Celebrating Cream Cheese

 Over the weekend we went up to our former hometown of Lowville New York for one of those events that had been a well-kept secret for many years. For 13 years now this small town has been the location for what is basically a street fair.  I remember when I was volunteering at the Chamber of Commerce and we were discussing fundraisers. It was mentioned that the local Kraft plant had expressed an interest in sponsoring an activity that might showcase Philadelphia Cream Cheese. The Lowville plant happens to be the largest Cream Cheese Plant.  Contrary to what people think about Wisconsin, New York State also happens to be a dairy state. In fact, Northern New York, where Lowville is, happens to be predominantly dairy farms. 

The first year of the event we shut down the street for almost a block to allow foot traffic for the various booths and stands.  On a side street we closed the area to the park in order for children to safely attend activities there. About 500 people attended.  Each year the event grew to what is now a block and a half closed, plus the entire side street. There are two stages for performers and two areas for various cream cheese related games. I'm guessing that the turn-out in this county of almost 30,000 now seems to be closer to 5000 or more, with many coming from the nearby Fort Drum. We try to drive up for it every year.

The feature of the Cream Cheese Festival is, of course, cheesecake. Not just any cheesecake but the World's Largest Cheesecake lovingly made and served by Kraft employees. 

You know you have reached Lewis County when you pass the vast Marks' Farms.  This dairy farm currently has about 9000 head of Holstein cattle and produces about 340,000 pounds of milk daily (I got this from their website). 

Crystal Pond is located in New Bremen, just east of Lowville. It's a man-made lake that is a local swimming hole in the summer and provides fundraising for the local fire department in the winter, through the harvesting of its ice.

My alma mater, Lowville Academy and Central school, is a Preschool - 12th grade school that in 2016 had 1306 students. We used to have a grass turf surrounded by a gently sloping hill, where people sat to watch the games.  Above the hill was grass and a playground. Now it is turf, several tennis courts and two gravel playgrounds. Gone are the hill and grassy areas.  I'm not sure this is progress.

Up until a few years ago this entrance to a lobby between the high school, middle school and elementary wings was an awesome wind tunnel. You stepped into an area tucked into the buildings and the wind would whip your hair in a cyclone and the swirling leaves tried to be woven in.  So, I guess this is progress. 

Looking from the wind tunnel toward the elementary wing. This brings back so many memories.

I'm sharing this because this is the same saying that I showed a few posts ago from the entrance of my son's high school.

The front of the school, looking at the high school. Aside from the new windows, it looks the same as when I graduated so long ago.

From in front of the school, looking down the street at the Cream Cheese Festival. 

After half an hour they were slowly making their way through handing out the cheesecake. 

The slices weren't pretty, but they were so delicious!

Looking toward the crowd gathered to watch one of the bands.

Freemen's Taffy is the best taffy ever!  They are only available at the Lewis County Fair and at special events. Maybe that what makes them so good.

One of the many odd cream cheese-related games. This one is called Cream Cheese Shuffle Board. The goal is to get the cream cheese tubs through the legs of the goalie.

My son is a huge fan of the local meteorologist. She is a hometown girl and was emceeing the festival.

The son of my neighbour from here in the capital region is the drummer for the band Under Cover. The lead singer is from Lowville.  They drove up to play. If you are ever in the Capital District look them up.  They play classic rock and are really good!

Several songs later and they are still talking. 

A friend of ours caught on camera. 

A New Year With An Old Love

I can't believe another year has gone by so quickly and my life has changed so much in that time. After giving up on love and believing those who had claimed to love me, but would tell me that no one ever would, I am back with my first love.  Happier than I ever thought I could be and more in love than I thought was possible. We had lost one another for 35 years but found each other, and could only think of how we would manage to be reunited.  It took several months to figure out the logistics.

I owned my own rather large home, but was on year five of a never-ending battle to keep it, while my ex wanted it sold. My children were in a school that they loved.  But most of all, my church family meant the world to me. My entire family was heavily into volunteering there; my oldest was even their Tech Director.  However, I was never able to find a permanent job and worked a series of short term jobs. But we were happy.

My Sweetie was living a life of loneliness and working at a job he loved with the same company for almost three decades, and told me he often dreamed of one day finding me. Then I found him.

