Just About the Most Perfect Weekend EVER! Gosh!*

(*Said in the voice of Napoleon Dynamite, dang it!)

I'm not even sure where to start.

Okay. I lie. I'll start at the beginning.

For the first time in forever, if not EVER, Ron got both Saturday and Sunday off. Unprecidented! After I got out of work on Saturday, we left Sam with Gramma Shirley and headed to Binghamton to visit with our friends Jeff, his fiancee Heather, Dan, and his girlfriend Casey. Jeff and Dan are my buddies from Alfred. We had a great night. We had supper at a local Mexican Restaurant (man, those Corona Lights were going down WAY TOO EASY!), and then retreated to Jeff' for "Game Night." Board games! Did you forget they existed! FUN! We got home around 1am.

The next morning, Ron and i arose for the weekly Corning Hiking Club. It was just the two of us this week, so i suggested we drive a little bit to start the hike
in a new spot. We parked at our vet's office in South Corning and went from there. We ended up at the Community College where we hung out on a pond's dock for about 45 minutes, looking at the clouds, the ducks, the scuttlebugs on the water, and each other. :-) The weather was crisp and refreshing.
We hiked into Spencer Crest Nature Center and out the other end, to hike back down directly to our house. We guestimated that we walked about 7.5 miles and we were gone for 4 hours. It was so nice to have "just you and me" time with Ron.

We put Sam down for a nap, and when he awoke at 3, we ventured to Eldridge Park in Elmira, specifically to ride the carousel. I had heard about it being refurbished last year. Ron climbed up on "Eddie" and propped Sam between his legs.
Sam instinctively grabbed onto the brass pole with both hands and never let go! There was a lot of chatter before the ride started about how FAST it was! It was goin' pretty good, that's for sure. Sam looked very "contemplative" throughout the ride, but I was picking up that he liked it a lot. It was so fun to watch him experiencing something new and fun; i find great joy in observing this in him.

As if our day wasn't full enough already, I suggested to Ron that we check out Harris Hill, where we got married. There is a kiddie ride section there, and I had been feeling for a couple weeks that Sam might be ready to try em out. So we went.

And he was ready!

We put him on three rides: the Tugboat, the Firetruck, and the Airplane. All three go in a slow counter-clockwise fashion! As he was smiling and very visibly and clearly enjoying himself, I was beaming. I said to Ron, you never know how a kid will react. He could either smile gleefully or scream, not wanting any part of it. Happily, the former occurred. Funnily though, on the airplane ride, he didn't crack a smile the whole time. The lady next to me said, "he's a very serious pilot." Laffing, i replied, "well, we don't want the pilot
laffing and not paying attention!" It was really comical to watch, though.

We went home, had supper and gave Sam a bath.

But not before we did the "Mommy Dance" from all of our belted-in seats! Ron's lyrics, of course!

It was very easily the best, most exhilerating and simply HAPPIEST two days Ron and I (and Sam!) have had since our wedding day. We felt so alive. I love embracing that feeling when i recognize it.

Hit n Run

Our mysterious White Man has been reduced to a crumpled mess at our curb.

Could this crazy person be the culprit?

YOU BE THE JUDGE!

Splish Splash Ahhhh

Well, today was the first day of the summer that hit 90 something degrees. And VERY humid. All make for very uncomfortable sticky hotness. Yuck-a-muck! I left this kind of weather back in Virginia 10 years ago - it is NOT supposed to follow me! So - as a relief, Sam and I headed down to The Fountain. Located in the heart of historic and scenic downtown Corning, you can find your hodge podge of life at The Fountain. You got your Corning Inc. executive's wives and their children in designer clothes, or the opposite. I'll just leave it at that. And then everywhere in between, like me and Sam. We're all there for the same purpose - to cool down and have fun! Tonight was pretty crowded, as was to be expected. Sam really loves water, as I've mentioned, and I love watching him play in it. He was quite the hit with the LADIES, i must say. He had two little girls, both older than him, vying for his love and attention. Of course, his only focus was on three things: water, any ball that landed near him, and giving Mommy wet hugs every few splashes. This is a good place to have when its hot and we want to cool down. I think it peters Sam out for bedtime as well - BONUS!

Memorial Day Parade, Corning Style!

