Category Archives: personal

What a Hot Dog!

Posted on October 15, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

One of our most satisfying stops on Saturday was at Jerry’s Place in Hartwick, NY.  For those of you just tuning in, this is the latest in a series of posts detailing the various adventures Cheryl, Penny and I had last Saturday in the vicinity of Richfield Springs.

Earlier in the day when we talked about lunch, Penny said we could always stop at [a fast food place which shall get no plug from me].  I was not enthused as that food tends to sit like a lump in my stomach until it become extra flab.  Just as I was becoming hungry enough to consider it, we saw Jerry’s Place. Yay!

It was past the usual lunch hour, but we still had to wait in line.  I suppose the other people were out adventuring too.  Everyone was polite and nobody tried to cut the line (I wanted to, but Cheryl wouldn’t let me).  While we waited we checked out the vintage lunch boxes that line the walls.  I always notice something I haven’t seen before.  I also like the model vintage cars on display.

I ordered a hot dog, which I have been wanting since I saw my parents have them the last time I was there.  What a hot dog!  It’s huge.  It’s tasty.  The bun is soft and fresh.  Not just my stomach thanked me; my whole body thanked me.  I enjoyed the homemade chips as well.  Penny got a hot dog too,and Cheryl had a bacon cheeseburger.  We all got water, thinking the delicious milk shakes would be too substantial.

One might argue that a hot dog and chips could contribute to my flab as I feared the fast food would.  I suppose that may be true. However, I assure you it did not sit like a lump in my stomach in the meantime. It was a great meal.  We felt properly fueled up to enjoy the rest of our adventures.

Jerry’s is located at 6635 State Hwy 28, Hartwick, NY, phone number 607-547-1037.  For more information you can visit their website at http://www.jerrysplaceny.com/.  You can also Like them on Facebook.

NOTE!  After I hit Publish and went to share this on Jerry’s Place’s Facebook page, I saw that their last day of business for the year is Oct. 30.  Better hurry in!  I hope I can make it back there for one more hot dog.

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Me at the Museum

Posted on October 14, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Sometimes people are our best resources.  See: yesterday I ended on a profound statement; today I begin on one.

Twice now I have been to Richfield springs Historic Association Museum and Exhibit Hall, and both times I have been greeted by friendly, knowledgeable individuals who made sure I enjoyed the visit.  I foolishly did not get the name of the gentleman who was there last Saturday, but he showed us and told us a lot.

I think I mentioned in Sunday’s post how the volunteer motioned me in to get warm when I was on Main Street looking for Cheryl and Penny and how we had a nice visit once inside.  I’d just like to mention a couple of specifics.

The Association recently acquired a collection of newspaper and magazine clippings from a library that is going digital. Our guide said, and I agreed, that it’s good to keep the paper, because computers can crash.  I pointed out that it was also good to have the computers, because paper turns yellow and eventually falls apart.  That’s one reason I find history so fascinating: eventually everything seems to disappear.

One artifact I especially liked was a very old pair of glasses, the kind with no temple pieces.  They were rimless with only a nose piece and a hole in the side for a ribbon.  The original case showed that the glasses came from the jewelry shop that used to be in the very building which houses the museum.  The jewelry story sign, which is in the shape of a clock, is also on display.

The museum is located at 134 West Main St., Richfield Springs, NY.  Phone number is 315-858-0027. They are open from noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays from May to mid-October, or by appointment. No admission is charged, but donations are gratefully accepted.  You can visit their website at www.richfieldspringsmuseum.org.

 

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All About Me at Finders Keepers

Posted on October 13, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I’m not one to shop as a fun activity, but I do enjoy a good “everything” store.  Finders Keepers in Richfield Springs, NY is one of the best.

I first stopped there almost by accident one Saturday.  Steven and I were strolling down Main Street waiting for the museum to open.  Sometimes these second-hand stores are almost a museum by themselves. You could spend hours looking around this one.

