HUDSON RIVER VALLEY

Roosevelt's home in Hyde Park New York.

When I was young family vacations always center around some historical event,

I remember mostly civil war battle fields.

For my sister and I Roosevelt Estate was a natural and so worth the stop.

The ranger did an amazing tour peppered with lots of stories regarding the Roosevelt family..

gotta love some hear say.

The presidential library was wonderful. I have never been in a presidential library before but will now stop in every one I pass by, {even if they are republican, hehe}.

as soon as I get some photos of my yarn buys from Rhinebeck I will share it all with you.

Weekend weather here has been a gorgeous fall days, though things are to change tonight...

perhaps even; dare I say: snow.

RHINEBECK

Rhinebeck was TERRIFIC!

The weather was amazing and the fair over the top.

{ it was hard getting good pics in the vender barns due to the crowds }

Ms Babs was our all time favorite fiber stand, so good I think we waited at least an hour to just pay for the goods.

Wonderful lady and an amazing dyer.

Up state NY was full of trees and color.

Loved all the little villages and we had lunch in the oldest standing hotel in the country.

We drove a lot and got lost A LOT. Nothing is on a grid in up state NY, all the roads twist and turn with the rivers and creek beds.

Very disorientating for us from the west where we only have 2 interstates, up and down the state or across the state.

Yes, that is the trunk of our car after the first day. Sunday was more relaxed, not as many people so we meandered around then found a spot in the golden autumn sun and amongst leaves and people watched.

{ Beth a knitter we met at the hotel-

Mary, Beth, Eileen, Julie }

RHINEBECK NEW YORK

We are in New York for Rhinebeck.

Been up since 2am to get here, yes we are tired !

tomorrow we are off to the Roosevelt home and driving up and down the Hudson River Valley.

this is our home for the next five days....wahoo !

FRIENDS,FAMILY and FALL

Watching clouds come over the mountains is a favorite past time of mine. I remember as a child I would lay in the grass and watch clouds pass over,  dreaming of running and jumping in those huge billows of fluff. If I had a sibling next to me we would call out images we saw in the clouds. It's amazing how often a cloud will look like an elephant-at least in the mid-west clouds of Illinois.

 I was meeting my daughter at her place and I was early.

So relaxing to have some quite alone time to look up and dream,

dream and wonder as I did when young and all  life's possibilities were in front of me.

Caitlin has 2 laying hens and 1 rooster.

A very nice rooster too.

I asked Caitlin how many eggs are they getting a day?

Not one Mom, nada, none! We have looked everywhere for an egg, their hen house, favorite roosting places in the yard and all their hang out spots.

But no eggs...zippo!

Yup, Mr. Rooster

These birds are unique, they run all day on the farm and at night they have a coop that is not really secured, so yes the raccoons have gotten in and stirred the pot with the chickens.

The amazing part is the raccoons have never hurt the chickens.

Caitlin says their is a agreement, a signed contract between the chickens and the coons. 

The coons get all the eggs and the chickens get to keep all their feathers!

Now I call that making concessions,

perhaps I should bring congress out here and let them observe what it means to have a win win situation!

{ sorry just had to toss that in the post }

Eric and I drove out to a unique little town..Ault.

to pick raspberries.

And raspberries did we come home with!

I put up 9 quarts of berries.

Gave most of them to Caitlin for her pies.

We were also given butternut squash and cukes.

I did my weeks shopping on this little plot of land.

I just can never get enough pictures of chickens! 

These girls belong to my sister in law Lezlie.

They have no written, nor verbal agreement with raccoons, but they do have the Conrad Hilton as their residence.

And I got to bring home eggs.

Fall is here and is gorgous. We have been putting up apples for the past 3 weeks. 

I still have some but I think I am appled out. Yesterday Eric found 4 of these guys in the yard finishing off what is left on the tree.

We believe in sharing with our friends, the dogs believe the yard and everything in it belongs to them.

Things can get a little noisy around here but the snow will be flying soon and all will be quite for a season.

I have been knitting and sewing, well machine quilting the biggest quilt I have ever done on my bernina.

What a challenge.

I will try to get pictures posted for you soon.

 also heading to Rhinebeck, New York for the fiber fair.

This is a "bucket list" trip for me and can hardly sleep I am so excited.

All that fiber wonder!

Going to Rhinebeck in peak fall color season

is like Disney World to a 5 year old for me.

Hope to see Roosevelt's Home too,

it is however a National Park

which means it is closed !

Why?

Government Shutdown!

Oh for the love of mike!!!