Morton Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! We hope you, your family and friends are enjoying the holiday! Here are a few pictures from our "season". We have had a few very relaxing days leading up to this morning. David was off work all week - and that is always a BONUS for both of us! The girls are pelased with how we've spent our time and their presents. We are merrily playing along at this point in the day. Hope to hear from you soon. May all the blessings of the season be yours today and into the New Year. Gretchen - David - Ingrid - GraceDavid and Ingrid are enjoying some time with David's Dad - Lee. A great way to start the festivities. Gretchen caned this rocker for Janice. A rejuvinated old skill. Very rewarding to give new life to this beautiful old chair.
Christmas Eve we had a fancy 7-course dinner with friends. The kids all had fun - especially since we let them skip the grown-up courses to open presents. HEY - this is supposed to be fun after all. Prime-rib was the main course, with yummy appetizers, tomato soup from the celler stores (aka: the garden haul), a festive salad, cranberry-raspberry sorbet, and cookies for dessert at the Johnsons after Christmas Eve Services. The goal was to soil ALL the fine china and my Mother's silver flatware. We succeeded!

The girls got pretty new outfits from Grandma & Grandpa Morton. They wore them to church Christmas Eve. Oh - and let me introduce you to "Norky". He is the new boxer that Grace got from Aunt Sugar. The name is Gretchen's cousins ACTUAL Boxer's name from the 70's! Enjoy that one Cukars!

We are TOO cool in our new hats from Rochester!

Grace LOVES Norky!

Gretchen's sister INSISTED that the girls are NOT too big for TROUBLE! She was right. It was assembled and put together BEFORE breakfast! The fire is roaring - and we are warm and cozy.

After breakfast - the girls headed outside with Norky to enjoy what little snow that lay upon the ground. Norky is wearing his REAL dog collar and leash that the Johnsons gave him. Grace also got a neat dog bowl. Wonder if I'll need to start buying puppy chow any time soon!

While the girls played outside, David and I enjoyed our 17th Annual Christmas Breakfast of Eggs Benedict. Somehow it went together very easily this year. Maybe it was the new Panini Grill that everyone gave me. I did the muffins on it and made Ingrid a scrambled egg & cheese muffin. She most heartily approved!

One more show off! A good friend of mine, Lore, has inspired me to knit lace. This is a shawl I made for another good friend! It is wool - soft - and cozy. I think I'll be doing a few more of these - perhaps one with MY name on it! HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

David heads to the Adirondacks

David went for a hike in the high peaks today. He left home at 4:45 AM, but it was worth it to be the first one on the mountain that day. Shocked at how many people ended up being in there. This is the view of the mountains as you turn onto the access road towards the Adirondack Loj, taken about 7:10, just as the sun was coming up.
After climbing to the top of Tabletop Mountain (a LOT of ice on the way up - almost had to turn around at one point), the sun was up and everything was beautiful, especially with about 4" of nice white snow everywhere. Here is a nice view of Haystack (on the left) and Marcy, taken about 11:30. On the way back down, between the top and the marked trail (about 1 mile) he passed 24 people on the way up, and this is in October!)

On the way out the pond at Marcy Dam was still frozen over, about 1:45 in the afternoon. On the hill on the other side of the pond you can see a leanto overlooking the lake. David stayed in that same leanto in 1981 (and managed to set it on fire then, courtesy of the Peak 1 'explodo stove'.)

Chickens AND First Day of School

Here is is MOST of the flock. We have 5 hens from last year's chicks - and 11 grown chicks from those we got in March. 6 are laying (3 old ones - and 3 new ones)
Here is the REST of the flock. Working to make us some more eggs! Thanks Turkey (middle box) & no-name (NONE of this years chicks have names - yet)!

Here is Grace - FULLY LOADED - and ready to walk down to the bus with Gretchen.
Ingrid leaves just a tad earlier this year. The Middle School bus arrives at 6:50. David takes her down on his way to work. She too - was pretty loaded down on the first day. I think it funny - that w/o looking - I took Grace's picture in the EXACT same location that David took Ingrids!

SO far - Ingrid LOVE's middle school. We're off to a great start. She even went to her first dance this past Friday night! WOW - - Mom & Dad are NOT ready for this!

our 4H group has been up to a lot. Gretchen has been working hard with the other leaders to get the year off to a great start. Check out their happenings at www.tandskill.blogspot.com

FULTON Chain - Backpacking Trip

We found this great spot to canoe to. It's quite secluded - and we picked 2 quarts of blueberries. The jam is great - and NO - I'm not gonna share WHERE it is!
The kids like to swim -- we have campfires - - and pretend we own the place. It's just 15 minutes from home. PERFECT.

In late August we took a back-packing trip to the Adirondacks. Really went minimal on the packing. We're hoping to do a 90 mile canoe trek in 2 years. We did a nice little part of it. Nice to know we'll KNOW where ONE of the carries is. Read "An Adirondack Passage" (Christine Jerome) for a clue about what we plan to do. Here the girls "practice" their strokes!

