Grandpa Struble's

Built in 1827

We've had a nice visit with Grandpa Struble and Grandma Cathi. The kids have had a ball in their apple orchard. They don't work it anymore and it's gotten over grown but the apples are still amazing. They leave them for the deer and other wildlife, they aren't sprayed but hardly have any insect damage or bad spots. The trees are just loaded. 

Lots of Asters, Queen Anne's lace and Goldenrod , too. 

The orchard

We took a nature walk around it so the kids could show us around. They were very busy picking apples and are full of plans for them. 

They filled this bin up!

The polished up a few, very pretty. 

These small grapes were growing in the trees but they tasted bitter and yucky. 

Teasel. I was able to scrape off some thorns to bring a few home. They look so pretty dried. 

We don't have milkweed quite like this at home. It reminded me of the Minnesota prairie. 

You can barely see Ferns head here. 

For an immediate return for their labor, I made applesauce. 

I don't have pictures of the finished product. I wasn't fast enough and it was gone!

Three generations of Strubles enjoying an after dinner visit. 

It was really great to have a quiet day after going going. We are gearing up for more fun! Birthday party, Luigias ice cream parlor, children's museum etc etc. 

Leaving Keuka Lake

From our morning hike. It was in the 50s and drizzled the whole time. Charlotte Mason would have been proud. "Never be within doors when you could rightly be without."

Mums and Goldenrod. Much more fallish here. 

Hike through the woods. 

The beach. 

Someone else built this. Of course I bumped it. And made a hole. 

My engineer fixed it. 

Yay!

On our way back for daddies pancakes, eggs and coffee. 

After breakfast we packed up and headed to visit with all Marks cousins and his Aunt. 

We met at the barn on the Hurlbutt farm that belonged to his uncles family. Now the cousins on that side of the family have it and are even using the barn for weddings and events. For fun we called it "Cousin's Day" even though we weren't technically all cousins. It was so much fun to catch up and eat good food. 

After we headed to the grocery store and Marks Dads. We had a nice late evening visit with him and Cathi. The boys even behaved! Well, it helped they were worn out. It has rained for three days and they've been trapped in the Coach. As nice as it is, they need to run! So tomorrow's plan is an all outdoor day on Grandpa Strubles property, exploring the woods and orchards. 

Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest

First, a bit about Mr. Kilmer:

Joyce Kilmer (born as Alfred Joyce Kilmer; December 6, 1886 – July 30, 1918) was an American writer and poet mainly remembered for a short poem titled "Trees" (1913), which was published in the collection Trees and Other Poems in 1914. Though a prolific poet whose works celebrated the common beauty of the natural world as well as his Roman Catholicreligious faith, Kilmer was also a journalist, literary critic, lecturer, and editor. ~wiki

And about the forest: 

Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest is an approximately 3,800-acre tract of publicly owned virgin forest in Graham County, North Carolina, named in memory of poet Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918). One of the largest contiguous tracts of old growth forest in the Eastern United States, the area is administered by the U. S. Forest Service. The memorial is a rare example of old growth cove hardwood forest, a diverse type unique to the Appalachian Mountains. Dominant species are yellow-poplar, oak, basswood, beech, and sycamore. Some trees are over 400-years old, and the oldest yellow-poplars are more than 20 feet (6.1 m) in circumference and stand 100 feet (30 m) tall. ~wiki

We visited this lovely place with our natural history club. What didn't fully impact me until the evening was we were in the same area the Cherokee, or Snowbird people, were from exhiled from and sent to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. Some were able to hide here and some made it back. 

My photos cannot do justice to these amazing trees. The biggest I've seen, saved from logging by a dam, the depression and some people who cared. 

I'm so glad I finally made it here. Worth the 6hr round trip drive and the yellow jacket stings I got. 

•more info about the Cherokee 

http://www.grahamchamber.com/cherokee.html

February Hike

As much as I dearly love our books, some days it's just as educative to ditch them and go outside. Like February days when it's 57 degrees. And it's going to be 12 in the upcoming weekend. 

These snails were making good use of the warm weather, too. ;) The boys said, "Mom!, give them some privacy!" 

These two trees were fused together. I've never seen that. I wonder if they will grow together over the years like an old married couple.  I will watch as long as I can and see. 

We hiked four miles. My repeated ankle injuries have really messed up my hiking. It's been depressing. Before the second sprain? break? I was hiking 8m day hikes twice a week. I hiked once in December. Once in January. This was my first February hike and 4m maxes me out. I'm having weird pain still in my ankle and also my hips. But I'm determined.

 My first sprain was in October and on my driveway. I was hiking 9 days later. But that second one in November did me in. I'm too stubborn to go to the doctor so I'm trying not to complain. And it is getting better. It's just taking SO long. But it is healing. I'll get my groove back. The stubbornness is good for that.