Down by the Riverside, down by the Riverside....

Rachael had her first "cooking lesson" today. She made banana bread and I think she and Emma have consumed most of the loaf. She loves to cook and catches on quickly. It is so much fun having the girls here.

Rachael and I took a long 4 wheeler ride around the island; Rachael had her first experience in pumping gas the Grindstone way!!

Queen of the kitchen....

Rachael and Emma out on the raft. The water is still freezing as far as I am concerned but it didn't seem to phase them....the joy of youth!

I heard them yelling..."Grandma, Grandma, we hit the jackpot". They were digging for clay and hit the mother load! Now they think they are going to make pottery. There is never much downtime at the river. Yesterday they collected sand, sifted it, colored it and made sand art in bottles. I would surmise that I will not have a very clean/neat house for the next 5 weeks!!!

I wouldn't change it for anything!!

Tomorrow we head for Grass Point State Park, where we will stay for 2 nights before heading for Sylvan Lake.

Her toes dig deeper in the sand...she's seduced by the sunsets and her new life at hand...

We are back from VA Beach...Rachael is settled in! She walked in the new house and said.."Grandma Kitty, call mom and tell her to bring ALL my stuff with her when she comes. She is a trip! We will see how long before she misses "mom". Robin will be flying out for a weekend in 3 weeks. I am sure Rachael will have lots of island stories to relay.


The trip to VA was a quick one. We did get some quality time with the kids (Mike, Robin and Sarah) before heading home.

We ran into some horrendous traffic jams on the way back....consequently, we ended up stopping in Endicott, NY and spending the night with my brother Joe and his family. It actually turned out for the best, as we had not seen them in over 6 months. The kids were out of the car and in the pool within 10 minutes. They needed the break!!

Emma and Rachael at the Country Buffet in Vestal, NY


Ice cream for breakfast....of course, it's the grand kids!!!

Rachael, enjoying the water after the long ride......

Matt and Bella at the evening swim.....

Dave Reinke (Rachael's dad) joined us at the Texas Roadhouse ...

Breakfast at IHOP...Sarah got a chance to join in before heading off to work....


Emma having fun walking Sampson and Molly....

Betty heading to Potter's Beach with Emma and Rachael....

Robin will be flying in for a weekend on the 25th of July. Then Mike, Dave, Sarah and Rob will drive up the following weekend to pick up Rachael. It will be Robin's last hurrah for the summer as her nursing classes start on the 15th of August.

Like I always said....I can sleep when I'm dead

I am so behind in blogging...I hate when that happens but life is crazy. We are getting a lot accomplished but the time is flying! I will try and briefly catch up on the week, as we are off to VA Beach tomorrow to pick up Rachael...that if she lives that long. We have had text after text telling us she just COULD NOT wait any longer. We will be there in less than 24 hours Rachael...hang in!

Thanks to Jerry Durand, Jim Adamson, Rex Ennis and Chad, I have HIGH SPEED! I cannot believe the difference! I LOVE it. I also love the new Dell computer!

Shane and Rita arrived from Richmond, Va the same day the Internet was going in. Shane reminded me I had promised homemade pizza so they stayed for dinner, along with Jim and Ellen.

The following night, Shane and Rita cooked (YUMMM...fresh St. Lawrence bass and perch).

Shane...the master cook!

Yesterday Shane and his brother Daryl (no...he only has one brother Daryl) came and helped Salt clear the waterfront. I have told Hazel and Dan on several occasions, but I will reiterate once again...what a great job raising those two boys. They are two of the hardest workers you would ever want to meet....very skilled and always willing to help in any way they can.

Daryl and Rita.....

dueling chainsaws......

And at the end of the day, we even had a pile of firewood for our riverside campfires.

Oh no no no...I'm a rocket man

OK, so the other day I mentioned it was nice to have a "rocket scientist" as a neighbor and someone emailed me and asked what I meant??? For those of you who are not familiar with Jim, you can check him out on www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/adamson-jc.html . Just when I think I am somewhat computer literate, I ask Jim a question and I find how little I really know.

He sure makes my technical life easier....plus he makes the best pies around!!