We did not spend hours, but we enjoyed picking our way through the crowded store, admiring a variety of items ranging over decades:  glassware, figurines, books, furniture and more.

I thought Finders Keepers might make a good subject for an article for Mohawk Valley Living.  With that in mind, I returned to Richfield Springs last Saturday.  This time I brought my sister Cheryl and friend Penny.  I almost forgot to talk to the lady that owns the place, because once again I got absorbed in looking around.  I had to tear myself away from the books, but not before I had found three to buy.  I picked out some post cards as well.

I did end up having a nice chat with the owner. I told her my plans to write an article. She was OK with that but said she was not one to call attention to herself or seek out publicity.

“Well, my articles are usually about me going to these fun places,” I explained, “so, really it’s mostly about me.”

That made her feel a little better.  I am fond of going around saying, “It’s ALL about ME!” but I guess it isn’t really true.  After all, it wouldn’t be much fun to be me if it wasn’t also about fun places to go and nice people to hang out with.  So I guess it’s really all about me and her and other people and places… oh, and you, my readers.  How’s that for a profound note to end on?

Finders Keepers is located at 138 W. Main St., Richfield Springs, NY 13439.  Phone number is 315-858-9633.  Hours and days vary.

 

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Sunday Story about Scattered Saturday

Posted on October 12, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Instead of my usual Wrist to Forehead Sunday, I shall give a Preview of Coming Attractions in the form of a brief overview of my Saturday adventures.  I would like to write a full post about each stop, and I may yet do so.  For now, a brief summary will have to do.

I wanted to go to Finders Keepers, a second-hand store in Richfield Springs, NY, because I was writing about it for Mohawk Valley Living magazine.  My original plan had been to drive there on my own, feeling like an independent, take-charge kind of woman.  Then I talked to my sister Cheryl and asked if she and her friend Penny (Penny is my friend, too, I hope) would like to join me.  They would!

After our stop at Finders Keepers, on Main Street in Richfield Springs, I briefly lost Cheryl and Penny, because they had left the store while I was chatting up the owner.  They felt chilly, so walked down to the park to enjoy some sunshine and the Farmer’s Market.  I did not see them so walked down to the Richfield Springs Historic Association Museum and Exhibit Hall looking for them.  Then I thought to myself, “Silly, she has a cell phone and so do you!”  (I talk to myself in the second person sometimes.)

A volunteer in the museum motioned me into the building, telling me to come in and get warm.  Cheryl and Penny soon joined me, and we had a nice visit.  I did not get the volunteer’s name, which was too bad, because he shared a lot of stories with us.  He also knew that I had played Roxalana Druse recently in the play Roxy.  I thought that was pretty cool.

Next we went to The Mystical Dragonfly at 8531 St. Rt. 28.  This is a store of mystical and metaphysical things.  We purchased some stones which are supposed to have specific healing properties.  They also offer such services as tarot card readings, past life consults, paranormal clearing and psychic medium sessions.

I was quite hungry after this and hoping to stop at a winery, so I was very happy when we got to Jerry’s Place, where we have eaten before and enjoyed very much.  Feeling comfortably full, we headed out Goose Street in Fly Creek.

We bypassed the Fly Creek Cider Mill, which was having an event so was extremely crowded, and went to Pail Shop Vineyards, which I have also written about before.  From there it was a slightly longer drive to Rustic Ridge Winery in Burlington Flats, but well worth the trip.

We bypassed Dyn’s Cider Mill twice, which I am a little sad about, because I’m running out of their popcorn.  I would like to purchase some more before they close for the season.  Then again, why not take another drive out that way?  It is a beautiful area.  Even if we had not made any stops, I would have enjoyed the trip.

Today at church, Cheryl pointed out that I now had at least seven topics for blog posts. I count six stops.  Oh, wait, there’s also today.  No reason at all to have my wrist to my forehead!  Just another warning:  next Saturday, I might go adventuring with Cheryl again.

 

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The Most Boring Post Yet?

