Lands, Stones, and Bubbles

On the news this morning, Grant heard that several tornadoes touched down in western NY late yesterday afternoon. One of them was in Mayville -- a mere 2 or 3 miles from our condo and Chautauqua Institution! It continued wreaking havoc down the east side of the lake (we were on the west side), taking roofs off a large condo development directly across the lake from Chautauqua Insitution! I am so glad we were not there!!! This picture seems to have been taken from the Institution!
http://www.buffalonews.com/weather/article80888.ece

Grant wanted to take us downtown this morning to see his new Canada Lands office as Chairman of the Board. Right now, the room is still a conference room, but his new furniture will arrive soon. I was very impressed with the company's head office!


One of the properties owned by Canada Lands is the CN Tower! Impressive in itself!

As we looked out a window, Kevin saw a woman lying on the sidewalk and wanted to know why.


The two men in front of the building.


We walked several blocks looking for a restaurant. I saw this building and had to take a picture of the reflection on it.

We finally ended up eating across the street from Canada Lands!

Kevin shared my "lollipop" chicken coated with pecans and tried Grampa's Calamari. He loved it, but refused to believe it really was octopus!

Kevin spent the afternoon riding his bike, playing on the boulders with Guinness,

and helping me clean up my garden and set out the stones Cathi gave me for Christmas with the names of each grandchild.


Then we played bubbles. Why are bubbles so difficult??? You try ten times before there is success! Strange that children are persistent enough to continue!

Goodbye, Chautauqua

There is something I neglected to blog a couple of days ago! We ran into the family with two young girls who sat behind us at the symphony concert and the four year old was allowed to distract Kevin. The mother asked how long Kevin lasted listening to the concert. Then she apologized for her daughter's behavior!

As Kevin was awaking this morning, he and Guinness were cuddling. Cute!


I packed while Grant loaded the cars. I returned our keys while he started home. We passed him on the Thruway with flashing lights behind him on the shoulder. He still arrived home before we did as I stopped with Kevin for lunch and at our mailbox in Niagara Falls. We arrived home around 2:30 and everything was carried into the house!

I had been trying to find a bike for Kevin on Craigslist, but they only had 20" bikes. Grant feared that was too large and suggested we go to Wal-Mart to check on the right size for him. We bought a 16" with training wheels there, but it was quite the endurance test. First, we had come in Grant's sedan, so he had to go home for my SUV. Then, at checkout, we discovered three spokes were broken, so we had to take our second choice bike. Kevin had fun riding up and down our driveway, and did very well considering that it is on a steady slope. No complaints! He was able to peddle all the way up and handled the brakes on the downslope expertly!

The Last Day at Chautauqua

Grampa helped deliver and pick up Kevin from his program today. When I picked him up this afternoon, I can't believe that neither of us thought to say final goodbyes to his counselors until we were too far away to return! He loved Chautauqua's children's program and wants to come again! Me too!

On the way walking back to the condo, I showed Kevin the huge truck and bus that brought The Oak Ridge Boys.

Then we stopped at Bestor Plaza to listen to a unique percussion group. They reminded me of Stomp, except they were using real percussion instruments.

And he had to play with the fountain one more time.

I have wondered about the appropriateness of allowing him to play on the fountain. This morning I attended the Morning Devotional Hour which included "Litany at the End of a Chautauqua Week" -- a responsive reading with congregation saying "We have seen you," at the end of each line.

Creator God, we give you thanks for Miller and Vincent's vision for this sacred grove.
Under century old trees shading gingerbread cottages, we have seen you.
In children playing in our fountains, we have seen you.
[and on and on it goes, with more than a dozen more illustrations of seeing God at Chautauqua.]

Grandma was looking forward to Grampa helping Kevin with his bike riding.

But Kevin refused to cooperate with Grampa. Fiasco. :\ We put the bike in the car to take back to the rental shop. Grampa offered him a reprieve -- that he could do some more riding around the store before turning it in. That went well. But then big tears as we left -- all because he LOVED the dog paw prints on the bike seat! I had never even noticed them. Well, I saw them but took no note of it!