Funny (or NOT) story from my brother Joe this afternoon. Monday was my nephew Paul's birthday...he is now 16. While the family was gathered for dinner, Joe asked when his last baseball game was (Paul is the team's star pitcher)? Paul informed him it was the following evening but he was skipping it as he had to study for a final science exam to be held Wednesday morning. Joe convinced him he should play the final day and he was a good enough student he would not have to worry about the test. Paul REALLY wanted to stay home and prepare for the test. However, he headed his dad's "good" (?) advice and went to the game. After several great hits and some burn um up pitches, he was running a base and slid in and broke his leg. He took the test today under the influence of some major pain killers and will be in a cast for the rest of the summer. The plan was for Paul to come and work for us this summer along side myself and Betty. Oh well, guess he will get to be the manager while Bet and I do twice the work!

Here is Paul when he was just a little guy

I'm off to Bible study....more after dinner!



Bible study was great...I love the program we are working. When we first started out everyone was kind of like...whaaaatt???? But even after 2 weeks, as the group gets more involved with one and other's comments everything is starting to fall into place....in other words, "lights are coming on". I am very grateful to Art Couch for organizing and guiding us in this 7 week venture.



Below is Dr. Charlie Moes (pronounced Maze) . Charlie, besides being a medical doctor, is now in Divinity School, studying to be a minister, plays the flute in church and will be giving a demonstration on how to make cheese. I believe we will be making Feta, but he makes ALL kinds, including curd, Cheddar, mozzarella, etc. I guess this is one of the many things I love about this island life. There are SO many diversified people with such passion for life.

Went to Jim and Ellen's for dinner and watched a movie with them....Evan Almighty...cute!

Oh yes....and here is one other reason I continue to pay ridiculous waterfront taxes to the state of NY!!!

The games people play....

Monday.....game night resumed this week with Bunko.

Doreen Meeks....


and Erma Slate make their first appearance on the blog...and there's that Janet Ennis again; she is getting to be a regular. Looks as though she may be running the show????


Bob and Julie Purcell joined us Sunday afternoon for drinks on the deck!

Julie is hoping to ship her horses to Florida (Ocala) and rent a ranch for the winter. Fingers are crossed, as we can swap horseback rides for boat rides.....not to mention just good times in general!

Somethin' tells me it's all happening at the Zoo....

We took Emma last Friday evening, along with Jim and Ellen (well maybe Jim and Ellen took us, since Jim drove) and journeyed across the river to the TILT... http://www.tilandtrust.org/ annual picnic held at Zenda Farms. Due to our crazy work schedules in the past, we were never able to attend. We all had such a great time we vowed to make it an annual event for our family. We were wishing Rachael had been here but she will be here in another week. Betty, Emma and I will head out a week from today to pick her up. She is driving Mike and Robin crazy on that end and Emma is driving all of us crazy here counting down the days!

Salt's boss, and good friend, Tom Tinney was one of the cooks. It was a little difficult to get a decent picture as he was behind the smoking BBQ the entire evening. Thanks for a great job Tom....the food was excellent!

Salt and I had an opportunity to visit with many of our friends from all over the country. Most everyone has returned to their summer cottages/homes, so it was a great turnout. Thanks to the NY State Zoo personnel, Emma was occupied the entire evening. She was so enthralled with the turtles, the guys told her that next year she could help out. That made her eyes light up!

We watched this fella cross the road on Grindstone....Isn't it amazing how they can camouflage!

She said she wished the Llamas wouldn't spit at her....

Emma petted the python....Grandma was WAY back with the telephoto lens!!

Music was provided by a great "Bluegrass" band (can't remember the name).

A Paxton tradition is to sing while we are in the boat (usually SILLY songs) However, I asked Emma if she would sing God Bless America for Ellen. Ellen was so taken with her gusto, she asked Em if she would perform at the fireworks display at their house on the 12th of July. Unlike her tone deaf grandmother and mother, Emma has a beautiful voice and has NO inhibitions (not that Grandma has inhibitions!!!) I would love for her to take voice lessons; I think Betty is going to look into it this fall.

Ellen and Emma....

Happy Father's Day!

To all the father's in my life....a tribute!


My dad...George Karpel, SR...1916-1993

This is where you got your good looks, Todd. I see so much of dad in you!


George Karpel, Jr., myself and Dad....1947

We were actually pretty cute weren't we Georgie???? Check out my chubby cheeks...guess I wasn't smoking then either!

Kitty, Dad and Betty....Christmas 1987

Bill Paxton with Betty and Mike... Father's Day 1979... We still miss you Bill!!

Bill's last vacation before his death in 1987...Cruise to the Bahamas. Joe Karpel on left and the kids "nanny" Gigi Martin, Betty, Mike, Me and Bill.

