Weekly happenings in Granville

Some exciting things have happened in Granville lately.  Let me first say that the Thanksgiving season came SO QUICKLY this year!  I had been hearing all about how gorgeous the autumn leaves would be up here, so I had my eyes open, on the lookout for those colors!

One day, the leaves were starting to turn a rusty brown color, and then we got this huge rain and wind storm in the night.  When we awoke, the leaves that were still on the trees were completely dark brown.  So we missed the beautiful colors this fall. 

 

But the crisp, fall (and winter) air is here to stay! 

On October 27th, our church held a family and friends night.  We had a bonfire, and hotdogs and hamburgers as well as s'mores. 

  

 

We were so excited to have quite a few visitors there!

 

I think everyone had a nice time. 

 

I celebrated my 26th birthday last week.  Dan bought me some candles (I had been out of candles for a long time and missed them!) and took me to dinner.  It was a nice birthday. 

 

On Saturday, it snowed here!  That was the second time it snowed.  Of course it blew around more than anything. 

 

 

People up here think I'm crazy, but I love snow and winter!  The worst thing about the snowy weather will be having to cancel church services. 

I absolutely love church, and I'll miss it when we can't have it.

 

On Fridays, we always go to the local nursing home and sing songs and Dan preaches a short message.  This past week, we finished our service, and the staff started gathering together all of the residents into the dining hall.  They were going to have a small ceremony to honor all of the resident veterans!  So we stayed for that.  I really enjoyed it.  We DID sing the Star Spangled Banner (accompanied by a cd track) and it was arranged for an orchestra, not a choir.  As a result, I was jumping octaves the whole time, and Dan was the only brave soul to sing a G above middle C.  haha!

 

 

 

 

 This is the picture Dan took of all of the veterans. 

 

I was going to post a few videos of our little dog, doing some tricks, but they wont upload for some reason, so I'll post them next time. 

Until later!

 

 

Life in Upstate New York

Since moving to upstate New York, I have been getting used to living in the country again. 

 

I have to say...there's nothing like it. 

After living in California for five years and in Glen Burnie and Baltimore, MD for two years, I am SO happy to be in upstate New York now.  I have no problem with California or Maryland, but in the three cities I lived in while living there, there was always some feeling of threat or fear.  I wouldn't have thought of going for a jog in Baltimore where I lived because of the violence and gangs nearby.

 

The feeling that I always had to be careful how I looked at people (or didn't look at people) in Baltimore for fear of being labeled in some way was SCARY. 

 

Upstate New York (I am clear about saying "upstate" because it is nothing like NYC) is nothing like that.  In fact, I take our dog for a walk every morning and go running or bicycling each day too. 

 

The people in this area know everything about everyone else.  The people are easy-going and friendly in a casual, neighborly way.  I love that.  I've missed that the past few years.    

 

 

When we first arrived in New York, one of the kind members of the church here gave Dan and I tickets to ride the Minne-Ha-Ha, a steam boat on Lake George.  It was fun to tour the lake on the boat!   

 

 

 

 

 

 

We love the house where we live now.  In this picture, our dog Chula is running around.  She LOVES the open space.  It's much better to play fetch in the country than in the small city plot we had before. 

 

About a month ago, I was really wishing that I could have a rabbit, so I found one for sale on ebay and we bought him.  I named him Duffy. 

 

Chula really likes Duffy, but I don't think Duffy feels the same about her.

 

Dan made a nice hutch for him. 

 

We're loving life up here!