I gave up the fight for the house,  found homes for my dog, cats and remaining chicken. We packed everything we owned into storage, sent my minivan to my neighbour's home, until we get transmission work done. Two of my sons opted to live in the country with their Dad and my four remaining children traveled with us and our remaining cats, cockatiel, and dinner plate-sized red-eared slider. We downsized to an apartment in the city. Quite different from our almost 3000 square foot home and five acre property in the country.

We found a church we love; where my oldest is already involved in the tech department. Two of my kids have jobs, another changed her college plans and the younger one is loving his new school that has almost as many kids in his grade as his former school had in K-12 grades. My remaining children and I are closer than ever. We've had many  laughs and fun adventures and are taking part in all sorts of new activities.  But the best part for me is that I am back with the first boy I ever loved. My first serious relationship.  And for the first time in my life I feel like someone really loves me (besides my parents and my children).

I don't know how 2015 can be better than 2014. I can't wait to see what is next.

Road Trip!

It was a simple quest.

Andrew and I were going to take a relatively quick 5 1/2 hour road trip to the Capital District so we could get India from college for the summer. 

But someone had decided her van wouldn't make the 30° grade of the Driveway From Hell over the winter and parked it. Not in the barn on the hill, where it would be protected. Nooo.  I parked her in the driveway and let her sit - under 3 feet of snow - untouched.  Now we were facing the consequences. 

India's last class was on May 7th and so we were going to head out on the 8th and spend the night in Amsterdam but the van needed a front brake rebuild. So, off she went for repairs. Then I took her for inspection and she failed!! The back brakes needed a rebuild too. The mechanic who did the inspection offered to fix it for merely the cost of my first-born son. 

I took her back to the mechanic who did the front brakes. They told me it should make the trip but turned my rotors and returned her to me on the new departure date, promising to repair the back brakes when I returned from the trip. Next I went back to a different, non-shady, garage for a new inspection. 

One week and two hours late, we headed out on our great adventure. Braving Buffalo's rush hour traffic, singing happily to the stereo with my beloved Bose speakers and amazing bass - so the van vibrates as she rolls down the road.
.
.
until
.
.
She started making noises. Quiet at first. I had to roll down the window to hear it. But we kept rolling.

.
.
then
.
.
something clunked!

I pulled over and was almost instantly followed by a state trooper. He checked her out but we saw nothing wrong so he told me to drive on the shoulder slowly. He followed me as I did. Once I pulled back into traffic, he did a u-turn on the thruway and headed back to Syracuse. 

And she clunked again!

I called the number given me by the trooper and the state police sent me a flatbed.   They took my van to a shop in Mattydale and dropped us off at a hotel under the over-pass to Route 81. So much for sleep. 

The next day at around noon, they finished the rear brake rebuild (for half what I was quoted by the local mechanic).  Andrew and I headed back out on the road. Once we relaxed, we went back to singing and laughing. 

We finally got to India, where she almost knocked me off my feet when she jumped into my arms. I took India, Andrew and India's friend Samara to the mall in Rotterdam while I popped into my dear friend, Ken's office in Albany to say visit for a while.  I had lost touch with him for 30 years and it was so good to see him again!

Back to the hill they call Amsterdam and we went to meet up with Samara's family and loaded the van with India's futon and other items before heading to the hotel.

The next day we headed back home.  

Our return trip was uneventful. Aside from India driving me crazy with her kicking my seat as she tried to use it for leverage in her attempt to push past the cargo and recline her seat. 

And she kept getting text messages that interrupted the playlist on the cell phone. I could only take having my singing stopped a few times before I beat her at a rest stop. I have to say, the fear in her eyes when I threw the door open was beautiful!

In payment for all we went through to get India, we went grocery shopping a few miles from home and finished packing her in.  She was just over-joyed by the time we got home. 

But at least she was home.

Some Dreams Are Just To Bizarre To Explain

Sitting around with Matthew discussing prescription drug commercials and wondering about the various side-effects.

So many to choose from.  How do the patients know which to select? 

I mean, that's why they list them, right? 

So you can go to your doctor and tell him which side-effect you would want. I think that is very thoughtful of the drug companies.

Today one of the choices given was "unusual dreams".  Which makes us wonder - what is considered an unusual dream?

