Thank you Guardian Angels

It is Christmas Season so many of the various local towns have parades, local home-made item sales, etc. Went to one in Watkins Glens tonight. Missed the parade - dinner came first! Wildflower has really good blue cheese burgers. Nice fireworks afterwards and even the weather cooperated; it was not below 30F this time.

Almost did not make it to the parade! I had been waiting to turn left. As the light turned green, I dropped something in the floorboard and decided to pick it up. The car that was going straight did not want to block the intersection so they waited also. Suddenly, after having a red light for almost a minute, a car ran the light going at least 40 MPH! All I can say is 'Thank You' to my guardian angels who made me drop something and not turn and for causing traffic so the oncoming car delayed proceeding also!!

So next time you think about complaining about a delay, just remember that it may have occurred to save your life.

How to Deal with a Monkey on your Back?

Spent some time today thinking about how to deal with a monkey on my back.... Not a real rhetorical question as some may think. Should you deal with a monkey like the fable "The Emperor's New Clothes"? Should you 'turn the other cheek'. Should you do the 'sorority girl' routine - only say nice things to the face then be a B behind someones back? Why do some people think that the monkey is only theirs and is not a neighborhood animal? Why do they not see that it is in the neighborhood's best interest for the monkey to be well fed? Guess some feel that everything should only be information of the current owner and not shared between the interested parties! Or is it protection of their child/adopted child? Maybe I am tired of being stabbed by the owner when trying to work with the neighborhood!

Hocking Hills - Ohio

Sorry it has been so long since I posted anything. Been down since December and just not up to posting. Will try to catch up over the next few weeks.

Visited Hocking Hills area of Ohio for 3-4 days. The area reminded me of Ithaca - Hocking also was part of the glaciers. The inn where I stayed was in the city of Lancaster, chef offers cooking school on the weekends; nice lady whose Dad owns the place. Only downside was that the staff was not happy; got to hear lots of complaints on Sunday night when the owners were 'out'. Food was really good! Many options on which type of room you want. However, there are tons of cabins that can be rented in the area of Logan. Some of the cabins have stables where you can put your own horse or rent one. Canoes and rip line tours too.

Hiking -- fantastic caves, cliffs, and waterfalls. You can walk in the gorges with some of the sites having 'wheelchair accessible' concrete paths in the gorges at least most if not all the way. There are trails connecting the different sites as well as rim trails. In addition to the official Hocking Hills State Park, there are other 'metro parks' and 'preservation areas' which all have great hikes.

My favorite was the hiking. Met alot of interesting people; different ones on each trail. The Russians who have lived in Cleveland for ~ 20 years - a couple who had brought each of their parents/aunts/uncles/as well as kids. A man who had met his three grandsons the week before and was taking care of them for the week when his son was on his honeymoon. The two younger boys (around 12 and 9) hiked with me back from Rock House. The couple who had raised a trout in an aquarium and were contemplating how to set it free now that it was 1 to 1.5 feet long; they were worried that it would not know how to eat 'in the wild'. They also had a couple cats - one of which had 'gone fishing' in their other aquarium and enjoyed some exotic goldfish for breakfast.

Backbone Trail - National Forest Hector NY

Memorial Day was the perfect day for hiking. The selected trail was "Backbone Trail" - 5.5 miles one way; 'easy' category. The trail was also used for horseback riding so watching your steps was a requirement!

In general, the trail was very well marked and cleared except at the end. Was able to see cattle, wild turkey, and deer during the hike. (Hopefully it was not some type of hunting season since I did not wear ORANGE!!) Even the scenes of the pastures were relaxing.



Unfortunately, I was not able to finish the full trail. About 1/2 mile before the end, my hiking boot sole broke. It was a very long (and slow) hike back to my car. But I can highly recommend the area for hiking!!

Watkins Glen on a Holiday Weekend

Memorial Day holiday weekend was beautiful. Gave me the opportunity to bum around Watkins Glen one afternoon and to go hiking for a day.

For the afternoon of 'bumming', I parked a few doors down from the "Lake House" that I examined a few weeks ago. Nice easy walk to downtown Watkins from there - maybe 1/2 mile to 1 mile. Watkins Glen has alot more 'junk stores' than I would have guessed. One of them had every imaginable collectible item. They were slowly selling a collection from a landmark Elmira restaurant.

There are also alot of second hand clothing stores; antique clothing? One of them was the stop for a bridal shower party. The goal was to put together a wedding dress (complete!) for less than $100. The actual dress they selected had already been dry cleaned and fit perfectly. The shoes needed to be bleached first - they were a little grey from the dust I guessed. At the end, each person pitched in and the future bride decided she actually liked the dress much better than the one she had found at the dress shop!! Guess it was a good day for them.

After seeing one side of the street, stopped for a break at Wildflower Cafe. Something about that place -- nice music, very very relaxed waitstaff, and always good. More window shopping on the other side of the street before an early dinner at the Harbor. Good seafood!

A good day and more push to make an offer on the "Lake House" so I could enjoy the water, company, and walking to dinner often.

Balcony Flowers

When I decide to further postpone making an offer on a house, I decide I needed to make my apartment more of a home vs 'a place to sleep and store clothes'. The first step was to make my balcony beautiful! Here are the flower gardens that I planted this weekend. Now they just need to survive the frost tonight!

Ninth Graders of Fujian

Foreigners are still a rarity in parts of Fuzhou. As I ordered my lunch, the couple at the table near mine continued to turn around and stare. The three kids pointed and giggled. And the waitresses were skittish to come over. After a few minutes however, the brave kid decided that a single female foreigner must not be too dangerous. She (I cannot read her name in Chinese - will need to get someone to translate it for me later) sat down and talked to me for at least 30 minutes. As I told her, very brave! Here is the photo of her (bluish/greenish shirt) and her two classmates. We have exchanged emails so I hope that one day we will be able to chat again. Although she lives in the countryside, she visits her older sister (who lives in Fuzhou city) occasionally. Very interesting and nice kids.