Kevin has been wanting to comb his own hair while he has been with me. This is new! And he wants to part it -- like his Mommy always combed his hair. So I have been working with him on combing the back as well as the front. It is interesting how he is developing an interest in how his hair looks!


Friday nights' Amp programs are intended for the local residents to come enjoy Chautauqua with popular shows. Tonight was The Oak Ridge Boys. Grant was looking forward to it. I was not interested at all. Since Steve has been "into" country music for the past 18 months, Kevin has been indoctrinated, so I thought he might like them. Grant wanted us to be there an hour early to have a decent seat. Kevin's legs were too tired to make the trek across the campus again.

Almost every night while people are making their way to the Amp, young people (sometimes young children) are playing their instruments with their instrument case open for receiving money. Kevin is always intrigued with them. Tonight he sat down on the curb to listen to this brass ensemble and asked me for money for their case.


With the first cord, I knew The Boys would be an endurance test for me. It wasn't long before Kevin was not enjoying it either. It started to rain, so Kevin and I decided to leave before the weather was worse taking the only umbrella we carried tonight. About half way home, a deluge began with thunder and lightening. I taught Kevin how to know how far away the lightening was. The closest was 2 miles, but I prayed all the way home. As soon as we were safe inside, the lightening and thunder were simultaneous all around us, then the lights went out for less than a minute. We made it just in time! However, I forgot to turn my phone back on and to call Grant to tell him we were OK. He was worried since I didn't answer, so he left in the drenching rain with no umbrella. Poor guy! Turns out, Grampa didn't enjoy the music as much as he thought he would.

Bats in our Belfry

Ms. April, one of Kevin's counselors, has been indispensable as a babysitter throughout the week. My class begins at 1:15, while Kevin's afternoon program starts at 2:00. She filled in that gap, plus allowed me to attend a make-up meeting for Rotary, and gave Grant (he arrived today!) and me the opportunity to see "You Can't Take It With You" this afternoon, presented by the Chautauqua Theater Company. What a great, funny play!!!

Ms. April with Kevin and Guinness, holding Kevin's crafts from today -- a 3D Bell Tower and a fridge clip of a bat.

The Bell Tower deserves its own picture! Very cute!


Today, Kevin's group attended a movie and had popcorn at the movie theater here at Chautauqua. They saw segments of "The Sound of Music" and a 30 minute Mickey Mouse movie. As I was exclaiming how much Kevin must have loved that, Ms. April told me that he was the only kid that sang along with The Sound of Music! Surprise, surprise! She said the music teacher was sitting with her and was very impressed with Kevin's ability. :)

As we sat waiting for this evening's Amp show to begin, a woman stopped at our row to greet Kevin. It was the music teacher! She commented on what a good singer he is. Before the performance began, Kevin and I left for a drink of water. As we re-entered, a woman said, "You are Kevin; right?" She is an intern teacher visiting from London for three weeks. She also complimented his singing ability. As she was looking for her music teacher friend, we were able to usher the intern right to her friend.

Tonight the performance at the Amp was "Amadeus" -- a dramatic rendition by the Chautauqua Theater Company accompanied by the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. I was really looking forward to it, but it fell short of expectations in interest level. The language kept shifting from English to Austrian to French to Italian to ?. We left after about 20 min. Certainly was not something for Kevin to enjoy. On the way home, we showed Grampa the bats -- swooping high over our heads and around us! And Kevin said as we walked along, "I wish Daddy and Jack (his puppy) were here." Me too!

Bats, Bike, and Boy

I went into the "Chautauquan Daily" office today to see all the photos taken of Kevin on the playground. Not sure why the photographer chose the one she did. There were better ones, I thought. At $15 each, I only bought two.

Kevin asked why I chose one showing only his back, yet his friend's face is visible. :) I told him that it shows action. They were being quite crazy on a piece of equipment that seemed a bit dangerous to me!