I don't dream often but a few weeks ago I had a dream that left my gang saying "Wha-a-at?"

It began in a humble home from the 1400's. 

It was a tiny house with mud-covered walls, thatched roof and tiny windows.  I was dressed in clothing from that era and speaking to a man also dressed from the 1400's.  He was telling me that we would be safe there, in this home someone had loaned us.  He said that I still needed to be on the look-out for the Huns, though, in case they were able to track us down.  I felt that he was my husband but nothing about him seemed relevant.

(I know I have just messed up times in history - it gets odder)

He left for work in a large red, newer model pick-up truck and I sat at a sewing machine to make a new skirt. My sewing machine that I rescued before it could be tossed out at the thrift store where we volunteer - because it was too old. My 1940's model New Home electric sewing machine with table. This was the sewing machine where I sat down to work.

The sewing machine was next to the heavy, wooden front door so the cool air could come in. As I looked out, I saw some vehicles coming down the hill to my left into town (very similar to the entrance of a small hamlet that I once lived in). There were three minivans and two sedans and I could see they were dressed as Huns.

In a panic, I shut the door and began closing the heavy shutters inside the small windows throughout the house, being careful to cover the shutters with the curtains so I wouldn't have to look at the wood and could still feel comfortable. 

As I went from room-to-room I noticed they were becoming much nicer and more traditional.  The living area had the most basic necessities with nothing indicating I wasn't living in the 1400's but the children's bedrooms had nice beds, including a white canopy bed like I wanted as a child - but ended up with a full-sized bed "to grow with me".  As I continued closing the shutters, I noticed the windows were the size of normal windows.

When I reached the master bedroom it was huge, like my own, but very modern and elegant with a large flat screen TV in a seating area. There even was a master bathroom - something my 113 year old house doesn't offer.  The windows in the bedroom were large and let in lots of sunlight, so it took me a while to make sure they were secure. 

I went into the lower lever which was underground - but not quite the basement.  This room was like the basement in my "Mom's" house on Chase Lake in the Adirondacks.  It was beautifully done in a pale wood (pine? - I didn't stop to look) and even had the mirror and glass shelves in the corners for knick-knacks. Only this room was much larger than Mom's basement.  My children were all in this room playing cards and merely looked at me as I closed the traditional-sized basement windows.

I noticed another set of stairs and followed them to a much lower level.

This area was amazing!  

I didn't notice the room. What I noticed was the wall of windows in this high-ceilinged room.  The windows looked out to the woods - reminiscent of  Mom's living room on the lake.  The windows were made up of sliding doors and I stepped through them to look outside.  That is when I noticed the pool in the woods - where she would have the lake - a short walk down the path.  It was a large, in-ground swimming pool and was carefully fenced off to keep wildlife from falling in.

While I looked at the pool, my bonus daughter, Rachel, came running up to me and told me Amanda was stuck and needed help.

I ran after Rach back into the house but when I stepped through the doors, I was in a small 1400's village, surrounded by locals dressed like myself.  I immediately became nervous because I was afraid the Huns would find us but wondered what was taking them so long, since I had already seen them coming into town.                           

Rachel led me to a large, blue postal box next to a chain-link fence, which I realized was the fencing surrounding our pool.  Amanda was partially in the box and wearing her bikini swimsuit.  As I began trying to help her out, I asked her what she was doing. She told me she was heading to the pool when her friends "double-dared" her to climb in the box. I looked around for help and saw that the locals were going about their business in what seemed to be a marketplace - oblivious to us. 

I turned back to Amanda and told her I hope I can get her out before the Huns get into town.

Then I woke...

An old Japanese superstition states that your first dream of a new year will come true.

I am so glad this was one of my last from 2012 or I don't know what my new year would look like.

Being Strong When You Want To Cry

It was one of those roller-coaster weeks. When you have children who need you to be strong for them but emotions ran the gamut and there is nothing you can do but pray for it to end soon.  

Let's go back to last Friday (the week before last).  Jerome had an eye appointment where we knew he would be sized for glasses since his physical a few weeks earlier showed he needed them. We had a great time, just he and I, since I rarely have one-on-one time with my kids.  He was so excited to get glasses! 

