Christmas Light Parade

Village Hall 

The four corners - only stop light for miles. 

 Two mounted patrols - picture did not come out so good. 

Here come Santa Claus

Ski Hill depicted with snowmaking from nearby Fire Company

Cougar Tech 2228 Robot

I liked the way this not so good picture  has cool wheels

Small towns do lots of very cool things and they are incubators for " community" in a world that tries to fragment folks as much as possible.  Every  December for an hour on a Saturday night you will find the community unplugged and watching anxiously on the sides of Main Street for the arrival Of Santa Claus.  In addition to area Fire Companies that will often come 60 miles to participate there is the school district Transportation dept. A few restaurants and our very own Cougar Tech 2228 Robotics team will be found to march down the street.  This year there were 2 bands and it was a balmy 21 feels like 18 out.   Tonight they even had the Falls tinted Red and Green,

 Cheers!  

Happy Holidays from  Honeoye Falls., NY  USA    

Cone Flowers

My very favorite Garden Flower, all shapes sizes and colors and the butterfly's love them. Additionally the Deer do not love them, a win win in my book.

Taughannock Falls Trumansburg NY

See the people, where they should not be . . . .On the ledge . . . .at the very top 215 feet vertical fall

Taughancock  Falls

 Martha and Erik

Native Bee Balm

Goosefoot Maple seed chains

  So once a summer my husbands family converges on a State Park in the Southern Tier - often at the base of Cayuga Lake or Seneca Lake.  We like Cayuga Lake even if it is farther because they have Purity Ice Cream in Ithaca and we like to go there for an Ice Cream afterward,  For me this year it was Chocolate Covered Strawberry Ice Cream and I have yummy pictures but they are on my phone and not available right now to my blog . . .  We have been attending this reunion for 28 years and it is interesting to see those that were young back in the day now have young of their own and so the circle continues.  Where will your summer travels take you?

Kauai Albatross Nesting with live Cam . . .

So I think on A wintry Sunday morning in Northeast USA it is a lovely time to see and hear the goodness of Tropical Hawaii,  These Albatross are nesting on Kauai and are wonderful to watch and just to see the greenry and hear all the lovely birdsong.  It is such a treat!!    Below are 2 links for the Live feed Cam that shows you the nesting area and a link to a blog that talks about the integration of the birds with the humans.   These are huge seabirds that spend all their days at sea, they fly thousands of miles for food.  They only come on land to nest.  There are different types of Albatrosses.  Most nest in HUGE beach colonies.  ( goggle Albatross nesting colonies for a looksy)  It is uncommon for this to be such a small colony but it is fun  all the same.

Enjoy the day!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMZseZWIIos



http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/41/Laysan_Albatross/


 Blog about the Albatross:
http://www.albatrosskauai.com/

Fridays Fun Food

 Bacon Delights

So these were a new discovery for us this Christmas.  Every  Christmas Eve 24th we have a gathering of family and friends late afternoon before church full of appetizers, light foods , warm candle light  and lots of love.   These are very simple to make and can be done way ahead frozen then reheated and serve.  My boys particularly thought they were the bomb as they like to say but then again any thing is better with bacon. 

So you need Club Crackers or something similar- they are a light butter cracker.  

Grated Parmesan Cheese  3/4 cup

Bacon  - any type will work, about 1 pound makes one sleeve of crackers

Brown Sugar  3/4 cup

Baking sheet, (Parchment, foil or silipat mat will make cleanup easier), Cooking rack

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F
2. Set up your baking sheet with cooling rack and surface to collect grease.
3. get all your crackers out
4. Cut your Bacon in 1/2 so the strips are short
5. Having grated cheese in shallow dish with a small teaspoon is handy
6. Same for Brown sugar
7. Grab a cracker and put either brown sugar or cheese on it, then wrap if with the slice of bacon and place it on your cooling rack.
8. Repeat until all are done.
9. Put in the 250 degree oven for 2 hours.
10.  I then froze them in double plastic bags to use whenever I want or need to.

Yes that is a long time but with the bacon cooking slowly all the ingredients in the middle  does not cook out.  the bacon shrinks around the cracker.  It works out really well.

*** Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond has  this in her  cook book Pioneer Woman cooks for the Holidays. 

Christmas Lights . . .

The Village gets in on the parade light action

Local Fire department. all decked out. 

That is a trombone with Light Sabers on the end of it. 

The school districts Transportation dept.  Plastic colored bowls and pool noodles are part of the decorations. Very cool

Cougar Tech 2228 rolling through town

I saw this lovely wreath on our walk back to the car. 

Looking into our kitchen from the outside. 

Our beautiful new pond all lighted up 

This guy stands by our door welcoming all to food and fun in the country. 

Weekend Wanderings October 2015

These are from last weekend 10- 17/18-2015  but it has been a busy week so I did not get hem posted sooner. Hoping to go somewhere different this weekend.  Lots of life and color still out there. It was quite cold last weekend- snow in the air and lot's of Bird activity!!  There is nothing better than getting outside- so centering and inspirational.