Chazy NY - Jo and Bob's

My sister, Jo, and her husband, Bob, live right on Lake Champlain. They have a wonderful water view and a house that is perfect for them and their dog, Oliver. Oliver has been very gracious and has allowed Cubby to paw through his toy box and share his toys, except Bungee.....No one shares Bungee. That is Oliver's favorite and Cubby definitely stays clear.

We've made a couple of small journeys out and about. We drove across the bridge to Vermont and went to St. Anne's shrine. The shrine encompasses a good-sized park-like area and has a small chapel, as well as a few smaller shrines, stations of the cross that are outside and quite large, a restaurant, etc. The land is right on Lake Champlain...almost directly across the lake from where Jo and Bob live. (You can see Vermont on the other side of the lake from Jo and Bob's house.) The countryside is really beautiful here. We took a drive into Plattsburg (the nearest large city to where Jo and Bob live) and saw many locations that are part of Bob's history, including his high school, the house where his grandparents lived, where his grandfather had his truck farm, etc.

On Friday night we went to the Plattsburg Elks Lodge where Bob is a member. We had dinner at the lodge. The house is old, beautiful and located right on the water. Jo and Bob showed us the riding lawn mower that is being raffled off as a fundraiser for a local soldier wounded in the war. Proceeds of the fundraiser will be placed in trust toward college expenses for the soldier's 21 month old daughter. Jo, Bob and other Elk members are very actively involved in this fundraiser. When we were at the Elks Lodge, we kept our eyes peeled for Henry, the resident ghost, but didn't have a single sighting.....maybe next time!

One thing we did see when we were at the Lodge was a beautiful lilac bush. Mom LOVES lilacs and this is their season. We have seen hundreds of bushes over the last couple of weeks. Besides white and lavender, there are some deep purple flowers on some of the bushes. Jo and I talked about trying to get a lilac for Mom....like who would do the pilfering....Jo says I always manage to get her to do anything that might be even ever so slightly illegal rather than do it myself. Even though I am the big chicken in the family, I would have gotten one of the flowers for Mom myself.....BUT Jo beat me to it (or so I say). Mom got a wonderful pilfered lilac and we are all enjoying its fragrance.

Besides Oliver, a kerry blue terrier, and Cubby, there is a neighbor dog, Sophie, who comes around to see Oliver often. When Jo was out gardening (Jo is a master gardener!!) and Mom was visiting with her, Sophie came over to say hello. This would not be too exciting an event, except for the fact that Sophie is a german shepherd and Mom has been afraid of german shepherds and most dogs, for that matter, since a german shepherd jumped on her and held her down when she was just a young girl. I went out to get a picture of Mom and Sophie because I knew that others in the family would like to see a picture of Mom and the german shepherd as friends.

We played lawn washers in the back yard which is kind of like horseshoes, but easier to set up, pick up, and they are much lighter weight. Jo got Bob a set after they played with Paul and Lisa (my cousin and her husband in Illinois). The game is generally played to 21...but we were SO BAD that we tried playing to 11, then 7 and finally decided that the winner had to score just 3 points. I guess we will never be players on the game show "A Minute to Win It". Oh, Well....

As for food.....Bob made us one of his famous breakfasts. He is the breakfast king. He's always enjoyed making nice big breakfasts and we really enjoyed eating what he made! We've also enjoyed some of the red hots that are found in this part of the country. Very red hot dogs....not spicy, just a very red casing. And, of course, we've already been to Creamies. Creamies is an ice cream stand that is located in Chazy. It's open from mid-May to Labor Day. The prices are reasonable, the servings large and everything is very good. They had a line waiting for the chance to buy from them. Jo doesn't know how long it's been selling ice cream, but she remembers it well from almost 40 years ago when she first came here with Bob.