Life after Pageant

There is life after Pageant around here - not quite as exciting, but still a lot of fun.  We continue to have a lot of people visiting the sites and we've had some great experiences.  We've been able to do quite a bit of work in the ward we're assigned to, which has been great. Last week we attended the baptism of a young man who we were able to help teach with the sister missionaries.  He's a great young guy and we are very happy for him.

The weather has been almost perfect around here.  Just occasional rain and temperatures in the 70's and low 80's with tolerable humidity.  It's been that way most of July and August. 

It is also spectacularly beautiful. There are wild flowers everywhere and they keep changing as the weeks pass.  For the past couple of weeks the Queen Anne's Lace has been the main event.  It has filled the fields and all along the roads.  Here are some shots around the Smith Farm:

Barn and corner of Frame Home

Frame Home

Log Home

Sacred Grove in background

These purple flowers are lining the roads now as well.  We have yet to figure out what they are, so any help is welcome...

Just about everyone has hanging baskets of flowers on their porches and the villages have them hanging along their main streets.  Some are three feet in diameter.  Tons of homes also have fantastic flower gardens.  Things do grow here!

And the temple is always beautiful.

A few others.

Chicory

??

Hydrangea

We are surrounded by cornfields.  It's 7 feet tall and the sweet corn is to die for!  There are also massive fields of soybeans and lots of other green stuff we haven't yet identified.  

Soybeans

The trees of course are always magnificent.  Speaking of which, it's time for your botany lesson:

And this leaf is??

I knew you knew this one!  Red Maple (you can see that it's sort of reddish, in a weird kind of way...).  Not tons of these around, but they're very noticeable because of their color (the new green is reddish, brownish...) and they provide a nice contrast in yards.  

Okay, we're done with the Maples for the duration of the mission, but you can't relax - things get a little harder from now on...

Try this one on for size (XXL):

Shagbark Hickory is the answer, but you didn't get that one, did you...?  Tasty nuts on this tree, but apparently nearly impossible to shell.  There are quite a few around the area, so we'll try to collect some nuts before the squirrels get them all and then try to hammer out the impossible.  

We helped with organizing, setting up and staffing the church's Wayne County Fair booth this week.  The fair runs through Saturday of this week.  It's a fun little fair, but a large cotton candy is 9 bucks, so you really have to want some...  We checked out all the animals and watched some harness racing practice, which was fun.   

On our P-day a couple of weeks ago we finally drove down to the Genesee Country Village and Museum, which is about 50 miles from here.  We've been trying to go since it opened for the summer in May, but something has always been in the way (like rain).  It's a living history place with 50 some restored homes and shops covering all of the 1800's - from log cabins to mansions.  It was pretty cool and we spent all day there.

The blacksmith

Hops growing near the brewery

Wheel Shop

The Tinsmith

The Authentic Schoolmarm

We also went down to Canandaigua (15 miles south of us) to the Sonnenberg Mansion and Gardens which was nice.  Canandaigua is a pretty spot on the shore of one of the Finger Lakes (a lake coincidentally named Lake Canandaigua...)  After touring the Sonnenberg mansion, we decided that some people have way too much money...   While we were there, we had lunch at a really great crepe place that had been recommended by several people.  Remind us to take you there when you come to visit!

 

Last week we went up to Sodus Point on Lake Ontario again. We've been up there several times now and really like it.  The 25 mile drive through the orchard and vineyard country is beautiful and this trip the sky was blue so the lake was too - we thought it was always gray!  We toured the lighthouse museum and climbed to the top of the old lighthouse which was cool.

Water and Canada (out there somewhere...)

Sailing Regatta in progress

New Sodus Lighthouse (new meaning 75 years old)

There are little produce stands open all over the place now and we've stopped and bought raspberries, strawberries, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, beans, peaches, etc. in our travels.  Most are unmanned and on the honor system - they just have a box to put the money in. There is a stand just down Stafford Road from us about 1/2 a mile that has great tomatoes and corn.  We've been eating both about every meal.

This week we drove over to Oswego, NY, which is about 50 miles east of Palmyra on Lake Ontario.  We toured Fort Ontario, which is a star fort which sits on a promontory overlooking the Lake and the Oswego River.  It's been a fairly strategic place over the centuries, having changed hands multiple times in different wars (French and Indian, Revolution, 1812, Civil, etc.).  As you can see, it was another beautiful day and the lake was deep blue.  

We got this in our mailbox the other day.  Goes to show you that you just can't avoid junk mail, even if you've been dead for 170 years...

Here are some of our favorite Sister Missionaries - left to right: Sister Hunter, Sister Stoddard, Sister Davis and Sister Jones.

We went up to the top of the Hill Cumorah to watch the Perseid Meteor Shower on Wednesday night with the Bean's (upstairs neighbors) and the Ostler's (the site directors).  It was a beautiful night and we're far enough from a big city that the nights are plenty dark around here, so the stars were beautiful and we saw quite a few meteors and ate popcorn.  I didn't get any pictures...