Our stay is coming to a close. I had to take a picture of the "bent" fence at the front of our condo. I wonder how that happened?!


Today was carnival day at Kevin's program. Apparently, the most popular event was the "kiddy car wash" where they soaped up the kids with Johnson's Baby Shampoo and moved them along a Slip N Slide for various stages of wash.

On the way home this afternoon, he wanted to take the water route again. What a fun path when we aren't in a hurry! I'm glad he didn't discover this until almost the end of his two weeks here! We spent some time skipping stones also.









Grandma had to take a picture of the dirty face at the end.

Three times, we have tried to buy a glow-in-the-dark bat T-shirt. Finally, today the store was open and their stock replenished! Kevin is wearing the shirt in this picture.

Here it is in the dark!

If we are out at twilight, we see bats swooping high over us and sometimes close to us. They really DO look like butterflies flitting around! I didn't understand that analogy until a couple of days ago.

I made ham and broccoli quiche for dinner. Kevin didn't think that sounded like an appealing option, but this kid has a taste for good food! He loved it and wanted more.

Tonight, we went back with the bike to the wooded path and level streets to practice. Kevin is not comfortable yet with going fast on an incline. He did better the first time than tonight. I can't take pictures when I when assisting him (plus have Guinness on a leash), but I took some shots as I walked this way recently. I'm not sure the gentle slopes can be adequately seen in these pictures.



I love this walkway! On a hot day, the temperature difference entering the woods is dramatic!

The closest entrance point to Chautauqua from our condo, which is off property, is the recreation building directly across the street. But they close between 5 and 8 PM, so it is not always an option to use. They closed at 8 tonight, so we had to return from our bike practice by 8. Then we practice on the level parking lot on the street side of the building. Once we were out of the property, dogs who are friends of Guinness's, appeared at doggie park. Kevin was devastated that we couldn't get into doggie park. He even climbed very high on a 10 foot fence trying to get in there, followed by a meltdown. So sad... Later, as we headed for home, we saw a young girl magically walk through the fence on the far side of the building. I asked how she did that! She showed us a narrow space at a brick post to squeeze through. Kevin and I could do it, but I'm not sure Guinness could. But interesting to know for the future! A couple of times, we have taken the shuttle to the recreation building only to discover the building was locked.

Water and Relatives

Kevin cut more wildflowers for Grandma this morning when we took Guinny out for a potty break.

I know I could not have arranged flowers to look this good when I was his age!

Grandma took Kevin this morning, prepared for rain, at 9:00.

Ms. April brought Kevin home at noon to have lunch and took him to the lakeside at 2:00 while Grandma did a Rotary meeting makeup in Westfield and attended her class. So Grandma didn't see him all day until 4:00 this afternoon! His group was just returning from another canoe ride as I appeared!


He wasn't very eager to walk home and took off toward the creek. He no sooner walked into the creek, than he fell. I figured, he is already wet, he may as well walk the whole length of the creek. So he did, while I followed him from a trail high above him. Guinness played in this creek two years ago, so I knew where it went and what trails were nearby.

Walking under Thunder Bridge. When a bike crosses over, it REALLY does sound like thunder when you are in the ravine!!!






The wet, muddy boy...

As we were walking along, Uncle Gary called to say that they were just a few minutes from us!!! So we hustled home to have a brief visit with them!

Kevin adored little Sam!!!


Tonight, the concert was the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra (made up of professionals, not students -- though the students are excellent!!!) playing Debussy's "La Mer" followed by a Chopin piano concerto played by Alexander Gravrylyuk, a phenomenal Russian pianist who has become a staple at Chautauqua. We stayed through the first segment of the concerto, then we had to leave. It is almost a nightly routine to buy ice cream when leaving the Amp. Tonight, the scoop on the cone spilled on the grass. We went back to buy another, but they graciously gave it to him -- this time in a cup! Much safer!

Grandma gave him a piggyback ride most of the way home.