Visiting Albany and Meeting the Twins

At this time of year, there are certain things that I miss about the Northeast.  The crisp, nippy air; the smell of cider, cinnamon, warm just baked pumpkin and apple pies.  I visited Albany for the first two days of my trip and the last two days, with my trip to New York City sandwiched in the middle.  I stayed with Linda and Louie for the first leg of the trip.

And, first things first . . . a piece of homemade apple pie!

One thing that I've been missing is cider donuts!  Last year I asked around at some bakery departments, and all I got was a blank look, and a remark, "Oh, you must be from up North?"  So on the morning of my first day, Linda and I took a ride out to Altamont Orchards.

Oh, my!  Sooooooo good and fresh from the oven!

After savoring the donut, we headed over to pay a visit to Andrea and to meet the week old twins.  This is Gabriella . . . so sweet!

 And here I am with Lucas.  So alert!

After hanging with the Lucas Gabriella Kids for a while, Linda dropped me off at Chipotle to meet up with Gavin over lunch.  It was good to see my dinner / movie / concert buddy!  Been way too long!   Hoping to get Gavin back down to St. Pete for a visit!

 And since I haven't had tacos in a while, what else?

Then later in the afternoon Linda and I stopped over to visit Uncle Al, my Godfather.  He celebrated his 89th Birthday this past Monday!

For dinner I met Dr Ray at Moscatiello's.  It was fun to catch up in person and chow down on some delicious Italian food!

My veal marsala with a side of angel hair pasta with olive oil, garlic, tomatoes.

And what's a meal without dessert?  I mean, c'mon!

On Friday morning we headed down to New York City.  I had originally planned on taking the train, but Linda and Louie wanted to see Ruby before they headed back down to Florida.

I had really wanted to see the colors of the autumn leaves.  As pretty as they are, I still got that old sinking feeling of the premonition of what was to come . . . cold, gray, dreary and lots of that white stuff!

After spending a wonderful five days with Ruby and Joy and Joe, I took the train back up to Albany.  I snapped these photos from the train window.

What a scenic ride!

Okay, so now we jumped ahead to leg 3 of my journey, back to Albany.  Louie and Linda picked me up at the train station and we headed right over to Ray's and Iz's for dinner.  Andrea and Taras joined us with the new twins.

 The older twins!

Iz made rigitoni.  I haven't had it in a long time!
And meatballs, sausage and pork.

Dad Taras holding Lucas.  Lucas must have had a rough day!

 Aunt Linda and Gabriella.

I wonder how this flamingo got all the way up here from Florida?  You never know what color you will see in the local autumns!  I spent the last two days of my trip with Ray and Iz.

 The tree in a neighbor's yard.

A colorful 'Welcome!'

In the morning on Wednesday, Iz and I headed up to Lollipops in Latham to browse around the baby store.  Then had a lite lunch at Brueggers.  My panini with pumpkin coffee.

On Wednesday afternoon we visited with Aunt Gloria and Uncle Tony.  What a fun time we had!

And on Wednesday night I visited Jeffrey and Sean.  I enjoyed seeing their new home in Center Square.  After chatting for a while, we headed up to Lark Street for dinner at DeJohn's.  It was nice catching up after not seeing each other for over three years!

I ordered greens and beans, and crab cakes.  I could have died and gone to heaven after the G&B.

On Thursday, my last day, Ray and Iz took me to breakfast at Grandma's Pie Shop.  I love that place!  It has always been one of our family favorites!

My breakfast!  It was sooooo good.  I hung out with Ray and Iz until it was time to head over to the airport.  Two full planes, a headache, a little turbulence, and waiting a half hour in the wrong place for the economy parking shuttle.  Other than that . . . the trip was wonderful!  I have lots of new memories!

Next post:  Hanging with Ruby (and Joy, and some with Joe too!)

Ruby and G-Pa

Having a ball with Ruby in NYC

AWiP Gets Published!

Thanks to David who posted about a site where you can get your blog printed in books.  I figured it would be nice to save a hard copy for posterity (or just thrown in the trash when your stuff gets cleaned out).

I've been blogging since September 2006, so figured the best way to go would be to put each calendar year in a different volume.  I also chose the 'compact' versions to cut down on the number of pages, and I also eliminated the table of contents.

2006 is my smallest book at 48 pages.  2007, the year I moved to St. Pete clocked in at 171.  2008 is my largest at 246 pages.  And the other two are just over 200 pages each.  So far, for 2011, I've reached the highest posts of any year.  I'd better trim back for the next volume!

It's all not perfect (some text strayed from it's original position when the photos were rearranged to compact space), but it will do!

Back covers of 4 of the books.  The 2007 orange book has a picture of my Jeep in deep snow on the front cover and my VW in front of my apartment building on the back cover.  My favorite.  Says a lot about that year!

I'm glad to see my "journal" in print.

It's in the Air

When I left for work this morning, it was 74 degrees and sunny.  Seems like the beautiful fall weather is finally here.  It's definitely in the air.  And not only are the stores full of Halloween candy and decorations and costumes and props, but Christmas stuff has also begun to take over some aisles.

I picked up a couple Halloween soap dispensers the other day.  This one is in my kitchen and glows in the dark!  I love it!

Farewell Robert

To live in hearts we leave behind
Is not to die.
~Thomas Campbell, "Hallowed Ground"


I received some terrible news this morning.  Dr. Ray called me from Albany to let me know that Robert Jaquay had died on September 21.  He read to me from the obituary in the local media.  In seeing the news, he knew that it was the Robert that I had spoken to him about many times in our phone conversations.  Robert was the leader of our book club.  To quote from O&A on Facebook:

Robert was passionate about books, theatre, opera and all the arts.  He joyfully provided us with theatre and performance reviews and was the thought provoking leader of our Book Club.  Our condolences go out to all those he touched and especially to his partner of 42 years Bill Leone.


Robert and I met through social activities with the Outings & Adventures group here in the Tampa Bay area.  I was surprised to learn that Robert was the Director of the William K. Sanford Town Library in Loudonville, NY for 29 years before retiring and moving to Florida.  I lived the first third of my life in the same town (Colonie).  This 'connection' led to us becoming instant friends.

I will miss him at our monthly dinners and book discussions.  I will always think of him when I attend a performance at the American Stage Theater in St. Pete.  Although our journeys only intersected for a very short time, I consider myself fortunate and richer for having had him as a friend.

Farewell Robert . . . I will miss you . . .

Welcome October!

And so . . . October begins.  This is a picture of the Hudson River Valley.  I will be up there in less than two weeks and am so looking forward to seeing the autumn colors!

Wayne and I headed out to check out some props for our Halloween outfits for the All Hallows Ball coming up at the end of the month.  After checking out some places, we went to The Twisted Cork Grille for dinner.  My grilled mahi mahi

Wayne tried the Pulled BBQ Pork Lasagna

For dessert we had the Fried Key Lime Pie and it was scrumptious!

A nice start to October!