Posted on October 11, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Yesterday when I ended with the threat that I was going to publish The Most Boring Post Yet for comparison purposes with yesterday’s nonsense, I bet a lot you thought I was just kidding.  Well, maybe I was, and yet, here we are.  I worked this morning then had a lovely afternoon of adventuring.  I just don’t darn well feel like composing a blog post right now.  So, pretend it is still Friday and read:

Is it time for another Lame Post Friday already? Oh dear. I am having the worst case of Writer’s Blank I have had in a long time. At least, I seem to remember writing that I had one recently. Was it a Tired Tuesday or a Wuss-out Wednesday? I can’t possibly go back to previous posts and check.

I could write a cooking post. I have some bean soup on the stove which is tasting pretty good. My problem is I am a little bored with my cooking methods. I seem to always start with chopping up an onion and putting it in some oil to cook, then crushing up some cloves of garlic and letting them breathe (or whatever it is they do) for fifteen minutes (and I usually use the line “breathe (or whatever it is they do)”). One night last week, I asked Steven to cook because I just couldn’t face chopping that onion and putting it in oil to cook.

And now I feel silly for railing against it, because onions cooked down in oil is a very good start to many recipes. Still, how many times can I write about it? I need a new technique.

My overarching problem today is that I am in kind of a down mood. That is a rather distressing state of affairs on a Friday, for a Monday through Friday worker such as myself. I think it is reasonable to expect a lightening of mood when I do not have to be at work tomorrow. Not that my job is so burdensome, but I’m sure you know what I mean.

This is the worst post I have written yet. I can’t publish this. I will save it as a draft and try something else.

Back to the present time:  now that I read this again, it is not so stinking bad, is it? I wonder what else was in that bean soup.  I’d like to make it again.

 

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Second Most Boring Post Yet

Posted on October 10, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Wow, that was a boring post.  Not yesterday’s, although I suppose some found it boring (you don’t have to tell me if it was you).  Not having written anything earlier today (except part of a letter to a friend) and feeling rather blank, I looked into my Drafts and saw, “The Most Boring Post Yet.”  Damned if I wasn’t right!

Although I guess today’s is bidding to become a close second (I KNOW at least one of you just said or thought that).  I did not have a headache today, for which I am extremely grateful.  However, these all-day headaches often leave me somewhat brain-dead the next day (cue unkind remarks about how my brain is not the most lively under the best of circumstances).

Then again, it is Lame Post Friday.  I almost always post lame on Friday, even when I have to work on Saturday (which I do this week, by the way).  It is usually my day of random observations and half-baked philosophy.  Let’s see if I can come up with any of those.

I have been making a lot of… not “real” post lately.  Call them lame, call them foolish, call the ridiculous (I know I have used all those descriptions).  The fact is, they have not been about specific Mohawk Valley events, places, or adventures.  I can offer the usual excuses:  I’ve been busy, I’ve been tired, I’ve been down.  If I was really clever I could offer some half-baked philosophy about why this is true or even why it is all right.  And here we come to the ugly truth about me:  not very clever (and those of you saying you already knew that, please shut up) (you know who you are).

Sorry, folks, I got nuthin’.  But I’m going to publish it anyways, because I don’t think I can come up with anything better.  Tomorrow maybe I’ll post The Most Boring Post Yet and you can compare/contrast.  Happy Friday, everyone.

Oh, but here’s a question:  since I have not published The Most Boring Post Yet yet, does that make this The Most Boring Post Yet?  Discuss amongst yourselves.

 

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Non-Sequitur Sick Day

Posted on October 9, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

On the brighter side, I haven’t had a headache in a long time.  On the darker side, there’s Darth Vader.

I am attempting to write my blog post while on a break at work, so that I merely have to type it in later, when I will be pressed for time if not brain power.  I am a little pressed for brain power now, in case you hadn’t noticed.  Unable to come up with anything of substance, I fall back on trying to be funny.