Here we've traversed all of Eighth Lake - and FOUND the carry. A nice lean-to is between the girls shoulders up in the woods.

After we hiked to Browns Tract Inlet (w/o the canoe this time!!) we returned here to have a picnic lunch that we'd stashed in the woods!

Here we are trudging along the trail. This one is wide - it'll be easy to get the canoe thru here. However - it's about a mile long. We'll probably buy some "canoe wheels" to assist getting the 4 of us, 2 canoe's and our gear thru.

After a good bit of hiking and lunch - it was time for a swim in Eighth Lake. Just beautiful. I could stay there forever.

The girls signing in at a trail register. At the end of the carry - this back-water leads to Racquette Lake.. Nice. It's called Browns Tract Inlet.

One does need to take a break before hiking all the way back - don't-cha-know!

This Island is in the middle of 8th Lake. It has a lean-to on it, as does the shore to the right. I wanna be there NOW! This is were we saw loons diving and swimming all about. We heard their cries early in the morning while still in the tent.

What would camping be without marshmellows?

After we returned to the campground (between 7th & 8th Lake) - we attempted to paddle the stream connecting the two.A few little critters had different ideas. We went over 5 beaver dams before deciding it just wasn't going to happen. (we tried to get to the beach at 8th lake - from 7th). Those wheels are really going to have to happen so we can go AROUND some of these not-so-man-made obstacles!

After leaving the campsite on our 3rd day out - we drove around to find some of the other lakes - carries - post offices - libraries - eateries and camping areas. This is Buttermilk Falls. One that we will NOT BE TRAVERSING! It is between Forked Lake and Long Lake. Again - several lean-tos are along this stretch of water. Nice to know they are there. Maybe they'll be vacant when we need them. They are first-come-first-served. No reservations!

July 2009

Grace had a nice birthday celebration at Lorton Lake with her Grandparents.
Ingrid caught a fish.

and... so did Grace!

And.. they got to practice their new kayaking skills. THey went to 4H camp the week before and had just learned all about kayaking.. WOW - and Grandma & Grandpa had kayaks!

While the girls went to camp for a week - David & Gretchen did some inn-hopping and hiking and a bit of kayaking on the HudsonRiver. These pictures are from the Santanoni Great camp near Newcomb, NY. It is a 5-mile hike to get there. It is pristine. We saw wild river otters and loons. Just beautiful and a great day.

The old farm - - this place used to be self sufficient and had a huge staff to run it all.

On the GREAT porch.

I finished another quilt in July. THis is a bargello. It is for my best friend's daughter - who graduated from high school in May. First - it has to go to the fair.. (since I am dilenquent - I happen to know it got a blue ribbon!) Congrats Molly - you get a prize winner!

June 2009

Ingrid's first knitting project using a pattern. She donated this bear sweater & Hat to a project they do at school. It will be donated to a Ranch in the Adirondacks for Handicapped Kids. Nice Job Ingrid. A big party at Graftoon the last day of 5th Grade. Lots of rain - lots of smiles and good times.

And - the chickens are doing well. They like pecking thru the clovers of Summer.

Trying to Catch UP!

It has been a busy Winter/Spring for us. Thus - no blog posts in over 4 months! I'll try to do better for awhile here! So - trying to catch up here. I think there are at least 5 new posts including chickens, 4H, Easter & projects! In March Gretchen rented this HUGE cargo van and drove to Kansas City to help her Mother move to an assisted living apartment. It was a whirlwind trip - 2 days out - 3 days there - and 3 days back! The girls thought it was neat - and wanted to go along to play dog catcher. No dice! Gretchen made the trip to KC and back solo.
Here she is a week later - after we unloaded all the things she brought back from Kansas City and was en route back to the airport to return that &*($#@ van.

A few weeks later it was feeling like spring. We've decided to stay close to home and enjoy some of the sites nearby. One Sunday after church we went to see the Vanderbilt mansion. WOW - talk about the Guilded Age! Not our taste - - but the grounds along the Hudson River are gorgeous.

The front of the Mansion! all 54 rooms, and 30,000 square feet! And of all the Vanderbilt grandchildren (some 40 of these mansions were built) this is the SMALLEST ONE! However, it is pristine - having never been sold to another family - and has been in the NYS Parks Service for the last 50+ years. You can make out the girls on the "porch"!

Grace being sassy! She's getting pretty good at that!

4H Group

The girls (all 3 of them!) are really active in the 4H group - Rensselaer County Thrills and Skills. We do all KINDS of things. Here are 10 of the 16 kids involved after the Fashion Show just yesterday. They tie dyed the fabric & shirts to match, cut out patters and fabric, and then sewed their own shorts! We are really proud of all of them. They did a great job making the outfits and modelling them at Jo-Ann's Saturday.

A friend of another leader sent these cyprus bluebird house kits. Boy did we make a lot of noise in the school that night.
In February we made Refrigerator Rising French Bread. We did all the mixing and forming at the meeting - then each kid took one home to bake the next day. VERY YUMMY!

Here is one of the girls working on her shorts! Lotsa Concentration!