And when i say Corning Style, i mean let's bring out every fire truck in a 50 mile radius. Oh, i suppose all small town parades are the same. I don't really remember attending them as a child in Virginia. Probably because Fairfax's would have been 4 hours long! ~ This was Sam's first parade. He really enjoyed it, I think. He clapped a
few times when a few firetrucks (HA!) went by. There was a kid in a gorilla costume that came up and shook his hand, and somehow that didn't wig him out, thank goodness! I quite enjoyed the Corning East Marching Band's performance right in front of us. I always get chills when i hear the BIG DRUMS. I love that feeling in my gut. I think the whole thing lasted all of 30 min, which i predicted. I did not, however, predict the low turnout. At least it seemed low to me. I was expecting parking hassles and no place to sit on the sidelines. Not only did we get a roomy spot in the shade, but Ron was able to
park right around the corner. Go figure. Today's weather was PICTURE PERFECT. No clouds, blue sky, awesome breeze, and warm enough to feel the sun but cool enough to enjoy it. I personally started the day off early this morning with a solo walk of 2 hours around Corning. I stopped a few times, to take in my surroundings, one of which included the fountain near Centerway Square; they've finally got it running. I was the only one there, dipping my hot toes in the cool water and prompting my face freckles to come out. A super cool day... one of the best ones this year!

Mmmm... Buubbbbllleeessss

I scrubbed the high chair in a very tedious way before packing it up for storage. We're talking scouring pad, anti-bacterial wipes and something sharp to dig out dried food in places i never imagined. I did all this on the porch. While Sam was being very good at keeping his paws - um, hands - out of the bowl of sudsy water when i asked him to, he was
also PAINFULLY INTRIGUED. His little pointer finger got closer and closer and closer... first a point, then a dip, then a whole hand in, then soon enough, his hand was flying with suds. He loved smearing them on his face and sticking his tongue out. You'd have thought it
was candy! He managed to empty the bowl of water with just his hand dipping-n-shaking. It was fun to watch him experience a whole new THING. One thing's for sure - Sam loves water. All aspects. Which i'm THRILLED with. I'm totally looking forward to our vacation in Maine this summer on the lake. I can't wait to watch him play in the shallow water to his heart's content.

A Boy and His Dog - Chapter II

Cazenovia Par-tay Zone

Last Friday, Ron and i packed the car, grabbed our cutie pie son, and headed to Ron's alma mater's town Cazenovia (2 hrs from us) for a small party. His friend Emily and a few mutual friends, as well as new ones, gathered for munchies, laughs and memories. I was thrilled with how totally cool everyone was and how everyone
mingled so nicely even though several of us had never met. The ambience was super laid back and really comfortable. Even Sam was feeling like he was at home. He insisted on trotting around with his "All The Rage" plastic catch-all bib on (everyone dug it!) and laughing and being his total cute self; everyone fell in love. And even when it was time to put him down in his travel playard, in a strange room, he cried for all of 5 min then zonked. We stayed til about 11
and even rousing Sam was a dream: groggy looks, snuggles into our necks and yawns while being placed in his carseat, all "jammy-fied." Just a wonderful, fun, relaxing night with great people. Emily gave us our wedding present (ha!) that night - a really cool canvas painted image of a blue clouded sky - and if you look closely, there is a sole glider plane. It's already hanging up.

dandelion man & front porch perfection

My Creative Hand at Wegmans

Much of this work is quite "utilitarian" at catching your eye and getting the product name across. But I'd like to think that I am making the store a little cozier, a little more colorful (you won't see this style at Tops (a local competitor)!) and maybe, actually, even prompting folks to buy the product. I think it's possible! I DO, I DO!!!

These signs, and a majority of what i do for signage at Wegmans, uses what i call "cut-out lettering." It is using foamcore (or sometimes called foamboard) to create the actual letters so that they stand out from the sign. I use various layers to accentuate some signs more than others. Usually, the bigger, the more room for layers. Sometimes I've cut out letters for 'small' signs and it gets very tedious. I go thru hobby blades for my knife like its nothing. I get them by the 100 pack and probably go thru 30 or so a week (though i've never really added them up. Just guestimating).

Please click on the following thumbnails for a larger picture.



Every now and then, I'm actually allowed the time and the particular project to lend some of my DRAWING skills to play. I really had a fun time doing caricatures of the Video Dept. staff. MOST of them were good natured about their rendering, though it is rumoured i made one girl cry (the redhead, Rachel). i can't help it if she actually LOOKS like that (sorta!). hehe. And the sunflower is watercolor. I don't really consider myself a "painter" - more of an "illustrator" - but i was really impressed with myself and how good it came out. Effective and bright. This sign goes atop a spinning display that has four sides. At the time, it's holding Newman's cookies.

p.s. how do you like my "Movie Pick?" I didn't even see it! ;-)

Those Lips!