Canal Town Day's Celebration

Life is so fun living on Main Street. Last weekend was the town's annual Canal Town Days. (Palmyra is right on the Erie Canal.) This is the parade from our bedroom window.

This float was made and sponsored by the Senior Missionaries that are at the church historical sites here. Many people accompanied the floats walking and throwing candy, this one had young Elders handing out the Church Proclamation on the Family pamphlets. It was great! Not that I don't like candy... but we'd had lots of that.

This one's for you, Jeff.

Who is that handsome guy sitting on the curb? We came downstairs at one point to join our fellow towns people! The seating wasn't as comfortable, but the crowd was fun!

A block down is the city park and all sorts of booths and tents were set up there. We took this picture because of Phil's brother's nick name....Dar.

This guy was in the parade with about 30 others that looked just like him. They were the Fife and Drum Brigade. They were really quite good.

We were all sitting waiting for the 5 peice ensemble who came and played Dixieland Jazz in the park. It was such a festive and fun atmosphere. I loved it!

Early that morning the old cars starting rolling in and parked right outside our front door. Here are pictures of a few of my favorites... It was probably the best car show I have ever seen.

The sign said this old Cadillac has the same engine as the B29 bombers in WW II! Now that's an engine!

Great Dixieland! Made me want to dance! Oh, I think I did.

My favorite! Phil called me to the window when it drove up and later when we got a good look, it was really amazing. It's a Clerit. It even had beveled flowers engraved on the side window glass.

My next favorite. A Peirce Arrow. Wow! Ok, I'd take either of them! I'd even take the red Cadillac if I had to.

That's our front door right behind the women sitting in the chair. You'd think they'd ask before they parked their old cars right in front of our place!

This one's a lot like Phil's first truck.

Yea...I take this one too.


Since being here we have heard about upper state NY being famous for their "hots". That's a hotdog for all you foreigners. Here was our first "hot". Very good. It was also our first experience talking about the church to a stranger. I was cold and went inside the car to eat while Phil and this fine New Yorker had quite the discussion. Our badges do bring attention to us and we wear them everywhere. I was happy to watch them laugh and have a great time and when it was all over, they even shook hands and left great friends! Hurray! Good job, Phil!

I think they could be fishing buddies!

We found this farm in driving to Walmart. It was a mile off the road but well worth it. It is a very big farm that stills uses horses to plow. The produce was wonderful! Best we'd ever had accept maybe for the family (Barney produce) farm, of course.

I did not get a pumpkin last year and felt very deprived because of it. When I went to get one there had been a freeze and Walmart lost $10,000 worth of pumpkins because of it.....so....when I saw these and they were all the same price....I not only had to have one......I had to have the biggest to make up for not getting one last year. I am going to make pies out of it.
Many, many pies.

This might not look all that big....but it is monsterously heavy. I didn't even think about what we had just done until we were half way home....

It's called steep stairs.....we could hardly get this to the car let alone up our 5 million stairs..... It stayed in the car for 3 days when I finally got a great and inspired idea. We leave three doors away from the church owned historical printing shop where the Book of Mormon was first printed, called Grandin's Print Shop. Surely there would be strong young elders there that need to do some service! I went there to ask and only old fogies and female missionaries were there. When I opened the door, I asked if there were any strong, young missionaries who wanted to be of service? Just then a husky Sister Missionary came out flexing and she said she would be glad to help. She carried that pumpkin up so fast it was a blur. We think she was probably a farm girl from Idaho. But it got upstairs and looks lovely in our living room fall display!

We picked our own raspberries.

You're busted, Mr!

Reminded me of picking them at Bear Lake when I was a girl, with mother. Great time!

"The corn was as high as an elephant's eye," kept going through my head.

Farmer Guthrie. I mean, Elder Farmer Guthrie!

By the way...I found out from someone at the temple that that Guthrie road sign we saw on the way here is a famous medical facility. Thought I'd share that peice of info.

This is the Temple President's home where we stayed in the "General Authorities" quarters - (which were lovely) from Thursday to the next Tuesday.

This is the Palmyra Stake Center right across the street from the Temple President's home. Nicest Stake Center I've ever seen!

Closer view of the home. Which is just north of the temple.

This is the Palmyra Temple. The whole reason we are here. We have worked one week now and have been in the temple about 43 hours. It has been amazing! I even was scheduled to be in the Celestial Room Friday evening for 45 min. and because the session was running late, I got to be in there by myself for 30 min. Talk about a treat!

Tuesday we moved into our apartment. This is the banner hanging from the lamp post right outside our bedroom window.

This arrangement is also hanging on that lamp post.

The three windows about this candy store are our bedroom windows. I am sure glad I don't eat chocolate any more or this could be a problem. I haven't even been inside this candy store yet.

The green door is our entrance to our apartment.

After going inside the green door, we have 587 stairs to climb. (Ok, Phil says it's only 19....but it feels like 587!) This apartment was supposed to be unfurnished, but because the manager is LDS and took pity on us she "found some things to help us out". We are paying unfurnished prices and basically have all we need....although we could use a couple more chairs in the living room. I am going to Goodwill when I have a moment.

This is a big room we are using as an office and misc. area. It can't be a bedroom because there is not outside window. This window looks into the living room.

More office...

Yea!!!! A washer and dryer!!!! One of my two main wishes that were met!

Kitchen....proof there is a Santa.... I have a husband who not only is cute...he cooks too!

Our kitchen....which is really quaint and nice. We have just about all we need.

Our first meal in our new apartment.

Our living room is GIGANTIC with only about three peices of furniture in it. Walking from our bathroom (right behind the kitchen) to our bedroom seems like a hike across America. We can't even yell to each other because the other one doesn't hear it's so far. Between that and the stairs we are going to get into better shape!

More living room.

Yea!!! My second and greatest wish! A BED! And it is even comfortable! I feel so blessed! The paneling is very 60's but even it is a blessing because the color is warm and the rooms have a nice feel. We are all moved in now (we weren't when I took these pictures) and are going to be very happy here. We love being right downtown.

More bedroom. We love walking up and looking out our bedroom window to see all the life that is going on on Main St. We love walking out the green door and going across the street to the chinese restaurant (which by the way is about the best we ever eaten and very inexpensive), or going to the LDS bookstore right next to us, or any of the other shops on the two blocks of Main Street. It is truly a fun experience for us!