vacation part 3

i really wasn't sure what to expect when arriving in philly

i didn't realize how much history was made here

i was pleasantly surprised by all the wonderful architecture

we spent most of our time in the old city near our hotel,

society hill just south and center city

it was an easy town to walk around and everything was relativity close

i would like to visit again

there is alot so see close by

dutch county, gettysburg and the barnes foundation

i have seen part of the exhibit when it came to the ago

we stayed for 2 day and then headed to hershey

where we bought too much chocolate

and visited the aaca museum

we drove for 5 hours straight to buffalo where we found

a great hotel and restaurant

garden place hotel and salvatore's restaurant

we stayed in the honeymoon suite

with a jacuzzi, fireplace and king size bed!

the meal was fabulous and was included in the room package

the next day we did some shopping at the local outlet mall and headed

back to canada to see the falls and niagara-on-the-lake

all in all it was a wonderful vacation!

vacation part2

we arrived at the otero b&b after lunch

and where happy to see our host marie

we are so lucky to have such gracious people in our lives

marie and her husband rick are the best! thanks so much!!!

on the suggestion from marie we headed out the 'lie'

to a little town called sag harbor

it was just what we needed, to sit by the water,

watching the boats and eating seafood

the town was filled with great restaurants and unique shops

i met some wonderful girls, toni and ava,

working on their echo-o-sketches

i still have mine tucked away, it was nice to see them

enjoying their art over a cup of coffee

the next day we took the train into manhattan

we walked around for 6 hours

first stop, the top of the empire state building,

this time i was prepared

i have a 15x zoom on my camera! i could have stayed all day

we zigzag our way throught midtown, found a great spot

recommended by marie,called metalliferous,

back to the garment district, through the theater district and

times square, over to rockefeller centre and central park!

we managed to see alot and only touch

a small corner of the island!

the next day we cover more ground in the lower part of town

all the way down broadway to little italy where they we having a 10 day festival

the streets were lined with vendors, mostly food,

the smell was amazing,

i wish we hadn't had breakfast and it wasn't time for lunch

we traveled through china town to the brooklyn bridge, all through the financial district

and 8 hours later we are back at penn station

to catch our train to long island!

i love ny

we decided to head to philly next

to be continued............

vacation part 1

home at last

after

2397 km

1964 photos

4 hotels

1 excellent b&b

6 tanks of gas

some really nice people

too much junk food

lots of beer

and a good time had by all!

for a last minute vacation we ended up having a great time. i usually plan for months and know exactly what we are doing every day. this time due to some work related problems and wanting to see how my husband would fare planing a trip ( he was complaining that i always get to pick the destinations) we decided to drive around the u.s. . first stop the 1000 islands or as my granny would say "the one thousand islands" . what a beautiful spot, it's been several years since we visited and forgot how peaceful and relaxing it was. next stop lake placid, never been, and found that mirror lake was the view from our room. we sat and watched the moon come up over the mountains. our hotel was hosting a convention and we met some really nice people who worked for the village of freeport, vilma and denise, really lovely women who gave us some traveling info , which really helped with our trip. thanks ladies!! we also crashed their party and had a fun time. the next morning i got up with the birds and watched the sun come up and wondered along the lake taking some eerie shots of the mist, lake and wildlife. the town was small and quaint, i can't imagine how they would host thousands of people for the olympics. on our way out of town i found a few interesting trails in my national geographic scenic highways book, which took us through a small portion of vermont, massachusetts on the mohawk trail, and into connecticut, where we ended up in hartford for dinner and spent the night.

i was surprised how small hartford was and only spent the morning touring around the town , and managed to take a lot of pictures of the state capital building, which was completed in 1878 and located in bushnell park. great architecture.

our next part of the trip was driving to long island to visit my friend marie and her husband rick.

they were gracious enough to invite us to stay with them after a mishap booking on priceline.com . Thanks to our wonderful hosts our vacation was a memorable one!

i have tons of more photos to go through

i will continue an account of our adventures tommorrow!

road trip

well i'm off on my vacation

touring around in our car

first stop lake placid

then on to nyc

and from there

where ever the road takes us

be back in a week or so

encaustic class

i had my second class today

the first was spent watching demos

today i got to play!
i've taken a one day class with claudine

but have never worked with coloured wax until today

it was a whole new experience

i can't wait to do more

so many ideas were running through my head

i got to finish several pieces

this series is my favorite

i did a transfer of a photo taken in AZ

i tried to make the wax look like a sunset

it was a good first attempt

it still needs work and another coat of wax

upside down

i don't know if it's the having

too much on my plate

right now or the change in weather

but i'm feeling a bit off balance

i love the fall, the change of season,

cool mornings,crisp air and wearing a sweater

i just don't like what it brings

it's sad to see my garden die

so much work and so little time to enjoy it

i do like to hibernate in the winter

i will spend days making art and reading

making garden plans for next spring

first day

• back pack -check
• brushes -check
• note pad and pen -check
• working surfaces -check
• awl -check
• camera -check
• subway token -check
• lunch money -check

off to my first day at school!!

day tripping

i got to spend my day off "day tripping"

with my friend lennie

every once in a while we get in the car and go

each time is somewhere different

sometimes we know where we are going and

sometimes we let the road take us

in the city or to the country

we've found some interesting things along the way

this time we ended up on queen st west

lots of cool stuff to see and do

vintage clothes, galleries, restaurants and shops

and tons of grunge to photograph

back to school

i'm a little nervous and a bit excited

i've signed up for a 12 week course

at the toronto school of art
i've taken many one day classes and

been to 5 conventions to take classes

but this is different

it's been 25 years since i graduated college

and i'm feeling really old

i'm sure i will get over it!!!