Where To Now?

There are many historical sites in the Capital Region that I've wanted to visit. Today, I was out in Albany Rural Cemetery doing some headstone photography. As I was wrapping up my work I noticed the Pruyn family headstones. This reminded me that I had not yet visited the Pruyn House , a historic site that's just down the road from home. So, rather than going straight out of the cemetery to go home, I turned right and made my way to Pruyn House. (For those of you, like me, who are not accustomed to seeing "uy" in names, it sounds like a long "i"... so imagine that the name is spelled "Prine House" and you'll be pronouncing it correctly in your head.) This home was built between 1825 and 1830 on land owned by the Van Rensselaer patroon. The home belonged to the patroon's land agent (i.e. rent collector), Casparus Francis Pruyn. He was the sixth generation of Pruyns to live in America, the first having arrived in the 1660's. Althou...

Yesterday afternoon, my sister said, "You need to be ready to leave the house at 9:30 tomorrow morning." And thus began another of Kef's surprise outings to wrap up my birthday week. She loves doing this sort of thing... loves keeping secrets and surprising people with the most perfect kind of unexpected, amazing day. We headed East toward Massachusetts, and my only clue of something major was that we continued past East Greenbush. Which means we weren't staying local. At first I thought we might be headed to Holland to see the Horn-Eldreds, but we took the Pittsfield/Lee exit. So then I thought we might be going to one of the museums that I'd mentioned that are over here. There are several. As we turned onto the main street in Lee, I was immediately in love with this picturesque little town. It is very typical of New England, of course, which is why I adore this area. I haven't been through a town in the Berkshires that didn't have great historic buil...

I started my day at a leisurely pace, making the decision to get off of the Interstate for a while. From Knoxville, I took US 11, which dovetails with Tennessee 1, the first state road in Tennessee. I thought this might be a good way to follow the likely route of early settlers, although it was constructed 100 years or more after my people would have come through there. I made a couple of stops in Kingsport, which is quite a charming little town along the Holston River. It has a beautiful green belt along the river, as well as a branch of the Abingdon Olive Oil Company , which was the purpose of the detour. Kef had purchased some olive oils at the Art of Oil in Boone a few years back. Although Boone wasn't on my route, this place was. So I stopped in to pick up some "necessities." Finally, I added the nearest Zaxby's  to my route before heading on to Virginia. The purpose of my shorter trek today was to stand on ancestral lands. By getting off of the major highway,...

After a long day on the road, I was thankful to have a nice home for the night, with a fenced yard for the dogs. I started Tuesday morning with my original booking changed because the fence was being replaced. Luckily, I was able to find Anne, who welcomed us along with her white (yellow?) English Labrador BeBe. Anne is a local artist who creates corn shuck dolls and artisan soaps and creams. In fact, she "wrote the book " on corn shuck dolls. She sells in shops and galleries, and occasionally will do a show. Her charming yard is full of art pieces and a garden of flowers and vegetables. The girls and I spent a little time outside in the cool of the evening. Meg was entranced by the fireflies, which is interesting because she usually has trouble seeing. I guess their flashing lights were visible enough to her. This morning, we woke to the sound of a light rain and a cool breeze coming through our bedroom window. The walls in our room are covered with illustrations o...

I woke up with the sun this morning and stepped out into a lovely, cool breeze. Blueberry bushes outside my door tempt me to pick from their bounty, although the berries are not quite ripe. Meg and Maya wander around the small, fenced yard that surrounds our Little Rock home for the night, " The Tiny Home ." Yesterday morning, my parents, aunt and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast together at Rise and Shine , a small diner near Melinda's home in south Fort Worth. Their homemade white bread is almost worth the drive from New York. Thick slabs of goodness slathered in butter and orange marmalade... the perfect way to end my trip to Texas. With a to-go box filled with bread for the journey, we loaded up the car for my return trip east. Since this trip was about supporting Melinda, I didn't do much running around and visiting. But I did get to see my Theta Chi girls (except Amy), some of my Grapevine folks, and my parents for an evening (and, of course, dinner at Mexica...