California Here We Come

We left Northville yesterday about 11:30 a.m.

It was snowing hard, roads were good all the way

to Johnson City/Endwell. Arrived at Scott's around

3:30, our first stop on our long adventure.

Scott and Kathy's House in Johnson City

Larry, Jessie and Scott

Mocha and Megan

It was a nice surprise for us that while we were there,

Megan arrived home from college for her Winter Break.

After supper/pizza at Scott and Kathy's, our second stop was at

our friends, Anita and Dick Shipway. We parked our MH in their

driveway for over night. It's always a pleasure to spend time with them.

While at Shipways' we called our friends Jane and Si Baldwin

...good to chat with them.

Dick, Anita, Me and Larry

Sunday morning breakfast at the Acropolis Restaurant in Endicott

After bfast they left for church and we started on our 2nd day of our

journey Westward.

One more picture

We have our two cat with us again. Landfill adjusts so well to whatever,

but it takes awhile for Little One.. L. O. is still a little freaky. Not a happy

camper....yet. Here is Landfill on our bed

Hi Stephanie, I'll see you soon. Not sure I'm going to like your cat,

maybe you better not tell him about me. (Landfill)

We had a good trip to day...we're staying in Carlisle, Pa tonight.

Going to visit a friend at the C & M A Senior Home in the

morning before we head out for Ohio.

Local Historical Book

The book I complied for the Barney/Leonard Family

At long last a limited edition of Blanche Barney Leonard's

 book has been completed. It tells the story of her life and

 contains pictures of her early days of growing up  in the Edinburg,

 New York area. For years it was her dream to publish this book.

She finally had most of it written before she passed away in

1993. Daughter, Betty Ginter, also worked with her to see the

 book's completion. Finally, through the extensive efforts

 of Gail Cramer of Northville the finished product was  printed in

Gloversville and is now ready for distribution at $20.00 per copy.

 It is being offered to family members and to a select group on a

"first come first served" basis due to the limited number of copies

printed.      Richard Leonard, son of Blanche

(There may be a second printing)

A Week with the Gkids

"Winter Break"

It's always a privilege to have gkids come to stay.

I miss the ones that can't come any more..how  dare

they grow up, get jobs, go to college, get married etc.

Oops, I did that too and that's what they are suppose

to do, but I miss them coming for vacations.  You

will note though that they do visit once in awhile.

A picture below shows that they do honor us with

 their  presents when they have some extra time.

Gpa plowed off part of the pond for the girls.  It was rather

rough, but they had a good time anyway.  The chair helps

until you start feeling more confident.

Don't know what was with wearing that hat in the house!!!

Sharah and Bruce stopped by to see the kids and have lunch with us.

Kenzie and Katie

Yesterday we met Sue in Richfield Springs,

after some hot chocolate etc at Stewart's, Sue left

for home and Kenzie and Katie came home with us

for the week. They have a list of thing they want

to do this week. One is to make cookies with Gma.

It took a little longer to mix them up, especially

when I told Katie to turn the mixer on very slow.

She turned it on full blast....flour went everywhere.

She was so surprized.. "I'm sorry Gma". Then we laughed.

Kenzie helped too, as you can see.

Kenzie on my exercise ball.

More to come as the week progresses

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE

Today is our eldest son's 53rd birthday.

So many great memories bringing Steve up.

He's the jokester of the family.

He has many great qualities and accomplishments.

If I could pick his most outstanding quality,

I'd say Fairness. 

Steve's accomplishments are many including

a successful career, but his success for being a

Great Father to his two daughters 

is an outstanding accomplishment. 

Steph and Abby are fortunate to have you as their Dad.

We are thankful  for you, Steve.

Sacandaga Book Discussion

At the Northville Library

We've been meeting since September. A group

of ladies from our town who are interested

in reading selected books and discussing them.

Not everyone is there every months so we average

about 10 each time. We chose the books, and the

librarian orders them from other libraries so that we

all have a copy.  We have very lively interesting discussions.

The latest book we did was a couple short stories by Falkener

"Rose" and "Spotted Horses"

We've also read, "Water for Elephants"

"Guersey Literary and Sweet Potato Pie"

"Mohawk" and "Great Gatsby". Coming

up next month is "Adirondack Portraits"

which I've already read.  I'm sorry that

I won't be there for the discussion.

A real treat for me is that an old high school

friend is in the group so afterwards her

and I go out for lunch. Marge and I graduated

in the same H.S. class.  She was dating a guy from

our class and so was I.  We use to double date with

them.  Both couples eventually married.

Weekend in Springfield, Mass.

Hello Gail? Hey this is Andrew. What are you guys

doing this weekend?" Uhhhhhhh, not much that we can't cancel.

Mary, the girls and I are going to Springfield, Mass for

the weeknd. Want to go with us? I have enough

points to pay for your room. We'll be staying at the

Sheridan Hotel...we'll have a great time. Sure, we'd love to.

So Saturday morning we left..the K's and the C's

See below, as we're leaving Sunday afternoon.

Anna and Jennifer in the front

Larry, Me, Mary and Andrew in the back

(Click on picture to enlarge)

It was a fun - relaxing weekend. I even got talked

into having a massage. Now that could get habit forming.

It was a beautiful hotel with many amenities that we took

advantage of. Mary and Andrew won the Catch Phase

game, but just wait til next time, now that we've caught on.

We decided that Mary and Andrew were the winners,

Jennifer the MVP, Larry and Anna were the craziest

and me, well I tried real hard.

Thanks Kovalovich's for inviting us.

We had a great time.

Sharing Local History

It's so easy to talk about something you love.

Prior to sharing with them, there was a nice

luncheon at BCON or Pink Chicken, as the

youth group calls it. 

As town and village historian the Sr. Citizens group

in Northville invited me to talk about local history.

I showed many slides of old Northville and gave

an outline beginning with the settlement of Fish House

in 1762. After the Rev. War, in 1788,  Samuel Olmstead

arrived by canoe up the Sacandaga River where he

built a small shack along the riverbank, then exploring

the area that is now Northville, he sent for his family.

That was the beginning of our village of Northville.

They've asked me to come back and share more

history with them.  There are so many areas of

local  history, I'm sure I could teach a semester

of classes on it.