On Sunday we had tickets to the final Yankees game in old Yankee Stadium. Rick had also booked us on the Yankee Clipper, the ferry that travels around the point of Manhattan and drops you off right at Yankee Stadium. They say that half the fun is getting there, and it was.

We boarded the ferry at 6:00 p.m. from Port Imperial in Weehawken. It was beautiful weather for a cruise.

The clouds and the skyline were fabulous!

We made a stop at Hoboken to pick up more passengers. I liked the old style architecture of the Lackawanna terminal. I didn’t get to see much of it but I think this is a place I need to go back to and get some photos. Built in 1907, it’s one of the oldest railroad terminals still existing.

As we pulled away from the pier the sun was starting to set.

The reflections off the buildings from the setting sun were hard to resist.

They looked like lighthouse beacons.

one if by land ...

two if by sea ...

As we rounded the point, the sun was pretty much gone. Here the Staten Island ferry pulls away from us and the Lady Liberty can be seen in the distance on the left.

Under the Brooklyn Bridge we go!

Looking back at the bridge through another.

Night falls on the city.

And we finally arrive at our destination. I hope you enjoyed the ride!

To be continued ...

I need to catch up on some sleep before I write a more comprehensive post ... last night was a late night at the last ever Yankees game in old Yankee Stadium. Here is a shot from the Yankee Clipper ferry of the Manhattan skyline. I aimed high with my wide angle lens to get a slightly skewed view. (Empire State Building is dead center.)

This is the time of year that’s sort of in limbo. Summer is over but Autumn isn’t quite here yet. The leaves on the trees are dull looking but still a washed-out green, not yet ready to put on their vibrant show. The undergrowth in the woods has died back and we are now able to see into the woods further than we could a month ago. After our heat wave of last weekend (compliments of Ike) we are now having cool nights in the 40s and lovely days in the 60s. Perfection! So why does part of me want Autumn to come on and get on with it, make the trees change and etc? Why can’t I be satisfied to just enjoy this wonderful fall weather?

The sun is lower in the sky and the quality of the light is much softer. Here it shines through the leaded glass of our front door, creating a wonderful prism on the wall.

The oaks are dropping their acorns and what doesn’t fall to the ground naturally is being helped along by squirrels in the tree tops. Our recently delivered two cords of firewood is finally all stacked and waiting. I look forward to our first fire in the fireplace of the year.

Most things are done blooming now and my garden beds are looking pretty sad and blah. I do, however, have some of this pretty stuff blooming. I don’t know what it is, do you? I think I remember it showing up about this time last year too.

The pool was closed for the season yesterday. We’ll still continue to go down and sit in the cabana but it won’t be the same without being able to look into its blue depths. We really didn’t get much use out of it this year. August was pretty much a washout because the temperatures were unseasonably cool. We’ve had some hot weather this month but too late to bring the pool temps back up to a swimmable level. We really are considering a heater for next year. But they are so darned expensive, both to put in and run.

We have a busy weekend planned. Today we will step back in time and join in the revelry at the New York Renaissance Faire for their last weekend of the season. Rick will don his lace-up leather boots, billowy white shirt and vest, and I will once again put on my bodice and leave my bra behind.

Tomorrow we have tickets to the last ever Yankees game in Yankee Stadium. Should be fun!

Hope your weekend is a good one!

I know, I know. I am failing miserably in my attempt to keep up with the ABC-Along. No imagination lately I guess. So, here goes “O” is for Overtaken.

It started out mildly enough last year with a pretty morning glory vine appearing out of nowhere and covering the lattice work we had just put up to hide Johnny and other outdoor tools. I enjoyed its pretty blooms that start out pinkish-purple when closed, and upon opening turn a periwinkle blue in the morning light. It was a good thing. Or at least I thought so then.

This year that insipid little vine has turned into a clutching, tenacious monster.

I should have known we were in trouble when the lattice work below the deck wasn’t enough for it. It tentatively poked its sinewy, viny fingers up through the boards of the deck.

Then it latched on to the railing and crept its way up and up.

Thwarted in its attempt to go further upwards, it branched out sideways and attached itself to my petunias, like some alien life form searching for blood. I’ll get you my pretty ...

I put and end to that stranglehold pretty quickly.

It also has wound itself around our weather station, which we need to take care of before the anemometer can’t measure the wind speed anymore, but we need a to get the ladder out.

It even worked its way into being a support for this spider’s web.

Here it is in its full summer glory (so to speak).

See how its greedy little arms reach out in every direction?

It’s creepy the way that is keeps making its way further and further. Soon I expect it to reach the second floor of our house, the vine slipping under the bathroom window, creeping along the floor until it reaches our bed, wrapping itself around my neck ... no! whew. So much for not having an active imagination lately.

But it does look rather innocuous, doesn’t it? I think it’s just waiting for its chance.

Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile might remember the story in our local newspaper about the cow who escaped and was running loose in the woods surrounding West Milford. I kept looking for more updates in the paper but never saw anything.

That is until Rick was reading an article in the paper a few weeks back about some things in the old town records of 1834. Buried in this article after references to entries in the ledgers of cows going astray, was news about our runaway cow. Here is what it said:

“Calling to mind that everything old is new again, a 400-pound cow went AWOL after a western event at the west Milford Equestrian Center in May of 2007. Mounted volunteers combed the woods of the township in search of the missing cow and the saga was duly noted in the local press.

According to the Equestrian Center’s owner, Ella Mae Battipaglia, the bovine actually wandered back on it its own in August. Once trapped in a pen, and with some coaxing , the cow was eventually backed into a trailer and taken away.

It is believed that the heifer spent its time in the woods between Gould and Van Orden roads for those three months. It gained about 300 pounds on its freedom walk, however, which then begs the question: Do greens really belong on a diet plate?”

So, a happy ending for our runaway cow.

Salad anyone??