We made it back to school in Clymer a few minutes early for the PARP Family Night (Parents As Reading Partners).  He was too old to attend so Jerome was going to help me run the donut swing for PTSO (Parent-Teacher-Student Organization).  There were kids in K-12 participating at the K-4 event but everyone had fun so no one minded.  We finally headed home around 8:30 after helping clean up the hallway and gymatorium (I like that name and want everyone to use it).

Jerome got to participate - several times
(I used to have a hoodie just like that.
I need to get another one from Johannes)

Saturday began with taking Amanda to the Cheerleaders breakfast before running home and transferring the chili to the Crockpot for the game.  Only to return to volunteer at the refreshment stand.  I am so glad I was in there since we had a MAJOR downpour during the football game.  While Jerome hid in the stand from the rain, so his blue hair dye didn't run, the game went on despite how soggy the ground became and how drenched the players and the cheerleaders were.  We won.

It was splash-when-you-walk weather

Monday I woke up stressed out knowing I had to make a dozen phone calls for the child custody trial I would be having on Tuesday (I'll blog about that later).  I was cleaning and mentally writing notes for the phone calls when the school called and our attendance officer told me Andrew was upset and wanted to come home.  I figured it either had to do with the trial or the weekend he had just spent with his father but when I got to school they asked if I would take Rachel home too and she looked like she had been crying. That was when they told me the School Superintendent was dead.  The kids had been told during an assembly but no one knew what had happened.

There will never be another Superintendent like him.

Rachel wanted to come to our house since her mom was working.  They hung out while I went back to cleaning and started making my phone calls.  

Then the others came home.

Amanda got online and, as I walked through the room, she was reading a news article.  

It was murder!  

In our Amish community where we rarely locked our doors?!  More and more reports came out. He was shot several times. But that means someone hated him and NO ONE hated him.  Everyone who met him liked him.  Why would someone kill him?  As we learned more, we learned he was engaged to, or had dated (depending on the source) a woman who had a jealous ex-husband.  He was killed on Friday, about the time Jerome and I left the school just a little way from his home, and laid in his lawn until they found him on Monday.  His daughter had come over for dinner earlier that evening and he was packing for a Superintendents meeting when he was murdered. 

When India headed home after her college classes across the state , Rachel called her to tell her Mr. Reed was dead.  I could hear Rachel pleading with India to stop crying before they hung up.  When I learned he was murdered, I called India but Rachel had already told her that terrible news.  I don't think anything can rip out your heart like hearing the total anguish of your child, knowing you can't touch them.  I wanted to hold her and tell her everything would be alright. All I could do was try to comfort her over the phone.

In the meantime, it was Spirit Week. The class games on Monday were cancelled.  Even if they wanted it to go on, too many students had gone home.  The different activities for the week went on. The Principal felt the kids needed a sense of "normalcy".  Normalcy with the press lurking just outside of school property and standing in front of Mr. Reed's house. Normalcy with police everywhere when we rarely saw police in our edge of the state.  Normalcy when our children didn't know what to do or how to act.   Normalcy while we were all in shock.

Clymer - Sherman volleyball teams remember Mr. Reed

The volleyball game where our arch rivals, Sherman Wildcats, stood with our own to say a prayer for Mr. Reed; Black Tie Day changed to Wear Black for Mr. Reed Day; The Halloween Costume Day where the students dressed up in costume, all went on with the rest of the Spirit Week celebrations.  The annual Meet You At The Flagpole was moved indoors, while the flag outside was at half-mast, so the press couldn't take pictures of those in mourning.  

Perfect timing for the Annual
Meet You At The Flagpole

There was a prayer vigil at the local Methodist Church where the media tried to catch folks as they walked out.  "Jack" Mr. Reed's recently adopted shelter dog visited the school while under the care of a teacher before Mr. Reed's nephew came for him.  Our 400 student (give or take) K-12 school was turned completely upside down while we marched on.

Finally, Friday.  The most bi-polar day I have ever gone through.  The day began with the excitement of the pep rally.  Amanda was eager about the new dance the cheerleaders had been practicing.  They did an awesome job from what I saw of the video and the students really got into it.  But that excitement was short-lived when school let out early and many of us made the hour-long trip to the funeral.  It was standing room only and over 300 people attended, so we sat in a side room. 

