I'm leaving on a jet plane....

Leaving for the airport....off to VA Beach for a week. Our oldest granddaughter graduates this weekend. Salt, Betty and Emma will drive in tomorrow. Probably will not do any posting while I am there....tons of activities planned.

Will have lots of pictures when I return!!

I am a little church (no great cathedral)..

i am a little church (far from the frantic world with it's rapture and anguish)
at peace with nature..i do not worry if longer nights grow longest; i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

ee cummings

What can I say about our little island church other than there is none other quite like it.... http://www.grindstoneisland.org.church/ Where else can you show up barefoot, get a hug from a good looking Dr. (Dan McPhail)

Bring your dog to help with the entertainment????

Pictured above are Jim and Christine Chaufty, weekend guests of Dan and Janice Mcphail. Jim and Christine gifted us with their beautiful voices while Joan Flint accompanied them on the organ (along with Dr. Charlie and Sally Boss's dog!!!)

Jeff McArn, chaplain, Hamilton College http://www.hamilton.edu/college is returning along with his family for his third year on Grindstone.

And of course you can bring your son to help teach the lesson to the children...from one of my favorite authors (Shell Silverstein)....the "Giving Tree". Great job Theo!!!

Now, I am going to continue to keep the "Sabbath" holy and spend the rest of the day relaxing with a good book on the sun deck....enjoying the beautiful St. Lawrence River and the sunshine!!!!!

I wanna love like Johnny and June.....

We all decided that we were either going to ignore the rain or become hermits...therefore we all gathered at Bill and Gwen Taylor's at 5:00 last evening and left for dinner at the Riverside Cafe and a show at the Opera House.

Below, Salt, Gwen Taylor, Jim and Ellen Adamson pose on the elevator which Salt and his boss (along with Tom Brabant and Brian Parker) built last summer. This is SO cool. Since the house is on a steep hill, the elevator runs from the house to the dock.

Here we are descending down the track. As you can imagine, building this on the side of a rock hill was no easy task!! Everything was done by hand as it was impossible to get machines there. Great work guys!!!

And here we are leaving the dock in Bill and Gwen's boat....

For some odd reason, I never got pictures of the other boat load....sorry guys, catch you next time. Believe me I will get you...no one escapes the wrath of Kitty's Blog!!

David took the wheel and played "Captain" while first mate and better half, Shirley joined him! Shirley hates having her picture taken and I cant figure out why....she is SO pretty as well as photogenic!!

And here I am all cuddled up to Bill (Taylor)...Every once in awhile I have to do this just to see if he still "loves" me.....since I tell him every nasty lawyer joke I hear!! Your such a good sport Bill!!

Since I was not in a position to move around conveniently at dinner, I didn't get a chance to get pictures at the Riverside. The food was great and the laughter plentiful!

The show was a tribute to Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. The performers, Ron and Nancy Onesong www.medinastonefarm.com/OneSong/onesong.html

are a couple from Medina, NY who I first met when they performed at the Grindstone Methodist Church and Margaret Taylor's birthday party. We instantly fell in love with their talent (and humor) and were delighted to have the opportunity to see them once again.

The show was split into two parts, the first being the older songs before his period when he wrote Man in Black and switched to his habit of only wearing black. After intermission the costumes were more in line with June and Johnny's songs of that period.

Great friends, great food and great show!!

I'm off to church!!

I stopped to see a "Weeping Willow"

OK...so it's been a month since I updated the blog....reason being, this is how it would read: "rained today, cleaned my house" "rained again today, cleaned my clean house" rained today started a new book" rained today went to town in the wind and rain and froze my a** off"! Not a fun spring!! In all seriousness, I did get all my bookwork, filing, closets cleaned, etc.

The activity on the island is picking up now....all my "Island Girls" are back or headed back in the very near future. Janice McPhail held the first coffee and there were 10 in attendance.

Last Thursday June Augsbury hosted at her beautiful farm on the North side of the island. A much larger crowd. Here Janice McPhail gets every one's attention while she describes the coming activities and congratulates Joan and Al Luce who celebrated their 50th anniversary on that same day. Joan is on Janice's left.

Junie, in the yellow is the most gracious hostess!!!

Since I am, so far behind, I am sure none of these events are going to be in order....at least they will be documented. Below is one of our granddaughter's Sarah's graduation photos. Of course, I don't have my scanner hooked up (because the disc is in Florida). I took a picture of a picture. Oh well, you can still see how beautiful she is. I am flying into Norfolk, VA next Wednesday, for her graduation. I will be staying a week and Salt, Betty and Emma will drive in on the 18th for the actual graduation and party and then drive back on Sunday with Rachael. We are not sure now how long Rachael will be staying as she has made the cheer leading team and will be starting practice during the summer.

Salt has been very busy working....but has had some time to get at some of the things we needed to do here at the house. When it finally dried up enough to get the tractor down to the beach he took this ugly Willow tree down. We figured if we had to pay all these ridiculous waterfront taxes, we might just as well as have a better river view.

Check out the "after" view!!!!

We went to my brother (George) and his wife, Cheryl's home for a Memorial Day picnic. Betty and Emma joined us along with my niece Britt and her family, husband Glen and children Hannah and Jordan. Bobby and Jill Schultz were also along with a quick visit from their daughter Katie. Food was fabulous and was so much fun catching up with everyone.

OK...here is our new "mother to be" Kelly Rusho....not sure exactly what she was contemplating but she sure looks deep in thought.....is it a girl or a boy?????

Our duaghter in-law, Robin flew in for the Memorial Day weekend ....she thought this would be the perfect place to get some peace and quiet while she studied for her exams. Fortunately she did get one day without rain. As our friend Clay Kolle always says "a rainy day on the river is better than a sunny day anywhere else"!!

I stepped out on the deck with my coffee the other morning and couldn't resist going for the camera to capture the calm of the beautiful St. Lawrence. There wasn't a ripple on the water which made the shadow in the water as clear as the actual island!

It is so difficult to grow much of any kind of flower here on the island anymore. Unless you fence everything in the deer will eat anything you plant. We are still able to enjoy a few things they either don't like or can't reach. We filled the guest bedroom with the smell of fresh lilacs before Robin arrived.

Salt tore all the yucky carpeting out of my boat and we put new seats in. I was so excited when we took it out for the first run to town. About 2 feet out of the shipping channel she blew her lower unit....urgh. Oh well, fortunately we have a son-in-law who is an ace boat mechanic. She is once again "well" and ready for a busy summer....and still Knot Mortgaged . Here we are being towed back by Rick Gregware, owner of Northern Marina and Frank's boss.

Can you believe I got this far in the blog without mentioning Emma? Me either, so here I go.

Her latest endeavor is learning to carve and paint decoys (from her dad). Here is the first one she did (with help from her dad). He hasn't got her into the actual carving yet but she is doing the sanding and painting. I think it is something she will be very good at. She LOVES wildlife and also loves working with her dad....who has the patience of Job! This was her Mother's Day gift to Betty.

And of course what is Spring on Grindstone without some good Bullhead fishing at the lower bridge. Here Emma digs worms with Dad. I hope this kid never changes.....she is digging worms right before she wants Grandma to take her for a fancy dress for Sarah's graduation (which of course Grandma did!!).

Well, I am sure I have missed a lot in letting myself get so far behind in my blogging, I am making a concentrated effort to keep up now, as our life promises us a very interesting summer/fall and winter. I am trying to get in shape for our "Zip" line adventure in Honduras!

Tonight we are headed over to the Riverside Cafe for dinner and then to the Opera House with 16 of our Island friends!!

I will leave you with yet another beautiful St. Lawrence River Sunset.