The Schenectady Holiday Parade

One thing my family loves it's traditions.

Last year my children and I went to the Monet Experience for my birthday. (I am just now realizing that I never posted about it.)

When we were heading into the Arsenal we saw the parade beginning and joked how the city had scheduled a parade in honour of my birthday.

Of course that meant that we had to come back for the parade this year to actually watch the parade.

We knew it was going to be long because it was still going when we left the Arsenal so we planned on bundling up.

We were in front of Proctor's and they had hot cocoa for sale inside to help warm us, and a T.A.R.D.I.S.

We'll bring travel mugs next year.

We were in the perfect location to watch the tree lighting

 before the parade began.

There was a technical glitch with a group of performers early on but they carried on like real troopers despite the lack of audio. We were very impressed with the young people but embarrassed for the crew. It will be better next time.

One of my daughters wasn't dressed warmly because it wasn't THAT cold

when she went to work in the morning, so I gave up my gloves

despite taking dozens of photos. 

The parade lasted over two hours and there was so much to see

with all of the floats and participants.

We ended up leaving early but finished watching the live stream from the comfort of our living room. Next year we plan on arriving a little late so we can see Santa.

Happy Holidays!!!

  Ingrid

Celebrating My Church's 200th Anniversary

Two hundred years. 

Circa 1898

How often do you see a church that lasts for 200 years? In my hometown it is fairly common, since the big five (Catholic, Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and "our" Baptist) have been around forever. But in this day of mega-churches and smaller pop-ups longevity has become rare. 

The organ is only a façade since 2006.        I have wooden pipes from the organ in my living room.

Lowville Baptist was a life-saver for me back in the early 2000s. I was nearing the end of an abusive marriage and was invited to LBC during the county fair. They sent us a more formal invitation as Sunday School was about to begin in the Fall. My children and I attended for a few months until my marriage turned even uglier and I shied away from people. Pastor Reed had been to my home and decided he needed to help me escape.

Meanwhile, his wife, Carol, decided my oldest son needed to belong somewhere away from what we had been living with. She invited him to be the production team. He ran with it! He thrived in production and still does to this day. His computer knowledge grew at that church. We had so much fun and felt so much love there. 

Eight years later we left the area and found a new church. We loved that church and the church family but it didn't hold as special a place to us as Lowville Baptist. Eventually we moved on and became active in a smaller mega-church. Great pastor but not the same. We missed stained glass windows, organ music and hymns. 

Then I received a letter from LBC inviting my family to their 200th Anniversary!

                     

I was so excited! Not all of my gang could make it but half of my kids did come with me on the beautiful drive to our hometown. 

There was a pretty cool fog bank as we approached the Mohawk River.

I was recognized right away, as was India. People didn't recognize Amanda though. The funny part was that despite all of his involvement with Tech and IT as well as how much time he spent with the Reeds, No one recognized Matthew. Of course, when we left he had no facial hair and had shoulder-length thick blonde hair. His reputation still held though and he was known as the guy who built and installed the system. 

There were photo displays, a wonderful service with each of the living former pastors speaking, culminating in OUR Pastor Reed coming from his retirement home in Alaska to do the sermon. P. Reed had been there since the 1980s but after he left the other gentlemen have led the church.

Pastor Reed left Lowville a few years after we moved away. His son was raising his own family in Alaska so P. Reed and Carol joined him there. Carol past last year but P. Reed was accompanied my Susan. I wasn't able to speak with her very much but she seemed so nice. 

Pastor Reed often said that the Baptist Church runs on it's stomach. Always, and proud of it. I do miss the monthly church dinners. For this event it wasn't potluck but was catered by Squishy's BBQ and Catering. It was so delicious!

                     

After dinner there was cake, cut by Pastor Reed.

And, of course, fellowship. That is, after all, why it's called a Fellowship Hall. 

During fellowship I was able to talk to my former sister-in-law and friend from school who was kind enough to give me a signed copy of her book. Thank you Heidi!

We all went home with wonderful memories and little mementos to cherish. I have a promise from my oldest that we will make the short 2-1/2 hour drive home to church (maybe) once a month. Pastor Reed won't be there, but Pastor Leon seems like a very kind person and he has been there for several years now. I think we would enjoy his sermon.

    

Until Next Time!

    Ingrid

Memories of Halloween's Past

 Where has this year gone? It seems not that long ago that we were up North celebrating the New Year with family and now here we are almost Halloween. 

Halloween is one of my favourite holidays. I love the decorations! I love the costumes! I love the excitement of the neighbourhood children. Add to that the beauty of Autumn with it's colours and the scent of Fall in the air. 

Matthew's father and I used to go all out on Halloween. We had the dry ice, the voice distorter, the darkened house and cemetery in the lawn. One year he even dressed as Dr. Frankenstein to the neighbour's Frankenstein's monster. 

When we moved back to my hometown while my oldest was little, I hand sewed all of his costumes. As more kids came along it became too much to make all those costume, but I still made sure there was plenty of candy for the trick or treaters. I brought my children to the community Halloween party after taking them through my old neighbourhood to collect goodies. Eventually we moved to the country so there were no more trick or treaters. That didn't stop the decorating though.

