Day 2.174: Let's Explore!

Seven of us climbed in the van and drove up the Northway to Glens Falls today. We had a pleasant walk around, a quick lunch and then settled down to a good few hours of child-centred fun at Explore!. It's not an easy place to describe, so I will try to give you a taste of it through some pictures.

E5N1 at the water-play area:

All three on (or near) the climbing tower:

Two pirates on the pirate ship (note the tunics!):

Two damsels in distress in the castle tower:

A close encounter with a painted turtle:


...and something fishy:


It was fantastic! By the time we left we were all quite tired.

I have a couple of videos to upload as well as some pictures from around the town but they will have to wait for another day.

Day 2.173: Weekend surprise

Hey E5N1, Hello? Anyone there?

Dear reader, Could you give me a hand with a bit of mouse-over action (or click if you're RSSing) please?

That's better. E5N1 - Nan and Granddad are here!

And the other surprise is that today was the last day of the working week - I found out on Tuesday that tomorrow is a holiday because July 4th falls on a Saturday. I don't follow the logic myself - what's so special about July 4th...?!

Day 2.172: The 'head at the Pillow

As usual, we spent our Wednesday evening watching dancing - but this week we were not at home watching So You Think You Can Dance on TV but in Massachusetts at the ballet.

About a week ago I saw an advertisement for this dance event - the combination of contemporary dance and the music of Radiohead could have been designed just for us - I certainly doubt that there are many people in the area who have much more of a combined appreciation for these things. So, we booked up a babysitter, booked up some tickets and waited for today to come around.

The venue was 60 miles and about an hour's drive away (mostly on the NYS Thruway and the Mass Pike) and was quite unusual and spectacular both inside and out.



We were very happy to be there and both the dancing and the music were wonderful. 'Juliet' was a huge presence (even when just walking across the stage) but the six guys were also fantastic - especially when they all danced together.



And since we had such a nice time (and such a multimedia experience). I will share a little of it with you through the magic of YouTube. First my clothing dilemma and then two clips of the ballet.







Wonderful - as some of you may agree!

Day 2.171: Cat swallows wax

I pretty much promised you some birds from our Five Rivers visit. Here they are:

Gray Catbird - one (maybe this one) kindly put on an excellent display of cat-like mewing for us.

Some swallows - this picture came out better than I hoped but I'm still not sure if they are young Tree Sparrows or Northern Rough-winged Swallows or even Bank Swallows...

This, however, is definitely a Cedar Waxwing. Its waxy wing feathers are clearly visible and what about that yellow stripe - zingy!


I even managed to catch some half-decent in-flight shots.

The work-week can be a barren time for the daily-blogger - which encourages me to get out at the weekend (good) and to spend the whole walk looking through the viewfinder (less so). Now - let's hope something of note happens tomorrow...

Day 2.170: Green-red-green

Today, Exile #2 took 'my' little car to have its annual inspection. I'm happy to report that after all its problems, it passed without intervention for the second year running. While waiting for it, she took the kids to have their tea at a nearby 'family restaurant'. The waitress came over to see if the girls need a refill of their drinks. A few minutes later E5N1 decided it was time to investigate this phenomenon - as she was passing he lifted a hand to get her attention and then launched into: "Ree baa izz umm an a tuk erm ur - more joooss" holding up his not-yet-empty-cup. Who could resist?

Pictures are from our walk yesterday. Also seen: various birds (maybe for another day), snapping and painted turtles and, as announced proudly and loudly by E5N1 to some passers-by who asked if we'd seen anything, a BLUE BUG!