Friday, June 29, 2007

A Week Ago today!!!

This is the place I was at a week ago today. It is called "Mohonk Mountain House". It is at the beginning of the foothills of the Catskills Mountain in New York. Jane made reservations for us to eat lunch there last friday. I cannot tell you in words how very beautiful this place is.
We ate lunch outside on picnic tables overlooking the lake. The motel serves it outside in nice weather and it was delicious.
It was a chilly day outside and the wind was blowing quite strong, there were clouds off and on too.
Across from the lake is a pretty good mountain. At the top of the mountain is a tower.
The motel was pretty but very expensive to stay there. Maybe one day when I win the Lottery.
After lunch I decided to climb up to the top of the mountain were the tower was at. Jane and Mom stayed down at the motel to wait on me. I can't believe I was brave enough to try it, but it really wasn't bad. The trail was very good and had a lot of places to sit and look out at the scenery.




When I got to the top of the mountain the wind was blowing about 50 mph. There was a couple up at the top. I asked them to take my picture to prove that I made it up to the top. And then I took pictures of them with their camera.

And here is a picture of the tower!
After I got back down from the mountain, we all went and looked at the beautiful gardens at Mohonk.


The picture below is of Mom and Jane sitting in the garden area.
Mom and I had such a wonderful trip and Jane was the best hostess!!! She showed us such a wonderful time! I know our trip wouldn't been half as fun or interesting without our friend showing us the sights. She helped me out so much with Mom and we both Love her so much!
Thanks Jane!!!

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

More of my New York trip!

This is one of the tour buses that we took the next morning. You could sit on the top and get some great views and pictures of the big Apple! It was still a little rainy that morning so we sat on the bottom part. The next picture was a view from the corner where we caught the bus.

Our first stop on our tour of downtown was of course the Empire State Building. The pictures below were some of the view from the top.


The next picture is of Mom and Jane on top of the Empire State building.
Then a pic of Jane and I, on top of the world! It was so much fun and the city looked so small below us.
The next picture is of Ground Zero which I took from the top of the Empire State Building.
It looks so small from the top but it is a very big area on the ground. Next is a view of Liberty Island from atop of the building.
Its rather fuzzy as I zoomed in very far for this picture. After taking pictures we went inside and bought several souvenirs. Then it was back down to ground level and hopping on another bus. We were headed to Chinatown to spend some money. On the way we passed a fence that was close to ground Zero. The fence was covered with ceramic tiles. The tiles were made by school children from all across the country. They were sent to New York after 9-11 to show sympathy for the lives that were lost. They were amazing. This is a pic of them below.

Below are more pictures that I took of the city that day. I rode on the top of the bus in the afternoon as the rain had stop and it turned into a nice day, not too hot or humid.


Yes its a Chinese McDonalds in Chinatown. Chinatown had several streets full of little shops. The shops sold watches, jewelry , shirts, perfume, scarfs, hats, and purses. You could buy them at very cheap prices. If you asked a price you could always bicker them down more on the item.
Of course Wall Street, picture above.
A view of the harbor on the Hudson river.

The United Nations Building above. Tomorrow will be pictures of our visit to the Statue of Liberty. Hope everyone has had a nice Tuesday. Stop in tomorrow of more of my trip!

Monday, June 25, 2007

My trip to NY!!!

I am back from a wonderful vacation to New York. Mom and I went up there to visit a dear friend of ours, Jane. We are in the same ATC group with her. Last November, Jane came to Tennessee to visit us, so we went up there this summer to see her world.
We flew into Stewart Airport on Sunday June 17th. We had to leave Nashville very early that morning and laid over in Chicago for about a hour. Arrived at Stewart around 1 p.m. It was a good flight and I took pictures of the clouds because they looked so awesome.

I also had to take a picture of the city of Chicago while I was flying into it.
It was a very pretty day to be flying. After laying over in Chicago we made it to Newburgh and Jane was waiting for us. She took us to a harbor on the Hudson River that was close to her house. She lives almost right on the Hudson river. It was a beautiful harbor and we had lunch at the River Grill. Then we walked along the harbor and looked at the boats.
The next picture is of Mom and Jane at the harbor.
And then a pic of Mom and I at the harbor!
We really enjoyed our lunch. I had a mediterean salad that had calimari in it. That was a first for me, Calamari are little squids that looked like octopuses,,lol. Not too bad though.
After that we went to Jane's house. She has a very pretty house and very comfortable. That night we sat around and also did a little crafting too.
The next day Jane had a art party at her house. She invited some of her friends. She had won a hugh deli sandwich that she cut up for the party. Her is a pic of Jane acting like she was eating the sandwich.

One of Jane's friends, Ruth, brought a beautiful quilt that she had made.
We also got to meet another friend of ours who is in our ATC group, another Beth. She brought some of her beautiful scrapbook pages.
It was a neat get together. Also Jane taught us how to make a explosion card. Which I will post a pic of when I get it out of my craft supplys. After the party, Jane and her daughter Ashley and Mom and I, went to A.C. Moore, which is a craft store. We don't have one here in Tennessee, so we loved it and bought several neat items. I got a hugh pad of paper that was full of great designs. Then we went to the Olive Garden restaurant and had a wonderful Italian dinner.
The next morning we were up and getting ready for our train ride into the big Apple. The train ran right beside the Hudson River all the way into Grand Central Station in the city.

When we got to Grand Central we took a taxi to our hotel. We stayed at the New Yorker Hotel. It is an old hotel but very lovely inside. We had a suite on the 24th floor.
We had some terrific views from there. We were right across the street from Madison Square Garden and Penn station below it.
But the best view we had was of the magnificent Empire state building. Of course I took alot of shots of it.

That night we went to see the Broadway play "Phantom of the Opera". Our seats were on the 4th row from the stage, and it was an amazing play. We were not sure if we could bring our cameras inside, so I didn't get pictures of the theatre but it was beautiful inside. It was as the Majestic Theatre. After the show we had some pizza and then went back to the hotel. As soon as we got inside it started storming, and it was so neat to look out the window of the hotel at the streets and the Empire building all lit up at night.

Most of this week is going to be about my trip. I will have amazing pictures to show of all the sites and places that we got to enjoy. Tomorrow will be my trip to the Empire State Building.
Stop back in tomorrow for that. I hope all my blogger friends are doing good. I have missed you all this past week. Have a marvelous Monday!




Thursday, June 14, 2007

Soldering

This has been my art space for the past few days. Its out on my bench near my pond area. Its now my official soldering workshop. Its really nice out there as its shady and I can look at all my flowers while I work. Hubby made the neat alluminum work table for my soldering adventures. I am actually getting a little better at soldering. Yes,,I do have to have my music out there too. Yesterdays music was

I Love their music,,wish they were still together,,I did get the last cd that Annie did and enjoyed it. Ok,,off the subject, I know. Below is my handy little gizmo that I call my helping hands for holding my pendants when I solder them.
And now the finished products.
I actually made several more pendants but I am out of the ballchains to make the necklaces. The backs of the pendants has decorative paper on them too. Here are a few close ups.



In between creating these, I have been packing for my trip to New York which I will be leaving for on Sunday. I can't wait. More about that tomorrow. Thanks for looking at my art today! Hope everyone is doing good and enjoying the summer.