Stormy Sunday

Posted by Rebecca

We don’t get many thunder storms in Reno, but when we do, they can be a doozy.  The one we had last Sunday had lightning that lit up the menacing, swirling sky over and over again, before unleashing a downpour of flood-like proportions.

If you’ve never heard the rain from the inside of a trailer, it’s like a rhythmic fox-trot is unfolding on the roof with pitter-patter footsteps.  This storm was not fox-trotty or pitter-pattery.  It was more like plunking over Niagara Falls in a tin can.

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I fear that being housed inside an aluminium tube with that weird antenna thingy strapped to the roof during a lightning show can’t be a good idea….

Rebecca Knabe

Decked Out

Posted by Rebecca

The pink trailer’s deck is up and running for the summer, and as of this week it looks a little like this….

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Is your outdoor space ready for summer?  What are some of your favorite potted plants?

Rebecca Knabe

New York, Part 6

Posted by Rebecca

The last few days in New York were pretty quiet.  We drove back from New York City to Jamestown – about 7 hours.  On the way we stopped in Newburgh to meet my Uncle Harlin and Auntie Norma for lunch.  They live in Wallkill, NY, at the Watchtower Farm Branch Office.

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Back in Jamestown, we did a little sightseeing in the country….

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And we visited a local Amish farm.  Did you know that Amish farms are one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. farm community?  They are also a great place to buy plants for your garden and patio.

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While at the Amish farm, John’s mom spotted a weedy patch that was, in her opinion, just begging to be cultivated.  It was dense with burdock.  Burdock’s can make two claims to fame. It was in the original recipe for root beer, and was the inspiration for velcro.  The leaves are a little bitter, but delicious when mixed with egg and flour, seasoned, and lightly fried as little fritters.

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The Amish family was kind enough to let John’s mom do a little weeding for them, and we ate well that night.  :)

Rebecca Knabe

New York, Part 5

Posted by Rebecca

And now for the continuation of Day 2 in NYC….

After our walking tour of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn Heights, we took the subway Uptown for a picture in front of the gang’s favorite diner.

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Tom’s Restaurant, also known on Seinfeld as Monk’s Diner, is the inspiration of Suzanne Vega’s 1991 hit, Tom’s Diner.

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On the streets in Morningside Heights.

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Next a trek through the way-too-crowded Theater District and Times Square.

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We ended our evening at Eataly, a massive Italian marketplace full of shopping, wine, and eateries – a foodie’s dream come true.

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Double photo-bomb – this is the family we traveled with, and they were taking a family picture while I was in the loo.  I was able to rush back in time to unexpectedly appear in the photo, only to be outdone by the handsome, posing waiters behind me.

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A view of the Empire State Building from Eataly.  If the weather had been better, we would have had an unobstructed view of the city, as the roof and walls are retractable, making it a great destination for a balmy summer evening.

Rebecca Knabe

New York, Part 4

Posted by Rebecca

Our second full day in NYC involved a lot of sightseeing via walking.  We walked and walked and walked.  The weather was still grey, but way less rainy, and not too hot or muggy, so it was a great day for walking.  Did I mention we did a lot of walking?….

Here are a few famous, and a few less famous, sights:

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Grand Central Station

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Meet me at the clock.

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Now for a stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge.

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25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, NY – Worldwide Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses

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A great view of the under-construction Freedom Tower, as seen from Brooklyn Heights (it’s the one with the crane on it).

I’m not yet done with the day, but I have way too many photos still to share, so stay tuned….

Rebecca Knabe

New York, Part 3

Posted by Rebecca

Now that things are back in blogging order, here’s the third installment of my New York trip….

We spent a few days in bustling New York City, one of my favorite places.  Its energy is contagious.  And every time I go I see something new and fascinating.

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First we took a tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Our tour group focused on the Egyptian, Babylonian and Assyrian world powers, and the historical authenticity of the Bible.  It was fantastic.

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Next we took a rainy stroll through Central Park.  While the rain put a damper on things (groan…), it made the park appear cleaner and greener than ever!

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After tiring of the weather conditions, we headed to Little Italy where we spent the rest of the day noshing on scrumptious cannolis, homemade pasta, fresh mozzarella, marinated vegetables, Italian bread and more olive oil than you can imagine; and sipping red wine and limoncello.  Molto delizioso!

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And finally, the day was made complete by catching up with some old Reno friends who have recently moved to NYC.

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Rebecca Knabe

Whoopsie

Posted by Rebecca

Here is a list of things I am not good at:

- Baking

- Musical instruments

- Foreign languages

- Anything vertical (like climbing trees or jumping)

- Technical stuff (it’s a shame I work on a computer all day)

- Remembering stuff (like passwords)

This list is not inclusive, but the last two cropped up today….  If you tried to visit this page earlier today, instead of what you were expecting, you saw a godaddy.com page that stated my domain name had expired and I owed them money.  This page was a surprise to me too.

Apparently when setting up this blog I gave them an email address that doesn’t exist; and all the “You’re expiring soon” emails went there.  And I used a password that I don’t remember, and therefore could not access my account.  So several emails, a couple of phone calls, a scan of my driver’s license, and $13.01 later I am finally up and running again (yes, all I owed was $13.01).

So now I’m back in business, and if this happens again next year, see the above list of things I’m not good at.

Photo on 6-4-13 at 7.46 PM #2

This is my whoopsie face.

Rebecca Knabe