Week of Sunday April 28th 2024 through Saturday May 4th.

 SUNDAY:  I met up with Connie at her place.  I was disappointed to find that her trailer is still not organized and still has boxes and items piled all over, but there is one section in her living room where shelving has been installed and the shelves hold lots of items, which IS an improvement. She suggested that we go for a walk and said she would take me to a new place she has found.  It turned out to be FORTIN PARK, which I have been to in the past, at least once with her.   We parked and walked in on the wide, well-maintained path.  We saw a trail off to the left and decided to walk down it.  We walked as far as we could, until it ended and then we walked back to the wide path.  We walked further into the park and were sitting on a bench when two men with a dog walked in the same way we came.  They turned out to be GEOCACHERS who were carrying ammo cams, with plans to hide them for the State Park Challenge.  Their dog was wearing a vest with a trackable number on it.  I know one of them (Softball) from my years of geocaching in the Oneonta area, but I did not recognize the other fellow.  We chatted for several minutes, and Connie enjoyed petting and talking to the dog.  

  Then we went to Cabin Pizzeria (which used to be Pondo's) and purchased sandwiches for our lunch and took our food to Wilber Park where we found a picnic table and had lunch and then walked a short circular trail. Then I suggested that we go to Southside Mall to walk around a bit, and I could see which stores are in the mall now.  We both liked a certain store which offered donated items to be purchased, with proceeds going to an animal shelter.  Neither one of us found anything we wanted.  Connie was getting tired, so she found a bench to sit on and wait while I walked all the way down to the end of the mall.   I talked with these guys who are somewhat associated with Community Gospel Church. 

They prayed for me, and then I went to get Connie so they could pray for her.  She seemed to appreciate it.  We returned to Connie's place.  She asked how long it had been since we finished lunch and I told her two hours, so she said she guessed she could take a nap, so I decided it was time for me to leave and return to Mary's house.  

MO and I went to Brooks for their buffet for our supper.   I had chicken and Mary had the salmon.  There are a lot of choices on the buffet including ice cream and puddings.  I wish Brooks had stayed the way it was before COVID, it was much better and nicer to be waited on and served at our table, but I think they made a good decision when they changed to buffet.  We spent the evening at Mary's house watching FoxNews. Mary built a fire in her fireplace and it was very nice.  I called Linda and left a reminder message for our breakfast tomorrow at Denny's and I called Vera and we agreed that I will pick her up after I am done with having breakfast with Linda.

MONDAY:  I met up with Linda

at Denny's for a late breakfast.  We both had omelets, which were huge and very good.  Linda treated and I left the tip.  Honestly, Linda and I do not have a lot to talk about anymore, since she has retreated from wanting me to convert to Catholicism.  We had a nice time together anyways, and I invited her to try to plan a trip to Lockport. Then I picked Vera up. I asked her if she needed to run any errands and she said no, so I brought her to Mary's place.  We three visited for a while and Vera enjoyed seeing the horses.  We decided to go to THE FROG POND in Bainbridge.  Mary drove.  We all made purchases and then we went to the bulk food store in Bainbridge where we all made purchases and we each purchased a sandwich.  We found a picnic table and ate our late lunch, and then we headed back to Oneonta, via Route 7.  Mary and I were planning on having ribeye steaks tonight for supper, but I suggested that we have some of the leftover food in her frig:  pasta with sausage, my leftover eggplant parm with pasta, the leftover salad and pizza from the restaurant meal on Saturday, and the last large piece of blackberry pie.  She agreed.  I talked with Stephanie McAdams on the phone and she said her mother would love to see me, and confirmed the name of the nursing home Judy is living in. ROBINSON TERRACE in Stamford.

TUESDAY April 30th (the last day of April 2024) I drove to Stamford to visit Judy at the nursing home she lives in.  We had a great visit for about two hours, reliving memories and updating each other on news of our families.  When Judy's lunch arrived (it looked very good), I excused myself and told Judy that I was going to go out and have lunch and that after that I would pick up ice cream for both her and I.  I found a nice diner for lunch. Tps Diner.  I had one of the specials, a half a panini (ham, bacon and cheese) which came with onion rings, and I added a cup of split pea soup.  Service was kind of slow, but the food I ordered was very good, and there was a lot of it, so I did not finish it.  I purchased two medium size cups of "twist" custard from a different place and returned to Robinson Terrace.   Judy thoroughly enjoyed her ice cream, and so did I.  I only stayed about a half an hour.  On the way back to Oneonta, I saw an interesting farmstand, so I stopped and took a picture.

  When I got back to Oneonta, I went to Annuito's and purchased two baking potatoes, a half a pound of beet/onion salad and a slice of chocolate roll and a slice of carrot cake roll.  When I got back to Mary's she was still out, getting her hair cut.  I was really exhausted and I took a nice nap.  When I got up, Mary was home.  She prepared two ribeye steaks, and we had them with the beet salad and potatoes.  The steak was very tasty!  Neither one of us wanted to have desert.  We watched the student protests at Columbia University in New York City on FoxNews.  Right now it is a little after nine thirty p.m. and police are entering the building that students have taken over (Hamilton Hall).

