Fixin' up Willy

Let me introduce you to Willy.

We were going to go horseback riding yesterday (which we ARE going to do today), but we decided to get Willy up and running instead.

Willy is only 2 years younger than A, having been manufactured by Willys Overland (in Toledo, Ohio) in 1949.

He is a "Jeepster," and very tempermental.

We first ran around looking for a lead substitute additive (which we finally found at Tractor Supply in Patterson), as Willy was designed to run on leaded gas, which is not available today because of the pollution it caused. Once we found the additive, we tried to start Willy up, but found that the battery was dead. We had to get distilled water to add to the battery, because Willy has the old type battery that was not sealed like today's. A told me that in the old days, at all of the gas stations, that the men wore white overalls and a bow tie. They would fill up your gas and make sure your battery was okay on aqua. They would also clean all of the windows and check your tires for no extra payment! Obviously we now have to do that for Willy but instead of it being complementary we must do it ourselves.:(

Once Willy was up and running we went for a 25 minutes ride and we were afraid to stop incase his battery was not charged enough. At one point A's hat flew off and we stopped but had to keep the car running while A ran back to get his hat along Quaker Hill Road.

Topper and Nesto left to right in the picture of the two dogs are cooling themselves on the tile floor in the kitchen on a hot summer day!

SR 06/21/2010

My Birth Day

It was very late (we had been there for 4 hours and 45 minutes) when Sloan Wainwright led the whole room at the Towne Crier Cafe in singing Happy Birthday to me.

(She was a combo of Joan Armatrading, Ella Fitzgerald and Janis Joplin . . . and I was the cause of her singing Happy Birthday -- embarrassing Spencer before the show by telling her it was his B-day! It was the best concert I've ever heard. Her voice, songs and presence were amazing. Spencer was wide awake for all of it and it was great to be there with him! - Julie)

But let's start with the beginning of the day. I opened my presents from A and J, which included a 1000 year old whale vertebrae, which had been found on Cornwallis Island in the Canadian Arctic during a famous Smithsonian archaeological dig.

My first time at the "Transfer Station" (used to be called the town dump), where I met the man who runs the place. Then off to the bank where I deposited my birthday check from P and E. We next returned bottles for deposit, and I was able to use the deposit to buy Saranac Shirley Temples and diet root beers: www.saranac.com/page/shirley-temple. These are made at a New York brewery that has been in business since 1888!

Then we were off for our big day. First we went to New Milford, CT (my first time in that state--I have now been to 15 states!). There we got my first first baseman's mitt, which we'll start to break in today using Glovolium. We next went to the CSA in Washington, CT, where A met a girl with "eyes like a cat" and I met a dog named Cooper. We passed a monument to World War I soldiers. Then we ended up in Danbury, CT where J had a consultation with a nutritionist (I'm going to go for one this coming Friday), and we picked up five 5 gallon glass bottles of Mountain Valley Spring Water.

On the way back to Pawling, since we were running 25 minutes late, A dropped J and me off at the Towne Crier so that we'd make our reservation. He joined us later after letting the dogs out back at Lowell Thomas' "cabin." (We're living in the house that Lowell Thomas built as his guest house. He used to have a landing strip next door--where a farm is now--and he would fly his friends in and put them up at that cabin, as he called it. After doing this for 5 years, he had a bad plane crash in strong cross winds. So, he moved the landing strip further south, and built a new log cabin there to be used as his guest house. He then sold our cabin to its first owner other than himself--there have only been three owners other than Lowell Thomas. Google him. He was quite a fascinating man, and he developed all of Quaker Hill, where the house on Berry Lane is located.)

At the Towne Crier, I had the field greens salad and a gorgonzola and cranberry chutney pizza. For dessert I had a Belgian chocolate walnut brownie: http://townecrier.com/. I really liked Sloan Wainwright's singing. As an encore, she sang "Ring of Fire."

SR 06202010

Road trip again!

Not much to report today, as we picked P and E up at the B & B, and then spent most of the day getting to the Newark airport and back.

We even deferred until tomorrow picking up our CSA share at the Waldingfield Farm in Washington, CT (http://www.waldingfieldfarm.com/ [check the "Menu" page to see their awesome variety of fruits and vegetables, especially heirloom tomatoes]).

We will be starting a challenging project, which we'll say more about later.

SR 06/18/2010 (it is my birthday tomorrow, not yours!)

So much to do, so close to home!

How many things did I do today within 5 miles from home?

Each of the last few days we have traveled far to experience each of our adventures.

Today, we found all of the following very close to home:

1. a great bed and breakfast, which P & E really liked, in Pawling;
   
2. Vinny's Deli (words don't do it justice--you have to taste it to believe it!);
   
3. a great place at which to have a picnic lunch (A's and J's back deck);


4. four extraordinary dogs--here's an example of one;


5. two great horses, Ike and Beamer--pictures to follow, I can't do it all in one day;
   
6. famous buildings and famous places, including Lowell Thomas' gravestone (hey I'm living in his house!);
   
7. a great restaurant owned by CIA (no, not THAT CIA!) graduates, where we had an awesome cake to celebrate three of our birthdays.

SR 06/17/2010 (A's birthday!)

FDR and the CIA

Well, I broke my promise and failed to blog last night because I got back from the CIA late and went directly to bed. No, not that CIA!

We spent the afternoon at FDR's birthplace and life-long home (where he is also buried). We got there too late to buy tickets for the tour of FDR's home, but A was persuasive and convinced the guide to allow P and E to go on the tour, and because there was enough room, we got to go too. We saved $80 in tickets, which made up for our bridge tolls from the day before.

There are simply too many things to mention here about the house, and FDR's museum and presidential library, so I recommend that you all go to Hyde Park to see for yourselves. One of my favorites was the reenactment of the high security map room below the White House that was in the museum. FDR's library was the first presidential library, and he actually used it while he was president. His study in the library has been left as it actually was when he last used it on March 28, 1945, two weeks before his death.

After Hyde Park, we had dinner at the Culinary Institute of America (yes, that CIA), in their Italian restaurant. I tried three foods for the first time! Anchovies, air-cured meat (brasaola, which was served with goat cheese), and rabbit (wabbit).

Here are some photos of our day (J took most of these, as I forgot my camera, due to my concentration on my magic tricks!).

SR 06/17/2010 (A's birthday!)

Long day in the car!!

We headed out to pick up P and E in Princeton thinking it would be 2 and 1/2 hours each way, but it was more like 7 hours round trip! Plus we got to spend $21.50 on bridge tolls and got to see the Statue of Liberty, Chrysler Building and Empire State Building along the way. Our highlight, though was getting to be with P and E (even though P was grumpy and said that if he had known it was so far he would have gone straight home!), and having dinner with them at one of my favorite restaurants in Pawling.

SR 06/15/2010

What I hope to do!

Each day I would like to update this Blog and post two pictures. The updates will describe my adventures and what I have learned during that particular day. I invite you to read my Blog posts, and, hopefully find connections with each of my experiences.

Tomorrow I will be off to Princeton, NJ to pick up my great grandparents, and will report back tomorrow evening.

SR 06/14/2010