Old Room, New Purpose

 

Now that she's working full time at home, Gail decided to move her office upstairs.  This meant a significant reorganization and going through many drawers, boxes and bookshelves.  I found the top picture in a box.  I've never been able to date it, but it's roughly the same perspective of the one below it from 1917.

I didn't even recall having these two pictures of our house from 1930.  These were from just before the solar panels were put on.

We haven't painted the spare room (also known as Lori's room in honor of a regular guest) in over 15 years.  I decided the internet is sufficient and no longer need the collection of topo maps.  They go back to my days in the cabin in Candor in the last century.

The topo maps weren't the only casualty of the new decor.  The framed 20th anniversary poster of the Great Blue Heron Festival has been demoted to a basement location.

An old picture, also from the Candor days, got a new frame and choice position above Gail's desk. Another frame that got repurposed held a picture of my mom since she was 17.  When I took it out, I found baby pictures of her older sister, Ruth, who was born in 1919.

 Painted and occupied.  It's so cozy, Gail even decided to put in a few hours on a work project during her three weeks off.  Next up: Dormer and bathroom?  Stay tuned.

Westfield Trip

 

 

I called the family in Westfield to let them know we were coming for a pre-Christmas dinner.  Nobody picked up but we went anyway.

We met Cam for the first time.  John and Melissa hosted and we saw a good portion of the family, as well as a chance encounter with an old friend of Gail's who grew up in Westfield and was also visiting family.

It was the first trip with the new car and all went fine.  We took advantage of a free fast charger in Olean and walked along the Allegany River for a half hour.

Modern Snow

 

 

December brought plenty of precipitation.  Sadly, it was all the liquid kind.  We had four storms, each dumped over an inch of rain.  It's not often the island below the bridge is underwater.  It's even more rare the old concrete bridge abutment is submerged, but there's no sign of it in this picture except a standing wave.

 

The bank in the wildflower preserve still hasn't completely collapsed.  People are insisting on walking around the barrier and trampling the vegetation as they have to move farther away from the collapsing ledge.  No sense using the new trail.

 

This was from the day before that storm.  The trees are now hanging over First Dam.  I'm hoping January doesn't drop another inch of rain to wash them over.

 

I made one last trip down Cascadilla Gorge the morning the gates were closed.  The natural areas employee was waiting for the last person coming down behind me before locking the gate for the season.

 Roxy providing perspective of the size of a dead chestnut tree in Six Mile Creek. 

And a still-living hemlock.

A Brand New Car!

 

 

Here's our new car.  It's electric, so there isn't much to see underneath.  No more crawling under the car to wire up a rusty exhaust system.

 

This is what the top part looks like.  

This is the first ding.  I saw it coming when my passenger was getting out, but didn't speak up in time before the door made contact with a fire hydrant.  Good to get it out of the way early and have it be small.

 Our Fit went to someone whose shoe collection prevents her from walking anywhere.

 Yardana signed on the dotted line of the title.  She'll be signing a check to us soon.

I'm sure she'll get her license soon too.  Hope she's not too disillusioned about what car ownership really means.  I'm pretty confident having a car won't put the "dumb" in "freedom" for her as it does to so many.  When she was in school she used to say, "Be smart like Yardana."                                                                If she's really smart, she'll sell it on Craigslist.

I didn't give her a shovel but told her she should have one in case this ever happens again.