Night Time Football

A rainy weekend in Upstate NY; at least it was not a typhoon! A friend told me about a festival occurring in Mansfield, PA; a "1892" Party to celebrate the anniversity of the first night time football game. There was also a festival in the Addison area. Since I had been at Pinnacle State Park the previous weekend, I did not stop.

Not sure how many people stayed until the actual reenactment of the Night-time football game. I stayed to hear two of the many bands during the day. What I would consider the highlights of the event were a group of Red Hatters and the "Historian". The Red Hatters were obviously having a grand ole time. They rode in the wagons to the event, enjoyed the 5 cent lemonade - to which they added a little extra it appeared, and they definitely enjoyed eating the fantastic barbeque. The "historian" was a man whose father had actually been in the football game; if I understood his storytelling correctly! Unfortunately, I did not get any photos of either the Red Hatters or the "Historian".

There were a few good local vendors including one lady from Eastern Texas, now she and her family live in PA, that makes facial/body scrubs. Yes I bought two - one a rock salt base (Orange Vanilla) and the other a sugar base (Chocolate Brown Sugar) scrub. Another stall had home-made/handmade baskets. The unique thing was each basket had the name of the person who made it on the bottom. There was one made by a 11 or 12 year old boy - very nice workmanship! You can even order some special size and purpose baskets.

Pinnacle State Park

This weekend's hiking location was Pinnacle State Park located near Addison, NY. Same location as last weekend's location which was canceled due to weather. Since I was hiking alone, I did not take the longest route but next to the longest path; red trail rather than orange trail.

The scenery was nice, very different than the views at Taughannock. At the beginning (top) of the trail, you looked out at the valley. There were many beautiful fields of flowers. They brought back good memories of picnics.

I have noticed both here and at Taughannock Falls, the squirrels and chipmonks have very bushy tails -- based on folklore, this means we are in for a very snowy and very cold winter. Guess sometime in the next two weeks, I'll make sure I have good clothes for cold weather as well as finding what I will wear to the wedding.

All in all another place that I will go again. Next time, I will wait until the leaves have changed, bring a blanket, and if alone - a book.

Friends Week

The past two weeks have been great in terms of getting reacquainted with my friends! (And in the process regained 5 pounds.) Aside from catching up on stuff; I have learned that 50% of the lunch choice is been Thali but only about 30% of the dinner choices. I've even been able to spend time talking or email chatting with my friends in Taiwan and friends from college. Thanks to Greg for having hooked me up with Plaxo years ago. Now I just need to put in a true profile update at some point.

Thali is a very good restaurant on Market Street in Corning NY; Indian food. There is a second Indian restaurant that has opened on Market street closer to the Radisson Hotel. Looks like it had just opened - maybe this week. Also we found that another place (near the new Indian) has started having karaoke on Wednesday nights at 9 pm.

So now back to the McD diet - yes diet not "supersize me". Even started exercising again!

Night with Don Piper

Tonight I finally forgave myself. Maybe I should go back a few steps in the story ... For my whole life, I have always received at times "feelings"/ "thoughts"/ even dreams telling me what I should do. Honestly, there has only been one time that I ignored and that could only last 24 hours; it was 3-4 years ago and not what I will discuss here. (Maybe another time.)

On Friday, I had one of those "you must do" thoughts regarding going to hear a certain author speak. Just flashed in my mind when I was driving. So after searching to find where he would be and when, I decided to go tonight to hear Don Piper, author of "90 Minutes in Heaven". He was speaking at one of the local high school auditoriums.

I won't repeat his story here or what his speech regarded, read his book if you like. Just suffice it to say that I finally can forgive myself for not being there for JP, her husband, or her parents. JP said the whole time that she understood even when she was asking if we could go on a road trip. However, I have not been able to accept her forgiveness and have not been able to forgive myself.


I can only hope that I was able to do what she had asked of me ... treat her as normal and make her laugh. Won't forget talking to her from the airline lounge in Korea. She was telling me how bad chemotherapy was and how she wanted to quit; I was thinking that she had asked me to always make her laugh and how could I do that .... It just slipped out ... "If chemotherapy was fun, it would be a ride a Disney World." So there I was tears rolling down my face, trying to smile so she would not notice when I talked, making her laugh until she said it hurt, and having most of the other people in the lounge just staring at me.


All I can really say is that I thank her family from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to be there to say "see you later" to her. She was and will always be my best friend; the kind you can only make when you are young enough to always say what you think! The kind you miss when you just want to talk; or just be on the phone in silence. JP ... I did not forget your birthday and thank you.

Cross out "Hiking in the Rain"

Saturday September 13th was to be the 6.5 mile hike that was "exhilerating" due to the steep incline at the beginning. Spent time last night buying water-repellent to treat some old pants - not blue jeans - and buying 98% DEET spray to avoid ticks. Figured I had enough to do without getting Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever!

So now the pants are sprayed, stiff as all getout, and the smell is almost gone. The hike did not occur since thunderstorm were predicted. Actually, I was a little happy that the hike was cancelled or postponed. I was not looking forward to hiking in pouring rain and mud. Could do it if I had been caught out in the woods but knowing it was coming ..... kinda like staying in the known path of a hurricane! I may be stubborn but not stupid.

Singing at Simon's

Last weekend tried a Teppenyaki and Tapa's resturant in Horseheads area called Simon's. The Thai rolls with spicy peanut sauce were really good! However, the main reason that I tried the place was to check out the Karaoke which starts at 10 pm on Fridays. Wanted to compare it to those in Japan and the place I went to in Kentucky.

The crowd was about 20 people. I was told it was a much smaller group than normal; the employees thought it was because school had just started. Good setup, casual, and enjoyable. I'm not a singer but it was very relaxing and another woman agreed to sing a duet so I did not have to carry the tune alone!

As I listened to all the song that were sung, it made me start thinking "what causes a person to select a certain song"? Is it because it is the only English song that they know -- yes this was the case many times in Japan! Is it that the song brings back good memories? Or is it because a person has selected one or two songs, practiced so they are good, and those are "their songs"? (And yes, if you wanted to ask .... it is a female trait to analyze everything!)

There were many good singers and some, like me, just sang. In general, the atmosphere was good, the company quite enjoyable, and a place I will go again. But there are also a few others in this area to check out.

Waterfall of New York - not Niagra

What to do on a beautiful sunny day? Take a quiet hike on the north and south rim of Taughannock Fall. The waterfall is higher than Niagra Falls but as you can see, much less water. Beautiful area that I would highly recommend.

At times you feel that you are out west in one of the canyons.

One bit of advice ... unless you like to climb stairs ... go up the "south rim" and back down the "north rim". The overall hike distance is approximately 4-4.5 miles if you include the very easy portion along the water to the base of the falls.

All-in-all, it was a nice hike to begin enjoying all that Upstate NY has to offer.