WEDNESDAY May 1st, 2024

Early this afternoon, Mary and I headed to Herkimer to go to the Herkimer Diamond Mine.  Neither one of us had never been there.  Carol and I stopped there and went thru the store and the museum several years ago, but did not go to the diamond mining area.  A couple of days later, the store/museum was destroyed by fire.  Before going to the mine, we stopped and bought lunch from a Burger King in Herkimer (we each had a Jr. Whopper Meal),  The first thing we did when we arrived at the mine was to explore the area outside of it, and reading the informational signs.  Then we went into the store and museum and looked around and purchased admissions ($18.00 each) and watched a brief slide show. Then we went into the mining area.  They had given us hammers and sluice bags to collect anything we found.  Mary was nervous about at breaking rocks open because her glasses are so small, but my sunglasses are pretty large, so I broke open many rocks, but really did not find anything. Here is a pic of Mary getting ready to smash a rock. (but she was posing at my request).

 One of the professional miners offered me a couple of crystals he found but did not want, so I got those! I think we were out in the mine area for about 50 minutes or so.  We returned to the store and turned in the hammers.  Mary made several purchases. I bought a three dollar ring and a small storage jar to put the crystals in. Then we headed back to Oneonta, only stopping at Stewart's in Herkimer for ice cream sundaes.  I had the feeling that Mary was not at all enthusiastic about preparing supper (which would have been steak and salad) so I asked her if it would be possible to order a pizza and have it delivered and I would pay for it.  She said that if I ordered it and paid for it, she would go into Oneonta and pick it up. So that is what we decided to do and we had Alfresco's pizza and their house salad.  So, that worked well and Mary got her groove back.  LOL

THURSDAY May 2, 2024

I left Mary's place at about 8:35 a.m. I drove through West Oneonta, W. Laurens, Morris etc. heading to Route 20.My first stop was at the WATERVILLE AMERICAN LEGION on Route 20.

  I needed to get some air and walk around a bit.  I noticed a narrow, low building in the back that had some beautiful stone work, so I took a few pictures. 

 

I stopped at a McDonalds and had lunch at 11:30 and then continued on.  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the flowering trees in Auburn and there was one place where I was able to stop and take a few pictures.

  I turned north a little past Auburn (towards Weedsport.) and got on the thruway. I stopped a couple of times on the thruway, one time I took a brief nap. When I got back to Lockport, I decided to drive through COLD SPRINGS CEMETERY to see the flowering trees and take pictures. 

My car did a couple of strange things for a minute or two, so I cut that visit short and went straight home, arriving right around four p.m.  First thing, I started a load of laundry.  Then I sorted through my mail.

FRIDAY May 3rd:  I slept pretty good last night.  I wasted a couple of hours in the morning, but I was labelling pictures in my flickr account.  I called Amy Gogel of Heritage Christian Services.  I continued unpacking from the Oneonta trip.  I went out to go to Dollar Tree to get a birthday card for Megan and pick up a prescription and I decided to have lunch at TACO BELL:  a Crunchwrap Supreme.  I spent the rest of the afternoon at home until it was time to get ready to go to the LOCKPORT CHORALE event. 

I purchased ten dollars worth of tickets for the basket raffle.  I put most of my tickets in for the purse and scarf. I met up with Lori and Cindi there in the sanctuary.  Pam did a solo of HIS EYE ON THE SPARROW, and it was very good.  Geneva was there and Lori and I talked with her a bit, and Dee Mann was also there, but I only had time to say hello.  The performances were beautiful with several solos.  

The refreshments after the performance were VERY GOOD.   Then they announced the winners of the Basket Raffle.  Cindi, Lori and I each won two items.  Here is a picture of the purse/scarf set that I won, and a box with a lot of small handheld games.

Cindi won two plants and Lori won a gift certificate for Sub-Delicious and a small basket with soap and candles.  

SATURDAY the 4th of May

First thing today, I got Megan's birthday card ready and mailed. I included a note saying that her gift box will follow soon.  I am still working on it.  I showered and washed my hair and got ready in time for Cindi to pick me up.  She had already picked Betty up and we went to pick up Glenda. Our plans were to have lunch at SEAN PATRICKS however when we got there, we found that it was closed due to hosting an event.  So, we ended up at an OLIVE GARDEN, I am not sure where.  Cindi drove us to Amherst to an event one of her friends is involved in INTOXICATING VIOLETS AND GESNERIADS AT THE LIBRARY, which was held at the John James Audubon Library in Amherst, NY.  We met her friend (I had already met her a couple of times) and looked at all the plants.

  Betty purchased a small plant.  Then we went into the library to look around and we found that there was a book sale.  I purchased one book.  Then we headed back to Lockport.  We decided to stop at JoJo's for ice cream(Betty slobbered ice cream all down her front) before ending our outing.