovely.  It was actually too chilly to swim. We stayed about 3 hours, got some wonderful sun and came home around dinner time. On Independence Day, Claire had to work a couple of hours and then we had a late lunch/early dinner. She cooked her own food and I made bison burgers for Dave and I along with baked beans and a salad.  We enjoyed some of the wine we bought at Silver Springs.  Claire also enjoyed a glass and later in the day we  enjoyed a fire in the pit and saw fireworks from our deck. (my photos didn't come out good though).

This week's faves:

• Less sinus pain during the day on Wednesday and  Thursday so maybe the new allergy meds are starting to work (assuming this is really a seasonal allergy like the ENT thinks). 

• Our oldest girl arrived home from her flight out of Austin, Texas safely. She loved her vacation down there with her friend Nathanael. 

• Summer school got off to a good start on Tuesday with 3 new students joining our 10 returning students.  It should be a good summer (especially if this pain starts to fully go away!)

• Emails and texts from friends and blogging friends (thanks Jerralea and Susanne!!) asking how I'm doing, how the pain is, and that I am being prayed for.  You have NO idea what this means to me. I'm at the point where my primary doc and ENT can't really agree on what is happening in my body.....the symptoms are just odd and don't fully line up with infections yet don't fully line up with allergies either.  Allergy testing isn't until August 30th because they are booked solid. Meanwhile, I am trusting God to fully heal me like He did when I had the lyme disease 20 years ago.  God is the ultimate healer and He is really testing my patience on this one. I'm so thankful for friends (some of whom I have never met!) who are faithful to pray for me. I also try to be faithful in praying for others.  It's a blessing to pray for one another!

• ENCOURAGING DEVOTIONALS:  I've been reading about anxiety/worry and healing from Jesus.  When we are at our  wit's end, and worry sets in, we are to take our burdens directly to Christ and HE can shoulder them, He can heal them and the issue(s), and He knows the plan He has for us.  do I wish I haven't had daily headache pain since week 1 of April? yup.  Am I scared about what  this could be?  yup.  But each day I just say "God, I need You to help me get through this day" and I then try not to focus on what it is or isn't and just let God be God.  He's got this. Meanwhile, I'm so thankful for His Word. 

That wraps it up for me.

I hope you have a  wonderful summer weekend!