Hi, everyone!
The Saturday after school started, there was a Dungeons and Dragons family workshop at the Strong Museum. Uncle Steven wanted to take James and Thomas. The workshop was in the afternoon, but they wanted to go to the Strong when it opened and do the Skyline Climb ropes course, first! It was a rainy day, so Uncle Steven was worried the Strong would be very crowded. He picked up Grandma and me so we could be there when the Strong first opened. This was our first visit since the new part was opened. From the new main entrance, it’s a short straight walk to the ropes course. James and Thomas and Uncle Steven were the first people in line and the first ones up! Guess what? The Strong wasn’t crowded at all! Uncle Steven’s family enjoyed a lot of time on the ropes without much traffic!
Grandma said she and I could go explore other parts of the Strong while Uncle Steven’s family was climbing. Of course I stopped at Sesame Street! The Wegmans Super Kids Market wasn’t crowded, so I could check out some animal crackers without waiting in line.
The new additions to the Strong include an outdoor exhibit, the Hasbro Game Park. We went there next! Tiamat, the Dungeons and Dragons dragon, roars when you press a diamond-shaped button. It was fun to see big versions of board game pieces, like Scrabble tiles and Monopoly tokens!
The Dancing Wings butterfly garden isn’t new, but I had never been there before! The heat and moisture felt like parts of Lamberton Conservatory, and I even saw some button quails and a turtle. The butterflies were all around! There were some with pretty blue wings in flight, but when they rest, only the brown bottoms are visible! There were lots of fairy houses in the butterfly garden, too!
Most of the new exhibit space is dedicated to video games! Grandma and I looked around while James and Thomas were still on the ropes course. When they came down, we told them they would enjoy the ESL Level Up video game experience, and we were right!
We went back to the bay Sunday night so Grandma could kayak on Monday morning. She took me on a return paddle to Clark Creek. We saw several great blue herons! The water is getting shallower, so there’s only one channel above the breached beaver dam that was deep enough for the kayak. We almost got stuck, but it was fun to be there! We picked up some trash to thank the creek for giving us a peaceful paddle! In the afternoon, Grandma and Grandpa put the work platform back in front of the boathouse door. Grandma bleached the old siding at the peak of the boathouse before we went back to town.
Grandpa and Grandma replaced most of the windows in our Fairport house in 1976, when they added two rooms. Two of the window panes developed leaks in their seals, so they looked foggy. Grandpa ordered replacement panes and had been waiting for a nice day to make the switch. A week ago was a good day! First, Grandma and Grandpa wrapped a window screen in plastic, so it would keep bugs and cold air out while the switch was taking place. Then Grandpa unhooked the old pane from the opening hardware and took it to the garage. He put it on saw horses there, so he could transfer fittings from the old pane to the new one. Then he and Grandma reattached it to the opening hardware. It wouldn’t close properly, so they had to remove it and make some adjustments. The second try was fine! I helped by pulling the protective film off the glass of the new pane. It’s nice to have a clear window again!
Last Friday, we went back out to the bay right after breakfast. The television weather person said we were going to have two dry days in a row, and Grandma wanted to get the old boathouse siding stained. She had to get up on a high ladder set on the work platform to reach the very peak of the boathouse front! Grandma was very happy to get that job finished! We went to the Point for sunset, even though we knew the sun was going to set over land. There were sailboats with racing sails heading out toward the sunset! I helped Grandma collect some sand we might want later.
Saturday morning was chilly, but Grandma had inside painting to do. Grandpa had removed the panes from the boathouse windows, because they really needed repainting! Grandma figured out a way to paint both sides in the same session! When it warmed up a little, Grandma restained the trim on the front and south sides of the boathouse. Now everything matches!
Grandpa didn’t have enough time last Wednesday to replace the second fogged window panel — in the family room. He decided to do the second one on Monday, but we had a thunderstorm before he could get started. He and Grandma did get that one replaced in between rain showers, and I took the protective film off again.
Yesterday, Grandma took me back to Ganondagan. When we visited before, we didn’t have time to see the Fort Hill section. That’s where the Seneca villages stored their dried corn. They built a protective stockade that was 800 feet across on top of a hill and stored large amounts of corn inside. When the French forces destroyed the four Seneca villages in July of 1687, they also burned the corn stored at Fort Hill and cut down the corn growing in the fields. Grandma and I followed a roundabout path to get to the meadow where the stockade once stood. After we came down, we saw a more direct route on the map sign. So we went up again! The second route was very steep!
There’s a third section of Ganondagan, with the headquarters of the White Corn project and a hiking path along Trout Brook. Nobody was around to tell us about the White Corn Project, so we just hiked. We got as far as the bridge over Trout Brook, then turned back and went home.
Even though it’s still mostly green, the leaves are beginning to drop. The fall season officially starts later this week! Time for a different set of adventures!
Love,
Lion-san