I’ve always tried to be funny.  It’s fun, it sometimes gets you friends, and it can cover up a load of insecurities.  Of course there are those times when the humor falls flat or you get accused of trying too hard or being inappropriate. Nobody’s perfect.

My headache is getting worse.

That is when I stopped writing and went back to work.  I felt fairly bad-ass for powering through a migraine.  At least, I felt that I was bad-ass, which is not quite the same thing.  What I actually felt like was Westley in The Princess Bride after Count Ruger has sucked five years of his life out of him on that torture machine (I’m just going to assume we’ve all seen that movie numerous times and and quote all the best lines).

Full disclosure:  I am in fact NOT pressed for time right now as was earlier predicted, because I called the director of the play I am stage managing (Lunch Hour at Ilion Little Theatre) and told her I was ill.  So it is a stage manager’s sick day as well as a blogger’s sick day.

It ought to be Non-Sequitur Thursday.  Unfortunately, except for that lame Darth Vader joke in the first paragraph, I’m afraid I’m kind of… sequential.  Not consequential, mind you.  However, as a consequence of my migraine, I’m going to go sit on the couch and relax.  Hope to see you on Lame Post Friday.  Have fun storming the castle!

 

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Overwhelming Temptation

Posted on October 8, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I am going to have a Wuss-out Wednesday and I am not going to apologize.  Maybe I will apologize.  Or maybe it will be too much trouble even to do that.

Oh, quit playing that imaginary violin.  Like you never got tired at the end of a long day!  Get over yourself!  Or don’t get over yourself.  I am trying to avoid telling other people what to do, although one must admit, sometimes the temptation to do so is overwhelming.

I  worked a ten-hour day today, and it was one of those days where the tenth hour was tacked on at the end.  Why is it that so much more tiring than going in two hours instead of one hour early?  That may be a good question for some half-baked philosophy on Lame Post Friday.  Will I even make it to Friday?  I suppose there is no reason to fear I will not, but the temptation to express myself dramatically is sometimes overwhelming.

Leaving work an hour later than usual, I nonetheless headed to the laundromat, something of a nemesis to me these days.  Perhaps I could have gone out and bought new underwear, but I was running out of clean everything else as well.  I started late enough that I was not finished when Steven got home from work.  He called me on my cell phone then drove to Ilion to join me.

Naturally the temptation to send out for food was overwhelming.  Steven called Sorrento’s, which is right across the street from the laundromat.  Unfortunately, we were done folding and our food was going to be 45 minutes.  Now what?  Sorrento’s does not have a bar where we could sit and have a drink while we waited.

“There’s Crossway’s Tavern,” I suggested, not thinking Steven would go for it.  Steven went for it.

As we sat at the bar at Crossways, I said I would write a blog post about it.  However, now that we are home, in our comfy clothes and have eaten,  all I really want to write is a Wuss-out Wednesday.  The temptation to do so is, as you might guess, overwhelming.

 

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What I Meant to Post Last Thursday

Posted on October 7, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

For this week’s Tired Tuesday, I present the Running Commentary I wrote but did not fully type in last Thursday (perhaps you read my post about my computer tribulations).  In fact, I had meant to run today and write about that but instead stayed at work an extra hour.  I can use the cash.  Now I am pressed for time but managed to finish typing in what I wrote last week. I always say, waste not, want not!

Regular readers and well-wishers may be happy to hear that I started running again.  According to my Running Journal I have not gone since Aug. 3.  Yikes!  How mortifying to admit it.  I suppose it is possible that I went once and did not note it, but the fact remains: I waited TOO long to begin again.  However, regret is a profitless venture.  I ran and now I shall write about it.

When  I left work Wednesday, it was near perfect running conditions.  The rain had stopped and mostly dried up.  It was neither too cool nor too hot.  There was even cloud cover, so the afternoon sun would not get in my eyes.

“It would be flying in the face of fate not to run,” I remarked to the colleague I was walking out with.  Kind of like not taking the elevator when it is right there open and your feet hurt.