Salt should be named "Stepfather" of the Year"....he even took them our honeymoon. Disney World 1989.

And his rewards today....cards, gifts and calls from all the kids and grand kids!

And last but not least, here is Emma bonding with Grandma Kitty. This is the 3rd annual bake Daddy a coconut cream pie for Father's Day!

the finished product....

and finally, the presentation!! Dad LOVED it!

I can not figure out why the pictures are so blurry on here. They are clear and beautiful on my picture program.....must be blogger?????

I drive myself crazy trying to stay out of my own way....

I can't believe I am this far behind in blogging....Thursday is going to be one of the BEST days of my summer! High Speed Internet is on Grindstone and coming to our house!!! I have had SO much trouble with Verizon wireless. They have paid my roaming charges for almost 2 years (as much as $800 a month) and now they decided they don't want to do it anymore. Everyone on the North side of the island is SO disgusted with roam charges we are fed up. I will be going on Ridgetel high speed and have switched to AT&T for cell. The local Verizon personnel have been wonderful but the corporate personnel are CLUELESS. OK....now that little rant is over....and NO I am not paying the charges. That has been resolved, however, not without a lot of misery.

Thank God for my camera or I wouldn't even remember what the last week brought. Speaking of my camera, I did finally get my new one. It's awesome, but....I am not using it until I have read every word in the manual....For those of you who know me well, that's pretty amazing isn't it? I love to just grab things out of the package and try it out!!! However, from the looks of these pictures I had better hurry. I know my card is totally worn out but I don't want to buy another as I know it won't fit the new camera. I guess that wasn't really straight thinking since I promised to have the camera fixed for Emma before I gave it to her. Jim seems to think one of the pixels has burned out????

Speaking of Jim, it sure is nice to have a "Rocket Scientist" for a neighbor. At the time I was building the new house, he said "make sure you have your electrician wire with Cat 5". I had no clue what he was talking about but followed his directions. Now that the high speed is on it's way, Jim came over and put in a router and wired everything up so he can network for me, which means, Rachael and Emma can be on one while Salt is on his and I am on mine. That is going to be so much cooler than what we have now. Thanks Jim....and Salt thanks you for bringing the backhoe over and digging the ditch for the new wiring to his shop!

Actually, Salt and I both got new cell phones, I am getting a new laptop computer and handing this one down to Salt so he can have his own little office. I also bought a "Blue tooth" and Salt has an IPOD that he received as a Christmas present and hasn't even been out of the package due to all of the problems with Verizon or dial up Internet.

I am hiring Betty to come down for a day and give me a day of "technology training". Hopefully after that I will be able to do some "creative blogging". It seems like lately I have only been able to publish pictures and notes.

Let's see....last Wednesday we were invited to Rex and Janet Ennis's for turkey dinner. We were joined by Jeff and Abby Rand, Zell Steever, Liz Raisbeck, June Augusbury, Janice McPhail as well as Janet's sister Marty.

I'm not sure whether Jeff thinks he might get a bigger plate by cuddling up to the cook???

Check out the good food on Janice's plate....sure made her happy!!

Marty, Liz and Zell.....

Thursday morning Janice McPhail hosted the weekly Women's Coffee. There was a great turnout as well as tons of delicious "goodies"!

Marty...taking pictures of me taking pictures of her....

Janice what are you saying that put that look on Mary Lou's face????

Ellen Adamson, June Augusbury and Liz Raisbeck enjoying the goodies....

Joan Tolette deserves a picture of her own since I couldn't seem to capture her at all last week in her home.

Oh yeah....Ellen and I slipped off the island for a pedicure and paraffin treatment. I decided to photograph Ellen's legs instead of my own since they are MUCH thinner!!! I keep asking God if he can't make me thinner to PLEASE make my friends fatter....not working!

All kinds of little maters which have been hanging over our head were accomplished this week!

The "bug man" was here to treat the house for spiders and ants.

And the "best" thing that happened was our dear friend Clay Kolle, who is also our CPA was here on Saturday to complete our horrendous 2007 tax return and also for a great visit. With our crazy summers over the past 3 years we have missed out on time with Clay, Kay and Frank and Mel Towner. They are going on the calendar this year....before everyone gets over committed!

Thanks for all of your help Clay...you are a great friend and and a "Godsend" for a CPA!!

And alas....here I am watching my savings account drive away. Gas was delivered to the island...sure made me remember to take my blood pressure medicine before I opened the bill!!