Scattered Thoughts . . .

Every Christmas season, the 'Saratoga and North Creek Railway' runs their "Polar Express" train excursion. Since we were in Saratoga Springs for the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train fundraiser and Christmas show, we got to see this great holiday "Polar Express" train up close as we watched it come and go. After seeing this train and experiencing Saratoga Springs, we decided that if we were going to take the grandkids on any Christmas train excursion, it would be this "Polar Express"! We're also thinking of also doing one of their other scenic tour excursions in warmer weather too but this blog entry is about "The Polar Express". The biggest difficulty in arranging for a trip on The Polar Express would be getting tickets before it is sold out. The class of tickets we want are already sold out for the season. So, this season is out of the question. We'll have to aim for next Christmas season. Next year we'll need to st

The Saratoga Spring train station.     As I've written in previous blog entries, we went to Saratoga Springs for Thanksgiving weekend to experience the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train fundraising show. The Holiday Train wasn't pulling into the Saratoga Springs train station until 7:20pm though... so we had a little extra time to check out the station in the daylight to do a quick 'site survey'.  I have to say that we both were impressed and even a bit envious of this train station. We found ourselves wishing we had train facilities like this in our own neighborhood! Although this station is relatively new, it retains some classic train station styling. Even though we were initially disappointed that this station is not located in the heart of downtown, it is very close and has quite an impressive roadway entry which we found rather nice.  There is quite a bit happening at this station... Amtrak comes and goes a few times throughout the day... the Saratoga an

Batcheller Mansion, built in 1873, Saratoga Springs As Sheila and I were walking around downtown Saratoga, for some reason, I had decided to take a short circuitous route around a back way to access Congress Park. I don't know why I chose this route. This is something I experience often... just a "gut feeling" I suppose... like someone nudging me to go a very specific direction.  So, we ventured around the back way off of Broadway. Within about half a block, a large Victorian home with a towering minaret began to come into view... I slowed my walk and quickly pulled my camera out from the protection of under my jacket... I keep my camera on an over-the-shoulder harness for quick access which also allows me to hide the dangling camera under my coat...  We continued walking closer to this strikingly beautiful structure as I fumbled with settings on my camera. As I was staring up at this towering home, I muttered, "For some reason, I know this building... i

The Inn at Saratoga After having friends at our home for Thanksgiving Day, we awoke the following morning, packed some clothes and some photography gear and headed for the Adirondack Mountains for the rest of the long weekend. We had booked a room at an old inn in Saratoga Springs. It turned out to be a very nice weekend in a very beautiful place! It was sort of like stepping back in time into a land of colorful spirits and Victorian architecture with character.  The inn was very nice and we would definitely stay here again. There is so much to do in the area that we could easily spend a number of weekends here throughout the year.  The bridge joining Vermont to the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Our original intention for heading to the Adirondacks was to see the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train as it passed through the Adirondack Mountains. This original plan had us driving all the way over there... seeing the train... then immediately heading back home. This ridicul

We had a really nice Thanksgiving Day... relatively quiet... with some friends we haven't seen in quite some time... it was warm in the house... while it was snowing outside like it was Christmastime.  Liza spent the morning with us watching the Thanksgiving Day parade. This parade should be renamed "The Parade of Balloons and Commercials" because they no longer show any of the parade... only the balloons. They do show some quick acts from current Broadway plays but that is not the parade. Anyway... we watched most of the 'parade' with Liza. After Liza left, Sheila's sister and her two children stopped by for a little while and that was a nice surprise.  Not only was the weather rather Christmas-like but our home looked like Christmas as well.  Every year, when it came time to go cut Christmas trees, we always felt it was a tremendous waste of resources and that we were being selfish and wasteful just so we could go out and pay $35 to cut down a tre

A couple of weeks ago, Comcast offered us an upgrade to our router for free. I knew our router was getting old and I knew that we occasionally have problems needing reboots and removing the battery (which is difficult to get at) so a free upgrade seemed like a 'no-brainer'. When we got our free upgrade to Xfinity a year or two ago, I thought it was odd that the Xfinity package didn't arrive with a new modem but everything seemed to work just fine so I forgot about having an older modem. Sheila ordered this free modem upgarde and the package arrived yesterday... in a massive box... I left it, unopened, on the living room floor until after my usual afternoon nap. When Sheila arrived home from work, I opened the box... this new Xfinity router was absolutely HUGE! It was larger than our BlueRay DVD player! This router was so deep, that it barely fit on our entertainment center shelves. I would need to lay it down flat and bend all the cords plugged into the back of it in

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend and today is the first time I've had a chance to share some photos and video. The first thing I want to share is a video that I shot while we watched a Christmas concert on the colorfully and brightly decorated Canadian Pacific Holiday Train. Our holiday weekend began with entertaining friends at our house on Thanksgiving Day... I'll write more on that and share some photos another time.  Then, on Friday morning, we headed to the rugged Adirondack Mountains to spend the rest of our long holiday weekend in beautiful Saratoga Springs. I haven't been to Saratoga in a few decades so it was nice to get back there and spend some time! Our primary purpose of visiting Saratoga Springs was to see Canadian Pacific's Holiday Train as it pulled into the station. If you've never had an opportunity to see this brightly lit and colorful train, you should! Once the train pulled into Saratoga's surprisingly nice train station... ami

After I finished with food prep for the day, Sheila took over the kitchen and started working on making some candied pecans.   She spread the bag of pecan halves on a cookie sheet, then coated them all with some olive oil by tossing them around the cookie sheet and then slow roasted them in the oven...  On the stovetop, she brought some water, sugar, salt, and cinnamon to 'soft ball stage'... added some vanilla extract... then dumped the roasted pecans into the pot... mixed them until they were all coated with the candy mixture... dumped them onto some waxed paper... and then used a fork to separate the candied-together pecans. These are delicious! Now it is about time to start on tonight's dinner... grilled steak!

Thankfully, I think I am done with another day of Thanksgiving food prep! Sweet Italian sausage for my Country Harvest Turkey Dressing. Earlier this afternoon, I cooked up some sweet Italian sausage for my Country Harvest Turkey Dressing. This sausage will get chopped up with some onions, sage, corn bread, seasoned bread, garlic, thyme, and dried cranberries... then add some chicken stock... into the oven for a bit... this should be some pretty tasty dressing! So, the sausage is now cooked, moved to the fridge and ready to be chopped tomorrow.  While the sausage was cooking, I had four sweet potatoes in the oven. These sweet potatoes will be for my Bourbon Glazed Yams. After cutting the sweet potatoes, I'll add some butter, maple syrup, molasses, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and some bourbon. Throw this concoction in the oven and then finish the last few minutes with some mini marshmallows on top until they are browned.  So, the sweet potatoes are ready to go

Since Adam can't be with us this Thanksgiving, I thought it would be appropriate to bring some local flavor from his new home to our own Thanksgiving Day. We've done this with every holiday since Adam left... we've brought food to our table from the area of the world in which he is currently living.  On this Thanksgiving Day, I will be drinking a tasty Pilsner which was brewed in the Munich style! Although this particular Pilsner beer, Idletyme, was brewed right here in Stowe, Vermont, it is a golden Pilsner beer in the Munich style so it is quite different than all the overly hoppy beer found here in the northeastern US. I prefer lighter, golden beers to darker, foamy, hoppy beer. That being said, I also love smooth dark porters as well. I've never tasted this local brew but I'm looking forward to having a bit tomorrow as I finish preparing our Thanksgiving meal and socialize with some close friends. Adam will be enjoying a Thanksgiving meal with co-wor