As they carried Mr. Reed out and his family followed I stood to the side and watched Amanda while she stood in the front of the crowd.  I watched her face go from curious observation to the reality of the situation finally hitting her.  I can't explain what I saw. I just know her state of denial was coming to an end and she was coming down hard but I was too deep in the crowd to get to her.  When we left the church and Amanda said she wanted to go home, not to the cemetery, we headed across the street to the van. Straight at the media onslaught. 

They stopped us and asked us to speak but everyone said no. I spoke on behalf of India off-camera and when they asked me to go on-camera I watched Amanda walking up the hill to the van and politely refused.  I hurried up the hill and heard her before I saw her.  Amanda was in Rachel's arms, just wailing. Andrew got to her before me and held his sister until I got there.  Amanda rarely cries - India and I can't remember the last time she cried - so this was heart-breaking.  It took us a while to get out of the side street and we headed home.

Allegheny State Park, near Salamanca NY

But we were in the Allegheny Mountains and Amanda loves to take pictures as much as I do (plus she took photography class in school) so  despite the drizzle we stopped in the state park for a little while so she could do what she loves to do and photograph nature before heading home and to the Powder Puff game.

Powder Puff Football - Amanda is #14

Back up in spirits. It was the Senior girls against the Junior girls with the football players coaching.  By then we had gotten used to the police presence.  As usual, the Seniors won despite one of last years graduates repeatedly changing the scoreboard to make it look like the Juniors would stand a chance.  The sun came out for the first time in a week  as the girls played.  It was as though Mr. Reed was watching the game. He loved watching the kids having fun.  Afterward I dropped Amanda off at a local church for the cheerleaders' slumber party.  

Looking over our school football field
at the first sunlight in almost a week.

When we got home, we heard the killer had been caught in Virginia.  Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Now Mr. Reed could rest in peace. 

Saturday rolled around and Andrew, Jerome and I headed to the Homecoming Game. I was in the refreshment stand again and the boys helped hawk food in the stands. Mr. Reed's family was there to watch the game before going through the things in Mr. Reed's home.  His daughters stayed for the entire game and posed with the boys after our victory over Panama Panthers.  I truly believe Panama threw the game for us.  They are a good team but lost 55 -6 and only scored that touch-down in the last minutes.  They knew we needed this and I thank them.  

Mr. Reed's daughters posing with our team.

Our rivals, Sherman had gifted our school and community this sign they had made for us.  Small communities always seem to band together when one is in need. 

Thank you.

Back home Amanda had to get ready for the Homecoming Dance.  She and the rest of the cheerleaders were meeting in the football field for pictures before heading over to dinner at The Dutch Village Restaurant.

Some of the cheerleaders before the
Homecoming Dinner and Dance.
(Amanda is second from the right)

Monday came, and we went to Mr. Reed's Memorial service at school. His family came there to show us their support.  Their support, as though we had the harder loss.  There were tears but more often there was laughter as people remembered this man, who touched so many souls.

Today we learned the murderer had been in school that Friday and that he was escorted to Mr. Reed's office - but Mr. Reed wasn't there. He was probably somewhere around the school just being silly with the kids he loved.

Tomorrow is the rescheduled School Open House.  Life goes on...

Let me tell you about Keith Reed.

Mr. Reed had only been with Clymer for 11 months.  He was hired from another school district after his recovery from a motorcycle-tractor trailer accident that nearly took his life.  After 6 weeks in a coma, numerous broken bones and almost two years of re-learning everything that comes naturally to us, he returned to work before  applying at Clymer. Hearing the stories of his first meetings with staff and Board of Education members, it is no wonder he got the job. We were shown candid photos of him breaking rules and pulling students down the hallways on the equipment cart. We saw photos of him in suit and tie on our school's big John Deere tractor, because he wanted to learn to drive it. We've heard stories of his finally getting to drive a school bus, albeit in the bus garage parking lot. We've heard of his love of landscaping despite his inability to do a lot because of his accident. That didn't stop him from having a beautiful lawn (with a lot of help from one of the kindergarten teachers with whom he became good friends). We've heard of his love of golf even though he tended to lose balls - once getting a golf cart stuck while trying to locate them and the band director pushing him out. We were told how you knew if he was in his office from the laughter coming from it.  We were told of his love for Jack, and Jack's love for beer. 

