Category Archives: personal

Oh Yeah, We Tasted Wine

Posted on October 15, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

I just realized I neglected to make a blog post about my sister Cheryl’s and my stop at Montezuma Winery in Old Forge two weeks ago.  Me, neglect wine? Say it ain’t so!

Wine? Yes, please!

We have been to the original Montezuma Winery in the Finger Lakes, and I visited their tasting room in Cooperstown with my friend Kim.  I did not realize they were in Old Forge till Cheryl suggested we stop there.

I started with the Duck Duck Lam Goose Co.  It was just too cute a name to resist!  It is a red sparkling wine.  I do love a few bubbles!  I felt it smelled New Yorky, which to me is a great compliment.  Then I foolishly asked what grape it was.  Hello!  Lam Goose Co/Lambrusco?  Silly me!  (I even wrote “silly me” in my tasting notes).

I love a wine with a goose on the label!

I took tasting notes on the other wines I tried, but none of them are very descriptive.  Regular readers know that I rarely taste “notes” of anything, nor can I describe the “finish,” but I do like to come up with something a little more interesting than “good”  and “I like this one.”  My favorite was the V0luer 2023 Pinot Noir.  Cheryl tasted all different ones from me, because she likes sweet wines better. Of course we made the usual jokes about how she is sweet and I am not.

We finished up with Judd’s Grape Pie, a grape liqueur.  It was indeed grapey and very sweet.

I do love tasting wine.  I wonder if I can get anybody to go with me to the Finger Lakes any time soon.

 

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More Pixley Pics

Posted on October 13, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

Here are a few more pictures from Pixley Falls, my Friday adventure with my sister Cheryl.  We were happy to commune with nature.

Cheryl agreed to pose a couple of times.

There were several wooden bridges, some of them not actually over streams, due to the dry weather I suppose.

Lovely!

We were happy whenever we saw water flowing.  At least when the water is down to a trickle, you can see the rocks better.  Under the heading, Make a Virtue out of Necessity.

More water, different rocks.

 

With the bright sun shining through green leaves, I could almost believe it was summer.  However, the cool temperature and lack of bugs reminded me it was October.  I did not mind the temperature and I was quite happy about the lack of bugs.

A more dramatic pose.

I should have zoomed in more on Cheryl in this shot.  She took a dramatic shot of me but has not texted it to me or shared it on Facebook, so I cannot include it in the blog.  I feel it is just as well; I am far less photogenic.

I was really happy I had forsaken housecleaning for nature walking.  Being out in the woods is good for you on so many levels.  And I am sure it makes a better blog post.

 

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Pause for a Peek at Pixley

Posted on October 12, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

I pause in my Scattered Saturday gyrations to make a fast blog post about Friday’s adventure.  Fair Warning:  I took lots of pictures so will probably make multiple posts about Pixley Falls.

I had meant to spend Friday usefully employed in cleaning my house, but when my sister Cheryl called and invited me to join her in a trip to Pixley Falls, I changed my plans.  I hadn’t been there in years.  As we feared, the falls were less spectacular and the leaves less glorious due to the dry weather which has inflicted the Mohawk Valley this year.  However, we enjoyed being out in nature and had a lovely time.

I love the rocks.

I should perhaps mention that I put the pictures from my phone into WordPress in backward order, so today’s pictures are from the end of the walk.  You see, I am in kind of a hurry (more adventuring to be done and I am not properly dressed) and I am quite tired from this morning’s East Herkimer Fire Department 5K, and I just could not make myself sort through the pictures to pick the best ones.

Here’s a stairway to Heaven!

There were several upslopes on the path we walked, many of which had stairs put in with wood or stones.  We appreciated them, as well as nearby trees to grab onto.

A little falls!

I really enjoyed our walk/hike through the woods. I suppose a real hiker would call it a mere walk, but an old lady like me who is used to sidewalks will flatter myself by calling it a hike.

Stay tuned for more about Pixley Falls, and more pictures. I am hurrying back to my Saturday adventures.  Wish me luck on finding something to wear!

 

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Am I Ready for the 5K?

Posted on October 10, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

I thought I would make a quick post about the East Herkimer Fire Department 5K tomorrow, Oct. 11.  Regular readers may recall I am running in it and have been training for it.

From when I shared the logo in 2017.

I last ran the race in 2017, then it kind of fell off my radar.  I am not always in good running shape in the fall.  Many years this is about the time I am starting again and aiming for the Reindeer Run 5K in Little Falls in December.  Quite frankly, the only consistent thing about my running is its inconsistency.  Oh, and the fact that it is never particularly fast.

Me and Mookie Wilson.

