And We're Back!

We had a wonderful week at Letchworth. It rained Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday which made for a spectacular amount of water going over the three falls and some challenging walking on wet, slippery trails. I had every intention of chronicling our week using my iPhone to do blog updates, but remote hillsides do not have good service, so I journaled the old fashioned way with a pen and paper.

Monday-I knit on a new pair of traveling socks on the 2 hour ride. We were amazed at a line of windmills that had sprung up since our last trip that went on across the hillside as far as the eye could see. They were in farmer's backyards and fields with cows grazing nearby. An incredible sight.

The rain had the Genesee River changed from its usual placid look to a raging torrent. The middle falls at Letchworth was a churning mass.

We walked around the falls for a bit, had dinner at the inn and walked a bit more afterward. It was too cold to stay out on the porch, which is our favorite thing to do , so we went up to the library, which is a large room that has the only TV in the place and lots of seating. It is a gathering place for the guests and all the chairs were filled. Usually there may be one or two couples up there but the rain kept everyone indoors.

Tuesday morning was also rainy and for the first time ever, we couldn't walk our early morning trail, trail #2, which starts at the upper falls and goes for 2 miles through the woods, ending up back at the Inn. We stayed on the roads and walked about a mile and a half. We went to Hammondsport and picked up over three cases of wine at various wineries. Sampled a few new ones, but primarily stuck with the wines we have had before.

Wednesday started out rainy and again, we couldn't walk our trail but we walked around the middle falls before breakfast. We went to Inspiration point and walked trail # 1 until it got too slippery from the rain. Even wearing our waterproof coats we were soaked through! It finally stopped raining and we sat in a pavilion at the lower falls for the afternoon, reading, knitting(me) and snacking.

Thursday was the best of the days, sunny, warm with the crisp fall light and blue, blue sky that make fall so special. We were able to hike our favorite trails and we sat out at Wolf Creek in the sunshine, reading, knitting and snacking (one of our favorite pastimes).

I had my pedometer with me so I could get an idea of how much we walk. It was over 17,000 steps each day. The color was at about 50% and these pictures do not do it justice. I had to use my iPhone camera since my good camera was not holding a charge. I have to replace the battery, I guess. In spite of the rain, we did everything we usually do, including sitting out in the evening on the porch, eating great meals, relaxing and we even got to see a train going across the trestle over the upper falls, DH's favorite thing.

Friday we came back home, got the dog (who had such a good time at the kennel she didn't move all afternoon) and unpacked. Saturday was another gorgeous day with laundry and lawn mowing looming and Sunday was sunny with just a snap of cold that was perfect football weather. We went to #1 grandson's game. Perfect, if only they had won! He got his name announced on the loudspeaker because of a great tackle.

I got some knitting done and I was smart not to bring as much as I usually do. I knit up to the toe on one of my travelling socks and got through the 7 repeats of the Flower Basket shawl the pattern called for. It has me puzzled, because I only used one skein of yarn (220) yards to get there. The pattern calls for 2 skeins (400 yards) of lace weight yarn held double. Hmm, it looks okay and the # of stitches is correct, so I don't think I goofed anything up. I have three skeins because I wanted a larger shawl. I knit through the second skein and I have 14 "flowers" . I think the third skein will take me through 3 more repeats of the pattern before I finish the edging.