No rain on our parade

We might have stayed longer in the Finger Lakes, only the Girl had an appointment this morning - to march in the Memorial Day parade with her Girl Scout friends. Somehow I ended up accompanying her. It was a glorious day for it.

The parade was big this year. There were so many people marching that it looked for a moment as if the whole town was taking part. Luckily a few decided just to watch and wave and pick up all the candy that was getting thrown about.

Ah, the candy. The Girl twigged pretty quickly that being in the parade was a distinct disadvantage when it came to collecting candy. But she put a brave face on it and marched anyway and had a lot of fun I think. We were somewhere in the middle, and when we reached the end of the mile-long route we doubled back to rejoin the rest of the family and some Exiles (Exile #2 was also in the parade). The Girl did a good job of road-sweeping for stray candies as we went, so she didn't completely miss out after all.

And I didn't miss out on waving at the shiny fire trucks or the fife and drum bands near the back of the parade.

The sun shone, the crowds were happy, a good time was had by all. Summer has (unofficially) begun.

Soar-away success

Our adventures today began (after obligatory telly-watching and use of the indoor and outdoor hotel pools) at the National Museum of Soaring. Soaring being gliding by another name. At the top of a hill in Elmira there's a small air-strip, and we had fun watching the sail-planes (gliders) being launched. The Man and Boy investigated the small but apparently very interesting museum. They were the first visitors of the day (perhaps the week?) and the curator had to switch the lights on for them.

From there we went in search of more gorges and waterfalls. We found a lovely gorge in the Robert H. Treman State Park and had a good hike there through shady forest.

Then further down in the park we found a natural swimming pool at the foot of a beautiful waterfall. We were just ahead of its official summer opening, so there were several "No swimming" notices up which (in the usual fashion) everyone was ignoring. We spent a long time happily paddling in the cool stream and the kids shifted stones about and made their own small waterfall. Then a Park Ranger turned up and threw everyone out of the water.

Despite being in the Finger Lakes region, we barely caught a glimpse of any of the famous lakes - we only made a whistle-stop visit to Cayuga Lake in Ithaca before we began our homeward journey.

We may just have to go back...

Gorge-ous day

We set off this fine morning on one of our occasional mini-break-type trips. We've come to the Finger Lakes region of New York state, west of Albany.

It was quite a long drive (about three hours) though we broke up the journey with a stop in Greene, which is a lovely little town. Then on to Watkins Glen, where there's an impressive gorge. We had a good hike there. The Man found it a bit too tamed for his preference (the walking wasn't challenging, being all on built paths) but it was still an attractive setting, and the Girl especially enjoyed it very much.

On from there to the last available hotel in the Finger Lakes this Memorial Day weekend, the Holiday Inn in Elmira. It is somewhat under reconstruction, but actually it's ok. It has two pools and a working TV so the kids certainly aren't complaining.

Passage to India

Today was Show of Work day for the Boy and his classmates - a highpoint in the school year.

The children started by excelling themselves in assembly with an Indian dance routine. Girls and boys (including our one) were all equally enthusiastic and threw themselves into some joyful hopping, jumping and whirling. Awesome!


Then we were invited into one of their classrooms which they'd converted into a Hindu temple, complete with colourful "altar" and "statues" of gods and goddesses. Very impressive.

In the hallway we read entertaining essays about the gods, and admired this model of the Taj Mahal made by our Boy and his buddy. In a second classroom we were invited to play "Indian Jeopardy", a general (Indian) knowledge quiz devised by the kids.

Everything we saw today was excellent - all the children had worked hard and really done their best. The Boy, who in the past has sometimes been diffident about his school achievements, clearly felt proud of all his work.

We, of course, felt very proud of him.

Elephantastic

I dutifully went into school after lunch with my bag of cardboard cut-outs and helped eighteen children make elephant masks. After the basic assembling, the decorating side of it was down to them. It was interesting to see all their different approaches. There were some who knew exactly how they wanted to arrange each sequin, others who went for more of a random bling effect (squirt the mask with glue then tip sequins on top). Most of the boys were fairly minimalist, but were very keen to give their elephants tusks, which they crafted from aluminium foil.

The masks are now up on the wall where they make a great display.

Soon after sweeping up the sequins it was time for the sewing class. Noisy today - some kids just don't seem to come with any volume control. We made book jackets.

Chipmunks: 3

You guessed it. Another day, another entrance hole, and those three pesky little chippies were back on the patio this morning. Maybe it's time to get the traps out.

That's what my colleagues at Five Rivers suggested, anyway, when I went there to teach this morning. I had Kindergartners again, and of course they were hungry. Thirsty, too - it has been an incredibly hot day, with midsummer temperatures and high humidity. Really quite uncomfortable.

This afternoon I've been cutting out cardboard shapes. Remember the elephant mask? Well, I didn't design it just completely randomly: I'll be helping make them in school tomorrow as part of the India unit in the Boy's class.

Chipmunks: the Squeaquel

First thing this morning: there they were again, my cute chipmunk pals, hanging out on the patio. They'd dug themselves a new front door.

BUT I haven't seen them at all this evening. Earlier I stuffed ammonia-soaked rags as far as I could into their tunnels. It has been an extremely hot day - in the 90s - so those tunnels must be pretty stinky now. If they've any sense Alvin and friends have packed their cheeks and gone far away.

Here's another little creature, not found near our house but in Moreau Lake on Sunday.