I wanted to share a silly picture of myself.  This is from October 2020 when I was exercising for 34 minutes every day for 34 days to raise awareness for 34 million Americans with diabetes.  People were only doing virtual races at the time, due to COVID.  However, this is digressing from the East Herkimer Fire Department 5K, which I had meant to blog about.

The race is tomorrow!  Am I ready?  Regular readers are right to wonder!  I took a short run today but did longer runs on Wednesday and Thursday.

My only worry is getting lost along the way.  I tend to run much slower than the other runners and so lose sight of them.  I found the map from the 2017 run (it’s true: I never throw anything away) and tried to drive the route.  I got hopelessly lost after the turnaround, since it did not follow the same route back. I can only hope for signs along the way on the day for the race.

The race starts at 9 a.m. at the fire station, 193 Main Rd., East Herkimer, NY.  The station will be open at 7:30 a.m. Day-of-Event Registration and Sign-in will begin at 8 a.m. Pre-and post-race water and refreshments will be available. For more information, check out their Facebook page.

 

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I Wouldn’t Waste an Axe Murderess, Would I?

Posted on October 9, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

Regular readers may have noticed that daily blogging continues to elude me.  Ooh, there’s a slimy passive-voice way to put it, as if I am pursuing the goal, but the goal is too clever for me, when the fact is that it is my own efforts that fall short.  You can call me out on that if you like, but you see I have already admitted the fault.  In any case, having missed posting Sunday and Monday but refraining from calling attention to the fact (till just now), I sit on my couch on Thursday morning preparing to make a Waste Not Want Not Wednesday post.

Full disclosure: I did not look like this when I played Roxy.

You can’t read her name tag, but it says “Roxy.”  It is Roxalana Druse, who famously killed her husband and was hanged behind the 1843 Herkimer Jail in 1887.  I had the honor of playing Roxy in the play of that name presented by the Herkimer County Historical Society and Ilion Little Theatre in 2015 (long-time readers may have read some of my blog posts about it).  This Roxy is in Renewed and Rescued at Mohawk Valley Community Market.  I stopped in briefly yesterday but must return for a longer visit (preview of coming attractions).

Just hanging out!

Here is a friendly-looking fellow I encountered one of the mornings I was out looking for pictures to go with one of my Village Board stories for Sentinel Media.  I adore Halloween decorations!  I should take some more pictures and do a blog post of them (another preview of coming attractions?)

This woman did not kill her husband.

I guess I am veering into Non-Sequitur Thursday territory after an ax murderess and a skeleton.  This is Michelle, one of the bartenders at the Herkimer Elks Lodge wearing my tiara.  I wore it for a play I was in last summer (Four Old Broads on the High Seas, perhaps you read some of my blog posts about it).  I happened to wear it to the Lodge one day, I forget why, and Michelle wanted to pose with it.

Ooh, look at me, over 350 words.  I’m almost through my second cup of coffee too.  Time to go for my run.  The East Herkimer Fire Department 5K is Saturday.  I fear I have not been posting nearly enough about that!  Well, as I said in the first paragraph, I have not been posting enough period, at least by my standards for me.  But I thank you for tuning in when I do.

 

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More Old Forge Photos

Posted on October 8, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

I’ll just share a few more pictures from my day at Old Forge with my sister Cheryl.  We had a great time at the top of McCauley mountain, even hiking a short trail, which my old body found challenging.  Mostly I enjoyed the views.

Too bad about the colors this year.

There were a few good vantage points.  I would like to go back one year when the colors are brighter, but I certainly enjoyed what I saw.

Cheryl is the one in yellow.

Cheryl doesn’t usually like to pose for pictures, but she agreed to this one, because she is partially hiding behind the rock.  It is one of the rocks we encountered on the trail we walked.  A sign said it was about a 20 minute loop, but I neglected to look at my watch when we started so do not know how long it took.  There were some pretty good ups and downs, and my legs were feeling they had had a work-out when we finished, which was nice, since I had not gone running that morning.

I did not borrow a stick.

After coming down from the mountain, we walked around Old Forge, checking out a few of the shops. I did not take many pictures but could not resist a shot of a Stick Library.  I can’t help thinking one of those would be useful at the bottom of the trail, only bigger ones you can use while hiking.  Then again, maybe any Stick Library is not such a good idea.  I can get pretty annoying sometimes; somebody might use one to hit me with.

 

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More Parking Lot Commentary

Posted on October 5, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

Here are the last of the senior parking spaces from Herkimer Junior Senior High School.  I have not walked or run by them recently but may tomorrow.  I know, I could only wait till then and use these as part of a Running Commentary post.  However, I cannot count on myself to either run or comment.  OK, I can usually be counted upon to comment.  As you see.

