May Flowers

 This has been a beautiful week.  The May flowers, from all those showers, are popping up everywhere.  The trees are getting their leaves and everything here is so so green.  It really is lovely.

We've seen Forget Me Nots, Bleeding Hearts, and lots of Rhododendron

We had a blast on our P Day this past week.  We started out by going to Catholic Charities, to their food pantry, to see what we could do to help.  It was closed so we ran over to see Fort Stanwix which is a Revolutionary War Fort not far from our house.  We wanted to see the Visitors Center and then walk around the fort, But, it was closed!  So we decided to hop in the car and drive to Pixley Falls which is about 18 miles from our home. The drive was beautiful and the falls did not disappoint-except, I really want to see them with the leaves on the trees.  I took photos with my cellphone, but I really need to go back with my big camera and a tripod.  The water was falling on shale ledges all around the area.  They were so cool for us to see.

These were the little falls, and to be honest Pixley Falls are not huge like some waterfalls but pretty cool anyway. They are the falls behind us in the picture.  And the rocks, and the trees were covered with moss. Makes for some pretty interesting scenery.  I kinda like it.

On our way up to the falls, we passed an old cemetery.  Well, something you might not know about me is that I love a good cemetery!  So on our way back we made a stop.  It was fenced off but there was a gate that we could get through.  Oh my goodness.  What a cemetery.  I like to describe it as a "Sleepy Hollow" kind of place.  The headstones were so weathered that you could hardly see the dates engraved on them. Some dates that we could see were in the 1830's, 1850's and up into the 1900's.  Some were falling over and some were barely visible above the ground.  

There was a thick carpet of pine needles from years and years of shedding.  Do pines shed their needles?  I don't know but it sounded good.  The ground was spongy, hard to walk on. It felt like we were walking on a trampoline and that we might sink.  Of course, Mike said that maybe they (meaning the dead) would reach up and grab my ankles.  He is so funny-or at least he thinks he's funny.  But I'm not afraid of the dead!  It's the living you gotta be leery of.

After we got back to town, we thought we would head over to Nicky Doodles, the place to go for ice cream around these parts.  They have a lot of ice cream places here because New York is a dairy state.  We were excited to try the ice cream, but, you guessed it!  It was closed.  I guess lots of places are closed on Mondays. We settled for a different place for some ice cream and it was pretty good-just not Nicky Doodles.

We did get to visit with Catholic Charities on Tuesday but they aren't in need of any help right now.  For some reason the food pantry's aren't being used.  They are all kind of scratching their heads because they know there is a need but not very many are taking advantage of their services.

Wednesday found us at District Council.  We always love being with the Sisters and Elders.  They have such a wonderful spirit about them. We did some learning and we did some role playing-which we always do.  The Sisters and Elders are so good at it and we are learning to do it.  It's just a little intimidating to say the least.

We did some more visiting, Mike did some work with President Morgan, our Branch President and we were uber to our District Leader and his companion.  They were still without their car.

We've been trying to find members who have moved out of the area.  The Elders actually gave us a list that they had of people who have left the area so that has helped a ton on whittling down the list.

On Friday we had the chance to take the Elders back out to Hamilton because the Sisters had a young man who was ready for baptism and our Elder Crow needed to interview him.  While he did the interview, the Sisters and I practiced the song they would be singing at the baptism on Saturday.  That evening we met Elder and Sister Boone for dinner in Syracuse.  Elder Boone takes care of the housing for all the missionaries-which is a huge job and Sister Boone is the mission nurse.  We had a great time visiting with them and getting to know them better.  I had to try a Spiedie, which is a Central New York sandwich.  It's marinated and skewered meat on a deli roll.  It was okay but I'm not sure I would get it again. Mike had the fried haddock and fries.  His was huge and pretty tasty. They have a fish fry every Friday around here.

Saturday was baptism day.  The Elders had their car back so we didn't have to pick them up which was nice.  Mike went on a service project with our Branch Elder's Quorum and I stayed behind and made some cupcakes for Elder Crow's birthday.  The baptism was awesome. It was the first convert baptism we've had a chance to witness since getting to New York.  The people that were there to support this young man was a wonderful thing to see.  I had the chance to play the piano for it and it's been good to get me back playing.  I haven't played in too long.

Today, Mother's Day, was another beautiful day.  Mike and I had the opportunity to talk in Sacrament Meeting and then we had all the women, including the YW go to Relief Society.  Mike helped with the Primary and he said it was pure chaos. Kids. These poor kids have not been taught what is appropriate and what is not.  I guess it was a free for all.

We got the token Geranium to plant, a sister brought everyone a carnation, and the Elder's Quorum gave us each a bag of candy.  We felt a little spoiled.  It was great.  Hope you are all doing well.  Tune in for more adventures from Upstate New York.  #GoTeamJesus!