I had rehearsal at 6:30 as well as a blog post to write, a shower to take and the usual problem of finding something to wear.  I mentally calculated how long these things would take and figured a twenty-minute run with ten-minute cool-down would be fine.  Oh, I also had to find something to eat.  No doubt all these things could be worked out.  What I could NOT do was get on the computer for a quick check of Facebook and email before I did anything else.

I know some of you are saying with a disdainful sniff that you NEVER get on Facebook and you have NO problem eschewing all forms of electronic distraction.  Well, that’s nice for you.  The rest of my readers are nodding wisely in agreement (with me).

I still almost talked myself out of it.  I was hungry!  I had rehearsal!  The other part of me said, Flying in the face of fate! and Oh, just do it!  So I did.

And it wasn’t bad at all.  My first feeling as I started shuffling along was one of triumph.  I was RUNNING!  (Yes, what I do counts as running!  Shut up!)  I was going to post as my Facebook status, “I ran!”  I would probably get lots of Likes.  Perhaps it is a product of my low self-esteem, but I love to get Likes on Facebook (I like to get Likes on WordPress too.  Just saying).

The run continued to feel pretty good.  My knees felt a little sore but not sore enough to stop me.  I figure running will help me lose weight and weighing less will help my knees more than anything else.  In fact, I was feeling skinnier already.

I was happy to note some patches of brightly colored leaves as I ran.  I’ve seen some leaves changing, but they seemed more brown than anything else.  I was delighted to see bright orange, my favorite.

The run was going pretty well.  My legs felt OK (other than the knees), my breathing was fine, even my feet didn’t hurt much, which was surprising because they had been aching all day at work.  I blame the steel-toed work shoes, although I was happy enough for them the day I dropped a pan of metal parts on my foot.

I ran for the twenty minutes I had set out to do.  I walked nine minutes for my cool-down, because that was how long it took me to get around the block.

I had plenty of time to make my blog post by virtue of having written most of it during breaks at work.  I did not have time to fix myself something to eat but made do with a few pieces of cheese supplemented by a candy bar purchased from Ilion Little Theatre Club at rehearsal.

Do you suppose the candy bar cancelled out the run as far as my weight loss goals are concerned?  If so, that would be unfortunate.  On the other hand, the candy bar tasted really good and helped me get through rehearsal.  Also, it is better than if I ate the candy bar and did not run, so I’ll call the glass half full and not of diet soda (I HATE diet soda!).

I felt happy with my little run and especially happy to be writing a Running Commentary.  I may have been happier yet if I could have published it the same day I originally wrote it, but this is nice too.

 

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Multiple M Monday

Posted on October 6, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

“The weather is going to stick around.”  –Bill Kardas, WKTV Weather.

I think he meant that the GOOD weather is going to stick around, but Steven and I were amused by the way that disembodied quote looks. And the word “disembodied”  to me has a distinctly Halloweenish sound to it.  It brings to mind disembodied heads and hands.  Nice.

If it was not already obvious, I am having a Mental Meanderings Monday.  It was either that or a long Monday Moan, and who wants to hear more of my belly-aching?  Not me!

Soon I must run to rehearsal for Lunch Hour, the first show of the Ilion Little Theatre 2015-16 season (yes, yes, I have mentioned it before; it bears repeating).  First Steven and I have to help with a little project for the Herkimer County Historical Society.  I’ll just be a little mysterious about that for now (Mysterious Monday?  I like that, too).

As the month progresses, I shall also be preoccupied with Steven’s and my Halloweddinganniversaweenary Party.  I thought it would be fun to mention the name.  I made it up myself. Oh dear, I do hope all of my followers weren’t hoping for an invitation.  That would make it a larger party than I have resources for.  Not as large a party as SOME bloggers would have.  I say it with jealousy but also with respect.

And now I’m getting silly (Malarkey Monday?),  but I am over 200 words, so I can sign off now with a relatively clear conscience.  Hope to see you all on Tired Tuesday.

 

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