Class president with a dog and a Bob Marley quote. Nice!

“Love the life you have; live the life you love.”  -Bob Marley.  I’ll have to put that on my to-do list.

Now this one is minimalist.

Just the essentials from Logan, I guess.

Who knew, when she was just a kindergartner?

My 12 years in school did not seem to fly by, but the years certainly are careening along now.

I do like the white on black.

Is that Sponge Bob?  I don’t recognize him when he is not in color.  Anyways, he is past my time.  I am Bugs Bunny generation.

I suppose those count as “comments from the Peanut Gallery.”  That used to be a big saying, “And no comments from the Peanut Gallery!”  meaning you didn’t want anybody to say anything.  I think the Peanut Gallery was on the Howdy Doody Show, but that was before my time.  That’s me, somewhere between Howdy Doody and Sponge Bob.  It’s better than a rock and a hard place!

 

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Up the Ski Lift!

Posted on October 4, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

Wednesday my sister Cheryl and I went to Old Forge, NY and up the ski lift at McCauley Mountain.  It was awesome!  We got there early, and it was not at all crowded. It was sunny, but the wind made it cool.  Luckily we had both worn sweatshirts.

Oh deer.

We saw some deer on the way up.  I was also admiring the rocks.  I confess I enjoyed riding the ski lift almost as much as I enjoyed looking at the views.

Is that Moose Lake? I suppose I should look these things up.

The colors were not as widespread and vivid as we had hoped.  We speculated that the dry summer was to blame.  However, there was still some color to be seen, and I enjoy looking out over a wide vista whatever the time of year.

On the way back down.

Going both ways on the ski lift, I greeted everybody going the other way.  There were more people going up as we went down than coming down as we went up. They all returned my greetings in a friendly fashion.

We spent some time at the top, even hiking a short trail.  I took more pictures, but regular readers know how I like to spread these things out (preview of coming attractions).  We had a lovely time and may make it an annual fall adventure.

 

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I Practice Art Interpretation

Posted on October 2, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

I just realized I had not shared all the senior parking space art at Herkimer Junior Senior High School.  As I frantically type prior to going out to breakfast with friends (preview of coming attractions), I will repair the omission, at least in part.

I can identify!

I loved that movie Clueless!  What year did it come out?  Too lazy to look it up, and perhaps this senior is not referring to that at all.  I am SO not up on current pop culture (it’s probably not even referred to as pop culture any more).

Oh, I get it!

At first I thought this was just minimalist, then I saw it is a pencil!  Clever!  Unless it is something totally else and I am silly, not uncommon for me, as regular readers know.  I am seeing a theme here of me having no faith in my ability to interpret art.

Pretty!

What’s not to like about this one?  My intent was to share three pictures, but I see I am well under my self-imposed minimum of 200 words.  A minimalist blog? Once I was accused of having Minimalist Monday, because I posted on Facebook:  “Long story, not very interesting.”

It is interesting to me how the words add up, because that little bit of nonsense put me over the top.  Good thing, because it is not Monday, and I am no minimalist (although I used to wear mini skirts) (I would imagine I still could; I have a pretty good set of gams, I can say without overly flattering myself) (preview of coming attractions?)

In any case, I thank my readers for tuning in.

 

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Good Apple Stuff!

Posted on October 1, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

Last weekend (before all the dog stuff went down), I had the pleasure of tasting the wares of Beak and Skiff at Valley Wine and Liquor in Herkimer, NY.  They were offering only a fraction of their many products, and I am now anxious to try more.

The first thing I tasted was the Honeycrisp Vodka.  Vodka made from apples instead of potatoes?  Interesting!  I liked it.  When I said it was seasonal, because of the apples, Kyle, the pourer, hasted to assure me it was available year round.  I am not a big vodka drinker, but this one could change my mind.

Kyle and I had a fun time tasting. Of course I did most of the tasting.

The same vodka with blueberries added was also good.  I also enjoyed the Pommeau, a French drink combining brandy and apple cider.  There was one wine, Honeycrisp Apple Wine.  I found it a good middle of the road wine: both dry and sweet wine drinkers could enjoy it.  The last thing I tasted was the Bourbon Cream Whiskey, 75% cream, 25% whiskey.  Yummy!  That would be so good in a cup of coffee!

Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards is located in Lafayette, NY.  Of course Mohawk Valley Girl was even more delighted to find she was sampling local products (yes, I talk about myself in the third person sometimes).   Lafayette being closer to Liverpool than Herkimer, I envisioned a visit to my sister Diane in the near future.   I think she would be delighted to visit Beak and Skiff with me and see what else they have to offer.

 

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