Mr. Reed has left a trail of students who adored him from as far back as the beginning days of his career. The more troubled the teen, the more he embraced them.  Even those who spent time in his office grew to love him.  He was a father-figure to those who's fathers weren't there for them, including India. He was everyone's friend. He handed out candy to the kids. He carried kindergartners to their classes. He always had high-fives and fist bumps for the students.  He loved scaring the kids and I heard that he possibly had frightened every student at some point.  He was always willing to chat with the parents.  He was a genuinely good person.  The 11 months we knew him feels like a lifetime, as though he has always been here. 

Mr. Reed fake-throwing his keys at Amanda

Keith Reed had everything. A job he loved with students he cared deeply for. He bought a beautiful home in a community he called "Heaven".  He had not just survived but recovered from a near-fatal accident.  He found a dog to keep him company.  All he needed was someone to love.  He was divorced many years and at 51 decided he wanted someone in his life, so he went to an online dating site to find the special person. What he found was a possessive ex-husband vowing revenge. A revenge that took away the innocence of hundreds of people (myself included) who had never experienced a murder before, let alone of someone close to them. A revenge that changed thousands of lives forever. 

 So many questions are running through my head right now.   Will we ever really get over this?  Had Mr. Reed been in his office, would he have been killed there?  Would those around also have been harmed?  Would he have been able to be saved if he had been shot while others were nearby? If I had taken the route home past his house, would I have seen him or heard something and been able to get him help. Why did he have to die just because he wanted to be loved?  Why did he have to lay out there in the downpour during the football game?  Was God's heart so broken that his tears poured on us? 

I hope we all learned from Mr. Reed to love unconditionally those children who need us most.  Those who need guidance and compassion, so that they may go on with their lives knowing someone cares.  I hope we can carry on his legacy. 

So... At Last We Meet

One of the things that I managed to teach my children through the example of my relationship with the love of my life, Johannes, is that long-distance relationships DO work.  

They take a stronger LOVE - to be able to survive long periods without being near one another.

They take complete TRUST in one another - to be able to withstand those who will attempt to tear the two of you apart by trying to put a doubt in the other's mind ... and there will be those people. 

They take complete FAITHFULNESS - so that you always remember with whom your true love lies and so that they keep their trust in you.

They take absolute HONESTY - no half-truths or white lies. Once a shadow of a doubt is placed upon you, then the trust is gone. Besides, why lie? The little things aren't worth it and if you have an unforgivable secret then you probably shouldn't be together anyway.

~~~

It is with those beliefs that India has managed to keep her relationship with her sweetheart, Cody, strong. The two of them have been a couple almost as long as Johannes and I.  Unlike the two of us, who have gotten together on several occasions, these two didn't finally physically meet until they had been together for a year and a half. Thank goodness for computers, telephones and Skype (well, that would still be computers, wouldn't it?)

Cody and his mom, Sharon, drove five hours across the state so that Cody could take India to the Prom.  Now that is a love for your child!  When they first arrived, we had breakfast and then Cody discovered our box of "Table Topics" sitting on the table.  So he began asking us the questions on the cards.

They are such a cute couple.

Eventually we made it to Addie's Ice Cream Parlor for her delicious home-made ice cream, and more photos.  While we sat in the little patio, I thought how nice the backdrop of the four-mile long lake in our town would be so I made the kids go across the street and pose for me.

Really - what a beautiful back-drop, and what a cute couple.

I love this photo!

They were getting a bit irritated with the endless photo taking but India should know by now to accept it.

Sharon drove all the way here just so the kids could be together for a dance.  That is too sweet!

Since India will be heading away to college soon, I thought she should sign Addie's wall.

Of course Cody should too.

More Cute Couple pictures.

India was a little nervous pinning on the boutonniere. 

Not nearly as nervous as Cody was to pin on her corsage. Sharon ended up helping.

Now, the moment we've all been waiting for - Prom!

At least they thought the non-stop photo taking was amusing now.

Deal with it, Cody!  I like taking pictures.

:-D

The next morning, Jerome decided to hang out with his new friend (and play with my cell) before Cody and Sharon headed back to the Albany area - and home.