As the kids grew and we found a church that we liked, I became active as a volunteer. One of our yearly events was a community Halloween party, to replace the one held years earlier. I would take the kids trick or treating around my old neighbourhood and then we would go to the church party where the older kids loved helping out. When that was over we headed to the local Stewart's convenience store where the kids were given free ice cream cones for being in costume. 

When we moved to Western NY Halloweens became more of the familiar. We volunteered at our church for their Annual Trunk or Treat.  

On Halloween we formed a circle around the parking lot with our trunks/hatches/tailgates facing in and loaded up with candy.  Some decorated their vehicles while others left them plain. Of course we decorated. We had bounce houses, hot dogs with chips and apple cider. The best part? It was all free to the public! The last year outdoors we counted 976 kids. After a couple of years we moved everything indoors (well, not the vehicles). There were a lot more kids coming through since they didn't have to brave the snow and cold temperatures off Lake Erie. Cleaning up the hay spread throughout the church with a leaf blower was fun too!

By the time we moved here to our current home the kids were all too old to go trick or treating, although the girls still like to get dressed up. The neighbourhood kids all go to the malls and other places to get more candy than they would in our small neigbourhood. But I still love the decorations. 

I hope you all have a Happy, and Safe, Halloween!

    

Until Next Time!

    Ingrid

   
  
  

How To Discover A New Favourite YouTube Channel

I actually discovered this channel last year but I thought I should share this so others might enjoy their channel as well. Back in 2023 (that was, what? 3... 4 years ago? My oldest and I, along with my daughters, had gone to The Home Show in Saratoga Springs to get ideas for my son's new house - and maybe a few for mine. We had a great day and then headed home. 

Just a side note on the weather. When we headed up it was a pleasant Spring day. Temperatures were around the low 50's. So it was light jacket weather. A few miles up the road, in the Adirondack Mountains it was cold. There was still feet of snow and no sign of it melting.

Back to my story. 

As we were cruising along we played leapfrog with this 4-Runner. 

Should I be showing their license plate?
Well, they don't hide it on their channel.
Besides, they sold that 4-Runner anyway.

We were laughing about the fact that we passed them, they passed us, we passed them, until I saw it... See the sticker on the back window? It has a YouTube logo. As we continued playing leapfrog we got close enough to read their channel name - 4runningaround. I immediately looked them up and after realizing they are a camping channel I followed them. In fact, I later learned in a chat that Josh was coming back from an overnight camping trip in the Adirondacks (now do you see why I mentioned that?). He posted that video a week or so later. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5VRvRR3Y30&t=253s

They are local to me so that makes their channel more interesting. I can honestly say I have seen all of their videos and shorts. From watching, I have gathered that at least one works in my oldest son's profession and they work for the same overall employer as my youngest son. Even more interesting. Okay, that sounds stalker-ish but to me it's just things that connect us and give me reason to get out there and do what they do. Stop living through them and start living. 

They go on great camping trips and give me ideas for simple meals. In case you don't know, I have a cooking blog at www.cookwithhoney.blogspot.com. No, it isn't about honey it is based on my former last name and my children's last name and was suggested by one of my sons.

Since selling the 4Runner, and buying a truck and truck camper they changed their channel name to Josh and Kate. Kate also has a channel that she doesn't share on much and has a slightly different subject line. It's more about the behind the scenes of truck camping. Still very interesting. 

Follow them at:

            https://www.youtube.com/@kateandjosh

                            and

            https://www.youtube.com/@WanderingKate

Give them some love.

 

Until Next Time!

    Ingrid

A Beautiful Walk At Colonie Town Park

My youngest and his girlfriend enjoy going for walks around our area. One of their favorite places is the local town park. Judging from the few people around, this location isn't well know. That might be because of the many choices we have, or the close proximity to the Catskill Mountains, Berkshire Mountains and Adirondack Park. I was so excited when they asked if I wanted to bring my Goodest Boy along on a cooler summer day. 

Kito was happy to go for a walk with his Mama.

Colonie Town Park is a hidden gem that I encouraged folks to go to. The 160 acre park is alongside the Mohawk River. It has a swimming pool, two pavilions, picnic areas, a playground, cross-country ski trails, a dog park, tennis courts and football and softball fields. We went there for the nature trails. 

Doggo loved walking through the woods and sniffing all the smells. Sometimes I had to redirect him when his Beagle nose sensed something off in the distance.

Of course I had to take nature photos because, who wouldn't with all this beauty surrounding them?

The Mohawk River Was absolutely gorgeous, with the Thaddeus Kosciusko Bridge ("Twin Bridges") off in the distance. 

Kito was so thirsty by the time we arrived at the Mohawk. No that wasn't anything dangerous in the water. They make sure the park is safe for the animals who visit.

Back to our walk as we head to the car. Doggo loved this walk and even had a nice gentleman who works there comment on his cuteness. 

Seriously, isn't that covered bridge lovely?

Tired Doggo slept most of the way home after the initial "I don't like cars" whining.

Until Next Time!

    Ingrid