Maple Museum, Croghan, N.Y.

 Back to Croghan on another day trip we visited the American Maple Museum.  It opened around 30 years ago in a former three story parochial school.

 An old snowmobile used to gather maple sap.

 Scenes of sugaring in the old days.

 An old  lumber camp kitchen

 Maple syruping equipment

 An antique vessel used by Indians to gather sap.

 An old boiler.

 Taps.

Maple sugar candy molds.  Major funding for the museum is derived from frequent breakfasts of pancakes, sausage and pure maple syrup served by volunteers.  Yum.

Trip to Croghan, N.Y.

 We made a side trip to Croghan, N.Y.  As usual in Northern N.Y. towns,, many downtown buildings are no longer in use. Most of the buildings date from 1912, the year when most of the town burned down.

 There is an interesting railroad museum for the Lowville and Beaver River Railroad.

 A snowplow

 The line has been out of service for at least 40 years.

 For workers or visitors?

 The real purpose of the trip was not all this culture but ice cream of course.  Wishy's reputation has spread far and wide and the shop was busy both times we visited.

Ah.....a maple walnut sundae.  Maple walnut ice cream, real maple syrup, walnuts, whip cream and a cherry.  Ice cream heaven.

More Adirondack Scenes

 Pat and Marcia at a State Park ---I think Otter Creek.

 Beautiful rapids

There is a black dot all the way up where some boys were riding the rapids.

adirondack Scenes

 The view going down to the Lake from the cabin steps.

 A nearby creek which used to be a neat place to wade but is now private posted land.

Trip to the Adirondacks

 Last week I took a trip to the Adirondacks with Marcia DeCamp.  First stop... Constableville Hall

The house was built by William Constable, Jr. in  1810-1819 and owned and occupied by the Constable family, 1819-1948 Restored, in 1948-1949 .  Opened as a Historic House Museum on July 19, 1949 •Added to National Register of Historic Places in March, 1973.  It contains many of the original furnishings. 

The front hallway.....where I found I was not supposed to take photos. 

View fron the front.

After all this culture it was time to stop at a local quilt shop for a fabric fix.

The garage is finished!

 The garage is done!  Ok...I know there is way too much stuff out there but at least if I drive carefully I can park my car in it. 

 This is how it looked last Spring with the process began.

 

Maybe I could just get one of those little cars.  But then I would probably just store more stuff.

More Ice Dyeing

 More ice dyeing this weekend.  The first six are leftovers from the last project which wouldn't fit in the pot.

 I did all this in one batch with one bag of ice.  Using racks was a big help

I absolutely love this piece which measures almost two yards.  Whole cloth quilt perhaps?

Octagonal Cobblestone Buildings

Upstate New York, where I live is full of cobblestone buildings built from around 1825 to 1860.  Wayne County, where I reside, has at least 170 of them.  This unusual building in Alloway, south of the Lyons  county seat, was originally a blacksmith shop.  One wonders what the top door is for as it fronts on a hillside.  There is also a double door in the front.

The cobblestone house right across the street has had an interesting addition.

The blacksmith shop front doors.  It is now used as a storage shed. 

Octagonal cobblestone buildings are rare.  This is a cobblestone house in Windsor, New York.

Vietnamese Embroidery Wall Hanging- Hmong Girl

I finished this wall hanging a few months ago and finally decided it was time to hang it.  I'm not totally happy with it but the point was to get it to the place where I could hang it and enjoy it instead of it being in a closet.

This is one of the most intricate and beautiful embroideries I ever found on my trips to Vietnam.  Click on the photo and see the detail.  All done by hand.  I used to purchase these in Hanoi in the area where they were made but in recent years the quality has gone down along with a rise in prices and I haven't bought any in quite  awhile.  I am selling my remaining stock on Etsy.com.

Ice Dyeing

 Ok...Now I have really gone over to the dark side.  First quilting and now dyeing fabric.  One of the nearby stores had a sale on ice so I figured it was time to try it.  I wasn't all that crazy about the two on top.

This was my favorite

This one wasn't too bad with more muted colors. 

Annual Jazz and Wine Fest, Wolcott, N.Y.

 The first weekend in August means its time for the annual Wine and Jazz Festival.  The police must not have been worried about interlopers due to the heat and were probably in their office beside the park.  A small firetruck and ambulance awaited any problems.

 Main street was decked out as usual with tents for the wine tasting from local wineries.  Attendance might have been down due to the unusual 94 degree heat today.

 Over in the park by the purple balloons vendors were selling crafts and food.

 The brownie sundaes weren't enough to entice me.

 There was a nice little crowd sitting under the trees listening to the Finger Lakes Jazz Orchestra.

 A few vendors were doing a little business.